Improve your Sketchup workflow by avoiding these mistakes

Most of Sketchup modelers and newcomers use Sketchup straight from the box and choose the default template models from the startup screen and end up pulling their hair, in this article I will share 10 mistakes that are due to the default template and to other bad habits, that probably most of you developed and  never paid attention to or realized that these mistakes were causing a lot of troubles and making your 3D modeling experience worse, even a nightmare in some cases.

1 - 3D Modeling in Perspective View: 

Perspective / two-point perspective camera views are meant for presentation/rendering only, it's always advised to work in orthographic mode, perspective will cause many problems including zoom pan and orbit issues, slow zoom, camera clipping issues, not being to move components or draw in the desired Green Red or Blue directions, not being able to retrace a background picture etc... 

So in short, use the orthographic camera mode while you are 3D modeling, Go to the Camera Menu > Parallel Projection.

2 - Modeling while in shaded with textures mode : 

Whether you have a powerful computer or not, it's highly recommended to work in monochrome mode while you are 3d modeling to avoid lags, first it will help you spot the reversed faces / flipped normals which cannot be detected if the material is applied to both faces (front and back) and while you are in shaded with textures mode, in monochrome mode all scene elements whether textured or not will appear in blue and white (white for the face and blue for the back), the shaded with textures mode is to be used later in the texturing phase once you finish the 3D modeling work.

Even if you are following a different workflow, turning off the shaded with textures mode this will make you gain a lot of PC resources, you can test this by opening a large file and see the difference in resources while it's activated vs with monochrome mode and check the resources usage in the activity monitor.

Monochrome mode

Use maximum texture size: 

Sketchup by default downsamples high resolution image textures to 1024 x 1024 px, you may have the "use maximum texture size" option activated accidentally or by default. While this option is useful to import high quality textures in Sketchup and to be able to see and retrace over large scans textures and PDF raster plans, it's better to turn it off or leave it turned off if you don't need it, you may also use the original Google Sketchup textures package these SKM materials are light weight seamless and acceptable quality. 

 

 

3- Turning on shadows while modeling:

This one is a suicide, if you are modeling something like a chain, grid, fence or placing any component that has details like trees and plants with leaves, this will make your Sketchup model ultra slow, so please stop this disaster. Shadows are meant only for presentation or solar/shadow study purpose, don't ever turn em on only until you finish your 3d modeling and texturing work.

Even after finish you work and want to edit the shadows settings to meet the desired direction or add geo-location, create a scene by hiding everything and leaving only one or a few elements to help you see and decide the shadows time/date/direction, once you are satisfied un-hide all and create your scene, never edit shadows settings while all scene content is revealed! and never save a model with shadows activated.

4- Using Sketchup with the default Styles: 

The default Sketchup styles have profiles and dashes turned on. While these have a cool effect and they may be fine when modeling basic shapes, it's the exact same story like the shadows, as soon as you place a complex geometry you will notice the slow and lag each time move the camera or try to do anything the model is re-rendered every time you move a thing, you may also not notice that Sketchup running very slow while the file size is a few kilobytes, so please with sugar on top, turn these off while you are 3D modeling go to: Windows > Style > Edit style and un-tick Profiles and Dashes > update Profile.

Trun off Profiles and Dashes

5- Auto-save:

This option is a two edge sword, while very useful in small scenes it is not the case while working on large or complex models, a large file may take a few seconds or even minutes to save, this auto-save option will cause interruptions hangs and freezes in mid work and probably make you lose track of what you are doing, I guess this this option needs to be turned off or edited to set the save frequency as desired something like 15 or 30 mins, but remember to manually save from time to time and keep backups.

Turn off auto-save or set the frequency

6- Using models from 3D warehouse:

Finding good quality components in 3Dwarehouse is a bit challenging, while 3Dwarehouse is full of garbage and useless 3D models there are indeed quality ones but at the expense of the file size, I recommend using 3Dwarehouse from you web browser and not from the built in components windows, this will allow you to inspect and check the files size, the polycount and the textures size. Even after inspecting and downloading the desired component, you may need to open the file and inspect the content for hidden, floating geometries and unused materials/textures to clean/purge it before use.

I also highly recommend using the original Google Sketchup components Pack that you can find here.

7- Not assigning Shortcuts:

Unlike the Mac version, the default Windows Sketchup version has many tools shortcuts missing esp the hide and un-hide shortcuts, you may find yourself each time wasting time going to the Edit menu to hide or anything and, I usually assign the W or Y letters for hide and U letter for un-hide, so depending on your workflow or what you are modeling or using as plugin, anything you are doing from the menu better to assign shortcut to it, will save you lots of time.

8- Using Groups instead of components:

Unless you have a plugin that requires the use of groups, never ever use em, always use components (G letter shortcut) instead of groups, you will save a lot in file size and speed, if you need a separate and different instance just right click on the desired component > Make unique, it is also possible apply different materials/textures to the same component copies by applying them from outside of the desired component without the need to make it unique, the component copies will all remain same 3d geometry/mesh instance, can be edited simultaneously but have different materials.

9-  Working with all components revealed and in place:

Whether you are modeling an interior or exterior scene, a building or a city, a vehicle or a complex piece of garbage, add a tag and assign a group elements of the same category (for an example windows or trees) to this tag and turn it off, leave only the main part that may serve as a reference,  because as the scene gets bigger and bigger you won't be able work or to place more components move or edit anything and you will end up cursing Sketchup for being slow, depending on what you are modeling you may decide keep the main part revealed to serve as a reference to work like a terrain where you can place buildings trees or whatever, a wall where you place you can place windows and doors, reference background picture or drawing like a plan or elevation, a car body etc... anything that serves as reference to progress in you work and put the right stuff in the right place.

10- Saving the model with everything revealed: 

If you have a large Sketchup file let's say above 100 MB, or if it's small in size but high in details, the best is to save the model in Wireframe mode, even better if you create a scene for saving in Wireframe mode with all components/scene content hidden or assigned to tag and turned off, no mater the complexity or the size of this Sketchup file, it will certainly open in any computer, once opened one can turn on and un-hide the scene elements one by one, this is a lot better than never being able to open the file, atleast when you un-hide something or turn on a tag you know what Sketchup is doing and not keep wait eternally and wondering what the heck is happening while it's loading.

Wireframe mode

Since Sketchup 7 till now (2024), I still hear everywhere lots of users complains about Sketchup being slow, and I still receive Sketchup files that are a real mess inside, so maybe it's not the software, maybe it's you ! don't forget to share your experience in the comments.