Don´t be square! Use this tips for working with shapes in Sketchup

You find some of the most interesting stuff when you go back to the basics and learn some cool stuff you can do with some of SketchUp's most basic features. One of those features are the different shapes in the drawing toolbar. But there's way more to this than just squares and circles! Find out how ingenious SketchUp can be by joining lines before you do, and how you can resize shapes to make them completely different.

Brush up on your basics in this quick tutorial and you might just see the simple answer to that very complicated problem you've been having!

Source: SketchupTuts

Controlling Dimensions in Layout

Anyone who wants to take advantage of everything that Layout has to offer in Google SketchUp should learn a bit about controlling dimensions. Using the different dimensions within your model in Google SketchUp, or even using the paper space surrounding the model, it's amazing to see how much you can do. Plus, being able to change, control, and manipulate these dimensions all with just a few clicks and drags of the mouse is pretty cool!

This tutorial will also take you through some things you need to know such as what happens to your dimensions when you're looking at your model in 3D. Definitely a great introduction to the Layout feature in Google SketchUp!

Source: SketchupTuts

Using Components vrs. Groups

Google SketchUp relies on certain attributes to make it the unique and invaluable piece of software that it is! But sometimes, these attributes are a detriment, especially when you're working with objects that are side by side. By placing two objects exactly beside each other, Google SketchUp will automatically detect them as a group.

This means that whenever you move one of the objects, the other object will move along with it. This can be frustrating when you're only wanting to move one of them and not the entire group! This can be easily remedied by making the distinction of one of the objects as a component rather than a group. This will allow you to move one object on its own, and not all of the objects within that group. This tutorial clearly explains the difference of components and groups. So you can get SketchUp working exactly as you need it to!

Source: SketchupTuts