Before you print a model on a 3D printer, you need to make sure your 3D printer can understand your model data. Here's a quick overview of how to set up your SketchUp model for 3D printing:

In SketchUp, the Watermark feature can place a graphic in front of or behind your model. You can add a watermark for its traditional purpose: inserting a company name and logo into your model. However, watermarks have creative applications, too: inserting a background image to create a unique model setting or overlaying your model with a translucent or cutout image (such as binoculars). To add a watermark to your model, follow these steps:

Previewing a SketchUp model in Google Earth is great way to see how your model looks in the context of its surroundings. You start the process in SketchUp, where you optimize the model for viewing in Google Earth. Because Google Earth and SketchUp models can both use a lot of your graphics card’s processing power, your model needs to be as light as possible.

With SketchUp's Shadows feature, you can make your model cast a basic shadow or see how the sun casts shadows on or around a geolocated model. When you're casting real-world shadows, SketchUp's calculations are based on the following:

Imagine shrinking into a tiny person and jumping into your computer to check out (or show off) your 3D models. That's basically what SketchUp's walkthrough tools enable you to do. But instead of altering your entire body composition, you just click a few tools - namely the Position Camera, Look Around, and Walk tools. Tip: Remember that SketchUp uses the metaphor of a camera to change how you see your model. Here's how each tool enables you to tour your model:

In SketchUp, section planes cut a model along a plane so that you can peer inside the model - without moving or hiding any geometry. In a 3D model, an active section plane hides everything on one side of the plane, as shown in the following figure. You can use section planes for all types of applications:

SketchUp contains a Ruby application programming interface (API) for users who are familiar with (or want to learn) Ruby scripting and want to extend the functionality of SketchUp. With the API, you can create tools, menu items, and other plugins, such as automated component generators, to be included in the menus within SketchUp. In addition to the API, SketchUp also includes a Ruby console, which is an environment where you can experiment with Ruby commands or methods.

Like all SketchUp users, you want SketchUp to be fast. Whatever your experience level or modeling style, the way you model impacts SketchUp's performance, and this article explains how to create 3D models in ways that optimize performance. Behind the scenes, you can check how your computer stacks up against SketchUp's requirements. And tucked into SketchUp's preferences, you find a few settings that might also boost performance.

Drawing 3D models in SketchUp requires a lot of back and forth between your keyboard and mouse. As you become a more experienced SketchUp modeler, you develop a sense of what commands and tools you use most often and what you do and don't like about the default keyboard and mouse settings.

In SketchUp, you can set a few preferences for how the software works overall and how files are saved. To access these preferences, select Window > Preferences (Windows) or SketchUp > Preferences (MacOS) from the menu bar. Most of these preferences are on the General pane, which you click in the sidebar on the left. As shown in the following figure, your options include Saving preferences at the top and Software Updates preferences at the bottom.