This last post in the series was a bit of an afterthought – I hadn’t thought to include anything about picture frames. But it seemed a fitting way to wrap up this series, to add a more realistic look to your wall art.
I have a specific way I like to do my frames, which I’ll show here, but there are lots of ways, of course.
To recap, here’s where we were after Part 1 (image import), Part 2 (component alignment), and Part 3 (importing a pre-aligned SketchUp component). We have a room with two painting components which both perfectly align to their walls.
The painting next to the cabinet (with the five musicians) was imported from its own SketchUp file. So I’ll go into that file and show how to add a simple frame to it. Then I’ll show how to replace the frame-less painting with its revised version.
Add the Frame
Here’s the painting in its own file:
I like keeping the frame and painting separate, making them each into their own group, before bringing them back together. The reason I do it this way is that the Offset tool can cause inside faces to reverse, which is annoying to fix. And having the frame in its own group makes for easier color changes later. You might prefer a method with fewer steps, but this works for me.
I’m selecting the bottom face (not the top face) of the picture and copying it into blank space. I’m copying it exactly in the red direction, by a known distance (6 feet, in this case).
On the copied face, I’m using the Offset tool to create a larger rectangle surrounding the image.
Keeping the frame in its default color, I’m pulling it up to the height of the top face of the original painting.
Then I’m pulling it up just a wee bit more, so the frame will be thicker than the painting inside.
Both the original painting and the frame are made into separate groups.
And the frame is moved back, using the same copy direction and distance, in reverse.
Save the revised painting model.
Reload
Go back to the room model, right-click on the painting you want to replace with the framed version, and choose Reload.
Browse to find the framed version of the painting and bring it in.
Here’s what’s nice about a frame that’s in its own group (nested inside a component) – if you wanted to make physical changes to just the frame, you could edit just that group. So I can keep a stockpile of painting models that have default-color simple frames, import the ones I like, and easily try out frame colors that match my room decor.
Here I’ve changed the frame color to match the window frames. I also added a frame to the other painting.
Nice rendering by Twilight:
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Thanks a lot for the tips Bonnie, very usefull
Best Regards
Sandro
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Just great!!!!!!
Thank you Bonnie.
Chris B.