How Do You Make a Flyover in Sketchup?

Creating a flyover in SketchUp can be an exciting and visually stunning way to showcase your architectural designs or urban planning projects. With SketchUp’s powerful tools and intuitive interface, you can easily create a flyover that will impress your clients or audience. In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps to create a flyover in SketchUp, from setting up the scene to adding camera paths and exporting the final animation.

Setting up the Scene

To begin, open SketchUp and create or import the 3D model of your project. Make sure that your model is properly scaled and positioned. You can use SketchUp’s navigation tools like Orbit, Pan, and Zoom to navigate around your model and position it according to your needs.

Adding Camera Paths

Once your scene is set up, it’s time to add camera paths for your flyover. To do this, go to the “Camera” menu and select “Add Scene”.

This will create a new scene with the current view as its camera position. Repeat this step for each camera position you want in your flyover.

To create smooth transitions between scenes, select the first scene in the Scenes dialog box and click on the “Options” button. In the dialog box that appears, enable “Transition Time” and set a duration for each transition. This will define how long it takes for SketchUp to animate from one camera position to another.

Animating the Flyover

With all your scenes set up, it’s time to animate the flyover. In SketchUp, go to “View” > “Animation” > “Settings”. In the dialog box that appears, adjust settings like duration, frame rate, and image size according to your preferences.

To preview your animation, click on the “Play” button in the Animation dialog box. SketchUp will play through each scene, smoothly transitioning between camera positions. You can also use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons to manually navigate through the scenes.

Exporting the Animation

Once you are satisfied with your flyover animation, it’s time to export it. Go to “File” > “Export” > “Animation”.

In the dialog box that appears, choose a file format for your animation, such as AVI or MOV. Set the desired resolution and frame rate, and click on “Export”.

Congratulations! You have successfully created a flyover in SketchUp. Your exported animation can now be shared with others or incorporated into presentations or videos to showcase your design.

Conclusion

Creating a flyover in SketchUp is a powerful way to present your architectural or urban planning projects. By following these steps and utilizing SketchUp’s tools and features, you can create stunning flyovers that will captivate your audience. Remember to experiment with different camera positions, transitions, and animation settings to achieve the desired effect.