Follow Me with Components/Groups in SketchUp

Bonnie Roskes
Independent Writer and Consultant

Like all tools in SketchUp, Follow Me is "sticky" when not used within the context of a component or group. For a good example of this, we will drive a molding along the top of a room. Start with a box and remove the floor, so that you can see the moldings.

Draw a molding section on the outside of the box.

Use the Follow Me tool on this section along the top of the box. This cuts material from the top of the box, but doesn't create a molding inside the box. (This is one feature of "stickness"—the molding section becomes integrated with the box.)

Undo, and select the molding face. Make it a component by using the icon or selecting Edit > Make Component (or right-click on the section and select Make Component). Assign a name and be sure that the Replace selection with component option is checked.

The section now has a bounding box, like it would as a group.

If the Components browser is not open, select Window / Components. Click the In Model icon.

In Model contains the molding section you just created.

To drive this component around the top of the box, first select the top face or the four top edges. Then activate Follow Me. Right-click on the component and select Edit Component.

Select the molding face . . .

. . . and it proceeds along the top face.

.

Right-click outside the molding and select Close Component. (You can also go to Select mode and click outside the component bounding box.) Here is the result from the outside—the box remains closed on top.

In the Components browser, you can see that the component has changed—it used to be a 2D section, now it is the entire molding.

Look up from the bottom—the molding appears on top of the box walls and ceiling.

If you have standard moldings (or other sections) that you use frequently, they should be placed in a component library for easy importing. The edited (3D) molding would still appear in the In Model tab, but the original molding section would be preserved in the library.

You can also use groups instead of components to get the same result.

About the Author

Bonnie Roskes is the author of a number of books on SketchUp, including the recent "Mastering Piranesi: version 4" and "The SketchUp Book: version 5." She is the founder of F1, a technical documentation and training company, which does project work for several CAD/CAM companies such as updating manuals, online help, and creating tutorials. In addition to SketchUp, she has authored books on OneCNC, and Piranesi (soon-to-be released). Bonnie has a BS and MS in structural engineering, and worked for several years in bridge design and analysis before moving to tech writing. She can be reached at: bonnie@f1help.biz.

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