My oldest decided she wanted to learn SketchUp. This is from her first half hour of playing with it after rehersal tonight.
She loves to draw, and it’s great that she can move directly into the 3D world – no paper and pencil or even 2D AutoCAD.
Everyone talking about SketchUp here has convinced me it is, or will be, the de facto standard of drawn communication, to a fairly high level of precision and integration.
Thanks for the nudge.
Forrest
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Forrest
Edited 11/12/2008 8:53 pm ET by McDesign
That is great. As an educator however, a word of caution. While it may be a play tool for her now which is fine. nothing is better for developing a "seeing eye" and developing eye hand coordination than pencil or charcoal and pad. We use Sketchup in our department all the time for schematic design. But the impetus usually starts with paper and pen.
She'll be way ahead of you, unless you begin soon.
Me, I am wasting far too much of my time lately, learning to use Chief Architect. Chief has a whole lot of quirks, whereas SU is as straightforward and intuitive as you can get. Two shots in Xray are shown of the same project, one in each.
Two fabulous resources, once you get up to speed, are the Google 3D Warehouse (why model it when someone already did it for you) and that wonderful repository of Ruby scripts, Smustard.
Rubys are patches of code that plug right into SU and bring to it a lot of short cuts and added features, specific to applications. Cut lists and sheet goods optimization? Sure. Lay out property using surveying data (E 09d 41m 03s W)? No problem. Terrain plots of Florence from Google Earth? Why not?
And then, when you want to see your first cool model all dolled up with light and color and textures, done with photrealism, you download the free and fabulous rendering package, Kerkythea, into which SU does direct exports.
Furthermore, since you are an autocad junkie, if you spring for the Pro version, you can swap .dxf and .dwg, taking 3D work back and forth.
Go crazy!
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Where did you find that siding texture for SU?
Can't tell if you used a roofing one there.
I've been looking for something similar in the warehouse with no luck.'Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it' ~ Chinese proverb
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That's a roofing shingle, Fat. Right from the package.
Attached are a few shots of why I prefer Sketchup's 3D to Chief Architect. In my post above I said that Chief doesn't show me the way for ICF details, and I'll say right here that it is an absolute loser when it comes to detailing framing, with any complexities.
Chief power users might say, "wait, it will do all that," but it is way more tedious than if using Sketchup. The truss corner and valley pic was accompanied by another SU pic showing how all the cuts are done for the two-ply valley stick.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
As big as SketchUp is in the US, it's even bigger in other countries. Here's a graph from an international poll (note Archicad, which i used for 4 years and originated in Hungary, being above Autocad which is the standard here). SketchUp beats them both.
Can someone please post a actual architectural working drawing (floor plan, etc) that was done with SketchUp?
Can someone please post a actual architectural working drawing (floor plan, etc) that was done with SketchUp?
Sketchup isn't really a "working drawing" program for architectural projects- it's more for concept/massing studies, and the actual working drawings are usually done in another program. You can generate working drawings with Sketchup, but it's not the ideal scenario."Brilliance!! That's all I can say- Sheer, unadulterated brilliance!!" Wile E. Coyote- Super Genius
Quote: "Sketchup isn't really a "working drawing" program for architectural projects-"I beg to differ. I have been using Sketchup since V1.3 and I have found it to be the perfect tool for working drawings. When using Sketchup, I am able to look at the custom aspects of the design and decide in true perspectival 3D if it will or will not work. I can look at actual framing connections and anticipate flaws before lumber is wasted. Then I can generate perfectly calculated lumber and cut lists. Not to mention I can pull great renderings from the same model that I pull working drawings from so the client knows exactly what they are getting. I do still work with Autocad, but only to print out and occasionally to quickly draw an existing floor plan before I export it to Sketchup where I can extrude and modify it. Gk
For some projects, I think you're right. It's like Building Information Modeling (BIM), which is gaining value in the industry.
For others, the levels of sophistication and flexibility Autocad (or other primarily 2D CAD program) provides is preferred. I mean Autocad is a glorified drafting table -- it's that simple. Most times it is easier to present a project for bidding from the Autocad perspective than from the sketchup perspective. Yeah, it looks perty, and everyone gets a much better idea of the finished product, but there are so many details missing.
