I used Google Sketch up to make the model of my house. Google sketch up is a 3D modeling tool that

allows the user to create 3D models of buildings and furniture and much more. To begin, I did four tutorials that

taught me how to use the tools on Google Sketch up. This made it much easier to make my house, and I referred

back to them several times throughout the construction of my house. To create my house, I first measured the

dimensions of each wall so I could make the model accurate. I used the rectangle tool to make the base of the

house with the exact dimensions, and then I used the push-pull tool to pull the rectangle up into the third

dimension. After drawing a line across each rectangle where the roof’s point should be, I used the move tool to

move the line up to create the roof. Making the roof was difficult because there are many different roof lines and I

needed to figure out how to make them all fit together. I looked up several tutorials so I could learn how to much

the roof correctly.

            After I had the basic shape of my house, I started to make the windows and doors. To do this I first made a

rectangle that was 38”x 82”. Then I used the offset tool to make the trim around the doors and windows. I was able

to copy and move the windows so I didn’t have to make eighteen of the same windows from scratch. After making

the window, I made it a component so any changes I would make later to the window would be applied to all

windows. I did the same for the doors. The hardest part about this was using the move tool and getting the

windows positioned on the wall and in the correct location. I found the rotate tool to be impossible to use, so when

I had to make windows on a different wall, I either used the scale tool to turn the window inside out (for windows

on the parallel walls), or I would simple remake the window (for windows on adjacent walls). In the long run it

was much faster to remake the window than it was to try to use the rotate tool.

            I made the pillars on the porch by making rectangles and pulling them up to the correct height with the push

pull tool. After I made the first pillar, I made it a component so any changes that I would need to make later on

would be applied to all of the pillars and not just one. This made it much easier because after I’d painted one pillar,

all the other pillars were painted too.

            The most frustrating part of the project was painting it. First, I tried painting the roof without opening the

component. This resulted in the entire house being painted with the shingles pattern. That was not good. After a

few more tries, I realized the component wasn’t open. Once I opened it, I was able to paint each part with little

problem. Sometimes I would try to paint the cement block around the bottom, and it would repaint the entire side

of the house with the cement block pattern. To fix this, I would draw a rectangle around the part that I wanted to be

cement block and paint it. This was an easy fix, but it had me worried for a few minutes that all my hard work had

been for nothing.

           After the house was finished, I added items to the lawn for decoration. First, I needed to make the lawn so I

drew several large rectangles and painted them with the grass pattern. I drew other rectangles to represent the road

we live on and the drive way, the sidewalk and the cement pad behind the back door. Then I used items from the

Google Warehouse to add to my yard. I placed things like trees, a dog, cars, a clothesline, a grill, and a picnic table.

I built a pool not because we have one currently, but because we hope to put up one this summer. I also put corn

fields around my house because we live in the country and are surrounded by corn.

            I enjoyed this project. It was fun to create the model of my house and watch as it started to look more and

more like my house. I would recommend this tool to anyone who wants to make a model of a building or structure

because after you learn how to use it, it is really fun to use.