SketchUp Guide for Woodworkers

14400 Views 53 Replies 22 Participants Last post by Chris Curl, May 22, 2012

curiousgeorge

Discussion Starter · Oct 17, 2010

For those of us still struggling to learn SketchUp there is a new source. Tim Killen, of finewoodworking.com's "Design. Click. Build" Blog on using SketchUp for woodworking design, has published an e-book in PDF format. If you are looking for a top notch tutorial you might want to check it out at...

finewoodworking

I just downloaded a copy of "Google SketchUp Guide for Woodworkers" (60MB) for $12.99. I have been keeping up with Tim's blog and this is a great resource for the price. (IMHO) I have no connections with Fine Woodworking other than the fact that I think it is a great mag. on-line or hard copy.

1 - 20 of 54 Posts

dutchman 46

· #2 · Oct 22, 2010

Thanks George! I have attempted it several times, to no avail: It doest think like I do? Thanks for the heads up!

david cooksey

· #3 · Jun 23, 2011

Google Scketch Up crashed my computer, I am running
Windows 7 Professional 64Bit

Funwitwood

· #4 · Sep 8, 2011

My Windosw 7 64 bit computer runs sketchup 8 fine. Yes it does take a bit to master but now I can pretty much, draw it, print it, stick it to the wood and cut it out.

cwcad

· #5 · Sep 22, 2011

I may go ahead and purchase additonal information for Sketch up? Then again it was quite difficult for me to remember what to do that reading another book on the same information may well serve to mix up the old proverbial "pot" for this old duffer. I hate doing things that re-enforce my inabilities.

I agree, Wood magazine is a very good publication.

LexB

· #6 · Sep 25, 2011

I agree that e-book is a great resource and well worth the price. I used it to quickly learn the basics, and still go back to it to refine my learning and pick up new skills. I still am struggling with the "Follow Me" tool a bit to create moldings and raised panels, but it's trivial now for me to do mortise and tenon joints, box joints, and dovetails in my design.

prgl7

· #7 · Nov 25, 2011

Sounds great. will try it out. Thanks.
George from the Central Coast of California

gav

· #8 · Nov 25, 2011

Try this site for easy to follow tutorials.
Sketchup for Woodworkers - Home

Marco

· #9 · Nov 28, 2011

I am glad that someone brought up the subject of "Sketch Up" because I have planned to try learning it when it gets cold. If I could learn even the basics I'm sure it could save me many an hour scratching my head.............. I am going to give Gav's link an honest effort

schipp11

· #10 · Jan 24, 2012

I have been planning a lot of projects here and the one thing that want to be able to do is use Router Profiles on extrusions. Sketchup saved me a lot of time from trial and error because I knew exactly how long pieces need to be cut. So has any one seen a plugin or have router profile components?? I have tried creating them using the pictures provided from Router Bit Suppliers but that is tedios and I am not that good with my arcs yet.

digitless

· #11 · Jan 29, 2012

schipp11,

Sketchup accepts .dxf files just fine, so go to THIS site and download as many as you can find there.

But if you still think that is too much work, go to Google's 3d Warehouse and search for " wood profiles " or " molding " or " moulding ". There are quite a few available, such as THIS one.

Hope this helps.

roxanne562001

· #12 · Feb 28, 2012

I downloaded the book and it was a great help. I have drawn several plans now and it keeps getting easier to work with every time I use it. Before the book I didn't have a clue. My first plan was a shadow box. I am building that in the shop now. I will post some pics soon. I am working on some whirligig plans in Sketch up 8 as we speak. It seems that I am drawing faster all of the time. Thanks to Tim and his great E book. Well worth the price!!!!!!!!!!

Roxanne

curiousgeorge said:
For those of us still struggling to learn SketchUp there is a new source. Tim Killen, of finewoodworking.com's "Design. Click. Build" Blog on using SketchUp for woodworking design, has published an e-book in PDF format. If you are looking for a top notch tutorial you might want to check it out at...

I just downloaded a copy of "Google SketchUp Guide for Woodworkers" (60MB) for $12.99. I have been keeping up with Tim's blog and this is a great resource for the price. (IMHO) I have no connections with Fine Woodworking other than the fact that I think it is a great mag. on-line or hard copy.

ORBlackFZ1

· #13 · Mar 12, 2012

Excellent way to learn Sketchup!

gav said:
Try this site for easy to follow tutorials.
Sketchup for Woodworkers - Home

Thank you very much for the link! :thank_you2: I have been using the Sketchup tutorials and they are excellent!

I have been a TurboCAD user since 2000. I had become pretty good at completing detailed 2D drawings with TurboCAD after many hours, weeks & months of "banging my head against the wall". TurboCAD is a difficult product! In TurboCAD, I have never been able to get the 3D drawings to work very well for me.

After the first Sketchup tutorial, I was able to create 3D drawing of my new 2nd stage box for my dust collector (see attachment). After about six (6) hours of using the Sketchup tutorials, I am able to do detailed 3D drawings!

I have given up on TurboCAD and will be using Sketchup from now on. :happy::happy::happy:

Eric

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roxanne562001

· #14 · Mar 12, 2012

Do you have to have pro to use the dfx files? I can't seem to be able to import them in the free edition of sketchup 8.
Thanks
Roxanne

ORBlackFZ1

· #15 · Mar 19, 2012

digitless said:
schipp11,

Sketchup accepts .dxf files just fine, so go to THIS site and download as many as you can find there.

But if you still think that is too much work, go to Google's 3d Warehouse and search for " wood profiles " or " molding " or " moulding ". There are quite a few available, such as THIS one.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the great links!!!! You just save me hours of tedious work!! Now I can spend those hours in my wood shop creating sawdust!!!

Eric

ORBlackFZ1

· #16 · Mar 19, 2012

Dimensioning & Printing

Anyone have some information (or links) on creating better dimensioning and printing in Sketchup? I really love the way the 3D works in Sketchup. I have been creating models like crazy with it.

The only real drawbacks that I have found so far are the dimensioning and printing capabilities. Creating readable shop drawings has so far been a real pain in the back side. Sketchup appears to be very limited compared to TurboCAD with the dimensioning and printing.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

Chris Curl

· #17 · Mar 19, 2012 (Edited)

The dimensioning tool works fine for what I want to do.

I found a good thread on the sketchup forum about how to do control the print out. You set the camera angle to "parallel projection" and the standard view to what you want. Then in the printer dialog, turn off "fit to page" and "use model extents", and set the "in model" and "on printer" something that makes sense for you.

For me, since I was printing small things, and i wanted it actual size, so I set it to 1, and it printed what I wanted exactly the correct size.

fyi, here is info about printing to scale

http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=114462

roofner

· #18 · Mar 20, 2012

Thanks for the link I have tried in the past to learn but unsuccessful. I like how he gets everything configured before statrting to teach the program.

rwl7532

· #19 · Mar 20, 2012 (Edited)

roxanne562001 said:
Do you have to have pro to use the dfx files? I can't seem to be able to import them in the free edition of sketchup 8.
Thanks
Roxanne

Short answer, yes you need the pro version.

Comparison:
Google SketchUp

Chris Curl

· #20 · Mar 20, 2012

not bragging, but i have learned a decent amount about sketchup over the years, so feel free to ask, and i'll try to help if i can.

i am pretty good with the "how to do stuff" part, not so much the "does it support files created by <xxx>"

1 - 20 of 54 Posts

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