I hear sketchup is developing their 3D to 2D transition software to allow for the creation of 2D "working" (dimensioned) drawings fairly easily. But I still worry about details getting glossed over. At some point those have to be provided...at least in the commercial real of design-bid-build.
When you're talking about just a contractor and client relationship, I've seen drawings on napkins that are built -- so yeah, sketchup would be an upgrade. It really depends on the what the drawings are going to be used for. For those that don't use it: Sketchup takes about a week to learn, so it wouldn't hurt to try it out on a small project and see what you've been missing. Dreamcatcher clearly already has."It depends on the situation..."
dream.... any good 3-d cad can do that.. but the better ones can produce working drawings a lot easier than SU
SU is great for building 3-d objects and then importing those into the other cad programs
but the final drawings are better done on something else
so far as i know.. the big 4 in 3-d cad in the American market are Softplan, Chief Architect , Archicad and Vectorworks
consensus among those who use more than one program seems to be that the fastest residential working drawings are done in Chief
so.. i would agree with Bob KovacsMike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
AutoCAD trumps all of those in terms of market share, but all are big players.Sketchup got a gigantic boost when Google bought them.So, here's the plan: - You get a one of the new Google phones.
- while you're talking to your client at their site, you are texting the info back to your daughter
- she whips up a model in 10 minutes and then uploads it to Google Earth
- before you walk out the door, you go "oh, by the way, here's how your new project will look" and you zoom into their house via google earth.
- SALE!;o)
Can you please post a working drawing that was done in SU? I think I still have SU on this PC, or if not, I can load it... If that is necessary to look at the drawing - which I imagine it would be required.
The Pro version has a Beta software that is supposed to be able to create working drawings like Jim Allen and Mike Smith were posting from CA, but I've yet to try it out now that I have CA.
I still like SU for detailed working models that I can export jpgs from and use in Chief Architects layouts.
Matt, Sketchup is never going to give you the kind of working drawings you and your subs are used to getting as done by architects, engineers, designers, and draftspersons.
It is not designed or meant to do that job.
It has good dimensional and text tools, and text-with-arrows for note callouts. You can turn off the perspective viewing and do parallel projection views in all the orthagonal directions, plus any angled direction you wish.
There is a great sectioning tool to show cutaways.
You can print to a named scale.
But, its layout program, available only with the Pro version, lacks the speed and flexibility it should have to produce "working" drawings of the kind with which everyone is comfortable. Those type drawings arose out of the type of 2D drawings we did way before any computers.
That said, anyone can use Sketchup to produce all the docs needed to build just about the most complex thing you can imagine. Almost all the docs. Try modeling a copy of Santiago Calitrava's "Turning Torso" tower, built in Malmo, Sweden, with Chief Architect, SoftPlan, or VectorWorks.
I've built some complex stuff with drawings only from Sketchup, but I could do it because I was the lead person on the job, and was there, every day. I ended up with hundreds of 8-1/2 x 11 papers, some used just to communicate only part of one detail.
I could not use Sketchup to do a design package I would sell to a client, for a job I would not be building myself. That is why I bought a copy of Chief Architect software. Chief allows you to parametrically model a 3D house, working in 2D, and much more readily produces drawings of the kind you are used to, through its "send to Layout" function.
If you want to make drawings and models just for yourself, and particularly if you have never worked with CAD, and particularly 3D CAD, before, Sketchup would be my hands-down recommendation for you.
First of all, it's free. Secondly, there is no such thing as paying for training, or being charged for anything in the way of training. The web is a bottomless well of free SU training, on YouTube and many other sites. People bend over backward to help you, all for free.
With something like Chief Architect, you will need to be prepared to spend a couple thousand to get started, plus a thou or more per year for support, upgrades, and more training. You will need to devote hundreds of hours at the desk getting up to speed.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Matt,
I do mostly design/build so my drawings are for me or my subs and are often not construction document quality. However, when I was in architecture school, I was able to create passing documentation using mostly Sketchup. I would use Autocad for quick 2D layout...because I know how to draw in it so much faster, and I would use Illustrator to do some quick sideways lettering and a few callouts and graphs...again only because it's quicker for me but it could all be done in Sketchup. If I had my school files on my computer, I would love to share them with you.I did run across a real nice Sketchup layout I was going to try to emulate as I like it's mix of Document/Working drawing/Rendering. Making one plan readable by all (including homeowner) and leaves less to guess/imagine....where trouble happens with subs. In my opinion, it embodies what all plan sets should be in the future.>>>having trouble posting the file..may be too large?GK
Matt, here ya go.....
