Ultra new to sketchup and so far haven't been able go get very far into it.
Trying to take baby steps.
I want to draw a rectangle 12" x 23/32", duplicate that rectangle, and
stretch it.
According to what I've looked at, so far, I should be able to draw a box and
scale it down to my required demensions. But I cannot make the program do
what I want to do.
Can someone direct me to a tutorial so that I can draw and duplicate my
rectangle?
Thanks Ralph
scale it down to my required demensions. But I cannot make the program do what I
want to do.
I strongly suggest that you watch the Sketchup video tutorials. I tried
using Sketchup without watching the tutorials and got very frustrated.
After watching the videos, life was much simpler.
http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/training/videos.html
Dan
to reserve a
spot.
Make your checks payable to NWA and send them to -
NWA
PO Box 246
Rexford, NY 12148
Tools: Students must have downloaded Sketchup onto their computer and must
bring their laptop to the class so they can work along with Max as he
explores the basics of Sketchup.
In this two-session course, we will focus on using the free version of
Google's Sketchup 8 as it applies to traditional woodworking. We will use a
box, a table, and a bookcase as exercises to gain familiarity with reading
six basic right-angle woodworking joints: butt, mitered, half-lap,
mortise-and-tenon, dovetail, and half-blind dovetail. Everyone completing
the course should go home with a small library of those joints and pieces
that they can reuse in other sketchup projects. Upon registration, a PDF
will be provided to registrants on how to download and install Sketchup, and
how to navigate. Prerequisites will be an ability to bring a computer
(laptop or desktop) with an installation of the free version of Sketchup 8,
the ability to load a model, and the ability to do rudimentary navigation
within a model (zoom, pan, orbit).
Big difference between a rectangle and a box. Which is it want to know
about?
Go here to learn to use the rectangle tool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRjH2kZxmjs
You can change the size of a rectangle by using the Move tool to move
any of the four sides of the rectangle:
Grab the side you wish to move with the move tool, click once and move
it either to the desired location, or a certain distance by moving
slightly in the desired direction, clicking the mouse a second time.
Then, BEFORE doing anything else, type in the desired distance ... ie, 5
for five inches, 5m for five millimeters, 5' for five feet.
Then hit the Enter key to set that desired distance.
There are a lot of valuable video tutorials on youtube. One of the best
places to learn to use the program.
Check out:
http://www.go-2-school.com/media/browse/sketchup_show
I agree. And then after you've seen the videos and experiemented on your
own for a while--get a book! Personally, I think I waited too long to
get a book (2 or 3 months). I think a book would have been most helpful
after about 2 days! YMMV. Have fun!
There were no books when I learned to wield SketchUp and I found the
youtube videos, particularly the go2school videos, very helpful.
Tim Killen has a good one out from Fine Woodworking, from a woodworking
viewpoint, which is in ebook (pdf) form. I bought it for my iPad just
for grins:
http://www.tauntonstore.com/sketchup-guide-for-woodworkers-tim-killen-ebook-077846.html
Robert Lang's book comes highly recommended on G+.
After, _and ONLY after_ , you become proficient with the program, there
is one book that is hard to beat for some of the harder concepts, as
well as a world of "tips and tricks", that are hard to find most
anywhere else:
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
Excellent resource for the already proficient user ... but _not_ as a
basic tutorial.
The Missing Manual seems pretty good for newbs like me. I -still-
haven't spent much time with it yet. http://tinyurl.com/7jjqzzn
(I paid $5.24)
--
It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are
not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.
-- Freeman Dyson
That was the one I used, but I wasn't crazy about it. When I went to
the "cookbook" as a subsequent read, it read so much nicer I can't even
tell ya how much. But,it wasn't perfect either. Both of them would
benefit from having "exercises (for the reader to do)". But it's not
hard for anyone in this audience to make up his or her own. I believe it
was mentioned that there's another book out there written especially for
woodworkers. I haven't read it so I can't comment further.
Bill
Nor have I/can I, but Swingy listed both: Lang's and Killen's.
--
It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are
not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.
-- Freeman Dyson
I don't have Bob's book, but a lot of folks on G+ have learned using
SketchUp for woodworking from it. Bob teaches Sketchup classes for
woodworking around the country. Check out his online store:
http://readwatchdo.com/2011/09/woodworkersguidesketchup /
http://craftsmanplans.com/sketchup.htm
He's also has an informative series of blog posts about the "Ten Things
I Wish I Had Known About Sketchup":
http://readwatchdo.com/category/blogs-main/sketchupblog/10-things-about-sketchup /
Sounds like a must-read. Danke.
--
It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are
not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.
-- Freeman Dyson
Ralph,
I wish I had an easy tutorial that I could hand you. This is
operation is one of the easiest in Sketchup.
Suggest you look on Fine Woodworking's website there are
a bunch of tutorials there
Check this one out:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/44789/learning-the-fundamentals
I would recommend the Robert Lang CD of excellent instruction for
woodworkers
in SketchUp. He walks you through ALL of the things woodworkers do.
http://www.shopwoodworking.com/product/woodworkers-guide-to-google-sketchup/woodworking-cds-dvds
Yeah it's $40, but boy Lang does a good job and saves you time.
By the way, duplicating an object? Select/paste. The various help
menus might help and/or an on-line video.
As mentioned by others, YouTube has a bunch of good tutorials that
should get you going. Before you start, there are a couple things you
might want to do first, and often tutorials skip this stuff, at least it
took me a while to get it:
Go to your toolbar, click on View in the toolbar, and then toolbars and
make sure the following is checked off: Getting started, Large Tool
set, Styles, Layers, Views and Large buttons.
Next on the toolbar go to Windows, click on Model Information and make
format fractional, inches, precision 1/32 (I like 1/16th)
Next, also in windows, go to Preferences and look through and
familiarize yourself with that section. I'd go to templates and pick
Product design and Woodworking. This is also where you can set up file
folders and Hot keys.
Once you do this, fool around with some tutorials, I liked this tutorial
on a bookcase:
http://blip.tv/thisiscarpentrycom/putting-it-all-together-2395826
Here is is how you make your rectangle:
click R for rectangle, draw any size rectangle and in the little box on
the bottom right of your screen, type in 12, 23/32 and hit enter, you
will have your rectangle. Press space bar and Triple click on the
rectangle and then right click and select make it a *component, give it
a name if you wish. Next press M for move, click control for copy and
drag a copy of your rectangle any where you want, and pay attention to
the little box you typed your rectangle size in, you can type in a
distance to place your copy.
Personally, I wouldn't take a class or pay anything to learn, you can do
all that online yourself. If you are in a hurry, forget Sketchup, or
any cad program, cause you gotta put in the time to learn it. Sketchup
is not hard, not easy, many, many get frustrated and quit thinking it
doesn't work, but they just didn't learn how to use it. I started and
quit 3 times at least before I bit the bullet and put in some time.
Well worth it.
*Tip, make everything a component, otherwise everything else will get
"stuck" to it, and you will have a mess on your hands. After you copy
your component click on Window in your toolbar, and check off Outliner,
you will see you have two copies of your component.
--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
WTF?
Tim's a good guy and a fellow woodworker who gives a lot back to the
both the woodworking and SketchUp community on his FWW blog with Dave
Richards: "Design, Click, Build".
At least _BUY_ the book so that Tim can get some benefit from taking the
time to teach others how to use the software.
This is a MAJOR copyright infringement. I have notified Taunton Press
and
Uploading.com that this file is on their server illegally.
I JUST bought this e-book in the last week, and checked this morning,
it is
NOT FREE.
MJ
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