1. SketchUp Calculator Level of Difficulty Time
Approximately 25–30 minutes
Photocopiable/digital resources may only be copied by the purchasing institution on a single site and for their own use © ZigZag Education, 2013 

2. By the end of this tutorial you will be able to…
Use the Offset tool
Make and edit components
Copy and make components unique
Make a linear array
Use X-Ray views
Use the 3D Text tool
Scale components
Colour/render your calculator

3. Skills to be used in this project…
Basic Skills
New and Higher Skills
Zoom tool
Offset tool
Orbit tool
Create, Edit and Make Unique components
Pan tool
Move/Copy tool (linear arrays)
Rectangle tool
Tape Measure tool (make guidelines)
Circle tool
X Ray views
Eraser tool
Access and use Large Tool Set
Push/Pull tool
3D Text tool
Scale components
Paint Bucket tool – colour and render
Basic skills are those required to do very basic drawings and are detailed as part of this presentation.
New and higher skills may be new to the novice and are the focus for learning in this presentation.

4. 1. Once you have opened SketchUp, go to Window and select Preferences.
2. Select Template and choose Metric Millimeters-3D. We are using this template because we are doing a product design.
Therefore, on some versions of SketchUp you will need to select Product Design & Woodwork, Millimetres.
Note: It is often necessary to start a new file to use the new template.
Go to File then New.

5. 3. Now select the Rectangle tool
Zooming in:
Your mouse is quite smart!
If you place the cursor over the rectangle and roll the middle wheel, it will zoom in (or out) of that particular area. Very handy!
4. Use the mouse and click to start the bottom left-hand corner of the rectangle and then stretch it out to form the whole shape. Click to finish.
5. Presently, the rectangle is no particular size.
Type ‘50,110’ and press Enter to make its base 50 mm x 110 mm.
The rectangle may look too small to work on now.

6. Some useful tips…
Note: If you make a mistake at any time during this tutorial you can just go to Edit and choose Undo from the drop-down menu, or press the Alt and Backspace keys.
You can use the Orbit tool to change the angle that you are viewing your design from. You can do the same by pressing the middle wheel of your mouse.
You can also use the Pan tool to grab and move your object around the screen.
Alternatively, you can pan by pressing the Shift key and holding down the mouse's middle wheel.

7. 6. Now select the Push/Pull tool.
This is for extruding to make shapes three-dimensional.
7. With the Push/Pull tool, click on the shape you have drawn and it will highlight it in a blue texture.
Move the cursor upwards and it will ‘pull’ the shape up into a 3D form. DO NOT PRESS ENTER.
Type ’10’ and enter to make the box 10 mm high.
The shape should now be a solid similar to this.
The is the start of making the bottom shell of the calculator.
The next thing to do is to hollow it out.

8. 8. Select the Offset tool from the toolbar.
Click on an edge of the rectangle’s top (look for the red dot).
Start to move the cursor towards the middle of the rectangle.
An offset rectangle will appear inside the rectangle.
Type ‘3’ and enter. This has given the shell of the box a thickness of 3 mm.
9. With the Push/Pull tool, select the new inner rectangle and start to push it downwards.
Type ‘9’ and press Enter to form the shell.

9. 10. Use the Select tool to highlight the shell by putting a box around it with the cursor.
11. Now right-click on the shell and a window will pop up.
12. On this pop-up, select Make Component.
We will be able to use this component as a template for something else soon.
13. Another window will pop up. In the Name box call the component Shell and then click on Create to finish the component (for now).

10. 14. At this point, it is best to orientate and move the shell to the left-hand side of the screen using the Pan tool and the middle wheel of the mouse.
15. Select the Move tool from the toolbar and then press and release the Ctrl key. This toggles the Move tool to a Copy tool.
16. Using the mouse, pull the copy of the shell over to the other side of your screen.
17. Select the left-hand shell once again (select tool) and right click on it. A window will pop up. Click on Edit Component.
This allows you to make further changes to the shell.

11. The component will highlight like this for you to work on.
18. At this point it is worth zooming in to the bottom left-hand corner to add the details to the edges.
19. Use the Offset tool to click on the outer edge once again. When the new offset rectangle appears, move it approximately between the two lines of the edge. Type ‘1.5’ and press Enter.
At the present time, any changes that you make to the left-hand shell will also change the right-hand shell.
20. To stop this, for the next two stages, select the left-hand shell, right-click and from the pop-up window choose Make Unique.

12. 22. Use the Push/Pull tool to push the outer edge down by 5 mm.
To finish, right-click and on the pop-up window click on Close Component.
21. To create a lip on the left-hand shell, right click to Edit Component again.
23. Now select the right-hand component. Right-click on it to Edit Component.
24. Like before, use the Push/Pull tool but this time push in the inner edge by 5 mm.
Right-click to Close Component.
Now you are going to assemble the two shells.

