Copy and paste, one of the best time saving features available in computer programs, works just as you'd expect in SketchUp. You can copy and paste inside a model or between SketchUp models. Using the power of components, you can also easily reuse SketchUp models between modeling sessions.

As you're likely well aware, the Internet has taken copy and paste to the next level with file sharing sites. Much like people use social websites like Instagram to show off their photos, model sharing websites allow 3D modelers to showcase their work. What's more, model sharing sites enable other users to download and remix models, keeping track of the model's popularity with features such as likes and a download counter.

While it's certainly good to have the skills to model anything you want to 3D print, you can often save time by downloading an existing 3D model. Since commonly shared .STL models are meshes much like SketchUp models, SketchUp works well with them and is one of the best ways to edit existing models in the .STL format. You can resize models beyond simple scaling, combine models, or extract a feature for using in another project.

In this chapter, we'll look at best practices of reusing our own models, and how to work with models downloaded from the Internet.

Leveraging SketchUp components to save time

Picture this—Sal has a small business providing customized iPhone cases. He takes orders to print customer's names on a phone case in a color of their choice.

To create a quality case, Sal precisely measured his own iPhone with a pair of calipers, noting overall dimensions and locations of features like the power jack, volume buttons, and the camera. From this data, he modeled a case in SketchUp, printed it, and tested it for fit. The first case was a bit too tight, so he increased the dimensions in SketchUp and tested the print again. After 4 iterations between SketchUp and the printed part, the case snapped crisply onto his phone, all the openings worked well when plugging his phone in and Sal was happy with the case.

Note

Sal's process of printing, testing, and re-designing until getting the exact result he wanted is typical in product design. This is where having a desktop printer shines, since the wait time for prints shrinks to nearly zero. When he needs higher quality prints, he can still order from a print service like Shapeways or i.materialise.

Saving a model as a Component

After modeling the original phone case, Sal saved it as a Component. Components are similar to Groups in SketchUp, but have a few enhanced properties. These are listed as follows:

• The ability to save a component as a separate SketchUp model
• All the copies of a component in a model are changed when one of them is edited
• The ability to use the Components window to manage Components
• Create and access local collections (on your computer) of components

In the following screenshot, we'll take a closer look at the Components window:

Once you've created a Component in your model, it can be accessed in the Components browser. From here, you can drag-and-drop another copy into your drawing window. In the Components browser, you can also open a second window under the first, and drag models between the windows to save a component you've created to a local collection on your computer.

To try this yourself, simply perform the following steps with a simple box in place of the phone case:

1. Make the phone case into a Component and save it with the name iPhone 5S Blank Case.
2. Click on the In Model button in the Components window to show the phone case component.
3. Toggle the second window so that it is visible.
4. Click on the arrow to the right of the second window, and then open or create a Local Collection. Navigate to a folder.
5. Now, the second window represents the specified folder. Drag the phone case from the top window to the second window. Voilà! The phone is saved to a local collection on your computer.

The next time you need that component, you can open that collection from the Components window and drop it directly into a model.

Another way to save components to a local collection is to simply right-click on the component and select Save as, and navigate to the folder you want to save it to.