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Learn Sketch-up without throwing-up...

4K views 32 replies 21 participants last post by  donwilwol 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
My pencil is a nub and my eraser is smudging the paper. Time to move into the 21st century and learn Google Sketchup.

I've used Sketchup a little and know the basics. (and by "basics" I mean I know how to draw a few lines) But I want to learn to use it effectively for designing woodworking projects. So here's my question… get ready for it… here it comes….

What's the best resource to learn Sketchup?

Some books have been written, video tutorials have been produced… which one did you use (if any) and was it worth your time and money?

If you help me I will gladly visit your house and mow your lawn…
 
#2 ·
Here's a couple of options I was considering…

Popular Woodworking offers these as digital download courses:
1. Woodworker's Guide to Google SketchUp $39.99
2. ShopClass: SketchUp for Woodworkers $49.98 (2 parts @ 24.99 ea)

Anybody use either of these resources?
 
#6 ·
Look at Google Sketchup The Missing Manual ISBN978-0-596-52146-2. You can get it from Amazon. I learned a lot from it. Too bad we don't have DaveR here any more he was THE MAN at Sketchup!

JimC also has an excellent link.

Lew
 
#7 ·
Just want to clarify a couple things. Popular Woodworking has my videos Shop Class: SketchUp for Woodworkers (part 1 and 2) available either as a download or on disc. If you're frugal, you can also get them from the Popular Woodworking streaming video site: shopclass.popularwoodworking.com

Woodworker's Guide to SketchUp is a digital book in PDF format with 49 short videos embedded within the 184 pages of text. It's only available on disc, either from Popular Woodworking, or through my personal website craftsmanplans.com.

The digital book and the videos cover the same territory, starting with setting up the program and working through techniques for designing and planning furniture, cabinets and other woodworking projects. Some people pick up things easily from just the video, but others like to have the in depth text explanations that are in the book. The book is also easy to search and find specific topics and videos. This is most helpful if you want to go back and review something

There are lots of free resources available online, including numerous free models and blog posts at the Popular Woodworking website. Lots of people think the book and videos are well worth the money, what you need is in all in one place, you learn the specific things you need, and you don't waste time with irrelevant stuff or inefficient procedures.

If you buy either the books or videos and don't think it's money well spent, let me know and I'll make sure you get your money back.

Bob Lang
 
#11 ·
Personally, I think the digital book with embedded video, Woodworker's Guide to SketchUp is a better resource, unless you're good at picking things up from just watching a video. People say SketchUp is easy to learn and intuitive, but there's a lot to it and to really get good you need to practice until certain things kick in and become second nature. The videos are good, but it can be painful to go back and find that one trick you're looking for. In the digital book, the table of contents is linked to the topics, and there is a good search function so you can find anything right away. There's a video preview and a sample chapter available at my craftsmanplans.com website.

Bob Lang
 
#12 ·
I used Google SketchUp for Dummies when I first started and Google SketchUp, The Missing Manual for more guidance. Both are helpful, but you learn the most from diving in there and playing around. It gets easier the more you use it.
 
#13 ·
Stumpy, let me add a second on Jim's recommendation for taking a look at Joe Zeh's Sketchup series. Joe (Chiefwoodworker) does a pretty good job of teaching how to use individual tools in Sketchup and applying them in designing furniture. They are long (45 minute to close to an hour apiece) but are well worth the effort to take a look at.
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
I agree with Jim and Scott on useing this one http://www.srww.com/blog/?p=1335 , it is very good and got me out of a slump on useing it and he even responded to my dumb questions in less than a day and even less than an hour on one of them. Just start at the first one and work your way thru all of them without skipping any. And there is also this one that is ok but I prefer the 1st one myself http://sketchupforwoodworkers.com/

Sorry Bob but I was still stuck on a couple of things after useing yours and picked them up right away with these. Not to say yours are not good but it's just that he has a different style of teaching that seems to work better for me.
 
#15 ·
Chief Woodworker (http://www.srww.com) has a series of beginner and intermediate tutorials that are REALLY, REALLY good for woodworkers who want to learn SU. Best of all they are free.

I started with SU with these tutorials and I'd have to say that SU for Dummies did little to enhance my knowledge of the program.
 
#21 · (Edited by Moderator)
I used the SRWW tutorial as linked in post #26. I spent a couple hours a day over a weekend and went through the basic lesson. That's it. And I learned enough to do almost anything I could ever want to, including the detailed drawings I just finished for my tool cabinet:

Rectangle Wood Font Screenshot Graphics software


Rectangle Wood Table Wood stain Tree


Brown Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Art Rectangle


Brown Rectangle Wood Wood stain Hardwood


I was a terrible student in school. So if I can learn to do that with just a basic lesson, you know that guy has the best one on the internet!

(Note: I didn't draw all the tools, just the cabinet design. But I feel confident that I could have done those tools too without requiring any more lessons.)

...Just my two cents…
 

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#23 ·
Bob Lang is really good at it. Though I don't have his book on SU for Woodworkers - I did take a weekend intro class with a bunch of his test plans and such in it and learned how to get the surfaces to line up.

As others mentioned - after a few weeks you forget what you did, which is a challenge for me. I will do something print it out and use it, then when I sit to do something new….it is like starting from scratch again.
 
#26 ·
I have give a lot a the 3d cad programs a go, but being a graphic designer that 99.9% of the time working in 2d like Jim C I think has hurt my learning 3D sketchup. And I haven't got the patience anymore to learn yet another computer program. I can do the basic design in CorelDRAW X3. or most/any other illstration program (Freehand)

My other issue most things I have built, the plan is in my head (somewhere) and am happy working from those plans.
 
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