Scenes and Animations

Your SketchUp file can contain one or more scenes. A scene consists of your model and a series of scene-specific settings, such as a specific point of view, shadow, display setting, and section cut. For example you can have your model on one scene with a morning shadow and on another scene with your model and a evening shadow. Then, use the animation feature of SketchUp to cycle through the scenes and watch the shadow transition from morning to evening (this is called a shadow study). Link several scenes together, each with different settings, to form a animated tour of your model. Activate the Scene Manager from the Window menu to add, delete, and update scenes.

Animations

Animations are used to gradually transition the model from one state, in one scene, to another state in another scene.

Running an Animation

SketchUp contains controls for starting, stopping, and pausing an animation. To run an animation:

1. Select the View > Animation > Play menu item. The animation controls are displayed and the animation starts to cycle through your scenes.
2. Press the Pause button to pause the animation.
3. Press the Stop button to stop the animation.

Note - You can also context-click on a scene tab and select Play Animation to begin an animation

Saving an Animation

SketchUp animations can be exported as a video animation, or series of progressive raster images, using the File > Export > Animation menu item. Refer to Animation Export Options for further information.

= Functionality only available in SketchUp Pro