Sorry - I still didn't see a working drawing - you know - the kind you would hand a framer and say "here, build this". The details are nice but generally, the house plans I work with don't need that level of detail. Those looked more like commercial drawings. Our cabinet guy does our cabinet layouts - if a 3-d is necessary for the home buyer, he does it for free. The electrical plan you posted is good too, but I don't think you need to "model" that...
I just wanted to get a better understanding of what SketchUp is, that is why I asked the question. I don't see it as a CAD program - more of a modeling program. I guess maybe some people are jumping on the band wagon because it is free.
Maybe a year ago I had to draw 4 townhouse floor plans. These were not to be finished working drawings, but more just drawings to give the architect so he could draw the real thing. They did need to have basic dimensions, and I needed to have enough accuracy to be sure what I was asking for was possible and would fit on the lots and have code width hallways, properly sized bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. I thought "this is a great time to learn this SketchUp I hear everyone raving about." I know from working with software over the years the best way to learn it is to have a project.... I also had a deadline. So I spent 3 eight or 10 hour work days on it. I pretty much got no where. I felt like I was trying to drive a nail with a screwdriver. I gave up and used another program I was more fluent with to produce the needed drawings in maybe 12 hrs. My opinion is that SU is a conceptual too, which is great for 3-D drawings. If I were a salesmen selling 100k kitchen upgrades or 2 million dollar houses it would be a great. Unfortunately, I'm in the trenches and have no use for 3-D drawings. I just need to get the stuff built - or actually supervise the construction. I only need working drawings. That is it. For example, basic townhouses don't really have to be modeled. The main question is do you want the kitchen in the front, middle, or the back, and how many bedrooms are there to be? The first group of townhouses are now complete.
The thing is, those 3-D drawings look really cool, but I don't really have a day or 2 to draw pictures of cool stuff. I'd rather build cool stuff. I'm just a nuts and bolts kinda guy.
I've seen those really cool drawings Gene does, but I'll bet money he does those more for his own enjoyment and oft times he spends nearly as much time on the drawing as it takes to build... Again, I can see them as a sales tool in some circumstances.
You probably think I'm a dinosaur. I say to each his own. I've produced my share of paper in my life but have since made the decision that I want to produce tangible results - things that will be around way after I'm gone.
You're not the dinosaur, Matt. Your framer is, if he can't build from what I give him.
The diff between what you may be doing and me, is that I only choose and hire subs and suppliers that will work from the information I give them, and all that info comes from Sketchup.
What is a "working" drawing, anyhow? I've seen, and you have too, plenty of houseplan drawings with missing information, dimension busts, and mistakes, all the fault of whatever ninny was doing the hand drawing or CAD work.
For me, what "works" in the way of drawings, is paper that has pictures, words, and numbers that communicate exactly how something is built, and I've come to prefer 3D to enhance that communication.
Since I am too cheap to buy a big plotter, I rip it all off on letter sized 8.5x11 sheets, thus the large number of pages. An ARCH-D 24x36 print has over 9 times the area as a letter sized sheet, so it takes me as many as 9 pages to communicate the detail as may be on a D.
Attached is a print of one page of a 42-page set, done for a project that is completing now. I deleted the title block to protect the owner's privacy. Why is a traditional 2D approach a better way to communicate what is being said here?
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Gene,Aren't you learning Chief now? What is your motivation to spend time getting up to speed if Sketchup is everything you say it is?I think I'm right on the tipping point of moving from 2d ACAD to something better. I'm looking seriously at Chief and CadSoft, but Sketchup is always hanging there in the background (with it's low purchase price, free training galore, and thousands {millions?} of objects already modeled) whispering to me.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
i picked up Envisoneer 4.0 ( CadSoft ) at JLC year before last... think for some reason or another i paid about $700...to me i t seems to have a faster learning curve than Chief... anyways.. i gave it to Chuck , along with an old computer .. so when he isn't busy raising his boys, he can learn CAD..i may send him to a one day class in Gloucester, MA next month..
