Position Texture Tool

Materials within SketchUp are applied as tiled images meaning that the pattern or image will repeat both vertically and horizontally across any entities you paint. Use the Position Texture Tool to adjust a material on a surface in a number of ways, including repositioning, resizing, and distorting. Additionally, this tool allows you to perform unique actions on images such as painting a picture around a corner or projecting it on a model. Activate the Position Texture Tool from the context menu for a Face entity.

Note - The Position Texture Tool can only be used to modify textures applied to flat surfaces. You cannot edit a texture applied to a curved surface as a whole though you can use the View > Hidden Geometry menu item view and edit the texture on the individual faces that make up the curve's face set.

Note - Normally a texture is a subset of a material. However, the terms material and texture are used interchangeably in this topic.

Repositioning a Material

Repositioning the material is the easiest of position texture operations. To reposition a material:

Context-click on the material to display its context menu.
Select the Position option from the Texture sub-menu. A matrix of dotted lines is displayed on the material to indicate the material's individual tiles. The cursor also changes to a hand and four pins are displayed.
Drag the cursor on the surface to reposition the texture on that surface. If you want to rotate the tiled image, context-click on the surface again and select Rotate or Flip.
When you are finished modifying the texture, context-click and select Done, or just click outside the texture to exit the Position Texture Tool.

Tip - Press the Esc key anytime during editing to reset the material's position to its previous position. Press Esc twice to cancel the entire texture positioning operation. While positioning a texture, you can back up a step at anytime by context-clicking and selecting Undo from the context menu.

Material Positioning Pins

The Position Texture Tool uses pins to manipulate a material. Pins can be moved or dragged. A move operation simply moves the pin to another location on the material. A drag operation performs some manipulation of the material, such as a resize or skew.

The Position Texture Tool has two modes: Fixed Pin Mode and Free Pin Mode.

Manipulating a Material Using Fixed Pin Mode

Fixed pin mode allows you to scale, skew, shear and distort a texture, while constraining or "fixing" one or more pins. Fixed pin mode is best for materials that tile like brick or roofing textures. To manipulate a material using Fixed Pin Mode:

Context-click on the material to display its context menu.
Select the Position option from the Texture submenu. A matrix of dotted lines are displayed on the material to indicate the materials individual tiles. The cursor also changes to a hand and four pins are displayed.
Context-click on the material
Select the Fixed Pins menu item if there is not a check mark next to the item. Colored icons appear next to each pin, each icon representing a specific position texture operation.

Manipulate the material by clicking, holding, and dragging on one of the pins. See Fixed Pin Mode Options in this topic for additional information.

Note - Single-clicking on a pin grabs the pin allowing you to move the pin to a different location on the texture. This new position will be the starting point for any of the fixed pin mode operations. This action works in both Fixed Pin and Free Pin modes.

When you are finished modifying the texture, context-click and select Done, or just click outside the texture to exit the Position Texture Tool.

Fixed Pin Mode Options

Move Icon and Pin: Drag (click and hold) the Move icon or pin to reposition the texture. When you are finished modifying the texture, context-click and select Done, or just click outside the texture to close it. Or you can simply press Return (Enter) when finished.

Scale / Rotate Icon and Pin: The Scale/ Rotate icon or pin is used to scale and rotate the material to any angle, based on the fixed pin location of the move pin. Dragging the cursor closer to, or farther from, the base pin will scale the material. Dragging the pin icon around the base pin causes SketchUp to rotate the material. A dashed arc is created in the direction that you rotate the material. If you hold the cursor over the dashed arc, the material will rotate, but not scale.

Notice that the dots along the dashed lines and arcs show you the current size and the original size of the texture for reference. You can change back to the original size by moving the cursor to the original arc and line. Or you can select Reset from the Context menu. Be forewarned that selecting Reset also resets the rotation as well as the scale.

Scale / Shear Icon and Pin: The Scale/Shear icon or pin is used to simultaneously slant or shear and resize the material. Notice that the two bottom pins are fixed during this operation.

