Attn: Sketchup Users

[Rich Konopka]

Rich, check out the reviews of CAD programs in Fine Woodworking, October 2004, Page 54. The review article should be helpful to you in your decision.

Thanks Jim !! I have it in my big pile of reading material and was almost to it and guess what I get in the mail? The new Lee Valley catalog.

[Tony Falotico]

I too thought is was a little to pricey to justify for home use. Let's see, that's half a good bandsaw, 1/3 a Unisaw, 2 good hand helds ............

[Keith Starosta]

I love the application, for more than just designing furniture. I used it to layout and design my entire backyard project, as well as some exterior design stuff for my sister. I haven't had a lot of time lately to play with it, but hope to soon!

Keith

[Jim Becker]

Anybody in the Denver Co might want to check this opportunity to see SketchUp live.
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Live Demo of SketchUp 4.0!

<!-- ============= Change the date and location BELOW here ================== -->Tuesday
October 5, 2004
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
<!-- ============= Change the date and location ABOVE here ================== -->

<!-- ============= Change the date and location BELOW here ================== -->Marriott Denver City Center
1701 California St.
Denver, CO
303.297.1300
<!-- ============= Change the date and location ABOVE here ================== -->Come join us to see the new features of SketchUp 4.0

Free Beer, Wine, and Food… What else could you ask for?

Please RSVP david.gall@sketchup.com

[JayStPeter]

I answered I saw, I liked, I dropped it. The reason: price. I think something much cheaper can do what I need. Sketchup would be nice, but I'll get by w/what I got.

Jay

[Kevin Swindle]

Todd or Jim:

Does Sketchup give you any prebuilt templates? Does everything need to be done from scratch? For instance, if I were to design my new shop do I have to create the machines ( TS,DP,BS,DC,AC). I have been looking for a package but at $500 . I have the advantage of getting academic priced software because the LOML is in education and there are some good discounts to be had.

Rich,

Some else posted this link previously but it is a good free 2D shop layout tool. It has all the mahines you listed above and more.

http://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner.cfm

[Dave Richards]

Rich, the tools shown in the following drawing are componets available in SketchUp. Would they get you started?

I did the shavehorse just for fun.

I'm in the process of building this cabinet for my shop right now.


SketchUp is certainly useful for me and has an easier learning curve than any of the CAD programs I've used.

[Jim Becker]

Here's a couple that I have available...so far...

[Ian Barley]

I like it and have played with the demo a little but don't have the need enough to justify the price.

[Rich Konopka]

Dave:


Your killing me !! Those are awesome !!! I'm talking about the cabinets.

Jim:

I read the FWW article this werk and I downloaded DesignCad 3d and have been checking it out. I am hopelessly a newbie on it and have a long way to go.

[Dave Richards]

Rich, thanks on the cabinet drawings. Did you know you can add dimension, too?

FWIW, I designed that cabinet to be built mostly from 2x lumber scrap I had on hand. Once you joint and plane it, some of it isn't too bad. I did come up a bit short on a few pieces and ended up ripping shorter pieces down and gluing them up like bricks to get the length.

Seriously on SketchUp, I know it is kind of expensive but the learning curve is very shallow and short. It will let you make drawings of just about anything you want and allow youand others to see concepts. Most people have a hard time converting 2D drawings into 3D concepts in their head. I still use an old 2D CAD program when I need that kind of thing but SketchUp is the tool of choice when I need to show something to others and many times it gives me more than enough information to act as a plan for me to work from.

[Michael Perata]

Todd

I'm the one guy who bought it but doesn't use it - yet!

I've got AutoCAD 2004 which keeps me pretty busy on the learning curve, but when I started to play around with SU (v2.1) I was impressed. v4.0 is reported to have a lot more functionality and usability.

[Jim Becker]

. v4.0 is reported to have a lot more functionality and usability.

Yes...I just used the "Follow Me" feature last night to wrap a molding profile around the top of an armoire I was playing around with. Pretty amazing, although it took me a few trys to make it work right!

[Dave Richards]

That Follow Me function in SU4 seems to to be an incredibly powerful tool for doing moldings and edge treatments. If you can draw the profile, you can extrude it along the edge of a piece.

Jim, the trick I've found to using Folow Me is that the profile needs to start perpendicular to the line it will follow. Remember, if you want the molding to go all the way around, you can hold the ALT key after selecting the profile and drag the cursor across the plane formed by the edges.

[Jim Becker]

Remember, if you want the molding to go all the way around, you can hold the ALT key after selecting the profile and drag the cursor across the plane formed by the edges.

AH........missed that one! I wonded why it was being so ornary. I had to draw the molding profile twice to complete this one and then "join" them in the middle somewhere. Thanks for the tip! (Yea, I know...ReadTheFabulousManual)