🔍
SketchUp Interior Design Tutorial — How to Create a Floor Plan (in 7 EASY Steps) - YouTube
Channel: SketchUp School
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hey guys in this video i'm going to show
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you how to quickly and accurately create
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a basic floor plan in sketchup in fact
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i'll share the same technique we used to
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open our sketchup for interiors course
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which has helped thousands of
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professionals avoid the confusion that
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often comes with learning how to draft a
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2d floor plan
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i'm alex oliver lead instructor at
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sketchup school the place where
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professionals go when they're serious
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about learning sketchup and today i'll
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walk you through how to create a
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schematic 2d floor plan in sketchup in
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seven easy steps
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keep watching
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[Music]
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in our courses we've taught thousands of
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architects and design professionals the
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keys to producing everything from
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accurate 3d models to photorealistic
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renderings to detailed construction
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documents but not everyone or every
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project requires this level of finished
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presentation
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in fact here's an example of a question
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i see all the time and it's one you
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might not expect
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can i build my 2d floor plan in sketchup
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or do i have to use autocad
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lynn like many professionals was looking
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for a way to produce simple but accurate
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2d floor plans without having to use
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autocad
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she knew sketchup was great for creating
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3d models but she was wary that all the
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3d functionality might just get in the
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way of easily creating a 2d floor plan
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or even make it impossible altogether
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but don't worry whether your goal is to
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create a 2d floor plan that you'll turn
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into a 3d model later
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or you just want to draft a quick floor
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plan to share with a client
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if you follow the seven key steps i'm
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about to share with you you'll find
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sketchup to be an amazing tool for
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conquering this piece of the design
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process
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and it doesn't require using or being
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familiar with autocad or any other cad
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programs
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so what are the seven easy steps to
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create a simple 2d floor plan in
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sketchup
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before we jump in let me just quickly
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warn you this video isn't meant for
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beginners that have no prior experience
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with sketchup you'll definitely want to
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be familiar with the basic drawing and
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editing tools in sketchup
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so if you haven't already i recommend
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you check out our watch this before you
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get started with sketchup video and be
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sure you're comfortable with all the
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concepts we cover there
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oh and one more thing we're going to
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cover a lot of ground in this video so i
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put together some notes for you to help
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you remember everything stick around at
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the end of the video and i'll let you
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know how you can get a copy of them
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okay ready to jump into the steps
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let's start with step number one
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start in a 2d template
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as you remember from our watch this
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before you get started with sketchup
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video for all projects you work on in
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sketchup i recommend that you use a
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template that starts you with the plan
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view or a top-down view
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this is even more important when you set
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out to create a floor plan
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as a quick reminder here's how you
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switch your template for sketchup pro if
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you're a windows user you'll start by
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going to your top menu and selecting
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window if you're using sketchup pro on a
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mac you'll select sketchup from there
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open the preferences window and select
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template depending on which version of
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sketchup you're using the template will
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be named differently it might say plan
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view or construction documentation if
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you're a windows user you'll click the
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button at the bottom right to finish mac
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users you just close the window
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now your current files template won't
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change but when you start a new file
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you'll start in the new template
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if you're using the free web-based
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version of sketchup you won't have
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access to the template you need but you
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can get pretty close by switching to a
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top view from the views menu
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now that you're in a plan view the next
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step is number two
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draw your floor
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for most of your projects you'll either
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be starting from an existing floor plan
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file or from measurements taken in the
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field
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while we also cover the workflow for
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starting from a pdf or cad file in our
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sketchup for interiors course for this
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video we'll only focus on the situation
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where you're starting from field
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measurements
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once you have your measurements the
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first step is to draw the floor
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to do this you'll need to use sketchup's
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basic drawing tools
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typically either the line tool or the
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rectangle tool
