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Modeling Your Classroom
Intermediate Lesson • Time to complete: 60 mins
Lesson Plan :
Design a classroom and label objects in the language of your choice!
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page
outline
4 ISTE Standards for Educators
5 Intro to SketchUp for Schools
9 Step-by-step Tutorial: 3D Modeling in Geometry Class
10 Part 1: Designing Your Classroom
26 Part 2: Presenting Your Model
Hi, I’m Katherine
Thanks for checking out another SketchUp for Schools lesson plan! I’ll be with you the whole way, giving you tips and tricks for how to model like a pro in SketchUp for Schools.
Don’t forget, there’s also a video for this lesson plan!
Happy Sketching,
Katherine
Learning Objectives
In this lesson, students will learn how to use the following SketchUp tools:
At the completion of this lesson, students should feel comfortable with the following on their own:
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Using SketchUp for Schools’ navigation tools to move around the model
Adding, rotating and resizing components using SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse
Labelling a 3D model
Using walkthrough tools and creating scenes
ISTE Standards for Educators
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Educators continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning.
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Educators facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students.
Educators dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems.
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Learner
Collaborator
Facilitator
Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning.
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Leader
Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability.
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Designer
Intro to SketchUp for Schools
5 minutes
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Saving Files
Getting Access
Before we get started, let’s go through some of the basics together.
1 Go to https://edu.sketchup.com/app
2 Sign in with the Google or Microsoft email address provided by your school.
Note: If you have trouble logging in, check with your administrator that your school or district has installed SketchUp for Schools (Instructions for Google & Microsoft Admins)
Before you build your first model, go to your Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive and create a new folder.
Give your folder a name.
Whenever you start a new model, it’s a good idea to save your file first. Click on the folder icon on the top left, then click ‘Save As.’
Give your model a name, then press ‘OK.’
Next, you’ll be asked to save your model to a folder in your Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Click on the folder you just created, then click ‘Select.’
If you’ve done everything correctly, you’ll see your file name in the top left corner along with a ‘Saved’ message.
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PRO TIP #1
Save often!
If you get into the habit of saving your work, you’ll be less likely to lose any progress if class ends and you close your laptop.
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The Scale Figure
Every time you open a new model in SketchUp for Schools, you will see Katherine Johnson’s scale figure. Katherine’s job is to give us a sense of the size of the objects we draw in our model.
For example, Katherine is 5’5”. If we draw a 3 foot cube next to her, the cube will be about half her height.
Drawing a Cube
Let’s test it: let’s draw a 3 foot cube next to Temple.
Select the rectangle tool from the menu on the left.
Click once on the ground near Temple’s feet to set one corner of your cube.
Without clicking again, move your mouse anywhere on the screen, then type
“ 3’, 3’ ”, then hit ‘enter’.
Select the push/pull tool from the menu on the left.
Click once on the face you just drew. Without clicking again, move your mouse to make your cube 3D.
Type “ 3’ ”, then hit ‘enter’ to complete your cube.
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Click
here
Click this face
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Rectangle tool
Push/Pull tool
PRO TIP # 2
Unless otherwise specified, a click in SketchUp is executed as “click and release.”
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Navigation Tools
One of the most important things to learn in 3D modeling is how to move around in your model window. Click the orbit tool from the menu on the left to expand all the navigation tools.
The Zoom Window tool allows you to select an area of your model to view closer. Click on the Zoom Window tool, then left click-hold-drag your mouse to highlight an area of your model.
The Zoom Extents tool allows you to see all the geometry in your model.
Click on the Zoom Extents tool and everything in your model will come into view.
The Pan tool allows you to move your model across your screen.
Click on the Pan tool, then left click-hold-drag your mouse from side to side in the model window.
Mouse shortcut: hold down the scroll wheel, then hold down the shift key at the same time. Move your mouse in any direction to pan.
pan
The Orbit tool allows you to rotate around your model.
Click on the Orbit tool, then left click-hold-drag your mouse from side to side in the model window.
