SketchUp
Turning a 2D layout into a massing model a client can actually see — blocks on a site, heights tested against regulation, shadows at 10am in December. The visualisation half of consultancy work, where AutoCAD stops.
Needed across Planner / Senior Planner — Urban & Regional Planning Consultancy
This skill is still in review, so checkout is unavailable.
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Course outline
Learn from selected clips, concept by concept
Concept 1
Drawing in three dimensions for the first time
SketchUp 2026 Beginner Tutorial | Complete Introduction to Interface & 3D Modeling.
ArchitecturalEdge · English · beginner
Why this clip: Demonstrates 3D navigation (orbit, pan, zoom), axis locking, drawing lines, and explains how enclosed edges create faces in SketchUp.
Concept 2
Push/pull: from a footprint to a building
After: interface-and-first-shape
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 3
Modelling to real dimensions, not by eye
After: push-pull
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 4
Groups and components, before the model becomes unusable
After: push-pull
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 5
Bringing the AutoCAD site plan in
After: precision-modelling
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 6
Massing a layout: blocks, heights and FSI
After: importing-cad, groups-and-components
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 7
Putting the model on real ground
After: massing-from-footprints
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 8
Making a massing model readable
After: massing-from-footprints
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 9
Shadow and sun studies
After: site-context-and-terrain
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
Concept 10
Scenes and getting images out
After: shadows-and-sun, materials-and-styles
Video title and channel appear once unlocked.
What was rejected
10 candidates did not meet the course criteria.
- This lesson covers navigation and axes but ends before demonstrating any drawing tools or actual 3D drawing.
- Does not demonstrate extruding from a 2D floorplan outline or assigning a specific numerical height to the extrusion.
- is organic or curved-surface modelling (Subdivision, Artisan)
- places geometry approximately with no accuracy mechanism at all
- mentions grouping without showing the sticky-geometry problem it solves
- Models a single detailed building rather than a site of blocks; or is architectural interior or facade detailing; or is a rendering showcase with no massing logic
- This video is a general technical tutorial on SketchUp's material and texture tools, rather than a guide on using materials to make massing models readable or communicate building uses.
- is interior material and finish selection
- turns shadows on for appearance with no date, time or location set
- is interior daylighting
Where this skill is used
Planner / Senior Planner — Urban & Regional Planning Consultancy
Consultancy work preparing master plans, development plans, town-planning schemes, and area development for government clients and authorities — from boutique planning houses to large multidisciplinary consultancies (incl. L&T and the planning divisions of global engineering firms). The default private destination; campus-recruited. Specialisation tags: Urban, Regional, Urban Design.
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