Sketchlist 3d or something else.

[Allen Grenz]

Does anybody use this program? Any suggestions on a program that won't break the bank..? I know some of the nice cabinet maker programs are big money. I like the idea of getting a cut list and bill of goods from a project design as well as need to present a project rendering to others. I can find my way around a computer but I'm not thrilled with Sketchup. I'd like to have something will a shorter learning curve and aimed more at the woodworker. I build kitchen cabinets, built-ins, desks, media centers and stuff like that. A bed or coffee table once and a while too..

So lets hear it! Good or bad and suggestions..

Thanks,

Allen

[John TenEyck]

SketchUp is pretty easy to learn and apply to woodworking IF you get Dave Richards' DVD or Tim Killen's E-Book. Both are geared to woodworkers. I bought Killen's E-Book through Fine Woodworking, and in 4 - 6 hours I was doing real work. There are a myriad of free Plugins for SketchUp, too, including Cutlist which will give you both a cut list of all parts as well as lay out the parts on your lumber or sheet goods, as you choose. For free, SketchUp is very hard to beat, IMHO.

John

[Keith Hankins]

I've used a lot of diff ones, and sketchup is pretty good. Once you get the basics and spend a little time, you will be a pro. The videos on youtube are great and the are tons of support. Drawing to scale once learned with put it all in perspective. Learn orientation and the push/pull you can go. You can't beat the price either. There are lots of easy vids that you can pause and learn as you go. The addins are cool too. I use cutlist and its free and perfect. It will calculate bf for project and do a layout as well. The other cad programs i used had a much harder learning curve. There are other apps that are made for desigining and building cabinets, but modifying it to other uses is difficult. JM2CW

[Jack Lemley]

Allen,

I have been using Sketchlist 3D for about 4 or 5 years and have paid for the major upgrades along the way. It is a great program, easy to learn, and they have outstanding customer support. I have been messing with computers since 1985 but have never gotten off the ground with any of the Cad programs including Sketchup. In Sketchlist you build the project in the same order and with the same material as you do in real life so it is intuitive at least to me. I would encourage you to download a trial version and give it a test drive. Download the trial when you have some free time so you can maximize your free trial use.

Any questions fire away!

Jack

[Allen Grenz]

Thanks for the responses. Kieth and John, about a 2 years ago I put a lot of self taught time into Google Sketchup. I was designing and building a 1000sf 2nd story addition onto a house as well as rebuilding much of the rest of it.. Of course the design had to incorporate existing support walls and existing stem walls. Sketchup did help me to get a final model rendered to look at and show. Though I managed to get through that, it was time consuming and frustrating to say the least.. But, even though it was somewhat overwhelming to me, it was the perfect program for the project.. Landscaping, roof materials, importing doors and windows ect. For woodworking projects though it just didn't seem to be aimed at this market.. However, I am currently sitting at the table with my laptop and tablet and have downloaded Killen's e-book an I'm waiting on Dave Richards Sketchup guide to finish down loading.. I'm going to spend the rest of the day on Sketchup.. Hopefully I will see what you see in Sketchup... I'm very sure the formal help/training will be much more valuable learning the program than how I stumbled through it last time..

Jack, thanks for the feedback!! Saturday or Sunday I'm also going spend some time going through Sketchlist 3d on the triil version as you suggest. I really like how you take project components right out of material lists. Selecting grain patterns as you go... It seems like it tunes into that node of how woodworkers already think and plan...

Thank, Al

[Grant Wilkinson]

You will find lots of good information in the forums on Sketchucation.com.

[John TenEyck]

Good deal, Al. I'm pretty sure if you go through those guides your questions will be answered and frustrations greatly reduced. Dave Richards is always willing to help via PM, E-mail, and is even willing to help you via the phone and/or video. He's a great resource and extremely knowledgeable about SketchUp. His SketchUp furniture renderings look like photographs. I'm sure there are more powerful woodworking CAD programs out there. And I'm pretty sure there are no better ones that are FREE. If you do a survey here I'll bet the overwhelming majority who use CAD to design their woodworking projects use SketchUp. Once you get over the learning hump I think you will agree.

John

[Keith Hankins]

Dave Richards did more to pull me through that curve than anyone. Back in the day when the knots forum over at FWW was worth a hoot, he responded quickly and he put it in ww terms. Seriously i was in the same boat as you. Once you get those basics and understand there is very few shapes we woodworkers work with and the concept of # of sides in a circle you will love it. The cutlist add in is fabulous and for layouts and estimates of BF I can quickly do a drawing for a customer and have a rough BF estimate for materials. The other thing is part libraries. You will build libraries of parts that you can pull from over and over. There are keystroke commands to make your life easier. For instance drawing a picket once and quickly duplicating it. All of the above is free. I have the pro version because I wanted the Layout part that comes with pro. you can print scale sized patterns. I've used this many times. Print a full size pattern and glue it down to a piece of hardboard then cut it out and you have a template quick and ready to go. Scale up and down is great too. I could go on and on, but just say stay with it. It is a great tool.