anyways... Envisoneer is now about $1400 (?)and Chief is about $2400...i'll stay with Chief.. if Chuck becomes proficient with Envisioneer, so much the better.. it should be an easy transition from Envisoneer to Chief, they both seem very similar in their structurei read a lot on the Chief User's Group... ( not the sanctioned one ... Chief Talk )...
the people who are disatisfied with Chief don't seem to be able to offer a lot of alteratives... if i had to guess.. the one they mention the most is Archicadthere are some power users out there who import a lot of custom objects they create in Sketchup..... like that detail that Gene showed of the block foundationbut , i'm not a power user.. i just want to convey to the owner eough so they will buy the job... and enough to ourselves so we know how we are going to bid the job and build the job.... and to each of my subs so i can get legitimate pricing and they know what they need to get the job done correctly
and enough to satisfy the BI...once i think i have all the above.. i stop drawing... send it to my printer and move on to the nextwe do use a lot of imported photos, a lot of sections, a lot of 3-d perspectives, standard elevations, floor plans, electrical plans, foundation plans...... and details wherever we need them a typical house will have 10 sheets ( 18 x 24 )
a typical remodel will have 4 sheetsa repair might have 1 sheet... with a lot of photos and text
Edited 11/15/2008 8:10 am ET by MikeSmith
Mike,Thanks for your input.I think I'm in the same place you are. With ACAD, I can produce great 2d working drawings, although I wouldn't complain if a different software setup allowed me to do the same thing in 75% of the time.Obviously, the biggest downside to ACAD is that I have to draw everything more than once. As you know, I don't build a 9' wall with 1/2" GWB, WM163E baseboard, 7-1/4" FC siding, etc. I create a bunch of lines to represent the aforementioned items.I want 3d perspectives primarily to sell jobs. Occasionally I will check a detail in 3d to ensure everything meshes, but not too often. We just don't do the kind of projects that Gene does, so his level of modeling does not seem necessary to me (at this point).
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Gene,
Just curious but can you show us something you'd give to a foundation contractor or framer to give them the details of the shape & size of the house and rooms? I've tried and never did figure a way to make SU work to my satisfaction for that although I gave up on SU for this function (and it's Layout feature which I've given no attepmt at yet) once I got CA.
I still find SU to be better/easier at creating detail drawings like the one you posted opposed to CA and use the exported 2d .jpgs from SU in the layout pages of CA.
John
For us, foundations and framing are not subcontracted, except for the case of a Superior Walls precast foundation.
If it is Superior Walls for the foundation, they get a dimensioned 3D model, with callouts for all details such as extra columns, funky joints, beam pockets, and anything odd about anchor bolt placement. I review and approve the precast plant's shop drawings, and keep beating on them until their detail drawings and plan schemes provide all the detail I want for the jobber to use in building it right. We sub a precast FDN, but I run the engineering part.
Otherwise, it is an ICF foundation, built by us including yours truly, color coded to show cut blocks and specials. Reinforcing is done with callouts. That detail I showed of an ICF foundation in a post here was to satisfy someone else's job, and the engineer he needed to review and stamp the plans.
One reason it takes so many sheets for me to print working drawings for a job done in Sketchup, is that SU doesn't have, in its native code, size control of font as it relates to the scale of a view. Thus, a floor plan for a house with footprint of say, 1200 s.f., may take me a lot of zoom shots to get all the detail. I can detail the whole thing, but when I wheel back so it is all shown on screen, the font size is way too large and one dimension obscures another.
So we snap out a deck for framing, using maybe as many as six letter-sized sheets for the info. Some info we have at that same time is door and window schedules printed from MS Excel pages, and my schedules provide all swing and handing detail, size in unit and R.O. format, R.O. height above subfloor for headers, header spec, and if there are ganged openings, SU details are copied right into the Excel sheet.
I have attached a couple of screenshots, one showing a foundation scheme for a job done in ICFs, and another is a screenclip of a framing layout.
I bought Chief Architect software because of the need to satisfy the demands of some old school guys in a new jurisdiction I am working in now, and because I segued into doing design packages for others, for things I won't be building. The two jurisdictions I have worked up until now have accepted SU-generated paper.
Chief is fast and effective for doing run of the mill stuff, like that house done for Matt by Perry the architect, but I bog it and myself down when getting into the kinds of house designs that have things like eyebrows with fillets poking through barrel vault ceilings, wierd staircases, and in particular, hybrid framing that includes timberframe and log frame elements. Chief is also not well suited to ICF detailing, at least, not for me.