Mouse shortcut: hold down the scroll wheel to activate the Orbit tool, then move your mouse in any direction to orbit.
orbit
The Zoom tool allows you to look closer at the details in your model.
Click on the Zoom tool, then left click-hold-drag your mouse up and down in the model window.
Mouse shortcut: use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out.
zoom
zoom window
zoom extents
PRO TIP #3
We recommend using a mouse with a scroll wheel when modeling in SketchUp. Using a trackpad is totally possible, but not as fun.
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The Instructor Panel
Open the ‘Instructor’ from the SketchUp panels for help with understanding how to use any of SketchUp’s tools.
The way it works: click on a tool with the instructor panel open and you will see a description of the tool and a step-by-step guide on how to use it.
Line tool
Instructor
That’s it for the intro.
You’re ready to get started on modeling!
step-by-step tutorial:
Modeling Your Classroom
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pre-flight checklist
You’re logged in at edu.sketchup.com/app
You’ve gone through the SketchUp for Schools intro and feel comfortable navigating around in the model window.
You’ve setup at least one folder in Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive for your SketchUp models
Check out the companion video for this lesson plan here!
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First: save your file!
Use the orbit, pan, and zoom tools you learned about in the intro slides to navigate to the space near Katherine, but leave enough room to create a large classroom space.
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Before we start drawing, let’s make sure that we are working in the correct units and adjust our precision. Select the info panel from the right side toolbar.
Info panel
(right side toolbar)
Part 1
Designing your classroom
3D modeling can be a great way to take something you’re familiar with and get creative with it in new ways. In today’s lesson we’re going to model the familiar, your favourite classroom, and then we’ll add a touch of the unfamiliar by labeling the components in a foreign language!
Choose feet or meters for your units. Since precision doesn’t matter that much for this lesson, we are setting our precision to 0, meaning that our measurements will be set to round to the nearest whole number.
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Feet
Meters
Precision: round to nearest whole unit
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Rectangle tool
Now we can start drawing the shape of the classroom. Select the rectangle tool from the menu on the left.
Look at the dimensions box in the lower right hand corner. You can use this box to make a classroom with exact dimensions. To do this, type the dimensions like this: 30,30 and hit enter to set them.
Do not click the box to type in it! Make sure you include the comma between each dimension.
Click (remember: click=click-and-release) on the ground near Katherine’s feet to set one corner of your classroom. Move your mouse across your screen to create the shape of your rectangle. Notice how the rectangle changes size? Don’t click anything else yet.
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30’ x 30’ or 9m x 9m should be a good size for your classroom.
Clicking in the measurement box is a common error, but that isn’t how the tool works! If you do this, just press undo in the top bar next to your file name. Control + Z also works!
undo
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Now, let’s make this shape three dimensional. Select the push/pull tool from the left toolbar.
push/pull tool
Click and release on the surface of the rectangle and move your cursor up to make your rectangle three dimensional. Make your rectangle at least 12 feet or 3m tall.
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Pick the select tool from the right side toolbar and click on the top of your box.
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Click delete to remove the top of the box and open up the classroom. It may not look like much yet but in the next step we’ll add some features to our room.
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Use orbit, pan and zoom to move around to where you want to put a door.
Select the rectangle tool from the left side toolbar. As you bring the tool towards the bottom of the wall, it will snap to it and you will see a dialogue box that says “on edge.” This means that your door will begin at the base of the wall.
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Draw a rectangle on the wall to serve as a door. Use Katherine as a guide - you want to make sure that she can fit through it! You can also use the dimension box to make a door with precise dimensions like we did in Step F.
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Next let’s create the windows. Grab the rectangle tool and draw a rectangle lengthwise across the top of the front two walls of the classroom as shown in the image on the left.
But hold on! Don’t delete the windows just yet.
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Select the door and delete it to create an opening.
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Instead of making open windows we are going to make them out of transparent glass using SketchUp’s Materials library.
Select the paint bucket tool from the left hand tool menu.
Paint bucket tool
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Browse
The materials panel will open on the right side of the screen. Click the browse button and then select the “glass and mirrors” menu.
