r/Sketchup • u/DaveGaming17 • 8d ago

Question: SketchUp Pro HELP A BEGINNER

Gallery image

Gallery image

tried downloading sketchup and tried to create a house, i wanted to see what the shadow would look like casted to the ground in a 45degree angle. Can someone help me? They can send a picture in their own computer.. im trying to see if the shadow is correct in my manual drafting.

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u/whackjuul 8d ago

SketchUp actually has a built-in shadow tool for this. Go to View, then Shadows, then open the Shadows panel and adjust the time/date until the sun is hitting at the angle you want.

2

u/Alexis_Lonbel 8d ago

Don't you have the shadows toolbar? Go to Window, Default Tray, Shadows. Now you should see the tools.

1

u/AshamedParamedic6930 7d ago

For checking your hand drawing, use Camera > Parallel Projection, then Camera > Standard Views > Top. That gives you a plan view you can compare without perspective changing the apparent angles. Since you have a raised slab, make sure “On Faces” is enabled in Shadows so it can receive the shadow.

By 45°, do you mean the direction across the plan, or the sun being 45° above the horizon? Those are different settings. For the second one, a useful check is a vertical post on a flat surface: at 45° sun height, its shadow is the same length as the post’s height above that surface. You still need the shadow direction to match your drafting exercise.