anyone use google sketch up?

[Haynie]

I have played with it and am able to do the basics but I am really hard pressed to get past those basics. I would like to use it as the intermediary between my paper/pencil sketch and starting my build. If I could make a prototype in sketch up I would waste less material on the inevitable "ah poop, should have made the legs shorter" type of frustration.

Why am I messing with google sketch up? It is free. If someone knows about any other cad type program that works well and meets the free requirement I would appreciate hearing about it.

 

[Timebandit]

I have used sketchup for years. Anytime i build anything, i make a model in sketchup first. Even for my pens. The button filler i did yesterday, was drawn up in sketchup first. Im not one for wasting time or material, so i try to figure everything out before hand. I still had to make 3 prototypes to fine tune it, but i would have had to make 10 with out sketchup.

 

[Haynie]

Is there a good "idiots guide" to this?

 

[Timebandit]

What are you trying to do? The program is quite simple.

 

[Haynie]

Make different components. I can make boxes and cylanders, push and pull, the basic shape things. When I try to make legs or other parts and attach them things get all wonky. Maybe just need practice. And lots of it.

 

[Haynie]

I have had an old version and just down loaded the new version. Much easier.

 

[azamiryou]

I floundered with sketchup (so many things almost make sense!) until I found Design. Click. Build. It's a little furniture-centric, but there's a ton of info there. Look in the sidebar on the right for some tutorials.

The key is "components". Make each piece of wood a component, then you can work with it in sketchup as its own thing. If you don't do that, then things like to "stick" to each other in inconvenient ways - you'll adjust one piece, and suddenly other pieces are getting stretched at weird angles and such. Components are also great for legs, because you can copy them and flip or rotate the copies, but they're all still based on the same piece - so if you shorten it or add a design detail, the same thing happens to the other legs.

 

[Mike8850]

This site has a great step by step tutorial
http://www.srww.com/
Mike

 

[Haynie]

Thanks

 

[its_virgil]

I have tried using SketchUp and find it very difficult. I wonder how much time I have wasted trying to learn to use the program? Guess my intelligence is lacking.:biggrin::biggrin:
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[Woodlvr]

I tried Sketch Up and failed also. I have Corel Draw 4 and have tried to use it to design a pen but I am slow and need to keep trying.

 

[AnachitlPut]

I love sketch up I have spent many of houres on it. We build are school on it. Was a blast I can buil just about any thing on there it's a load of fun.