Ex. 1. Boot your computer on Windows. Open Google SketchUp. You will see a dialog from where you can watch a tutorial. Click on the button "Start Using SkecthUp Now".

The program will show a 3D scene that is empty for now. Let's try to create a truck with this program. Examine the different views from the Camera menu, Standard Views. Note the 3 axes in colors red, green, and blue, and how they are each aligned in the different views.

Wheels. The wheel will have to be vertically aligned. For this, from the Camera menu, switch to the Standard Views -> Left. Switch to the Circle tool from the toolbar, then draw a cirle of reasonable size. Switch the camera to the Standard Views -> Top. The border of the circle will now look like only a line. With the hand tool from the toolbar, move the whole scene laterally a little bit to see some of the surface. Click on the Extrude tool (Push/Pull) and pull the interior of the circle towards the outside, by an amount that would be a reasonable width for a wheel of the diameter you chose.

Basic controls. Use the scroll button to zoom in and out. Then from the Camera menu, switch to Orbit and see how the click and drag works with it. Try out all the other options in the Camera menu below Orbit. Once you are done exploring it, restore the camera to a setting similar to what you started with.

Let's give this wheel some color. Click on the paint bucket tool, choose a color in the dialog that opens up, then click on the side of the wheel. Then switch the camera to left and paint one of the sides. Switch it to right and paint the other one. When you're done, switch the camera to the Standard view -> Iso. Or just use the orbit tool to get to all the sides of the wheel.

Now we'll make 3 more copies of this wheel using copy and paste. Switch the camera to the Top projection. Click on the selection tool, all the way to the left in the toolbar. Click and drag the mouse on a region around the whole wheel to select all the facets of the wheel. From the Edit menu, choose Make Group. Now this wheel will act as just one object instead of 3.

Click on the wheel to select it, then copy it with Ctrl-C, and paste it with Ctrl-V. Place the new copy somewhere to the right of the first, aligned with it. Make two more copies to the bottom and to the right-bottom. Use the different perspectives for the camera to make sure that the 4 wheels are in the same horizontal plane and reasonably well aligned with each other. Note that switching to the parallel projection in the camera menu will make you see exactly how the objects are aligned on each of the major axes.

Select all the wheels and make a group of them so that you don't have to worry about displacing them while doing other things.

Next we'll create some axles to hold the wheels together. Switch to the left projection and create a small circle to the right of the right-most wheel, along the vertical center axis of the wheels. Switch to the top projection and move the little circle (now just a line) a little ways away form the wheels horizontally. Move the scene laterally using the hand tool until you see the surface of the little circle. Now use the Push/Pull tool to create a cylinder that goes all the way across to the other side of the wheels horizontally.

Paint this cylinder in a different color than the wheels (all 3 sides). Switch to the top projection. Use the Selection pointer and select all 3 surface of the cylinder (just click and drag the mouse around a region) and group them. Now move this cylinder so that it intersects the two closest wheels in the center. Make another copy in the center of the other two wheels. Use the different projections to make sure that the axles are well aligned with the wheels. Tip: by zooming in, you can move the objects with more precision. Make sure to save your project.

Swicth to the Front projection. Draw an even smaller circle in the middle of the axle cylinder. Switch to the top projection and move the scene using the hand tool until you see a little bit of the surface. Use the Push/Pull tool to pull this circle about half way towards the other axle. Select the entire new cylinder and move it so that its start circle is inside the first axle. Now you can simply select the end circle and move it to give the cylinder the desired length. The goal is to get the end circle inside the second axle.

If the cylinder is not completely horizontal, and thus does not end inside the other axle, select the entire cylinder and move it to the left of the wheels. Then switch to the left projection and use the rotation tool to give it the correct orientation. For this tool you need to click once for an anchor point (on the start circle), a second time for a reference point, and then you can move the object around until it gets into place (click to finish the rotation). You can make a group out of this cylinder, then use the top projection to put it back into place. Use the different views to make sure it looks right. You can turn the whole scene into a group now.

The trunk. Switch to the top projection and draw a rectangle that encloses all the wheel and goes a little way off in the back. This will be the main frame of the truck. Switch to the front projection and move this rectangle up to about half way between the axle and the top of the wheels. Without changing the projection, use the Push/Pull tool to create a box out of this rectangle. Switch back to the top projection and create a smaller rectangle a bit inside it. Use the Push/Pull tool to move this rectangle inside the box (creating a hole), stopping short of revealing the top of the wheels. Color this box with a different color than the wheels.

Draw a polygon inside this box that represents approximately the main cabin. Using a different projection, pull this polygon out to make the front of the truck. Use the offset tool in combination with the eraser to create windows on all sides of the truck. Paint the visible inside of the truck in a darker color.

On your own: add any other decoration that you want to the truck.

Save your project. Then choose a projection that you like, and go to File -> Export -> 2D Graphic. Save it as a png image.

Note. You can turn in the files .scp (native format) and the jpeg image for up to 5 points of extra credit.