Visualization of Historic Landscapes - Google SketchUp Workshop: Modeling, Visualizing, and Illustrating - page 285

FiG 16.4b
For this exercise, the buildings were not modeled in extreme detail; simple
building profiles and the most basic features of windows and doors were
added to give the town a sense of realism. While modeling one house at
a time normally, I found an interesting tip for drawing the roof. I was get-
ting bogged down in trying to scale the roof to make a proper overhang.
After repeatedly modeling many houses, I found a streamlined and efficient
method to do this, which is outlined here:
Starting with the basic block of the house, group just the top face; then using
the Scale tool, scale the eaves as needed to produce the eave of the house. Next,
pull up the offset portion to get it to the proper height. The inference engine
of SketchUp then allows you to find the center of the roof. The Line tool is used
to draw the pitch of the roofline. Now, using the Offset Line option on the front
(triangular) face, you can draw a perfectly symmetrical eave. Line will be needed
to complete the fascia. Finally, use the Push/ Pull tool to carve out the roof and
pediment. These simple steps are roughly illustrated in Figure 16.5a.
FiG 16.5a