Sketchup Question

I am looking with interest at the sketchup posts. I have a project brewing that I will need to design. It is a metal and wood circular workstation. The design is not that difficult. It will be in sections and will be bolted together. A lot of components will be attached to it. But those are not a part of the basic design of what needs to be designed/built.

My questions are as follows.

Can a 3D model be drawn that would show the circular design?

Particularly, can the compnent parts be shown in different perspctives around that circle? In other words, can I take a common component and show it at six different angles to simulate how they would look really look in this circular configuration?

I need to draw a circular wood keyboard bench that will attach to the metal frame. Could this be drawn easily? And can it be "attached" to the metal frame drawing?

This whole component model of constructing a drawing will be a whole different experiece for me. I will give a shot and see how I do.

The design is not that difficult. It is similar to other things I have built. What I need is a good 3D representation to sell it to the folks who will pay for it. Any thoughts, etc would be appreciated.

Reply to
Lee Michaels
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remember Swingman, Morris Dovey, and Robatoy had a lot of insightful commentary on using Sketchup, and if I remember, Morris posted something on using it for 3D modeling.

Then there's this, of which I have heard on other sites the tutorials are pretty good:

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of course, you can YouTube it with user videos:

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hope you post your ideas and how long it takes you to do what you are going to do with it. I have been thinking that I want to sketch up some simple designs with it, but will need to set aside some learning time.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Yes to all of the above. It's the sole reason I use the program and decided to become proficient with it, which was not that steep of a hill to climb.

Although there are undoubtedly differing opinions, it works for me, particular since it is freely available/downloadable to both me and my client(s) to use to view the 3d aspect of the model(s) from all perspectives, something not usually available with CAD software, even with standalone "viewers".

If you want to see what you can with woodworking project, etc:

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out the entire Fine Woodworking "Design, Click, Build" series. Better yet, grab the RSS feed.

Reply to
Swingman

LOL ... check out the "Artist or Engineer" thread as we speak. :)

You got two buddies a couple of hours away who are converts, nay zealots! ... let us know if you have any questions.

Reply to
Swingman

Absolutely

They can be shown and or walked around by orbiting around the component/object, much like you would walk around in your shop looking at different angles. Basically there is no view angle that is not available. Something to remember you don't simply pick a single angle to view or draw, you can see it from any angle after drawing, even inside out.

Yes Yes

Just remember how you build in the shop. Build each part and assemble on the drawing. There are hundreds of tutorials that can teach you short cuts and one of the best is copying mirror images of a component or object.

Sketchup is hard to beat for presentation especially if the customer is looking at Sketchup and looking over your sholder. Print outs obviousely will limit you to the view that you have when you print however you can print out multiple views. Drawings views done with Sketchup that a few of us have posted are simply a drop in the bucket compared to the possible views that you can see on the screen.

Remember this, there is a trick to printing to scale so that you can print full scale drawings. This is handy if you want to glue a print out of a complicated curve directly to your wood for a cutting guide. This may not be important to you now but perhaps you will remember that it can be done when the time comes.

Reply to
Leon

Awright!!

I'll remember that. Actual zealots bring a lot of "entusiasms" to the table.

Thanks for the offer!

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41
[...snip...]

Generally, you are going to draw a single 3 dimensional model of the thing you want to represent.

Once you build the 3D model, you can orient the view from any "angle", and you can print from that point of view. You can also select the view to be some of the standards, such as isometric, top, front, side, etc.

Or, once you have created a piece that comprises a component, you can place 6 of them at various orientations within one drawing.

Umm, not sure what you mean, it is hard to say if it can be easily done. If you mean you have a circular bench that people sit at to use a keyboard, then I'd guess it can be done pretty easily.

Expect a bit of a learning curve before you can draw anything more than boxes and cylinders. There's lots of online tutorials and such available from Google and from 3rd parties.

You will have to do your homework and practice. For me, it took a few hours to get the hang of really making it work for me. I do have a some experience with 3D software.

I expect the wood part can easily be attached to the metal part in the

3D model. It is easy to have 2 components and connect them up.
Reply to
Jim Weisgram

"Jim Weisgram" wrote

Thank you sir. That is an essential function that I needed and you stated it clearly. Sketchup may very well become a tool of choice for me. Now I just need to block out some time to learn it.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Took me months or starting, quitting, starting again, quitting and so on. It can be deceptively hard, or deceptively easy, depending on your point of view:-)

One of the gotcha's is its harder NOT to connect up 2 parts. Mainly, if you don't make a "part" a "component" or group, and connect two or more parts, they automatically become one part. Once you connect two parts into one, you can't separate them into "components". I suggest you go here:

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and watch the video to get a feel of how easy it is to make a table, then look at the many tutorials around to learn the basics.

