Creating

animations
with Google
SketchUp
+ how to use them with
Adobe Indesign CS5.

Nick Clarke
Lecturer in CAD for Fashion Retailing.
School of Materials.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this
license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a
letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco,
California, 94105, USA.

1
Creating
animations
with Google
SketchUp
+ how to use them with Adobe Indesign CS5.

Contents
Step 1. Setting model Edge, Face & Scene styles .........3
1.1. The Styles Palette

1.2. Setting Edge Style

1.3. Shadows

1.4. Setting Shadows

Step 2. Creating Scenes - Introduction ...............................8

2.1. Creating a new Scene

2.2. Positioning the camera inside your model

Step 3. Exporting the animation ............................................9

3.1a. Exporting the animation - WINDOWS

3.2a. Setting Options-- WINDOWS

3.3a. Exporting the animation - WINDOWS

3b. Exporting the animation - Apple Macintosh

3.1b. Setting Export Options - Apple Macintosh

3.3b. Exporting the animation - Apple Macintosh

Step 4. Preparing animations for Indesign..................

13
4.1 Converting .AVI and .MOV files with Adobe Media Encoder
4.2. Setting the Workspace
4.2. Importing

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Step 1.1. The Styles Palette
SketchUp allows you a great deal of control on how
your model can look by using the settings found in the
VIEW menu under EDGE STYLE and FACE STYLE.
Edge Style defines how the edges of each object look
within any Scene and are defined by the settings found
Fig 4. The
in the STYLES palette which is found in the WINDOWS Styles
Palette
menu. By default the Edge Style is a Plain black line.
The STYLES palette offers a good range of alternative
Edge Styles which can be applied directly onto your model.
These are saved within each saved Scene.

Fig 5. Here the

model Face
Style is the
default setting
found inside
the Styles
palette.

Note the FACE

STYLE setting
in the VIEW

Fig 6. Here the

Face Style has
been set to one
of the Sketch
styles.
Note the FACE
STYLE setting
in the VIEW
menu has been
set to ‘HIDDEN
LINE’.

3
 Fig 7
Step 1.2. Setting Edge Style
Fig 7. Sketch Up’s Edge Style default setting is
to ‘DISPLAY EDGES’

Fig 8

Fig 8. Sketch Up’s Edge Style ‘DISPLAY EDGES’ has been turned
off. Giving the Model a smoother appearance; this improves the
image quality of the animation.

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 Fig 9

Step 1.3. Shadows

Fig 9. You can also set your model to use Shadows which are cast from
sunlight. Sketch Up takes the settings for the casting of shadows from 3
specific pieces of data that you can specify. 1. The Georeferencing position
based on Longitude and Latitude. 2. The Solar North angle. 3. The month
and time of day. Fig 10
Fig 10. To adjust these setting go to the
VIEW menu. Select ANIMATION and then
the sub-menu of SETTINGS. Fig 11.
Fig 11

Fig 12

Fig 12. You can quickly set the

position by picking the country
and City.

Fig 13. Set the date & time using

the Shadow Settings palette. Go Fig 13
to the WINDOW menu and select
‘SHADOW SETTINGS’

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 Fig 9

Step 1.4. Setting Shadows

Fig 9. You can also set your model to use Shadows which are cast from
sunlight. Sketch Up takes the settings for the casting of shadows from 3
specific pieces of data that you can specify. 1. The Georeferencing position
based on Longitude and Latitude. 2. The Solar North angle. 3. The month
and time of day. Fig 10
Fig 10. To adjust these setting go to the
VIEW menu. Select ANIMATION and then
the sub-menu of SETTINGS. Fig 11.
Fig 11

Fig 12

Fig 12. You can quickly set the

position by picking the Country
and City.

Fig 13. Set the date & time using

the Shadow Settings palette. Go Fig 13
to the WINDOW menu and select
‘SHADOW SETTINGS’

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Step 2. Creating Scenes - Introduction
The essence of making great looking animations in SketchUp is to
create a series of views known as SCENES. Each Scene is effectively just
like a scene from a movie set - where you set the camera, its angle,
height and position within your model. You have complete control of the
whole scene just like a movie director has. Once you have created a
number of Scenes, SketchUp works out the movement from scene to
scene and animates all the in-between frames for you. Fig 14

Fig 15

Step 2.1. Creating a new Scene Fig 16

Fig 14. Before you create your
first scene make sure you have You can move
positioned the camera at suitable the position of
Scenes using
position - what ever you see in these up and
your monitor view is what the down arrows.