But hey, the beauty of the whole software thing is that I can combine Sketchup with Chief, using the best features of each, and roll out a pretty impressive package of drawings.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Edited 11/15/2008 11:36 am ET by Gene_Davis
Thanks Gene, I was wondering if you had a different approach than the one I used to use.
And what was that approach you used to use?
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
same as yours.
But I was thinking about the your statement of the font size is way too large and one dimension obscures another. Have you tried adjusting the font size/type? Maybe I'm missing what you're saying. There's ways via [Window][Model Inof] then Text and or Dimensions to change the fonts. I'm guessiing you've seen this since already though.
Gene:
Like I said they are nice drawings. And what you are saying makes sense, but isn't consistent with my experience. Here is why: 1) no way I could get a permit with what you just posted. These city/county plans reviewers just can't handle (or don't want to bother with) anything that is a 1/2" outside the box. Further, I'm not sure our engineer would touch those. 2) the subs I use aren't top notch, and drawings like that would confuse them. They would likely charge extra just to work off of those. We could get off on a tangent about that, (quality subs) but suffice to say that I have a theory that certain intelligence levels are best suited to do a specific job. Ie: a highly intelligent guy is not going to be a good concrete guy. Maybe the company owner, but not the worker who actually does the work. Reasonably high IQ and shovel? It's oil and water. I've learned the hard way that certain trades are easy to confuse - typically the ones whose trades require a large amount of manual labor.
Something for the other people reading this: 1) I build "regular" houses. You know, like the ones 95% of us here live in. Like the measly $1/2 mil shack I live in. I have budgets and have to deliver value or our houses don't sell. 2) What Gene builds actually is Fine Homebuilding - high dollar housing - although I am of the impression that he does it as more of a retirement hobby than as a career to put food on the table. Obviously he has budgets too, but they have gotta to be generous and a bit loose.
For novices reading this: As some supplemental information in the next post I'm gonna post an example of one of the sketch drawing I needed to produce for TH project I talked about in an above post. Then I'm gonna post a page of a draft of the working drawing. The idea behind the sketch was to give the architect an Idea of what we wanted. You will see the Architect changed it quite a bit. I'm gonna delete these drawings in a few days as I could theoretically get into trouble for posting them. The thing is, I couldn't figure out how to get SU to do what I needed - produce a sketch that resembled a working drawing. Maybe I just wasn't patient enough... Maybe I was fooled by the word sketch.
Side note for Gene: you can get a printer than handles 11x17 paper for as little as about $200. We got one at our office (OK way more expensive than $200) and the 11x17 capability is an immense help.
Here are the drawings... The idea behind the sketch was to basically reign in the architect. You know... we would tell him we wanted a 22' wide 3 bedroom unit with a wide country style front porch and he'd send us a 3 bedroom with a 5'x6' corner porch that was 2' wider than the lots....
Matt, I don't know what you do in the "trenches" but it sounds like it may be a good fit for you. I am in the design/build field where we deal with custom designs where the question of "will it fit" comes into play almost every day. To figure these things out, it makes no sense to use just 2D drawing..... especially when I can draw it in 3D in the same or less time. To me, this means that Sketchup is better CAD (computer aided design) than AutoCad.The fact that I only have to draw it once is a timesaver. That also means I only have to draw it once for the homeowner presentation, for the framing take-off, for the electrical and plumbing bids, for the tile, and for the finishes. Drawing it once means I find mistakes before they can make it to the job site and I have the upper hand in preventing mistakes on the job site. You see, these "working drawings" are actually Construction Documents. That means they are the legally binding concept of work to be completed by me and my subs. The more accurate I can make that concept of work, the less likely it is that there will be deviation from that concept...followed by an unhappy client or a sub who has to dip into their own pockets. Quick story about 2D work...involves a $26,000 set of plans that were all hand drawn in what looked like one evening. For the most part they "worked" and we built from them. But often there would be snags that would hold up the whole job "how are we supposed to frame a curved roof when we don't know the radius" and "this overhanging hip scales out to six foot...why isn't there a detail for that" are two that ring bells. But the biggest dispute came after all the windows were installed and the homeowner came to us and said "you owe me a window...the plans shows 5 windows and you only put in 4" We go back to the plan and look. The plan shows 4 windows but the elevation shows 5. We go back to the homeowner and tell him it was just a drawing error. He walks away pissed. We get a letter from his lawyer and end up paying half the price of a window while the archy pays the other half. If drawn in 3D this wouldn't be a problem.The reason you don't see a "working drawing" is because you are used to standardized drawings of cookie cutter houses. I am not. To me the drawings I showed you are the embodiment of what all working drawings should be. They convey far more information than 2D ever could. They let me and everyone else involved know that the design works cohesively in the horizontal AND the vertical planes. Obviously you can frame from it. But at the same time, it lets the flooring guy know where to stop his tile and start his wood. It informs the cabinet guy of the style of cabinet and tells the trim carp what the crown detail is. All from one drawing. And in this case (unlike in the 2D world) if it works in the drawing it will work in the building.GK
not disagreeing with anything you said. And no doubt that 3-D is a great design tool. Really though you all have are just verifying what I suspected. SU is not an architectural drawing tool that will easily produce standard working drawings. Or at least there is no one here that is using it as such. That was all I was trying to find out. Not saying SU can't do it. I'm just saying SU appears not to be the right tool for me - it's not intended for that.