13. 25. Use the Select tool to select the right-hand shell once again.
26. Select the Rotate tool from the toolbar and click on one end of the bottom of the shell (1 – look for the purple dot for the endpoint). A green protractor will appear to rotate in the correct plane.
Then click the other end of the bottom of the shell (2 – another purple dot for endpoint).
27. By moving your mouse, you will be able to freely move and rotate the shell.
You must type ‘180’ and Enter to turn the shell right over so it will match up with the other shell. 1 2

14. 28. With the right-hand shell still highlighted, use the Move tool from the toolbar to align and mate the two shells. This can require you to change the viewing position a couple of times to get them properly lined up.
Now you are going to put some buttons for a keypad on the top of the assembled calculator.
29. Select the Tape Measure tool and click on the front corner of the top rectangle.
Move the cursor along the front edge type ’13’ and press Enter. This will make a construction point. 13 35
30. Make further construction points at the points shown.

15. 31. Now use the Line tool to create construction lines across the top of the casing (look for the purple dots and red lines that indicate if your lines are straight and on the edges).
Don’t worry about any odd effects that may occur within the top central rectangle.
Tip: If the line tool will not let go, just press the Esc key.
32. Select the Circle tool and click to place its centre at the intersection of the construction lines.
33. Use the cursor to start to make the circle bigger. Type ‘5’ and Enter to make a 5 mm radius circle here.
34. Use the Eraser tool to remove the lines from the inside of the circle.

16. 35. Use the Push/Pull tool to extrude the circle by 2 mm.
(Press 2 then Enter.)
37. At this point, you are going to change to a see-through view to make placing the buttons a bit easier.
To do this, go to View > Face Style and click on X Ray.
The casing will appear transparent.
36. Use the Select tool to select ONLY this button. It will be highlighted in blue as shown.
Now you are going to create an array of buttons to make the calculator’s keypad.

17. 38. With ONLY the button selected, select the Move tool from the toolbar.
39. Press and release the Ctrl button on the keyboard to toggle it to copy.
The next bit is tricky!
40. Click on the centre of the bottom circle of the button. You will see a purple dot. Tip: It helps if you hover the cursor over the lines of the bottom circle to start with.
41. With the centre selected, drag the copy of the button to the next intersection of construction lines (green dot).
When you click to place it, it will highlight like this.
42. Now type ‘3/’ to get another copy equally spaced.
(The 3 is the number of copies and the ‘/’ is the equal spacing between the two placed buttons.)

18. 43. For now, turn off the X Ray view (View > Face Style > X Ray)
44. Orientate the casing so that you can select each of the four buttons.
You can do this by putting a box around one to highlight it with the Select tool, then with the Shift key of your keyboard pressed you can you can select the other three individually.
45. Now switch back to X Ray view.
46. Use the Move tool and the Ctrl key as before to find the centre of the first button (purple dot) and copy the row of buttons across by locating the next intersection of construction lines.
47. Then type ‘2/’ and enter to form the keypad array.
48. Now you can switch off the X Ray view again.

19. 1 2 4 3
49. Use the Eraser tool to remove the bottom construction lines indicated.
50. Now you can put in some additional buttons if you wish.
51. Using the circle tool, and having located the midpoint at the top edge, I have positioned a 5mm radius circle just above the main array.
52. I have added some 3 and 2 mm radius buttons either side of this, making sure they are all lined up.

20. 53. Having erased the circle’s inner construction lines I have extruded the new buttons by 1 mm.
54. Next, erase all the construction lines.
55. Add some new construction lines as a guide for putting the screen in.
56. Make a 5 mm margin around the top and side edges. 5
57. Use the Rectangle tool to put in a screen using the construction lines.
Leave room at the top for the lettering.
I used the Golden Section for perfect proportions – a type of rectangle whose proportions have been believed to be aesthetically pleasing since the times of the Ancient Greeks.

21. 58. Extrude the screen by 1 mm.
59. Orientate the calculator so that you can see clearly above the screen. This is where you are going to place the lettering. To do this you will need the Large Tool Set.
60. If it is not shown on the left-hand side of your screen as a column of icons then you can get it from the main toolbar under View, then Toolbars and then select Large Tool Set.

22. 61. With the Large Tool Set now in view, select the 3D Text tool.
63. I have centred the letters over the screen.
64. Click on the Select tool to let go of the lettering.
62. A window like this will pop up.
Enter a suitable name for your make of calculator. Let the Align box be set to Centre, and click on Place.

23. The calculator is now ready to colour/render.

24. 65. To render (colour) the calculator select the Paint Bucket tool
65. To render (colour) the calculator select the Paint Bucket tool. A window will pop up like the one below. This is the pallet that you can colour objects with.
66. Select Colors from the drop-down list indicated here.
The cursor will turn into a paint bucket when you move it over the calculator.
67. With your colour selected, simply click on an area to colour in.
68. Here, I selected a Translucent from the Materials list to make the screen see-through.

25. Here is my finished calculator!

26. Extensions:
Try using the 3D Text tool to put the letters onto the buttons.
Construct shapes for the navigation symbols for the other buttons.
Experiment with colours and materials for rendering.
Design a completely different calculator, or similar hand-held device for the future.