Choosing a Style

In the way clothes say something about the people wearing them, SketchUp styles convey information about your model. The sketchy edges style suggests that your model is still a work-in-progress whereas a finished concept might show a full-color mockup of a modern building with transparent window glass and limestone brick, custom paint colors, and a slanted metal roof.

Note: Styles are also included with SketchUp for Web, Go edition. To learn more about the features in SketchUp Go, see SketchUp for Web: Free vs Go.

To add a style to your model the easy way, apply one of many predefined styles to your model. Each predefined style represents a collection of specific settings for the edges, faces, and background. To select and apply a predefined style, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Styles panel in the Default Tray. At the top of the panel that appears, you see the thumbnail, name, and description for the currently selected style.
  2. Click the Select tab (if it's not already selected).
  3. From the Styles Collections drop-down list, select a collection, such as Default Styles, Color Sets, or Sketchy Edges. In the figure, the Color Sets collection is selected.
  4. Click a style thumbnail. The style is applied to your model and the drawing area, as shown in the following figure.

If the predefined styles and collections aren't quite what you need, the Styles panel also includes powerful tools for customizing styles, managing your own collections, and sharing styles:

  • See Customizing a Model's Background with Styles for details about customizing the background colors or using a foreground or background photo.
  • Jump to Creating and Editing a Style to learn about all of SketchUp's edge and face options and how to combine them into a style.
  • You can save multiple styles with your model so that you can switch among them quickly and easily. These are the In Model styles. You can also organize predefined and custom styles into collections, so the style you use most often or for certain projects are in one handy place. See Managing In Model Styles and Collections.
  • When you're collaborating on a project or with a team, you can make sure everyone has access to the same styles. See Sharing Styles for details.

Using Styles in SketchUp for Web

In the way clothes say something about the people wearing them, SketchUp styles convey information about your model. The sketchy edges style suggests that your model is still a work-in-progress whereas a finished concept might show a full-color mockup of a modern building with transparent window glass and limestone brick, custom paint colors, and a slanted metal roof.

Note: Styles are also included with SketchUp for Web, Go edition. To learn more about the features in SketchUp Go, see SketchUp for Web: Free vs Go.

To add a style to your model the easy way, apply one of many predefined styles to your model. Each predefined style represents a collection of specific settings for the edges, faces, and background. To select and apply a predefined style, follow these steps:

  1. Enter the Styles panel from the utility tray on the right side of your screen.
  2. At the top of the panel that appears, you see the thumbnail, name, and description for the currently selected style.
  3. From the Styles Collections drop-down list, select a collection, such as Default Styles, Color Sets, or Sketchy Edges.
  4. Click a thumbnail to select a different style. The style is applied to your model and the drawing area.

If the predefined styles and collections aren't quite what you need, the Styles panel also includes powerful tools for editing and customizing styles.

You can save multiple styles with your model so that you can switch among them quickly and easily. These are the In Model styles. You can see these by clicking the Home icon at the top of the Styles pane.

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