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Glass and mirrors menu
Select a transparent material by picking a option from the menu that has an angled line through it. Although these may come in different colours, they will all be transparent. In this sample we’re going to use a blue tinted glass.
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Transparent material
Click on each window to apply the glass material.
You should now notice that you can see through your windows!
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With the paint bucket tool still selected let’s paint the walls and floor of our classroom.. Navigate through the colour menu to select your desired paint colour, and then click on each wall to apply it. ��Make sure to use the navigation tools to get each wall!
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Once the walls are painted select a different colour for the floor. In this example we’ve used one of the wood textures to add some realism to the room.
In this next section, we’re going to use 3D Warehouse to fill up our classroom!
You can choose any components you’d like for your model, but follow along to learn how to manipulate and optimize objects, and watch your SketchUp skills soar to the next level!
You will learn how to pick the best components for your model, how to move, rotate and place 3D objects and how to copy and reuse a component in your model.
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Navigate to the 3D Warehouse by opening up the component panel on the right hand tool bar and then clicking the 3D Warehouse icon. You’ll see a search bar the will let search for your desired geometry in the warehouse.
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Let’s start by looking for a desk for our classroom by typing desk into the search bar.
To pick a good object for our model, we need to look at a few things first.
Component menu
Search 3D warehouse
Where’s the desk?
Extra structure
This file size is very large!
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Once you have found a component that you like, click on it and it will be downloaded and brought into your model.
Objects from 3D Warehouse come into the model attached to your cursor and they will follow it until you click to set them down. Click near the floor of your classroom to set down the desk.
After you have placed the component, use orbit, pan, and zoom to check it out.
Things to look for: does it appear to be drawn to scale? Is it detailed enough? Is it on the ground? If you can answer yes to all of these questions, you have picked a great component! If not, don’t worry in the next steps we’ll cover how to scale and manipulate your components to fit.
First, if you want to make the component larger or smaller, you can use the scale tool from the left toolbar to resize it.
Scale tool
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Select the scale tool then click on the component to activate the tool. Your component will now have green “grips” all around it.
Click and hold on one of the grips in the upper corners and move your cursor to scale the whole component.
If you want to stretch or squish your component, you do this by selecting different grips and dragging your cursor.
To rotate the object, orbit your view so that you’re looking down at the classroom. Click the select tool from the right side toolbar and select the object so that the blue bounding boxes are visible.
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Select the move tool from the left side toolbar and hover over the component
Look inside the blue bounding box for the red Xs - these are going to help you rotate your object on different axes.
With the move tool selected click and release on one of the Xs that are on the top of the object and move your cursor around to see how it moves along the axis.
If it doesn’t move the way you wanted it to, you have probably selected an X on a different plane within the bounding box., so try again, picking an X that is on the top of the object.
When it’s facing the way you want it, click again to place the object.
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To move the object to a different location in the room, make sure you have the move tool selected and click on the floor (not the object). Now when you move your cursor the component will follow you and you can click again to set it down.
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Ok, now we are going to bring in a student desk, and I’m going to show you a few different ways to easily copy components that you bring in from 3D warehouse so that you don’t have to download the same component every time.
Return to the 3D warehouse search bar and find a student desk. Download the desk to your model and make sure that it is selected.
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Select the move tool and click somewhere on the desk.
Look down at the bottom of the screen where the menu bar says:
option = cycle copy/stamp/move
Click option and move your cursor to the right. The first desk will stay where you put it and a copy of it will be attached to your cursor.
Place the desk where you want it by clicking again.
Know your device!
depending on the type of device you’re using.:
option = toggle copy
or
alt = toggle copy
or
control = toggle copy
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Pretty cool, right? Well here’s another trick! There’s a shortcut in SketchUp that can allow you to make a whole row of desks in a single move. Here’s how to make a row with more desks in it:
Start by selecting the move tool and clicking on the desk you want to copy.
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Click Option or alt to copy the desk and click to place it. Now, before you click anything else, type *5 (or however many desks you want). You will see this get entered into the distance box in the lower right side of the screen.
