Sometimes the built-in geometry looks a bit too blocky – this allows you to select some edges, then insert additional geometry which can then be edited. Add DetailĪdd detail allows you to insert geometry into your sandbox mesh. Note that there may be a bit of cleanup involved on something like this. This is great for creating things like roads that follow the topography of sites. While stamp is a tool designed to change your target geometry, drape is designed to take the perimeter of the shape and almost mark it onto your target mesh. If you’d like to adjust the width of the transition that’s created between terrain and shape, type in the transition, or offset width you’d like and hit the enter key before clicking on your mesh. The way it works is that you draw the shape you’d like to stamp over the spot where you’d like to stamp, then select that shape, activate the stamp tool, and click on the geometry below. This is especially useful for things like building slabs and retaining walls. Stamp is a tool designed to help you take shapes and “stamp” them into the geometry. Instead, make sure that you have no geometry selected before turning the Smoove tool on. HUGE TIP – Do NOT select your geometry then activate the Smoove tool – for some reason this takes FOREVER to load. Note that this tool really likes working on the blue axis – however, you can stand objects up and hold the shift key to adjust objects perpendicular to your selection.
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You can single click to move your selection up and down. To change the radius, type in a value and hit the enter key. The first tool is named “Smoove.” It allows you to move the geometry around up and down within a radius that you set. Now we have a number of tools designed to help us with interacting with the sandbox we’ve created. NOTE: Do not set your interval to something crazy like 2” – your model will become unmanageable very quickly.
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You can adjust the grid spacing by typing in a gridline interval and hitting the enter key whenever you activate the tool, before you click in your model to start creating your grid. The second tool is “From Scratch.” From Scratch allows you to create your own grid based on a setting that you dictate. You can either draw your contours yourself, or import an AutoCAD file that you can then use to create a surface. This is one of two tools contained in SketchUp for the actual creation of your sandbox.
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#Installing sandbox for sketchup 17 series
The first tool in this toolset is “From Contours.” Basically, this tool does exactly what it sounds like – it takes a series of contours and creates a face from them. It does this by containing a suite of tools to help you work with a grid that’s created by the tool. Sandbox tools is designed to help you work with more “sitework” type situations. If so, please consider supporting me on Patreon (click here to support) or by visiting my Support the Show Page! It’s been a while, so a wanted to make a video talking about the functions contained within Sandbox tools, SketchUp’s built-in terrain modeling extension!ĭo you like these SketchUp tutorials and videos? The ULTIMATE GUIDE to Sandbox Tools in SketchUp!