How To Use Sketchup Free For Floor Plan

[Cris Luczak]

Somepeople think that when you create a model in Sketchup, it needs to be a big complex monster model in order for it to be anything of value. But a lot of times I find I can use Sketchup to solve little problems very quickly and effectively.

For example, I recently installed new flooring in my house, and I needed to calculate the square footage of the rooms I needed flooring in. In a typical room this is fairly easy. You measure the width and length of the room, and multiply them together to get the area.

But in my case, I needed to calculate the area of my living room that is open to my kitchen so I had a lot of funny corners and cabinets to measure around. Then the task of figuring out the area meant trying to split up the dimensions into logical squares so I could easily calculate the square footage; It was starting to look like a homework assignment from back in high school. Instead, I turned to Sketchup to draw my floor plan.

So just start at one corner of your model with the line tool and start drawing. Click once to start the line, then drag your mouse over until you lock into the axis you want. To start your floor plan, you would do this:

When you get back to your starting point, things might not line up just perfectly. You will probably find that you are off by a few inches or so depending on how precise your measurements were, and how squarely you house was built. Check you measurements if you think you made a mistake, but you can also make a small adjustment somewhere in order to keep your Sketchup model square.

This is a great example of how to use Sketchup to solve a problem quickly, without getting fancy or complicated with your model. Could I have drawn 3D walls, and the kitchen cabinets, and the doors, etc? Yes. But would it have provided any more value to me in calculating the area of the floor? No.

Hi there

I have been provided a Sketchup file model to work with for a house, but as I dont have a Sketchup licence im not able to convert or export the file into more helpful file types

Is there a way I can import a Sketchup file to at least generate a floor plan? in Archicad

when importing the file, going to plan view doesnt give me anywhere close to anything resembling a plan

just a large cumbersome single object

from what i can gather it seems like an overly cumbersome process so far, might be quicker to measure the model in the free sketchup viewer and remodel the entire thing from scratch in Archicad

does anyone have any helpful ideas?

The model will be exploded into Morph surfaces... with hotspots at all useful boundaries. You can now select elements and place them into layers so that you have layer control to work on what you want (or delete things you don't want). E.g., put ceilings in a ceiling layer, walls in a wall layer, etc.

If you need to use it as a base for the model, the reference points in general are useful as the reference points for the building of the model

This is a recording of a VERY good stream by ContraBIM on the topic

Hello! I want to create some floor plans with sketchup and enscape. when I look at this floor plan with the section function and want to render with Enscape, I always see the shadow from the roof or ceiling, although it shouldn't be visible!? can someone help please?!

Currently, and most likely in the future, this behavior is normal and to be expected. Unfortunately, Enscape only receives the geometry data of the entire uncut scene so to speak from SketchUp itself, which is why these open sections/cuts can not let any light. The only workaround, for now, would be to remodel the scene accordingly, but I know this is not an ideal solution of course.

I have to say that it's really anything but ideal and I can't understand why this function isn't offered. I hope that this will be possible in the next version of Enscape, otherwise I will have to change the program..

I wish this would be something we could easily fix as well, but unfortunately, our hands are tied here - Alongside I am not sure if any other rendering solution out there (be it offline or real-time) is able to work around this limitation. It would be sad to see you go of course, but I can already tell you that this is not something we'll be able to resolve with our next version of Enscape.

In this tutorial, I will explain how to draw a floor plan in SketchUp accurately and to scale from measurements taken on site of an existing space. I will demonstrate the technique I use with measurements I took of the floor plan from my own house.

But first I should probably explain how I measure. I start by using my trusty laser tool to measure the overall dimensions of the rooms. Then I go back and add details for all of the openings and any other elements. For windows and doors, I dimension to the opening from the nearest wall or opening. I also (usually) record the exterior width of the casing. I note the sill height and header height for windows.

If you want to follow along, here are the dimensions of the interior walls in a format that might be a little bit easier to read. You can click the image to make it bigger or save it to your computer.

I click Zoom Extents so I can see the entire plan again. Now, when I click on any of the edges or the face of the walls, all of the edges turn blue but there are no dotted lines on the face. I also see a blue box surrounding all of the walls in the group.

2. The next step involves intersecting the geometry, but before doing this, make sure all parts of your model are not grouped, but that the cutting plane you drew earlier is in a group. Now select all of the model geometry, and intersect the faces with the model (right click > intersect faces > with model). This will draw a line anywhere the plane cuts through the model.

Tip: Since this technique is not restricted to just one cutting plane, you can use as many as you want to create stepped-sections (when parts of the model are cut through in different areas). Example here (profile view of a cut of a floor plan)

5. Center the model in the view, and then go to file > export > 2d graphic, and select AutoCAD DWG file in the export type drop-down menu. You may have to adjust the AutoCAD version in the options menu depending on which one you have installed. Make sure that the full scale option is checked, assuming you want the scale of the drawing to stay the same when exported.

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You see, SketchUp has an amazing user-friendly and intuitive interface. Which means that once you've taken my online SketchUp courses for Interior Design, and have become familiar with its various functions and drawing tools; YOU'LL be able to create floor plans in under 10 minutes too!

Check out my video, where I've put my money where my mouth is! I've increased the speed of the video for convenience, but I also included a Stopwatch during the recording, for anyone who is a doubting Thomas!

Make 2017 the year that you CONQUER SketchUp, for the ultimate benefit of your business, whether you are an Interior Designer, an Interior Design student, an Interior Stylist, or a Homestaging professional.

Join our Facebook Group to stay updated on the launch of our new SketchUp online learning platform for Interior Designers >>> or register with the online learning platform FOR FREE in advance of the big launch >>>

Draw Interior Walls. Using the same method you did to draw the floor outline, trace the interior walls. Make sure to use whole number increments unless you have the exact measurements.

Extrude Walls. When all of your walls are drawn, you can use the push/pull tool to extrude them up. A typical floor to floor height is 8 feet, so use this measurement if you are unsure of how tall the walls are.

From the 3D view, draw a line across the bottom of the windows to create the sill height. Then, use the eraser tool to get rid of the bottom lines. Use the push/pull tool to push the windows all the way through to create an opening.

Now that you have your finished floor plan to 3D model, you can begin adding doors, windows, and appliances. You can use the 3D Warehouse or your own models. Be sure to check out the rest of our Sketchup tutorials for more great tips!

SketchUp and RoomSketcher are two notable floor plan software solutions that cater to both professional and personal users. After extensively using and evaluating both tools, we found that although they share some similarities, there are significant differences that distinguish them from each other. This article aims to assist you in determining the tool that aligns best with your requirements by providing a comprehensive comparison of their distinctive features and advantages.

Customers appreciate RoomSketcher for its friendly and intuitive user interface (UI). RoomSketcher is specifically designed for floor planning and home design, which makes it outstanding in terms of speed, functionality, and ease of use. The learning curve is short, as the most-used features are thoughtfully arranged and easily accessible.

RoomSketcher offers unmatched flexibility when it comes to creating floor plans. You can draw floor plans on your computer or tablet, start with a pre-designed template, import blueprints to trace over, or order floor plans from the redraw service with next-business-day delivery.

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