Designing a Space of Your Own

Getting Started Instructions
Software Based Project # 475

Instructions for Skill Levels 1, 2, 3 & 4

Skill Level 1
Draw a Bedroom

Step 1: Open the software

1. Open the Punch! 5 in 1 Home Design software. If you do not know how to open it, ask your project leader.

2. Once the software has opened, a new drawing area appears.

Step 2: Draw walls in a floor plan view

1. Left click on the “wall” icon at the upper left of the toolbar, under the word “file.” Now that you have selected this tool, you are ready to draw the walls.

2. To draw a wall, left click and drag the left mouse button. Note that as you draw, the length of your wall is displayed. Create a room that is 18’ wide by 20’ long.

3. If you make a mistake with the length of your wall, don’t worry. Left click on the “select” tool – the “arrow” icon at the top of the left tool bar. Left click on the wall to select it. Do you see the orange squares at either end of the wall? If you left click and hold one of these, you can change the length of your wall. Again, the software will give you the dimensions as they change.

4. When you create your floor plan, don’t worry about placing the cursor exactly at the corner where you will join walls. The software will do this for you if you are close to the corner.

Step 3: Add a door

1. Left click on the “door” icon on the upper toolbar, just to the right of the “wall” icon.

2. On the far right side of the screen, you will see a “door” drop-down menu appear.

3. Left click on the down arrow next to “doors” to bring up the menu of door types from which you can choose.

4. Since you are drawing a room, select one of the “interior doors” options.

5. Left click and drag the door onto a wall.

6. See the orange arc? This allows you to set the direction of the door’s swing. The arc moves a total of 360° so that you can choose which side the door is hinged on and whether it will open into or out of the room.

7. The software shows the dimension from the nearest corner to the center of your door opening.

8. Remember that if you are using “universal design” concepts, the door must be a minimum of 3’ wide in order for a wheelchair to pass through it.

9. For fire safety reasons, it is best to have a door to swing into the room.

Step 4: Add windows

1. Left click on the “window” icon, just to the right of the “door” icon.

2. A “windows” menu will appear on the far right side of the screen.

3. Left click on the arrow next to “windows” to see the full range of choices available.

4. Double hung windows slide up and down. Casement windows swing outward.

5. Select a window by left clicking and holding the mouse button. Drag it to a wall on your floor plan.

6. The software shows the dimension from the nearest corner to the center of the window.

7. When placing your windows, try to imagine where furniture might go in your room. Are the windows placed awkwardly, making it difficult to arrange furniture later?

Step 5: Add furniture

1. Left click the “furniture” icon, which is the button with a picture of a chair on it. It is located 5th from the right side of the top toolbar.

2. An “objects” menu will appear on the far right side of the screen.

3. Left click on the arrow next to “objects” to see a full range of room choices available. For instance, you can add bath or living room furniture. For this project, select “bedroom.”

4. Left click and hold the mouse button. Drag the furniture you like into the center of your floor plan. Don’t worry about placing them exactly where they need to go. You can always rearrange them later.

5. Have you noticed the difference between viewing furniture in the menu vs. the floor plan? In the menu, you see a perspective view – the way the furniture would look if you were walking around. Once you place it into the floor plan you see it in plan view – the way it would look if you were flying over your room.

6. To move furniture, use the “select” (arrow) tool and left click on the piece of furniture you’d like to move. Orange boxes will appear at the corners of the furniture. You can change the size of the furniture by left clicking and dragging a box, or you can simply move the furniture by left clicking and dragging inside it.

Skill Level 2
Beyond the Floor Plan
Now that you have used the software, you are familiar with the basic tools for drawing a floor plan. It is time to explore on your own and add to the room you have drawn. The next step is to create a floor plan for an entire house. Add rooms such as bathrooms, closets, living and dining rooms, and a kitchen. As you do this, think about how one room flows into the next. Does your floor plan make sense? Would it be a good or bad idea to place a bedroom next to a kitchen, or should it be placed farther away? Should a garage be included? If so, should it be attached to the house or separate from it?
 

Be sure to look at other floor plans on the Internet to give you ideas about creating your home. Access the website for this project to learn about how to view floor plans online. Once you have completed your floor plan, use the software to add a roof, a deck, or even another floor – the sky’s the limit!

Skill Level 3
Landscaping and Exterior Elevations
A house isn’t really a “home” without all the things on the outside that make it unique and attractive to both the owner and any future buyers. Continuing to use the software, explore options in creating a landscaping plan. Remember that what attracts people to any home is its “curb appeal,” or the front of the house as seen from the street. Add trees and shrubbery around the house. Note that when you do this, the software gives you the option to see the plant growth at different stages. After you have added trees or shrubbery, look for the icon on the lower left to show you how to age-progress what you have selected. Consider adding fencing. Should you fence both the front and back yards, only one yard, or have no fencing at all? Would pathways be a good idea? How about using the “topography” icon to add visual interest?