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the line tool is the most versatile as
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you can go dimension by dimension around
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the floor plan to draw it out the
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process there is to click and begin
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drawing in a direction
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then type in a dimension and press enter
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or return on your keyboard to finish
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drawing a line or edge
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then just continue on around in that
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fashion entering the dimensions one by
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one until you have the footprint drawn
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in the rectangle tool can be a quicker
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choice in situations where you have a
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more straightforward rectangular shape
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to your floor
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in that case you can start with a bigger
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rectangle for the overall width and
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length of the space and then use either
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the line tool or the rectangle tool
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along with the eraser tool to either add
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areas to or subtract areas from the main
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footprint
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now remember in sketchup you're drawing
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at a one-to-one scale
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meaning that when you draw a larger
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rectangle and it appears small it's just
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because your sketchup camera is zoomed
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out if that's the case for you simply
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roll your center mouse wheel forward to
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zoom in and get closer or if you've
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entered your dimensions and you can't
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see the entire footprint roll your
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center mouse wheel back to zoom out
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when you zoom the blue axis will appear
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but you can just ignore it
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and now you're ready for the next step
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number three draw your exterior walls
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alright once you've drawn your floor you
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can use the offset tool to create your
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exterior walls
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to do that pick the offset tool click
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once on the face
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move the mouse to begin offsetting the
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wall type in the dimension for your wall
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thickness and press enter or return on
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your keyboard
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next you'll need to create doorway
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openings now there are a few ways to go
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about this but when you're new to
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sketchup i recommend you use the tape
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measure tool to set up guidelines that
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show you exactly where your openings
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need to be
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to do this using the tape measure tool
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click once on the inside edge of an
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exterior wall then move the mouse
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towards where the opening will be
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then type the dimension on your keyboard
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and press the enter or return key on
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your keyboard and you'll have your first
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guideline
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for the second guide repeat the steps
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only this time your first click is from
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the existing guide and your dimension is
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for the width of the opening
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now you can take the rectangle tool and
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draw a rectangle that snaps to the
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intersection points of the guidelines on
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your walls and then take the eraser tool
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and erase away the outside edge
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and you repeat these same steps for all
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the door openings around your exterior
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walls
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note that you shouldn't worry about the
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window openings just yet because you'll
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handle those later now as you know from
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our watch this before you get started
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with sketchup video
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hands down one of the most important
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things to learn in sketchup is to group
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almost everything if you don't group
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things at this stage you might find
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yourself with a huge mess later when you
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want to move anything or make
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adjustments so group now and your future
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self will definitely thank you
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thanks for the tip man i got you
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so now that you're at a point where
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you've drawn your floor and exterior
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walls select everything and make it into
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a group
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while you're at it now is a great time
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to put that group onto its own layer
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this will make it easier to isolate the
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exterior walls as needed down the road
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okay once you've got your floor and
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exterior walls grouped you're ready for
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the next step number four draw your
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interior walls
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again for new sketchup users i recommend
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you use the tape measure tool to create
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guidelines based on the dimensions from
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your field measurements
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then use the rectangle tool to trace in
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each wall segment
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as you go you can use the eraser tool to
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delete any unnecessary edges and just
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repeat these steps again and again to
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draw in all the interior walls if at any
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point along the way you end up with too
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many guidelines getting in the way you
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have two options
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in some cases you may need to get rid of
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just one or two to do that you can erase
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them with the eraser tool
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but in cases where you don't need the
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guides you've created anymore
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go to your edit menu and select the
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option for delete guides you'll clear
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all of them out so you can start again
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from a blank slate once you've drawn all
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of your interior walls don't forget our
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previous tip and do yourself a huge
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favor and make them into a group that
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way you'll avoid all the headaches of
