A Detailed Course On How To Become A Master At Sketch

Lessons Concepts
CREATING A ROOM - CREATING A MISSING WALL - CREATING DOORS & WINDOW - CHANGING TYPES

Creating A Basic Sketch

Creating a sketch is easy in Xactimate when you know your Hot Keys or Shortcut Keys. In this first lesson
you will learn how to create a room with ease. Hot Keys are keys located on your key board that will
speed up your estimating time. This limits the time it takes to search through the entire tool bar each
time you need to make a change or add something to sketch.

Understanding The Tabs & Toolbar

Fill Color

Save Template Line Width

Load Template Line Color
Direction of Floor Covering
Missing Wall
Orientation Fill
Window
Door Set Scale Ellipse
Fence Rectangle
Rotate
Deck
Arrow
Stairs
Flip Vertical
Roof Line
Wall Flip Horizontal Text Elements
Room
Vertex Properties
Undo
Copy from Existing Break Macro
Copy from Underlay
Inspect Property
Cursor

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Step One) Creating A Room
To create rooms in sketch use the Hot Key (R) on your keyboard. This will by default create a 12’ x 12’
room.

You can also click on the Room Icon on the tool bar to get the same effect. You will notice if you left
click on your mouse, the room will turn blue and you will be able to see all the measurements of the
room.

Once this is done you may notice four small white squares on the middle of each wall. If you click your
left mouse button and hold it down, you can move your cursor left, right, up or down and this will
change the size of the room. This is one way to get the size of the room to change, but it’s not often the
fastest.

Try left clicking on a white square once. Notice that on the opposing walls two blue mearuments will
pop up for the inside and two for the outside. By left clicking on the inside wall readings, you can type in
the measurement. Measurments are by feet and inches. Example 12’8

Most of the time you measurment will be from the interor of the structure. Make sure to pay attention
to where you put your measurements or else your entire sketch will be off. This could throw your
estimate off by hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

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 Step One Step Two

If you look at the corners of the rooms you will also see small white dots with a red out line. You can
drag these around in the same manner to manipulate different angles.

To move a room around in sketch all you need to do is click the name of the room once and look over to
the right of the word. There’s a small white dot with a red outline. Your curser will turn into four
directional arrows when you move over it. Left click on your mouse and drag and drop it where you
would like it in you work area.

Next double click on the word (Room) and the Room Properties window will pop up. You can change the
name of the room by double clicking where it says (Room) and type in the name of the room you desire.
For example type in (Living Room)

There are many different options in the properties window, but we will go over them later on in the
course.

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You can also choose if you want to hide the
name of the room. This is a very useful function
when using annotation tools to explain things
that were going on, such as equipment
placement on water damages.

Step 2) Creating A Missing Wall

Creating a missing section of wall is a simple. Use the Hot Key (M) for Missing Wall. Your mouse will
turn into cross hairs (+) and you need to move your mouse over to where you want the missing wall to
begin. By holding down the left mouse button and dragging the line over to the length you desire then
let go of the left mouse button.

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Now you can click on the Property Icon to choose the desired entry type, such as Rectangle, Flat Arch,
Round Arch, Round or Octagon. Another window will pop up showing you an example of your choice.

Step 3) Creating A Door

Once you have picked the desired missing wall type, you will need to move to putting your doors &
windows in. To put a door in, you can use the Hot Key (D) or choose the Door Icon located on the tool
bar.

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By clicking on the drop down arrow just to the right of the Door Icon, you will be able to select different
types of door, such as Standard, Bifold, Sliding, Dutch, Pocket, Overhead and Gate. Next you will have a
Sub Type, such as Flush, Paneled, French, Louvered, and Half Louvered to choose from.

After you have finished choosing your door type you need to place it on the wall, by following the same
steps as with the missing wall. Hold down the left button on your mouse and drag the door to the size
you need. Then let go of the left mouse button and your door will be placed.

Then you will need to make sure your

door is set to the correct position (how
the door swings) This can be done by
Resize first clicking on the left mouse button
once and the door will highlight blue.
Move
Now use the [ ] keys on your key board
to flip the door into the desired position.

By clicking the left mouse button and

holding it down on the white square in
the middle you can drag & drop the door
also. By doing the same on the white
circles on each end you can resize the
door.

Step 4) Creating A Window

When creating a window in sketch the steps are just as easy as the prior steps. By using the Hot Key (W)
your mouse curser will again turn into cross hairs. Simply left click on your mouse and drag until you get
the desired measurement.

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 Window

By clicking on the Properties Icon you will be able to select different window types, such as Rectangle,
Flat Arch, Round Arch, Round and Octagon.

There are many other options located in the property window but we will get to that later on. These first
steps are to make sure you have a full understanding of the basics.

Properties

Type

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Directions: Time to test your knowledge, on what you have learned so far.

Create a new sketch. Now build a room that is 17’1 from left to right. Next, make it 14’4 from top to bottom.

Put in a door on the top left hand wall that is 2’6 wide and 2’ from the top wall. Make sure that the door swings
inwards and that it swings towards the top of the sketch.

Next you will need to create two arched windows on the left side wall. Make each of these walls 5’ wide and 1’9
from the wall on each side.

Now you will need to put in a flat arched entry way using the missing wall function.

Remember to use you Hot Keys to speed up your estimating. Once you have completed you sketch hit the 3 on
your keyboard and you will get a 3D look of your sketch.

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1) Name two ways to create a room. ___________________ ___________________

2) Can you create different style doors? _______

3) Once a door, window or missing wall in put in place you cannot move it again.

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Step 5) Creating A Wall Break
To put a break in the once, first press the Hot Key (B) on your keyboard. When you see your crosshairs
on your cursor, drag your mouse over to the wall you want to create your break. Now you will need to
place the cursor into position by starting where you would like the break to start.

Example: If the break started 4ft from the wall you would need to put your crosshairs over to 4ft from
the wall.

Next, you would left click on your mouse button and hold it down then drag it until you got the desired
length.