camera will record. Fig 15. Use

the Camera tools to adjust your Give each
view . These can be found at the Scene a name
this will help
bottom of the Big Tool bar. organize your
Fig 16. From the WINDOW menu animation.
select the SCENES palette. Press Note you can
the + button to Create a new set any of the
Scene. You may get a Dialog box 7 Properties
SketchUp has
shown in Fig 17. Here you have for each Scene.
the option of Saving a new Style
or just doing nothing & continue.
Get into a habit of naming your
scenes. Fig 17

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 Use a
combination of
the hand and
magnifier tools
to help

Use the
Walk tool to
move slowly to a
new position
(hold SHIFT &
you RUN)

Step 2.2. Positioning the camera inside your model Fig 18

Use the LOOK
Fig 18. Once you have created your first scene AROUND EYE tool
carefully navigate to the next camera look around the
camera position
position in your model . Fig 19. When
you select the Walk tool look at the
bottom right of the window. Here you
Fig 19
can adjust the height by typing in the exact amount.
Fig 20. Continue to move to different
positions and create new Scenes as you do
so. Ensure you name each Scene.

Be careful not to
move your camera
through objects or
walls as this will spoil
the overall quality of
Fig 20
the animation. You
can test this by use
the PLAY command

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Step 3. Exporting the animation
Once you are satisfied with each scene and checked the animation
sequence it’s time to export it. The process is virtually the same using a
Apple Macintosh and a PC but many of the dialog boxes and options
appear in different places so Step 4 is in two sections 4a and 4b; 4a (Page
9) is for Windows users and for Mac’ users ( Page 11).

Step 3.1a. Exporting the animation - WINDOWS

Fig’s 21a, 22a, From the FILE menu select EXPORT, sub-menu
ANIMATION. In the FILE NAME field create a name for your animation.
Leave the EXPORT to AVI. Fig’s 21a, 22b.

Step 3.2a. Setting Options Fig 23a

Fig 23a. Click on the OPTIONS button to

access the Animation Export Options.
Here you can set the SIZE, FRAME RATE
(per second) and ASPECT RATIO of the
animation.For test animations you don’t
need to Export using fast frame rates or
a large format size. For Final Animations
use the HD dimensions set inside the
Project brief. Make sure LOOP is not
activated. ENSURE you use 16.9 Aspect
Ratio.

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Step 3.3a. Exporting the animation - WINDOWS
Fig 24a. Once you click OK SketchUp will EXPORT the animation. The
length of time this takes depends upon a number of factors. These
include the following; your PC processor or Duel Processor speed; the
number of OBJECTS in your model, the animation FRAME RATE (more
FPS = more time), and the WIDTH and HEIGHT of your animation.
Fig 25a. Once completed the animation will be saved as an AVI file.
Fig 26a. To view the animation open it inside WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER.
Fig 24a Fig 25a

Fig 26a

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Step 3b. Exporting the animation - Apple Macintosh
Fig’s 21b. From SketchUp FILE menu select EXPORT, sub-menu
Fig 21b
ANIMATION. Fig 22b. In the FILE NAME
field give your animation a name, then
Click the OPTIONS button Fig 22b

Fig 23b

Step 3.1b. Setting Export Options

Fig 23b. Here you can set the SIZE, and
FRAME RATE (fps = frames per second)
For test animations you don’t need to
Export using fast frame rates or a large
format size. For Final Animations use the
HD dimensions set inside the Project
brief. Make sure LOOP is not activated.

Step 3.2b. Setting Expert Options

Fig 24b. Next, Click the EXPERT button.
This option offers many different video
compression types (known as CODECS)
along with a rather confusing version of
the previous dialog box. If you are
rendering a draft animation set the
QUALITY to MEDIUM and use a lower
FPS setting. For Final animations set the
QUALITY slider to HIGH. Keep the
Fig 24b
Compression type to DVCPRO - PAL and
ALWAYS USE 16.9 Aspect Ratio.

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 Fig 25b

Step 3.3b. Exporting the animation - Apple Macintosh

Fig 25b. Once you click OK SketchUp will EXPORT the animation. The
length of time this takes depends upon a number of factors. These
include the following; your PC processor or Duel Processor speed; the
number of OBJECTS in your model, the animation FRAME RATE (more
FPS = more time), the WIDTH and HEIGHT of your animation.
Fig 25b. Once completed the animation will be saved as an .MOV
(QuickTime) file. Fig 26b. To view the animation open it inside
QUICKTIME PLAYER.
Fig 25b

