If you delete the polygon afterwards, the edges will still remain. The Rectangle tool creates a rectangular polygon and the four edges surrounding it. When you create a closed line loop out of coplanar lines, a 3D surface is created between them.
![sketchup 2014 for architectural visualization sketchup 2014 for architectural visualization](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51a1caQCq0L._AC_SY780_.jpg)
Three or more lines can form the boundary of a polygon. A line in SketchUp is also called an edge. The Line tool draws a straight line between two points. Just remember to look at the status bar for a hint. Other possible inputs are the number of elements for an array or the number of sides for a circle or polygon. However, you can add a common unit indicator such as 500mm (for 500 millimeter) or 5'6" (for 5 feet and 6 inches) to enter a dimension regardless of the current template. If you use a template based on inches, it will instead create a 500 inch long element. If you use a template based on millimeters and enter 500, SketchUp will create a line or rectangle of 500 mm length. Although SketchUp uses inches as its internal unit, the default unit size for numeric values is set via the file-specific template.
![sketchup 2014 for architectural visualization sketchup 2014 for architectural visualization](https://kbimages1-a.akamaihd.net/b300fbc4-bfd9-42e9-8283-cfea7e093fa2/1200/1200/False/sketchup-2014-for-architectural-visualization-second-edition.jpg)
SketchUp is very accommodating in what it allows for input.
![sketchup 2014 for architectural visualization sketchup 2014 for architectural visualization](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5894a32730554b620f7bf36d/5e836b339e31006da9b449b4_59c7de08c127fd0001bc4b77_Top-Rendering-Plugins-for-SketchUp-EASY-RENDER.jpeg)
This is the small text area at the right end of the status bar. Whatever you type will be displayed in the Value Control Box ( VCB). There is no input box that you have to click first. Anytime SketchUp allows you to enter a value such as the dimensions of a rectangle, you can just type the values.