SketchUp for Woodworking - Google SketchUp Workshop: Modeling, Visualizing, and Illustrating - page 136

Scenes (for saving views of the model that create the final documentation
package)
Intersect (used to join odd-shaped or curved pieces or to make cabriole legs)
Follow Me tool (creates turnings and molding shapes along a path)

Step 1: Designing the Complex Gothic-Style Cornice
Molding for the Bookcase

Goals : To determine all the components required to assemble the mold-
ing and define how these pieces fit together.
Inputs : The limited orthographic front and side views provided in the
reference topic.
Tool : Only SketchUp.

The beauty and complexity of this cornice is one of the reasons I wanted to
build this piece. I had not built a construction like this previously , and was
curious and motivated to try it. My first step was to reproduce the molding
shape by tracing over the scanned image. I used a combination of the line and
arc tools to trace over the image. Multiple connected arcs were required to
match the shapes. SketchUp conveniently tells you when the connected arc
is tangent to the previous arc by turning a cyan color. Connecting the right
shapes together is sometimes an iterative trial-and-error process.

The first step in recreating this cornice is to make a profile face of the molding
shape. The image in Figure 8.1 shows the results of this first step.

FiG 8.1 Profile face of the molding shape.