Shopsmith Forums

Hi there-

Yesterday I received the 3 DVD set from Peachtree Woodworking. I will post a review on these as soon as I get through viewing them (unless someone else has already done so).

BPR

Well, as promised, here is my review:

I had puchased the three DVD set of Sketchup for Woodworkers. The price was under $40.00. The first DVD takes you through a general overview of Sketchup and how to set up the program, as well as generating a simple drawing and how to create cut lists. An important note: while the DVD says you can use the information presented for version 7, the DVD uses version 8. So you should make the upgrade before using the video. The second DVD takes you though the basics while the third DVD covers advanced techniques.

I found the series easy to understand. The first DVD also has a "cheat sheet" plus a transcript which I found extremely useful to aid in learning the program. As mentioned earlier, since version 8 is shat is used for instruction, I would srongly recommend upgrding to version 8 of Sketchup if you haven't already done so. The series plays well on both computer and TV DVD players.

All in all I would highly recommend this series for those who are unfamiliar with how Sketchup works and wish to upgrade their drawing skills.

BPR

Thanks for the review on the DVD's. For those who might be interested or can't afford the DVD's you can download the e-book "SketchUp Guide for Woodworkers" for $9.74 at Fine Woodworking.com. I bought this quite a while back and it is a very good tutorial.
Take a look at it HERE

For those who can't afford the DVDs, there is an excellent tutorial by tom/kmo on this site. https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=3916&highlight=Sketchup

Just a thought:
There's hundreds of free Sketch-up how to videos to stream but you can also get the free RealPlayer download and then capture and save all the vids for your own reference library.

I agree. Sketch-up is a free program. Just takes some patients and a steady hand on the mouse to make whatever you can imagine. Check out the galleries and YouTube for plenty of ideas, all free!

I have been reading Introduction to Google SketchUp second edition by Aidan Chopra, ISBN 978-1-118-07782-5. I checked it out from the public library (free). It has been a real eyeopener for me. I found out that you don't need to click on the exact point to make a line a specific length, just enter the length you want it to be after clicking at an approximate point. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to use SketchUp.

Mike

lightnin wrote:What Sketchup lacks is a grid and a snap to grid tool.
I have looked for such plugins and can't find them. If they exist I would love to have the links to download them.

SketchUp DOES have Snap to Grid and adjustable grid values. Select Window, Model Info, and Units. Precision is your grid size and Enable Length Snapping set it to snap-to-grid. But... better than that, when you draw, just start drawing the box or guideline, and then type in the size/distance value you want and it automatically snaps to THAT.