Sketchup woodworking pro#
Sketchup woodworking professional#
Sketchup woodworking series#

In my first attempt to learn SketchUp, the main reason that I got frustrated and ultimately gave up was that I had attempted to learn everything all at the same time and without guidance. Start slowly and build up one skill at a time. I have continued the learning from David by following “”, a blog hosted by Fine Woodworking at which David is a co-author, found at.

Sketchup woodworking pro#

This incredible resource helped me gain efficiency and greater confidence, and was loaded with pro tips and tricks. David is a SketchUp guru who does a lot of illustration and Skethchup tutorial work for Fine Woodworking. While the SketchUp for Woodworkers site was a great resource to help me get started, I learned about another resource called “SketchUp Guide for Woodworkers – The Basics” by David Richards. SketchUp for Woodworkers: Next Level Training This liquor cabinet allowed me to incorporate glass shelves and a mirrored back panel, as well as a face frame that serves as a flange for easy installation.

In many cases it was relatively easy to find a video on YouTube of someone demonstrating the answer to my exact question. I found myself using Sketch-up’s built-in help function a lot, and many of my answers were found easily that way. In other cases, I couldn’t find what I needed there, so I scoured the internet, and with that approach I was able to find an answer to each of my questions. So I started to design the project using SketchUp and the new skills that I had learned in the tutorials. It was slow going to say the least. After watching a handful of these videos and following along (I found it really helped my retention if I hit pause during the video and did exactly what the instructor was demonstrating), I felt that I was ready for a “real project”.Īs it happened, I was developing a story for WWGOA at the time that required the design of a dartboard cabinet.

Sketchup woodworking series#

On this site I found a series of free video tutorials, where the host walks through the use of several key tools in the SketchUp arsenal. One resource that I found to be particularly useful was the web site. Given that SketchUp is a versatile tool that can be used for many applications (construction, interior design, landscape design, etc.) I wanted to find training materials specifically targeted for woodworkers.

Sketchup woodworking professional#

If you will use SketchUp to produce professional projects, “SketchUp Pro” is intended for you.Īfter the application is installed, you will want to determine your training plan. It is feature rich and offers more than enough functionality for most of us. If you are planning to use SketchUp for personal projects, “SketchUp Make” is the free version and probably the right option for you. There are two editions of Sketchup available on the web site, so it will be important to choose the right one depending on your needs. Getting Started with SketchUp for Woodworkers Therefore, I came to the conclusion that this time around I would seek out the training materials necessary to improve my chances of success. The tool set was different from other applications that I have used, and working in a 3D space using a 2D mouse proved challenging without some guidance. SketchUp was a natural choice for me because A) there is a robust version available for free, B) I have seen many example drawings that represented exactly the type of projects that I wanted to design with the tool so I knew that it was capable of performing my intended tasks, and C) because it is so widely adopted, there is an abundance of free and inexpensive self-guided training materials available.Ī few years back I had made a couple previous attempts to just “dive in” to the application but I found it difficult to master that way.

I wanted to gain the efficiency of a “real design tool” that would allow me to work in three dimensions with a tool set that was purpose-built for detailed illustrations, so I finally made a commitment to learn SketchUp. All of these approaches left me feeling constrained, and I felt that the limitations of the tools were negatively affecting my designs. Prior to learning SketchUp, I had developed my designs over the years using pencil and paper, as well as a couple of general purpose computer applications that were not specifically intended for furniture design. Most of the woodworking that I do is custom, requiring original design, or at minimum a bit of modification of an existing concept.