Google SketchUp

I have recently been working with SketchUp, an intuitive offering from Google used in the design of architecture, landscape, woodworking projects, and more.

I started my design experience in my senior year of high school. I took a mechanical drafting class where I learned to draw out plans with a T-square, architect rule, and drafting pencil. That was very educational. I got to use my visual creativity with the geometry that my geometry teacher promised me I would use “somewhere in life.” Fast-forward two years to my sophomore year in college where I took a class that taught AutoCad.

It was only then when I realized how humbling hand-drafting plans really was. I thought the world could not get any easier than throwing down lines and arcs with the click of a mouse, setting up accurate angles with a few strokes of the keyboard, and dimensioning out the whole plan with a few simple commands. Then I discovered SketchUp!

While I am just learning the ins and outs of this program I am constantly amazed at the ease of use and interface, yet the power to manipulate objects and turn 2D surfaces into 3D shapes with the very powerful push/pull tool. Everything is done on an X,Y,Z axis, each of which is assigned a color. When using the line tool the line will change to the color of the axis that corresponds with the plane the line is on. That is a mouthful and sounds way more fancy than it is. Simply stated the program helps align the direction the line is going and gives the user an easy and quick reference to see.

There are a series of tutorials that have been set up on YouTube, presumably by the folks at Google, to teach the software. There are easy to follow lessons and within a few short videos has the user building their first design – a chair.

Google offers both a free and fee version of SketchUp. While I am more than impressed with the free version, I can only imagine what SketchUp Pro has to offer. With the price tag of almost $500 I will have to keep imagining, as that price seems prohibitive for all except those running a serious woodworking business. Google does offer a page that compares the offerings of each version and it does seem that a business could easily justify the expense based on the presentation options available in SketchUp Pro.

The verdict – If one could not already tell, Google SketchUp is the cat’s pajamas and will have its users producing publication quality project plans in no time! Well worth the minimal time to learn and entertaining enough to spend the time to master, especially during the cold winter months when being in the garage is not all that appealing!