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Step 4. Preparing and importing animations into Adobe Indesign
If you are a Windows user the file format of your animation created by
SketchUp will be .AVI (Audio Video Interleave). The Mac version of
SketchUp creates .MOV files which are in Apple’s own QuickTime format.
Importing either format directly into Indesign is not recommended and
can be problematic. The solution is to use Adobe Media Encoder to
convert the animation files into Indesign’s preferred movie format -
FLASH - FLV/FV4. The process of conversion is identical on Windows and
Macs.
Step 4.1 Converting .AVI and .MOV files with Adobe Media Encoder
Fig 26. Open Adobe Media Encoder and navigate to where you have
stored your animation/s. Media Encoder is designed to convert
animations/videos in batches which means that you can create a bunch
of SketchUp animations and then set Media Encoder to convert in
sequence. Open your .AVI or .MOV file. Fig 27. Press the START QUEUE
button and Media Encoder will convert the file to FLV.FV4 format.
That’s it!

Fig 26 Fig 27

Media Encoder settings

Fig 28. You don’t need to
adjust any of the settings in
Media Encoder but if you
are adventurous you may
want to have a quick look at
the settings Options which
offer some basic editing
facilities.
Fig 28

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 Step 4.2. Setting the Workspace
Fig 29. Once Adobe Media Encoder has completed converting your .AVI
or .MOV file into a FLV/FV4 format you can import this file directly into
Adobe Indesign. Create a new Indesign document and from the WINDOW
menu select WORKSPACE submenu INTERACTIVE. This will place the
complete set of PANELS that are associated with Indesign’s interactive
media features.

Step 4.2. Importing

Fig 30. From the FILE menu select the PLACE option and navigate to
where you have saved the converted FV4 file OPEN the file Fig 31.
Fig 29 Fig 30 Fig 31

Step 4.2. Opening the Media Panel

Fig 32. Once the Indesign has imported the file select the MEDIA Panel
from the INTERACTIVE Workspace. Fig 33. Now you are ready to set up
how the animation can be played using settings inside the MEDIA Panel.
Fig 32 Fig 33

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Step 4.3. Using the Media Panel - setting playback options
Fig 33. The MEDIA Panel is where you can set how the animation is
played back either inside a PDF or Flash/HTML file. These features are
identical on Windows and Mac versions of Indesign CS 5. When any FLV
file is first placed inside Indesign all the settings inside the media panel
will be blank. Fig 34. To make the animation play when the page is
opened select the PLAY ON PAGE LOAD option. Fig 35. It’s critically
important to allow readers of your document to have control over the
animation playback. Indesign allows you to set a playback CONTROLLER
in the form of a ‘SKIN’. There are 17 different types of CONTROLLER
Skins to choose from. So go ahead and experiment; choose one that is the
most appropriate for your presentation.

Fig 33 Fig 34 Fig 35

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Step 4.4a. Advanced playback options - ADOBE FLASH
Fig 36. The MEDIA Panel offers a number of different options which
allow greater control within the animation. Once you’ve selected a
CONTROLLER you can make set it to appear when your reader does a
ROLLOVER mouse movement above it. Select the SHOW CONTROLLER
ON ROLLOVER option. Fig 37. You can also allow readers to navigate
through your animation by setting NAVIGATION POINTS. To create a
Navigation point simply move the play back head (A) to a new point in
the animation and then press the + symbol (B). The name the Navigation
position (C).
Fig 36 Fig 37

(A)

(C)

(B)

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 Step 4.4a. Previewing files : Flash
Fig 38. When you have completed all of your animation playback options
it is critical that you test and preview how your animation plays back
either as a FLASH movie inside a HTML Browser such as Safari, Firefox
or Explorer. Select the PREVIEW Panel and then click on the Panel Menu
button which is situated Top Right of the Panel. Select TEST IN
BROWSER. This will open your default Internet browser (note no
Internet connection is required). You can edit the settings by selecting
EDIT PREVIEW SETTINGS.
Fig 38 Fig 39

Fig 39. The PREVIEW SETTINGS

dialog box allows you to set the
basic previewing options such as
scaling, document background and
transparency. This dialog box will Fig 40

also be show you you EXPORT the

final version of your document.

Fig 40. The ADVANCED PREVIEW

SETTINGS dialog box allows you to
finely tune how Indesign outputs
the final FLASH file. For example
you can export with different
compression settings along with
flattening your Pages to make File
sizes smaller.

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Step 4.4b. Advanced playback options ADOBE PDF
Fig 40. As you would expect the playback options for Interactive PDF are
quite rudimentary compared with Adobe Flash. Open the MEDIA Panel
and click on the PDF Options button (A). A PDF Options dialog box
appears allowing you set the animation to be played in a separate
window (B), its (C) size and position within the PDF page (D)

Fig 41 Fig 42

(D)
(B)
(C)

(A)

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