When approaching this project, I wanted to select a wooden building block that would allow me to develop familiarity with the basic 3D solid modeling techniques in SketchUp. The cube is my favorite basic shape so I selected that block. It has a wonderful simplicity to it and I used to draw the isometric view in my notebook when I was bored as a kid. After drawing the block from four points of view, I began to model it in SketchUp. I”m always eager to add new tools to my design skill set and this was my first time using the software. I jumped right in since I am experienced with the Adobe Creative Suite.

I created the block using a combination of the Rectangle and Push/Pull tools. After making the model into a component, I colored it blue (my favorite color) using the Paint Bucket tool. It was a relatively quick process, but a great introduction to SketchUp.

However, I did encounter challenges when creating the multiple-block structure. Using the Move and Rotate tools took some getting used to, as well as constantly relying on the Orbit tool. I set out to make a pinewood derby car model but then it slowly morphed into a mobile structure as I added blocks in different ways. I’m happy with the result. For someone setting out on the project, I’d recommend thinking more abstractly when modeling and to just have fun. Oh and to learn the shortcuts for the Move, Rotate, and Orbit tools because you will use them A LOT.