Click enter to see your row of identical desks appear!��This may take a little bit of practice, so try it out a few times and follow the steps closely. If you need extra help check out the video here.
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Ok, one more neat shortcut: To copy an entire row of desks, pick the select tool from the left toolbar, and hold down the shift key on your keyboard to highlight the whole row of desks you want to copy.
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Select the move tool and click the row of selected desks and start moving them backwards.
Click option to copy (or alt or command) and see a whole new row appear! Click again to place this new row where it fits best.
Keep going! This lesson continues
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Now that you’ve got the hang of working with 3D Warehouse, take a few minutes to populate the rest of your classroom. You can add bookshelves, staplers, students, or whatever else you’d like.
Once you’ve finished, come back and join us in part 2 when we cover labelling and presenting our models!
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Troubleshooting common issues with components from 3D Warehouse
Common issues that arise with components that are downloaded from 3D warehouse are:
If you need extra help any of these issues, check out the companion video, where we walk through how to address these issues in your model!
Many of the objects and components in 3D warehouse are added by users just like you! So you may have already noticed that sometimes components needs to be adjusted in order to work in your model.
When this stapler was downloaded to the model, it was way too big!
This desk was great, but the scale model came with it!
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In part 1 of this lesson you created your very own classroom, and now we’re going to learn how you can label it in whichever language you happen to be learning.��To get started, select the label tool from the left tool menu.
Label tool
Click on the object you want to label and delete preexisting text.
Replace that label with the proper term in the language that you are learning. For example in French I would call my desk “un pupitre”.
You can also add dialogue, or descriptions about objects in the classroom, depending on your skill level and your teacher’s instructions!
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Part 2
Presenting your model
In Part 1 we learned how to design a classroom from scratch and use 3D Warehouse to bring it to life. Now we’re going to add some detail to our model with labels, and learn how to present our work using scenes!
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A big part of school projects is being able to present your work once you’ve finished. A great way to do that in SketchUp is to create scenes. Scenes allow you to create pre-set views of your model.
To start, select the scene tool from the right toolbar.
Scenes tool
Play around with the available views in the menu to see what they do. You can also navigate through your model manually to choose your own views.
Top down view
angled view
If you’re having trouble seeing your entire model, try this: Click the top down view, then go to the zoom extents tool in the left toolbar. This will give you a nice overview of your model.
Zoom extents
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When you find a view that you like, you can save it as a scene by clicking the “+” button at the bottom left of the Scenes panel.
To change the name of a scene click on the existing name, type in a new one and hit enter.
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Navigate your model to a different view and then click on the scene that you just created. This will automatically shift your model to the position in that scene!
For your next scene, let’s simulate the view of a student sitting at a desk in the front row. Find the position camera tool from the menu on the left.
Position
Camera tool
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Click on one of the seats in the front row. This will give you the view from that seat. Notice your cursor is an eyeball -- this is the Look Around tool. Click and drag your mouse to simulate a person looking around the room.
In the bottom right corner, you will see a value called “Eye Height”. The default value is around 7 feet or 2m, but the eye height for a person sitting down is closer to 4 feet. To adjust the eye height, type in “ 4’ “, then hit enter.
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Adjust eye height
Use the Look Around tool to pick the view for your next scene.
Once you’re happy with the view, click the “+” button in the Scenes panel to add a SketchUp scene “Student in Front Row”.
Add new scene
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Repeat steps h-k to simulate the view from the back row and add another SketchUp scene called “Student in Back Row”.
Now you can easily toggle between your SketchUp scenes to make sure all students have a good view of the classroom.
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Once you’ve created all of your scenes and are ready to show off your classroom and your language skills, we’ve got one more tool to help.
At the bottom of the Scenes panel there is a ‘Play’ button that when selected will automatically navigate through all of your scenes in order. This can really come in handy when you want to present and explain your work at the same time!
Congratulations, you’re done!
Thanks for following along with this SketchUp for Schools modelling lesson. For more language practice, try these suggestions:
Happy Modeling!
-Katherine Johnson