How to draw a pipe in SketchUp?

Either you would like to:

1. draw pipe
2. create tube
3. generate lines 2 tubes
4. transform lines to pipes
5. pipe along path
6. draw pipe from lines
7. make tube profile
8. construct pipes from edges
9. do piping

...simply you need to draw a pipe. There is a few ways to do that basic operation like is drawing a pipe in 3D SketchUp space. In first step we need to choose tools we are going to use for that.

You can draw a pipe using:

1. Native SketchUp tools
2. Basic plugins - only drawing
3. Advanced plugins - drawing, editing, reporting

What pipe dimensions and parameters are important when you create pipe's 3D model?

You need to be aware of:

1. Outer diameter - eg. used for construction designs
2. Inner diameter - eg. used for pipelines
3. Wall thickness
4. Length
5. Circle segmentation

Pipes measurements depend on their designation. In some cases, it is outer diameter (O.D) and wall thickness. In others, it is inner diameter (I.D), representing internal section and wall thickness. To learn more check this pipe vs tube article. Pipe dimensions describe the raw material. Where the length value describes the particular designed element. In your model, you can have one type of pipe bar dimension but every pipe element can have different lengths. More about the circle segmentation settings, you can find here: SketchUp circle. This parameter makes your pipe model less or more precise. At the same time, it takes less or more of your computer power. If you need only a general view of your design ...or your model has many pipes, then use small circle edges eg. 12 segments. If you going to make some precise object connections, use 90 segments. It helps also when you make solid object operations.

Can I edit pipe parameters?

It is important to know if there is a need to change pipe diameter in the future. Sometimes, you need to change the wall thickness of all pipes in the project. This situation will add a lot of time to your work if you use only native tools for that. The same story is with the pipe segmentation value. If your project gets bigger and bigger it will be also slower while working on that file in SketchUp. The easy solution would be to change the arc segmentation value for all drawn pipes. This is possible only when you use the SketchUp pipe extension. Extra SketchUp plugins can edit the circle segmentation and pipe diameter at once.

How to draw a pipe using native SketchUp tools?

To draw pipe object in 3D follow the steps:

1. Activate Circle Tool
2. After you activate Circle Tool you can set Sides of the circle (segmentation)
3. Use mouse or keyboard to set Radius of the pipe (half of the outer diameter)
4. To draw inner circle you can use Offset Tool
5. Delete face created in the middle
6. Use PushPull Tool to set length of the pipe
7. Last step is to create group from created geometry

Draw in SketchUp a pipe with native tools.

Pros:

1. No extra programs
2. Easy to do
3. No cost

Cons:

1. Long and slow process
2. Hard to position pipe object in 3D space
3. Can't edit pipe dimensions
4. Can't edit circle segments

How to draw a pipe with SketchUp extension?

To be more efficient you can use SketchUp extension Pipes from edges. It creates pipes based on selected edges. Draw a shape that represents the pipes' middle lines in 3D space. You can do it with a native draw tool or make use of pipes extension's function: "Delete faces from selection". Next option is to use the dedicated extension for SketchUp edge drawing. Then you can generate all needed pipes in one button click.

You can set pipe diameter and choose if you measure OD or ID. In the settings of the extension, you can set segmentation parameters.

Two more useful functions are:

1. Length changing tool
2. Reporting

Draw a pipe with advanced SketchUp pipe extension

All of the above and many additional functions you can find in this advanced SketchUp pipe extension.

Among many other valuable features are:

1. Pipe dimensions edition
2. Pipe segmentation edition
3. Aligning tool
4. Extrude and pipe profile cut
5. Miter joint