I don't think I am smart enough to use Sketchup!

[Larry Fox]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh - I am SOOO frustrated by this program.

I am missing something fundamental because the most basic of things take me hours to get right. I am three nights into a simple basement plan and about ready to throw my computer out the window.

I consider myself to be a pretty good spacial thinker and have used 3d programs in the past but this one is getting the better of me.

Can anyone recommend a good reference? There is a "for dummies" book and a "missing manual" book - anyone who has been successful tried either one of these?

Sorry .. just had to vent.

[Mike Gager]

what exactly are you having problems with?

i found http://sketchupforwoodworkers.com/ to be pretty helpful. he does a few things differently then i would suggest (mainly he uses groups instead of components) but otherwise some good basics tutorials there

also try http://www.srww.com/google-sketchup.htm

and http://finewoodworking.taunton.com/b...gn-click-build

[Dewey Torres]

Larry,
You are not alone my friend!

[Jim Kountz]

No you're not alone by any means. That program hates me, I know it does. I was trying to do a simple bench design and it kicked my butt.

[Charlie Schultz]

I was having trouble getting started with SU too. For me, this tutorial got me going: http://www.garymkatz.com/recent_articles.html (scroll down to "Sketchup tutorial: Drawing a bookcase using groups and components"). Still no expert, but I can get the job done.

[Larry Browning]

what exactly are you having problems with?

Mike,
EVERYTHING! I think it must hate people named Larry. Cause it sure hates me! I have been working on a simple cabinet that I have redrawn about 6 times, due to various issues. It seems like I get one thing drawn just the way I want it, so I move on to something else, and then when I look at it again, the 1st thing I did is all screwed up. I can't tell you what it is exactly that I am having issues with, except that the whole program is VERY hard to do anything with. I keep telling myself that I will get better at it, but so far, no joy. I could have been in the shop and built this thing 3 times if I had drawn it on a piece of paper with a pencil and ruler.

[Lit Jones]

I agree with the poster above re:
http://www.garymkatz.com/recent_articles.html

I was frustrated by sketchup also for the same reasons until I watched the bookcase video on groups and components. That 40 minutes had the best return on investment I've ever had. Watch the video, then watch it again pausing it and following along until you can do the same thing. You'll be productive immediately.

I then spent the next few weeks in my spare time watching the "tool series" videos within this excellent library of videos:
http://www.go-2-school.com/media/browse/sketchup_show

That library has many advanced tutorials also, and they are fun to watch as you think of ways to expand your skills. I had a ball tying sketchup to google earth and modeling my own house on-location.

[Mike Gager]

Mike,
EVERYTHING! I think it must hate people named Larry. Cause it sure hates me! I have been working on a simple cabinet that I have redrawn about 6 times, due to various issues. It seems like I get one thing drawn just the way I want it, so I move on to something else, and then when I look at it again, the 1st thing I did is all screwed up. I can't tell you what it is exactly that I am having issues with, except that the whole program is VERY hard to do anything with. I keep telling myself that I will get better at it, but so far, no joy. I could have been in the shop and built this thing 3 times if I had drawn it on a piece of paper with a pencil and ruler.

well for the thing that really helped me "get it" was to start using components for the each piece that i draw

what i mean is this, think of a project in sketchup as you would think of it in the real world. say you are building a bookcase, each piece of the book case is going to be a seperate component or piece in the drawing

basically what you do is draw out each piece, and make it a component after each piece is built. i sometimes actually draw out eqach piece individually as a piece of "wood" and then fit it into place on the actual project just to give me a better understanding how each piece will fit together in the real world

you can do all the joinery and everything before putting it together just like on a piece of wood

[Larry Fox]

Thanks for the replies everyone - I really appreciate the time. I will invest some time in the tutorials listed above.

For me, two of the biggest things I am having trouble with are lining things up and components. I want to use components, I really do but they behave inconsistently for me. I am running Sketchup on a MAC which should not make a difference but thought I would throw it out there in case it does.

