

It is for quick and rough iteration of a design to get it to a useful place to fully develop. “SketchUp was designed as a sketching tool. “Sketchup is one of a very small number of 3D apps that was made to be easy for everyone.”Īnd Michael Freiert, a Project Captain at Pope Architects, adds: Jeffrey-McGrew – a SketchUp expert – wrote the following.
Sketchup woodworking how to#
SketchUp was a quick hit with Architects because they are all taught how to draw- and (especially) how to ‘think with drawing.’ We matched a prior experience for them, so the transition into 3D modeling was easier.” In SketchUp’s case, we relied on ‘drawing’ for our scaffolding.
Sketchup woodworking software#
“Most people find software tools frustrating to use (‘un-intuitive) when fail to match expectations set by some prior experience. One of the original developers of SketchUp, John Bacus, wrote: But the strength of one’s conviction is not enough to bring you to an accurate conclusion.ģ: And finally, it was, indeed, not designed for woodworkers. Supporters of SketchUp are firm in their opinion – and there are entitled to those. SketchUp users have a certain crowd/cult mentality.In many cases, web pages are simply publishing to attract visitors. If you read many reviews on SketchUp, you might notice that a review tends to get copied and republished. It takes a lot of time and effort to do a meaningful review. Reviews are seldom in-depth examinations of usability or features.But still, they are teaching the use of the wrong tool for the job. What if a software product needed no consultants or teachers? How would they make money? I cannot blame them for going after the largest market for their services.

There are scads of consultants, authors, and blog post writers. They join groups, pay teachers/consultants, and (pre-Covid) attended all-day or weekend classes.Ģ: There are a number of woodworking groups, bloggers, articles, reviews, consultants, and authors that disagree with me. Some people spend much time and effort invested in learning the software.So, it makes sense they find it easy to learn and use. And by many accounts, SketchUp is an easier-to-use CAD product. If used by users with experience in other CAD systems, they may have the mindset and necessary experience for using SketchUp.They are not seeking end-to-end design and production – but a starting point for exploration. What are the chances of that 100% finished SketchUp drawing actually being true to the project by the time you’re done, like zero?” This gives a glimpse of who three very experienced woodworkers actually use SketchUp in their design process. It’s just like yeah, here are some boxes looking thing, so I can get some key dimensions in there, you know, use your imagination, and be fine.īut yeah, I don’t often like I get that question a lot, do you have 100% finished SketchUp drawing, and no, I never do. Yeah, there’s like no joinery nothing’s got actual angles on anything. That’s where mine is kind of more than like a 10% range. So that’s pretty far along actually do pretty well 50%… You know proportions…, I don’t necessarily need to completely 100% build this thing out in SketchUp, and I’ll tell you most of the time, my drawings are maybe 50% of the way there. “it’s a little bit of trying to find inspiration, put stuff down on paper, and then there is a point where I do want to go digital it’s when I need to work out. They are discussing the design and creative process they follow. This is key – how do they use SketchUp?įrom Wood Talk experts Marc Spagnuolo, Shannon Rogers, and Matt Cremona. Some users only do quick sketching needs for large concept designs and do not concern themselves with woodworking details. After all, it works for 60% of users in our survey. As I said before, SketchUp is not the best design software for woodworkers.

More on that later as we see what the original developers had in mind. Still, to be rated as the best we would expect a higher score. So those with more experience rate it as slightly higher for woodworking. Of those who actually use SketchUp, 60% said it is designed for woodworking. In a survey asking people who tried or tested if SketchUp if is well suited for woodworking, only 40% responded yes. My deep dive into the best software for woodworking design finds that SketchUp doesn’t qualify. They write many reviews and may not have the time to do a deep dive into the issues. Whether SketchUp is or is not the best tool for woodworking depends, to some extent, on a reviewer’s outlook and experiences.

Several software reviews have selected SketchUp as the best software for woodworking design.
