As you probably already know I’m a huge fan of sketching…by sketching I mean with a pencil on paper! But that is only the first step I take when designing custom furniture. I find that once ideas are quickly captured on paper, it can be helpful (and fun) to refine those ideas in a program like SketchUp.
If you’ve been living in a cave for the past decade and have never heard of SketchUp, then let me say that it’s a free product from Google that offers users the ability to design and create on their computer. ’3D modeling for everyone’…
Now being the neanderthal that I am, I’ve had a hard time using it and my learning curve has been, shall we say, longer than the average. ; ) I was convinced I had some disposition or mental block because I know dozens of wood workers who use this valuable tool day in and day out without any problem. So that said- I received a promo copy of the new guide for woodworkers by David Richards and after watching the online video content, I immediately felt like a veil had been lifted from my laptop. I can see the light! Dave takes the viewer through a series of video clips and with easy to follow instruction, he walks the user through the process of using SketchUp. Geared towards the woodworking community, it demonstrates the steps needed to design and ‘build’ a small cabinet from start to finish with lots of extras along the way.
If you’re like me and have some shortcomings with the program, or if you’d like to start with a great foundation course on it, then check out this new release from the Taunton Press. You can do a video download for only $12.95 or purchase a DVD for $16.95. That’s about the price you’d pay to go see a movie and instead you’ll be getting an invaluable learning aid for this helpful design tool.
Cheers!