The components part of the program has shown some inconsistent behavior for me. For example, I draw a surface and put a circle in the middle of the floor to represent, say, a support column. There are several of these in my basement all the same height and diameter so clearly I want a component here. I select it, right click and "make component", give it a name make sure "replace with component" is checked and hit create. It highlights with the blue box around it so it looks like a component but then when I right click to edit or something it doesn't act like a component. When I look at the "Components" window which shows the components in the drawing no component of that name is there. I can recreate the steps exactly and about 50% of the time it "takes". I also have trouble with components that ajoin another face. Consider a standard basement with 4 corners. In each of the 4 corners in my basement there are what I will describe as pilasters which are there for reinforcement. There are also a number of these that run down one wall on about 6' centers. They also are not full height. Obviously I would like these to be components but Sketchup did not seem to like the fact that they shared an edge with the wall face at all. I just gave up on this one and cut them out of the wall so when I extrude they will be the same height.

I also have problems lining things up. For example, all the columns in my basement are on the same centerline and support a metal i-Beam. I have extruded the walls and columns up but now I want to add this I-beam with the same centerline as the columns in a plane that is parallel to the floor. No idea how to pull this one off.

I am at just about the same situation as Larry Browning in that I am just about ready to go back to pencil and paper. What keeps me going is that I have seen some mind-blowing stuff done in Sketchup here and elsewhere and I am hoping that it will "click" at some point. I can see a lot of practical uses for it. In this particular case I want to be able to do mockups of our basement project in 3-d because my wife is not much of a spacial thinker and has difficulty visualizing the end product (not a knock - just a fact).

Thanks again for the time.

[Art Mulder]

For example, I draw a surface and put a circle in the middle of the floor to represent, say, a support column. There are several of these in my basement all the same height and diameter so clearly I want a component here. I select it, right click and "make component", give it a name make sure "replace with component" is checked and hit create.

I'm no expert either, Larry. But your procedure here doesn't quite sound complete.

My approach would be something like this:
1) draw a big rectangle (basement floor). Use the push/pull tool to give it thickness. Select it all, and make it a component: "Floor"

2) use the measuring tape tool and make some guidelines for where I want the support column

3) Make the first support column: draw a circle on the floor. Use the push/pull to give it the proper height. Now select it all and make it a component: "column"

4) replicate that column to make the other columns.

Your description seems to be missing the step one. If you draw a surface and don't make it a component, then when you draw the circle, it'll get muddled up with that first surface.

lets see what other folks might say.

...art

ps: I use it on a mac at home, and a PC at work, and they both work fine.

[Todd Burch]

What a bunch of whiners.

Sketchup, once you "get it", is one of the easiest programs to learn to start sketching with. I've been using it since 2003, and I introduced it to these forums. I don't use it daily any more, but I am very active in the SketchUp community.

There is a SketchUp for Dummies book written by Aidan Chopra. I would suggest getting it. He has another one put out by Wiley, but it is more geared towards an instructor-led classroom setting. And, there are more coming out all the time. I've considered writing a book on certain aspects of SU myself. It's a time thing.

As mentioned, there are tons of woodworkers using SketchUp now, and a few of the Googler's that develop SketchUp are also woodworkers.

(Oh, and if you get the SketchUp for Dummies book, check out the credits section in the Forward... )

[Glenn Clabo]

It's right here...
http://www.amazon.com/Google-SketchU...reative=380797

[Larry Fox]

What a bunch of whiners.

It's more like a frustrated cry at this point than a whine.

Sketchup, once you "get it"

This is exactly why I have sorts stuck with it. I am convinced that it will "click" at some point but the time between now and when it "clicks" is somewhat painful.

[Todd Burch]

What do you think is your biggest issue right now? For a lot of newbies, it's understanding the Inference Engine and how snapping works. Then, it's how to draw precisely.

[Larry Fox]

What do you think is your biggest issue right now? For a lot of newbies, it's understanding the Inference Engine and how snapping works. Then, it's how to draw precisely.

Todd, I would have to say that my biggest problem at this point is how to draw precisely. My I-beam example in my earlier post is a perfect example. How do I draw that thing and make sure it is the right height, shares the same centerline as the columns and is in a plane parallel to the floor?

I understand components at a conceptual level and have had mixed success with them. However, the program behaves inconsistently when working with them in my opinion although I am inclined to suspect operator error.

Inferences I kida get and most of the time when it kicks in an makes an inference I can see why it did it but when working on some things it is tough to tell what the inference is to.

I suspect that a lot of what I am trying to do is basic and fundamemtal and that I am missing the key bits of know-how which will allow it to flow and make it so the program is not in my way.