sketchup tutorials

[art3427]

I need an SU tutor. There are bunches of them on the 'net. Which one would you guys suggest for a guy that is totally ignorant of CAD knowledge and experience?

I just want to learn how to draw some simple birdhouse plans for now.

art

[Beamer]

Start with the tutorials that come with SU first - those first few will get you the basics right off.


Then - make everything a component as you're working on it - makes life easier.

Once you get through those tutorials, you'll come up with more specific questions for what you're trying to do. Ask 'em here and we'll answer as best we can

[TDHofstetter]

I differ from Beems just a little bit - I don't make anything a "component" unless I plan to use a slew of 'em & they're still under development. Instead, I make 'em a "group", which just clusters together a bunch of lines & arcs as some sorta' independent unit entirely independent of the overall drawing.

If you have several copies of a "group" in your drawing, you can modify ONE of 'em & all the rest stay the same. Modify a "component", though, and every copy in your drawing takes on the new modification... and I may have six or eight nearly-identical objects drawn, each differing by only a line or two, or some dimension changed or something. Alternate prototypes, like, or left-right versions of one part.

Ne'er mind that... yeah. The tutorials will bring you up to speed really pretty quickly. The learning curve for SketchUp is far smoother & easier than the learning curve for any other form of CAD I've ever seen (and I've looked at LOTS of different CADs).

[sawduster]

With a component you can choose the one you want to be different from it's mates, right click, and choose "Make Unique" from the drop down menu. Any changes to that one will not be duplicated in the others.

[TDHofstetter]

'S'Ok... I sometimes use components, but only when I want a buncha' duplicates that all track changes together. I'm not sure they buy me anything otherwise, and groups're simple. Don't gotta' name 'em or anything.

[Joe Lyddon]

This guy is the best Expert that I know of...

DaveR

[sdb777]

Thanks for the link Joe!

I have also been through all the tutorials that are linked directly to SU....guess I'm just a really slow learner?

Is there a feature that could possible take my sketch and convert it to just the pieces that need to be cut? I know how to get the measurements to show on the sketch, but I was hoping....



Scott (didn't mean to hijack....) B

[Joe Lyddon]

The one thing I have found about SU is... you MUST stick with it... start using it and KEEP playing with it learning all the lil tricks, etc. If you use it & lay off a week or so & come back to it, chances are you're going to be chasing your tail where you thought you left off.

There is a LOT to that program and it's NOT very User Friendly... you learn it or you don't... once you start, you must be committed to learn it or you're headed to nothing but PURE FRUSTRATION.

Dave helped me a lot... he gave it to me faster than I could retain it... He is GOOD!
(but I'm an OLD geezer with 3/4 of my brain not in use most of the time )

Good luck!

Once you nail it, you will be very happy with its power.

[TDHofstetter]

I've gotta' say... drawing a complete sphere gave me fits for quite a while. Mostly, though, I've found SketchUp to be VERY user-friendly. When in doubt... right-click.

[Joe Lyddon]

May 14, 2010 22:02:36 GMT -6 TDHofstetter said:

I've gotta' say... drawing a complete sphere gave me fits for quite a while. Mostly, though, I've found SketchUp to be VERY user-friendly. When in doubt... right-click.

The next time I feel I'm about to bite my tail, I'll try to remember "Right Click"!

[Beamer]

NO drafting program will do the impossible. That is, if you can't perform basic drafting, these programs will not invent that skill for you. YOU have to be able to think spatially.

SketchUp is THE MOST user friendly drawing/sketching program I've ever seen.

After years of fighting with all the "easy" CAD programs I could find (for free and for pay), SketchUp was FAR quicker to learn. It ain't a CAD program, so comparisons aren't 100% apples to apples, but for a woodworker who don't need CAD, SketchUp has completely nailed it.

But if you can't draw a plan on paper, you'll struggle with anything. No program can make up for that issue. They're just there to save time and raw materials.


For those of you struggling with the 3D aspect of SketchUp, go to the Camera menu and turn on Paralllel Projection. This helped me a LOT - it takes away the single vanishing point way of displaying things in 3D. I found that helped me navigate drawings a whole lot better.


Another tip: use the guides (that tool that looks like a tape measure) all you can. And learn to type your measurements in rather than try to make the mouse land exactly on the dimension you're trying for. One of the tutorials shows how to do this - it's the little box in the bottom-right corner of the window. Once you get the hang of clicking-moving the mouse-typing your dimensions and hitting enter - it goes real easy.


The motto is: When in doubt, press F1

[sawduster]

Is there a feature that could possible take my sketch and convert it to just the pieces that need to be cut? I know how to get the measurements to show on the sketch, but I was hoping....


There is nothing to do that within SketchUp as it ships, except to drag and drop the individual pieces of the project someplace on the screen where you can organize them, but there are several program extensions (most of them free) written by other users, which add all sorts of functions and tools to the program. I have one which explodes the project away from the center point into individual components, and you can do some pretty cool stuff with it using nested components. I believe that one cost some minimal amount. There are also add-ons that will actually create a cut list for you and export it into a spreadsheet program.

A good place to start looking for these add-ons is the Sketchucation Community Forum. They also have a tutorial section there that goes from basic stuff all of the way up to some really advanced stuff. And there are lots of folks chomping at the bit to put in their 2 cents in to answer questions you might have. It is a pretty amazing place with folks from all over the world visiting there.

[elizabeth]

May 14, 2010 23:06:04 GMT -6 Beamer said:

NO drafting program will do the impossible. That is, if you can't perform basic drafting, these programs will not invent that skill for you. YOU have to be able to think spatially.

SketchUp is THE MOST user friendly drawing/sketching program I've ever seen.

Jason: I haven't been able to make my way around it. I don't have the ability to think spatially. I can neither draw, nor do ANY kind of math without a calculator. I'm having to bug you all, particularly Tim, for the math on a little roof!!

I'm glad, and relieved, there are others who can think this way and help those of us who can't.