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Designing an Analysis Ready Model

When you are ready to perform an analysis there are a few guidelines you can follow to help make sure your results are accurate as possible:  Geolocate your model – Use SketchUp’s Add Location feature to place your model. That location’s latitude and longitude will then be used to provide your analysis data.

Last updated 17 July 2026

When you are ready to perform an analysis there are a few guidelines you can follow to help make sure your results are accurate as possible:

  • Geolocate your model – Use SketchUp’s Add Location feature to place your model. That location’s latitude and longitude will then be used to provide your analysis data.
  • Enclose interior spaces – Analysis modes analyze both the exterior and interior of your models. Make sure your interiors are enclosed by walls and ceilings with a clearly defined floor.
  • Simplify your model – Remove non-essential entities like furniture, fixtures, or other decorative objects that don’t really affect the lighting within your spaces.
  • Include relevant context – Make sure to include objects that cast shadows like neighboring buildings or trees. Make sure those contextual objects use simplified geometry to represent them when possible.

3D Printing a Model

Before you print a model on a 3D printer, you need to make sure your 3D printer can understand your model data. Here's a quick overview of how to set up your SketchUp model for 3D printing:

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Adding an Environment to a Model

Environments allow you to add 360°panoramic backgrounds and image-based lighting conditions to your SketchUp models. The Environments panel is where you can add and manipulate environments, or import High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) files or OpenEXR files to create a new environment.

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Adding Attributes

Attributes make components dynamic by telling SketchUp what to do. You can choose from predefined attributes or create custom attributes:

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Adding Premade Components and Dynamic Components

Components in SketchUp turn geometry in a model into reusable entities. For example, most buildings have at least one door and window. Instead of modeling these common objects, you can insert a component that you have already made, or even one made by someone else.Like all geometry in SketchUp, a component is still

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Adding Text, Labels, and Dimensions to a Model

In SketchUp, you can add four types of text:

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Still need help?

Technical support from our New Zealand team is available to customers with a current Procadsys SketchUp Pro Plus or SketchUp Studio Plus subscription. Self-help articles are public.

Contact SketchUp support