Distort Icon and Pin: The Distort icon or pin is used to perform a perspective correction on the material. This feature is useful for applying image photos to geometry.

Manipulating a Material Using Free Pin Mode

Pins are not constrained to other pins in Free Pin Mode allowing you to drag pins anywhere to distort the material just as you might distort a material as you stretch it over a drum. Free pin mode is best for positioning and removing the distortion from photographs. To manipulate a material using Free Pin Mode:

Context-click on the material to display its context menu.
Select the Position option from the Texture submenu. A matrix of dotted lines are displayed on the material to indicate the materials individual tiles. The cursor also changes to a hand and four pins are displayed.
Context-click on the material
Select the Fixed Pins menu item if there is a check mark next to the item. Four pins appear.

Manipulate the material by clicking, holding, and dragging on one of the pins.

When you are finished modifying the texture, context-click and select Done, or just click outside the texture to exit the Position Texture Tool.

Manipulating a Image as Material Using Free Pin Mode

Free pin mode is especially useful when using an image as the foundation for geometry. For example, you can use a picture containing a door as the foundation for a photo-realistic door in a SketchUp model. To manipulate an image using Free Pin Mode:

Create a rectangular face.
Select the File > Import menu item to insert an image, such as the image of a real door. The Open dialog box is displayed.
Select an image format from the Files of type drop-down list.
Click on the Use as texture radio button.
Select the image file.
Click on the Open button.
The cursor changes to the Paint Bucket Tool with the image.
Click on one corner of the face to place the starting point of the texture.
Drag the cursor away from the starting point so that the texture is resized over the rectangular face.
Click again to place the texture on the rectangular face.
Context-click on the material to display its context menu.
Select the Position option from the Texture submenu. A matrix of dotted lines are displayed on the material to indicate the materials individual tiles. The cursor also changes to a hand and four pins are displayed.
Context-click on the texture
Select the Fixed Pins menu item if there is a check mark next to the item.
Manipulate the material by clicking, holding, and dragging on one of the pins.

When you are finished modifying the texture, context-click and select Done, or just click outside the texture to exit the Position Texture Tool.

Fixed Pin and Free Pin Mode Context Commands

Context-click while using the Position Texture Tool to display the position texture context menu.

Done: The Done menu item is used to exit the Position Texture Tool and save the current texture position.

Reset: The Reset menu item is used to reset the position of the texture to the position prior to using the Position Texture Tool.

Flip: The Flip menu item is used to flip the texture horizontally (Left/Right) or vertically (Up/Down).

Rotate: The Rotate menu item is used to rotate the texture one of three predefined increments: 90, 180, and 270 degrees.

Fixed Pins: The Fixed Pins menu item is used to toggle between Fixed Pin and Free Pin modes.

Undo: The Undo menu item will undo the last position texture command. Unlike the Undo command in the Edit menu, this undo command will only keep track of a single operation at a time.

Redo: The Redo menu item cancels Undo operations, returning you to the texture positioning state previous to using the Undo command.

Caution - The Edit > Undo command and Undo button will Undo everything you did during your texture positioning session. The Edit > Redo operation cancels the Undo Edit > Undo operation, returning you to the last texture positioning command that you performed.

Wrapping Material Around Corners

The texture can be wrapped around a corner, just as you might wrap a package with wrapping paper. To wrap textures around corners:

Create a three-dimensional cube.
Select the File > Import menu item to insert an image.
Select an image format from the Files of type drop-down list.
Select the image file.
Click the Open button. The cursor changes to the Select Tool with the image.
Click in the drawing area to place the starting point of the image.
Drag the cursor away from the starting point so that the image is resized.
Click again to place the image.
Context-click on the image. The Image entity's context menu appears.
Select Use as Material. The image appears in the In Model material library within the Materials Browser.
Select the Paint Bucket Tool. The cursor will change to a paint bucket and the Materials Browser is activated.
Click and hold the Altkey while using the Paint Bucket Tool to change to the eye dropper.
Click on the thumbnail of your image in the In Model material library within the Materials Browser.
Release the Altkey.
Click on a face of your model and paint the material.
Context-click on the material to display its context menu.
Select Texture > Position. Don't position anything!
Context-click again
Select Done from the Position Texture Tool context menu.
Click and hold the Altkey while using the Paint Bucket Tool to change to the eye dropper.
Click on the painted material using the eye dropper to sample the material.
Release the Altkey.
Paint the sampled texture on the remainder of the model. The texture is wrapped around corners.

Wrapping Material Around a Cylinder

A texture can also be wrapped around a cylinder. To wrap a texture, such as an image texture, around a cylinder:

Create a cylinder.
Select the File > Import menu item to insert an image.
Select an image format from the Files of type drop-down list.
Select the image file.
Click the Open button. The cursor changes to the Select Tool with the image.
Click in the drawing area to place the starting point of the image.
Drag the cursor away from the starting point so that the image is resized.
Click again to place the image.
Context-click on the image. The Image entity's context menu appears.
Select Use as Material. The image appears in the In Model material library within the Materials Browser.
Click on the material in the Materials Browser. The cursor changes to the Paint Bucket Tool.
Paint the Material on the cylinder. The material will automatically wrap around the cylinder, repeating itself as necessary to wrap the entire model.

Repositioning a Material on Hidden Geometry

You can adjust textures on a face, such as the faces of a cylinder, and then repaint the adjust texture across the entire curved surface of the cylinder. For example, to adjust a texture on a cylinder:

Create a cylinder.
Select the File > Import menu item to insert an image.
Select an image format from the Files of type drop-down list.
Select the image file.
Click the Open button. The cursor changes to the Select Tool with the image.
Click in the drawing area to place the starting point of the image.
Drag the cursor away from the starting point so that the image is resized.
Click again to place the image.
Context-click on the image. The Image entity's context menu appears.
Select Use as Material. The image appears in the In Model material library within the Materials Browser.
Click on the material in the Materials Browser. The cursor changes to the Paint Bucket Tool.
Paint the Material on the cylinder. The material will automatically wrap around the cylinder, repeating itself as necessary to wrap the entire model.

Select the Display > Hidden Geometry menu item.
Select one of the faces of the cylinder
Context-click on the selected face. The Face entity's context menu appears.
Select the Texture > Position menu item.
Reposition the texture on the face.
Sample the repositioned texture using the eyedropper button on the material browser, or using the Alt key with the Paint Bucket Tool.
Click on Display > Hidden Geometry to turn off Hidden Geometry.
Paint the sampled, repositioned, texture on the remainder of the cylinder. Your texture now appears as though it has been repositioned on the entire cylinder.

Projecting a Material

SketchUp's Texturing Positioning feature also lets you project materials or images onto faces as though projected using a slide projector. This feature is particularly useful if you wish to project a topographic image over a site model, or an image of a building onto a model representing the building. To project an image over a model:

Create a model, such as a cone, topography, or building front. This model will receive the projected image.
Insert an image using File > Import. The cursor changes to the Select Tool with the image.
Place the image in front of the model that will receive the projection.
Size the image so it is large enough to cover the entire model.
Context-click on the image and select Explode to turn the image into a projected texture.

Note - Turn on x-ray display mode for the image to ensure the image is positioned such that it will cover the entire model.

Select the Sample Paint Tool (eyedropper) from the Materials Browser. Notice, when you drag the Sample Paint Tool over the image, a square appears on the tip of the tool. This square indicates that you are in projected texture mode.
Sample the projected texture with the Sample Paint Tool.
Paint the texture onto the faces of the model. The image will appear as though it were projected directly on the faces, adjusting to the contours of model.

SketchUp User Guide (Microsoft Windows): Position Texture Tool