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a million others.

What helped me the most was Swingmans insistence that it was a great tool. It is easy to get lost in a maze of things you don't quite know how to do and give up. My suggestion is take your time, skipping steps never helps the learning curve. Erase any preconceived notions Robocop may give you and remember millions are using it, including the likes of Swingman, so it probably will do just what you want or it wouldn't be so popular.

Reply to
Jack Stein

A reasonable amount of intelligence makes it easier. That's probably why you find it so difficult.

Reply to
Robatoy

I was contemplating whether or not this was worth bringing up, but in the end I thought why not, everyone can decide for themselves:

If you're looking for things that Sketchup can't do, chances are that Carrara can. Carrara can be gotten for $30 off of the DAZ website (it comes with the Figures Characters and Avitars book). Carrara has some very powerful modelling tools, and can produce photo-realistic output, including video, etc. (Interestingly, if you want to do non-photo- realistic sketchup-type output, you have to pay for a plugin).

It looks like it has a much larger learning curve than Sketchup (sketchup looks pretty easy on the training videos), but as you can imagine, Carrara is vastly more powerful.

Anyways, just thought I would bring that up, and people can have a decide if it's worth the extra money/learning curve (just a warning though -- the DAZ website seems to be overly proud of thier models of scantily clad women -- it can do other things... really!. I've been using it for years and have done many furniture designs with it) The sight is here:

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Reply to
John

Will ya look at that... runs on a Mac...(as well as a PC)

Reply to
Robatoy

Will it dimension? Will it import component sizes and materials types into an optimization program such as Cutlist Plus?

Reply to
Leon

It's always worth bringing up. There are a ton of programs out there that can do the job and it's always nice to see the choices available.

One man's poi is another man's poison.

Reply to
Swingman

We have agreed to disagree on some of the issues, but let it be said that the whole SketchUp concept has opened a lot of doors for many that otherwise would have never experienced the pleasure and functionality of aided drafting and design.

Reply to
Robatoy

And for a bit more as to why I ask, I peronally would like to know if that can be done. While I have no problem spending a few dollars on CAD software, I have purchase several brands and several versions of AutoCAD LT over the last 23 years. Sketchup actually replaced AutoCAD LT for me. IIRC AutoCAD LT is about $800 for the latest version and quite frankly that is now out of my confort zone especially since Sketchup is free. Shetchup however was not always free and in the future may not continue to be free and I like to keep my options open as to what might be my next CAD type software. So far Sketchup is a locked in program for me as long as the publisher does not become too proud of it in the future.

thanks I did not want my questions to be received as hostile. ;~)

Leon

Reply to
Leon

We have agreed to disagree on some of the issues, but let it be said that the whole SketchUp concept has opened a lot of doors for many that otherwise would have never experienced the pleasure and functionality of aided drafting and design.

Agree with that and I'll add that it took me 3 down loads, 3 installs, and 2 uninstalls before verions 6 & 7 came out. I did not like it, it was a bit to cartoonish and I hated the line weights. But then I made program settings changes and actually learned the program and now I probably have 5 versions of AutoCAD LT that are collection dust.

Reply to
Leon

Choosing 3D design software for your woodworking endeavors could be considered the equivalent of choosing the right type of joint for a woodworking project.

And, "vastly more powerful" is not always necessary, or even desirable.

Take face frames as an example. There are a number of joints available to the face frame maker, some "vastly more powerful" than others, but damn few, like lowly pocket hole joinery, that exhibit "just the right amount" of power/strength to get the job done well, are easy to use and quick to employ, are cost effective, and are conveniently accessible to even the most neophyte of wooddorkers.

Add that the power of pocket hole joinery is not necessarily evident in its initial instance, but becomes increasingly so in its application to the casework (project).

IOW, it is not inconceivable that the lowly SU is to 3D design software for the wooddorker, as the lowly pocket hole joinery is to the face frame maker.

I'm now going to bow out of any fruitless discussions regarding what software will do this or that, or won't do what ... and leave it at "choice" is good, and what works for one, will not necessarily do so for the other.

...LOL!

Reply to
Swingman

A reasonable amount of intelligence makes it easier. That's probably why you find it so difficult. =======================

Subtle...

Reply to
Lee Michaels

I'm known for my subtleness.... like the 'b' in subtle.

Reply to
Robatoy

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