As far as what I do "in the trenches" I'm the guy who actually uses the plans. Regardless of how sophisticated a drawing is, I'm still the one who sorts through the errors - you know, like a door that is drawn to swing the wrong way.... An elevation detail that has the text part of the lable wrong so as not to be consistent with the floor plan... Some ridiculous detail that an engineer specified that can't be built like that and still look right. And that is just from the last 2 weeks...
Wow! She's engineering in 30 minutes! Daddy, you must be very proud. That photograph is the single best reason that FHB should have a forum for SketchUp like Design.Click.Build in FWW. As a child, my father told me that I will never be as good as him, but there was no reason on God's green earth that I couldn't be better! Bravo!
There is a new book out about using SketchUp for drawing trim. I don't have this book (nor do I use SketchUp yet), but I do have another Lang book on Craftsman interiors.
Here is the blurb I got in e-mail:
_______________________________________________________________________
New Drafting & Design Book by Robert W. Lang
_______________________________________________________________________
Drafting & Design for Woodworkers by Robert W. LangThis exciting new book details all the information and techniques you need to create and plan your own designs whether you want to work on paper or on your computer. Extensive tutorials on drawing with pencil and paper, using CAD, and the new free 3D modeling program from Google, SketchUp.
My new book, Drafting & Design for Woodworkersis on its way from the printers, and I wanted to give you the opportunity to purchase a signed copy before it is available in stores or online. I expect to have books ready to ship in the first half of November, and if you would like to reserve a copy now, you can do so by clicking on this link.
This is a bit of a departure from my previous books of measured drawings-it is, as the title says, a course in preparing working drawings and developing functional and attractive designs for woodworking projects. In this book I cover common drawing concepts working with pencil and paper as well as using computer aided design (CAD) software, including the new 3D modeling program SketchUp. And that's not all, the second half of the book covers common construction, design and engineering concepts, woodworking joints, and standard sizes for furniture and cabinets.
Visit my website, http://www.craftsmanplans.com to learn more about this new book and to reserve your copy today. No payment is needed with your reservation, I'll send an e-mail when I have books ready to ship, and you can pay securely online.
Thanks for your support of my work,
Bob Lang
Bryan post got me thinking of something...
Go to Randall Brothers site and DL their moulding & millwork catalogues. Can't remember the exact steps I took to break down their PDF catalogue but I imported each page as an image, scaled it to full size and then traced. Gives you real life pieces that you can get from the yard. Or if you want I can upload the SU file.
7g
Neat! Thanks for the inspiration, I've been messing around with SU since last night.
Half the fun is making mistakes and seeing a result right out of Braque. Boy, would he have loved this tool, or what?
Ran across this and figured you'd be interested if you haven't already seen it.
http://sketchyphysicstutorial.googlepages.com/
Sketchyphysics is a plugin written by C. Phillips for Google's 3-D program Sketchup. It allows the objects you draw in Sketchup to "come to life" in a real world simulation with gravity, collisions and interactions with other objects.
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I use sketchup all time for my drawings as well as for my concept ideas. For 3d there are (in my opinion) better programs available (also free)