Watermarking a Model

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:

  1. Select Window > Styles to open the Styles browser.
  2. Select the Edit tab.
  3. Select the Watermark Settings icon (). The Display Watermarks checkbox is selected by default and needs to be selected so that your watermark appears in your model.
  4. Click the Add Watermark icon (). The Choose Watermark dialog box appears.
  5. Navigate to the image saved on your hard drive that you want to insert as a watermark, select the file, and click Open. You can import the following image file types: .jpg, .png, .psd, .tif, .tga, .bmp.
  6. In the Create Watermark dialog box that appears, type a descriptive name for your watermark in the Name box. Select either the Background or Overlay radio button to indicate whether you want the watermark to appear behind or in front of your model. When you’re ready, click Next.
  7. (Optional) On the next pane of the Create Watermark dialog box, select the Create Mask checkbox to create a vignette-like mask of your image. When Create Mask is selected, the white portion of the graphic becomes transparent and black areas use the background color.
  8. (Optional) Click and drag the Blend slider to set how transparent your watermark is. The closer the slider is to the Background side of the slider, the more transparent the watermark appears.
  9. Click Next.
  10. Select a radio button to set your watermark’s position. You can stretch the watermark across the whole screen; tile several instances of the watermark across the screen; or position the watermark in a corner, on an edge, or in the center of the screen.
  11. (Optional) If you stretch your watermark, you can deselect the Lock Aspect Ratio checkbox to distort your image’s dimensions so that the image fits the whole screen. If you tiled or positioned your watermark, you can click and drag the Scale slider to make your watermark larger or smaller than its current size.
  12. Click Finish if you’re done creating your watermark. You can also click Previous to go back and change a selection; click Cancel if you decide you don’t want the watermark after all or to start over.

In the following figure, you see a logo watermark inserted as a background, made somewhat transparent, and positioned in the upper-left corner of the drawing area.

After you create your watermark, you can edit the watermark by following these steps:

  1. Select the watermark in the Styles browser’s list of watermarks.
  2. Click the Edit Watermark Settings icon ().
  3. In the Edit Watermark dialog box that appears, change any options you want to modify. The options you can change include the watermark’s name, masking, blend, positioning, and scale.
  4. Click OK when you’re done editing your watermark.

To delete a watermark, select it in the Styles browser’s list of watermarks and click the Delete Watermark icon ()

Tip: If you have more than one watermark, click the Move Watermark Up () or Move Watermark Down () icon to set how the watermarks are layered in your model.