Use the “live view” icons to see how your home will look three-dimensionally. Explore a walk-through or fly-around view to see it from all sides. Add textures and colors to represent paint and interior and exterior finishes.

Skill Level 4
Create a three-dimensional model using Google™ Sketchup®
If you would like to learn about software that architects and designers use to show clients their design concepts, you can download (for FREE!) software to help you accomplish this. Ask your project leader about downloading software before you do so. If you have a slow Internet connection, your project leader can contact Lisa Hamilton-Hill at 573.882.3239 or lah34a@missouri.edu to get a copy of Google™ Sketchup® on a CD that can then be installed on your computer. Once installed, you can import your floor plan into Google™ Sketchup® and create a three-dimensional model of it.

Creating a floor plan using Google™ Sketchup® can be a bit tricky. Be sure to place your drawing field in the “top” view before you begin. The “line” and “offset” tools are valuable for creating floor plans. Once you have drawn your plan, you can then place your drawing in the "iso" view and use the other tools to bring up the walls and begin to create your 3-D model. If you would rather draw a floor plan using other software, be sure it saves files using either the *.dwg or *.dxf extensions. Ask your project leader if you aren’t sure if the software you used to draw your floor plan will save it as one of these types of files. If you used Punch! 5 in 1 Home Design software, you can save your floor plan as the proper file type.

Guidelines for using Google™ Sketchup® appear below. Many of the more common tools are briefly explained here. To get a feel for the software, it is recommended that you create a rectangle then push-pull it to change its height and/or width.
Hint: This is a good way to make the basic “box” that will eventually become your 3-D model building.

Rectangle Tool
Click and drag to pull up or down
Click to finish

Orbit Tool
Click and drag to change views
With a 3-button mouse: Press and hold wheel to orbit

Pan Tool
Click and drag
Can view underside of drawing
With a 3-button mouse: Press wheel + shift to pan

Zoom Tool
Click and drag up or down to zoom in and out
With a 3-button mouse: Roll wheel to zoom

Axes
Blue = vertical
Red & Green = ground plane

Line Tool
Click and drag to draw a line
Click to finish
Dotted line appears when lined up with starting point
Note axes directions when drawing a line

Inferences
Push-Pull can be done when cursor is not on a surface, but the surface must be selected
Helps line up with other geometry
Pull up, hover over surface of other geometry, click to line up

Dimensions
Appear at the bottom right in the “value control box” (VCB)
Can type in dimensions for greatest accuracy

Arc Tool
Click on edge, click on another edge, move cursor and click again to finish
Push-Pull to cut away

Circle Tool
Click and pull, then click to finish
Can type radius dimension in VCB

Offset Tool
Hover and click on surface to move edges in or out – do not let edges overlap
Only works on flat surfaces (cannot offset a curve)

Paint Bucket Tool
Pick color and click surface to paint
Explore drop-down menus for materials

Move Tool
Hover over group
Four red tick marks are shown
Use tick marks to rotate (angle snaps default to 15°; can type angle in VCB)

Note: When entering information into the Value Control Box (VCB), the cursor will not blink when you click on the box. In fact, you don’t need to place your cursor into the box to enter dimensions – just type them in and watch them change!

More Information
Try the links and documents below to answer your questions about Google™ Sketchup®. Also be sure to try the additional activities shown once you have finished your model:

Google™ Sketchup® Help Group: You must be a member to post here, but anyone is allowed to read questions and answers. http://groups.google.com/group/sketchup

Online Google™ Sketchup® User’s Guide: Whether you’re just getting started or an old pro, this guide will help you navigate through questions about Google™ Sketchup®. If you are a beginner, click on “Concepts” to get a jump start! http://download.sketchup.com/OnlineDoc/gsu_win/
GoogleSketchUpHelp.htm

Quick Reference Card in PDF: Print off this handy guide to all the tools you’ll need to create and share your 3-D model. Open the Google™ Sketchup® software and click on “Help” then “Quick Reference.”

Self-Paced Tutorials: You will need Internet access to view the tutorials. Open the software and follow along as the tutorials guide you through the step-by-step process of learning Google™ Sketchup®. Click “Help” then “Self-Paced Tutorials” for more information.

Share Your 3-D Model: Visit the Google™ 3D Warehouse to upload the model you’ve created, or to download models others have shared. For a fun activity, try downloading someone else’s model into Google™ Sketchup® and make changes to it.
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse

Place Your 3-D Model on the Earth: Once you have finished your 3D model, you can choose from many places on the planet that have been mapped at Google™ Earth. How would your model look if it were in downtown Chicago, on the Australian coastline, or even the Galapagos Islands? You can find instructions for putting a model onto Google™ Earth in the Google™ Sketchup® software.
http://earth.google.com

Lisa Hamilton-Hill, designer, graduate student, Department of Architectural Studies,College of Human Environmental Sciences
Department of Architectural Studies