In SketchUp, the Watermark feature can place a graphic in front of or behind your model. You can add a watermark for its traditional purpose: inserting a company name and logo into your model. However, watermarks have creative applications, too: inserting a background image to create a unique model setting or overlaying your model with a translucent or cutout image (such as binoculars). To add a watermark to your model, follow these steps:

In SketchUp, you can set a few preferences for how the software works overall and how files are saved. To access these preferences, select Window > Preferences (Windows) or SketchUp > Preferences (MacOS) from the menu bar. Most of these preferences are on the General pane, which you click in the sidebar on the left. As shown in the following figure, your options include Saving preferences at the top and Software Updates preferences at the bottom.

In SketchUp, you can create and edit styles so that you can apply your preferred style settings with a single click. Tip: If you want to develop a sketchy edges style, check out Style Builder. To create a new style, follow these steps:

Your model’s style contains background settings. To customize a model’s background, you can choose the background, sky, and ground colors or use a photo background. In the figure, the background colors make the space rover model appear to be somewhere Mars-like. You could also create a plain white background, if that’s what your model needs. To customize the background colors in your own model, follow these steps:

In the way clothes say something about the people wearing them, SketchUp styles convey information about your model. The sketchy edges style suggests that your model is still a work-in-progress whereas a finished concept might show a full-color mockup of a modern building with transparent window glass and limestone brick, custom paint colors, and a slanted metal roof.

The Soften Edges feature may remind you of a stick of butter or a chocolate bar that got too warm in the sun. In SketchUp, however, the Soften Edges feature does nothing to compromise your model’s structural integrity.

Drawing a model in 3D is different from drawing an image in 2D. This introduction to drawing basics and concepts explains a few ways you can create edges and faces (the basic entities of any SketchUp model). You also discover how the SketchUp inference engine helps you place those lines and faces on your desired axis.

The first time you use SketchUp, you need to sign in to activate your trial or subscription. After you're signed in, the Welcome to SketchUp dialog box appears, as shown here. This dialog box is your starting point for creating a model and appears every time you start SketchUp (unless you choose to turn it off in the SketchUp Preferences dialog box).