Creating a Model in Sketchup

This guide uses Sketchup to create the wizard models.

Setting up

select the man by left-clicking it and press 'delete' key to remove it.

Creating a model

Press 'R' on the keyboard to select the shapes tool.

Draw a shape by left clicking on the ground and drag to the desired sizes. Reclick to confirm the size. To avoid shifting, hold 'shift' key to lock the interfaces. Note: It is easier to adjust the size and direction by drawing on the ground instead of the air.

Using orbit (O button) and pan (H button) to rotate the angle of view, click pull/push (P button) to pull the 2d shape into a 3d model. The model can be reshaped by pulling or pushing the faces.

Measuring

use ** tape measurement tool (T button)** to measure the length. Click on the starting point of measurement, move the cursor, and click on the ending point of measurement. The measurement is displayed at the bottom right corner of the program.

Drawing lines

use lines(L button) to draw a line by left-clicking the start point and end point.

Colouring models

use paint bucket (B button) to paint the model by selection color on the material tab. Choose the color and left click on the faces to paint.

Moving models

• Selecting model as a whole * use select (Spacebar button) to select the model by left-clicking and select the model in the area. Note: By holding left click to select, everything in the viewing axis, including the model directly behind the selected one will be selected.

• Selecting model by part * use select (Spacebar button) to select a single part by left-clicking the faces or lines on the model. to select multiple parts, hold 'shift' and click on each part.

Click move (M button) and use the left click to move the selected model. Left click the selected part and move them toward the new location until a red, green, or blue dotted line appears. (color of line is base on axis moved) Hold 'shift' button to lock on the angle of movement and move toward the new location.

Make group

To ease the moving of models, go to 'edit > make group' after selecting all the parts.

Rotating models

Select the whole model with select (Spacebar button) and press 'Rotate' (Q button) to select rotate tool. left click on the faces that going to rotate and drag the point to set the rotation plane. Reclick to set the center of rotation. Move the cursor to the desired rotation and click to complete rotation.

Converting 3D Model to Sprites

Export the file in .3ds format (File > Export > 3D Models > save as .3ds)

The 3D model is then converted into sprites in Blender, using this step-by-step guide: Converting 3D Models to Sprites