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struggling with an ungroup plan where
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everything is stuck together
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just be careful not to select the floor
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and exterior walls group in fact to make
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it easier you can turn off the layer for
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that group so all you see are the
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interior walls and don't stop there once
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you've made the interior walls into a
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group go ahead and create a layer for
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them and assign the group to that layer
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that reminds me
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thanks for the tip man i got you
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okay you're at an important crossroads
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with this example if your plan is to
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create a 3d model of this space then at
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this point you can move on and begin
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building your 3d model on top of what
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you've created so far you can cover the
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rest of that workflow in our sketchup
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for interiors course on our website
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but in this example i want to show you
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what you need to do to finish a basic
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floor plan in 2d without having to build
[542]
the 3d model to do that let's move on to
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the next step
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number five add your windows and doors
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components in sketchup are similar to
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blocks or symbols in other cad programs
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that is geometry that's drawn to
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represent objects in your design such as
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windows doors fixtures and furniture
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for the first part of our example i'll
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show you how to create your own
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component for a window again you can
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start with the tape measure tool to set
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up two guidelines that represent the
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width of the window
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using those guides draw in your window
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now since we're just setting up a basic
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reference plan for this example and not
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worrying about adding all the details
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you may want for say a construction
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document floor plan
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i'll just create a basic window symbol
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but you're free to use sketchup's
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drawing tools to add as much detail to
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the window as you'd like once you've got
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your window drawn select it all with the
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select tool then right click and select
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the option for make component then name
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it something sensible and click to
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finish making the component
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to save time when you have more than one
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of something in your plan such as
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multiple windows with the same
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dimensions
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you can make a copy of it you do that
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using the move tool on a mac press and
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let go of the option key on a pc press
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and let go of the control key to turn on
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the copy function
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then click on the corner of the window
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and move your cursor to the
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corresponding intersection where the
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copied window belongs and click to
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complete the move
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the best part about copies of the same
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component is that if you need to make a
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change to one of them both copies will
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update together saving you a bunch of
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time
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just remember that to make any changes
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you must first right click and select
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the option for edit component
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then when you're done making changes
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right click outside the component and
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select the option for close component
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but what about the case where you have
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another window that's not the same size
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of course you could create a new
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component from scratch that's the
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correct size and in some cases that
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might be your best bet
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but it's also worth pointing out that
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you can modify your existing component
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to fit
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here's how
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start by using the tape measure to set
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up guidelines for the new window
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follow the steps from before to move
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another copy of the window component
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then right click on the component and
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select the option for make unique
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then right click on the component select
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the option for edit component and modify
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the component to fit
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because you made it unique from the
[685]
original component the changes you make
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to it won't update the other instances
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of the component
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okay next up you can use the same
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process i just described to create the
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doors
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first draw a rectangle with the correct
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width and thickness
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then use the arc tool to draw the swing
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make it into a component and use the
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move tool to copy it around the model
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sometimes it'll be oriented the wrong
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way for the opening in that case with
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the move tool hover over the component
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you'll see that it actively highlights
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blue and that there are four red plus
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signs
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hover over one of the red pluses until
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the cursor turns into a rotate icon
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then click and let go of your mouse
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button on that red plus to begin
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rotating
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now you can move your mouse and hover
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over the tick marks on the rotate cursor
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to rotate in 15 degree increments until
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you've rotated the proper amount then
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click and let go of the mouse to finish
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the rotation
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other times the door will need to be
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mirrored or flipped to do that right
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click on the component and choose flip
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along and then you'll either need to
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flip along the component's green axis or
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the component's red axis depending on
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the orientation of the component
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if you're not sure which to choose just
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try one if the result isn't right you
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can undo back and try the other option
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now once you have the door oriented and
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flipped in the proper direction you'll
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need to move it into place
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with the move tool click on the corner
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of your door component and then move
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your cursor onto the corresponding
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corner of the door opening in the plan
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and click to finish the move
[780]
and when you come to a door that has a
[781]
different width it's probably fastest to
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just draw a new one
[785]
okay once you've created all your
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windows and doors it's time to add your
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furniture and fixtures
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but you don't have to draw everything by
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hand there's a faster way to add 2d
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symbols that we're ready to cover in our
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next steps number six
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import furniture and fixtures
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it's true that you can draw all of your
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own 2d components for the things you
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need to show in your floor plan but a
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great thing about components is that
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once they've been drawn by someone they
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can easily be shared and reused again
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and again
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if you're looking for 2d components that
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have been shared by others a good place
[818]
to start is sketchup's 3d warehouse to
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access the 3d warehouse in sketchup go
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to your top menu and select window
[826]
then select the option for 3d warehouse
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in the 3d warehouse search box type 2d
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and the name of the object you're
[832]
looking for and press enter
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you'll get a bunch of results some of
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them won't be what you're looking for
[838]
but there should be plenty of usable
[840]
options as well when you've found a
[842]
component you like click on the download
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button and agree to download it directly
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into your model
[848]
when it finishes downloading click
[849]
anywhere in white space to set it down
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remember if the component isn't oriented
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properly you can rotate it or flip it
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move it into place with the move tool
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and remember to click on a precise point
[860]
of the component and then click on a
[862]
precise point in the floor plan to match
[864]
things up perfectly
[866]
in many cases the component you choose
[868]
won't quite work as it's been drawn for
[870]
example often you'll find that a
[872]
component is the wrong size to fit into
[874]
your design when that happens you have a
[876]
couple of options
[877]
first you can always delete the
[879]
component and go looking for a new one
[881]
on the 3d warehouse another option is to
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scale your component with the scale tool
[886]
just note that when you need your
[887]
symbols to be accurate this may create
[890]
distortions for example if you scale a
[892]
real world product you might
[894]
unintentionally warp key dimensions
[896]
now instead of using the scale tool
[898]
there is a third option you can edit the
[900]
component
[901]
that's right you can edit a component
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you download from the 3d warehouse just
[906]
like you would if you had made it
[907]
yourself
[908]
to do this right click on the component
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and pick the option for edit component
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then use sketchup's drawing and editing
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tools to make the changes you need
[917]
now as you build your own components or
[919]
find quality ones on the warehouse one
[921]
thing i always recommend is to collect
[923]
the best ones into a library to use on
[925]
future projects to save you some time we
[928]
put together a starter library for you
[930]
and put a link to it in the notes along
[931]
with directions on how to use it
[933]
whether you find symbols on the 3d
[935]
warehouse or you use the ones we've
[937]
created for you remember to organize the
[939]
components on layers as you go
[941]
this will save you a ton of time and
[943]
frustration later if you need to create
[944]
different views or try out different
[946]
schemes with your floor plan
[948]
alright you have all your 2d symbol
[950]
components in place
[952]
now you're ready for the last step
[954]
number seven style your plan for
[956]
presentation
[957]
at this point you're ready to take your
[959]
floor plan in any number of directions
[962]
perhaps you'll want to add some colors
[963]
or materials to liven it up
[965]
maybe you'll want to take it into layout
[967]
where you can easily add a title block
[969]
labels or dimensions
[971]
or maybe you're ready to start building
[973]
in 3d we cover all those things in the
[975]
courses on our website and while it's
[977]
too much to get into for this video here
[979]
are a few fundamentals you should know
[981]
to get your floor plan ready to present
[982]
to a client or colleague
[984]
first unless you're adding color and
[986]
materials you're likely to want your
[988]
floor plan to be black and white
[990]
to make that change you need to use the
[991]
styles feature
[993]
open your styles dialog mac users will
[995]
find it under the window menu while pc
[998]
users will find it in the default tray
[1000]
click on the edit tab
[1002]
click on the second box for face style
[1004]
then click on the second box for hidden
[1006]
line
[1007]
this will turn everything black and
[1008]
white
[1009]
while you're in the styles dialog you
[1011]
can also click on the first box for edge
[1013]
styles and see if things like extension
[1016]
end points or even jitter are helpful
[1018]
for presenting a more preliminary rough
[1020]
sketch type of a look
[1021]
once you've settled on a style you may
[1023]
also want to hide the axes
[1025]
to do that go to your top menu select
[1028]
view and click on axes to turn them off
[1031]
now that everything is looking like you
[1033]
want it be sure to save a scene first
[1035]
zoom and pan to get a good view then
[1038]
open your scenes dialog mac users will
[1040]
find it under the window menu option
[1042]
while pc users will find it in their
[1044]
default tray
[1046]
in the scenes dialog click the plus icon
[1049]
and name the scene
[1050]
now you can get back to that exact view
[1052]
anytime you need
[1054]
and of course your final step will be to
[1056]
export an image or pdf of your floor
[1059]
plan
[1060]
to do that go to file export 2d graphic
[1064]
pick the format type you want
[1066]
name it and click export
[1069]
know that image files like jpegs will be
[1071]
rasterized or have a set pixel dimension
[1074]
which means that the line work may not
[1076]
be crisp depending on how you plan to
[1078]
size and present the final image
[1080]
pdfs will be vector files which will
[1083]
show crisp line work at any size
[1086]
and that's it congratulations you made
[1089]
it through all seven steps to create
[1090]
your first floor plan in sketchup
[1093]
did you learn something new in this
[1094]
video do me a quick favor and tell us
[1096]
which tip you like the most in the
[1098]
comments below right now or just let us
[1100]
know you like the video by giving it a
[1102]
like
[1102]
by watching this video you've already
[1104]
done your future self a huge favor and
[1106]
gotten yourself started down the right
[1108]
path
[1108]
from here it's definitely possible to
[1110]
learn everything on your own however if
[1113]
you want to invest your time wisely and
[1114]
avoid picking up bad habits then i
[1116]
recommend checking out our video course
[1118]
library it's filled with 8 700 worth of
[1121]
sketchup courses exclusively for
[1123]
professionals including our sketchup for
[1125]
interiors course
[1127]
head over to our sketchup school website
[1128]
and try our courses for free
[1130]
and if you're not ready to try one of
[1132]
our courses right now make sure to at
[1134]
least review what you learned in this
[1135]
video right away
[1136]
i put together some notes that make it
[1138]
easy to review everything we've covered
[1140]
i put a link to them in the cards oh and
[1143]
one last thing if you don't want to miss
[1145]
our next video make sure to subscribe to
[1147]
our youtube channel right now
[1149]
just click on the subscribe button below
[1150]
this video until next time happy
[1153]
sketching
[1155]
and that's it congratulations
[1158]
okay it's so simplified for the
[1161]
simplified floor
[1168]
we found my new kryptonite
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