Free CD's of Popular Woodworking magazine

daveball

I'm also preparing to teach a class, and I'm curious as to what people struggled with as they first began using SketchUp.

I am just starting to use 3D. I did some of 2D drafting a long time ago. I paid a decent chunk of money for DesignCAD 3D Max a year ago (never did much with it) and then discovered SU. Wish I had my money back....

Anyway, the hardest thing for me so far is to figure out where to start the drawing, and which way to build it. Do it part by part and put them together, or some other way? If I was doing it on paper, I would figure out what I wanted to do, rough sketch it out, draw the parts, create the cutlist. The Google Tutorials were not much help for me.

I have a project from another mag. (sorry Bob) that I am working on, but it needs changed. I refuse to build a replica of a Stickley dining room chair with dowels, so I have to recreate all the parts with proper mortises and tenons. I started building parts, but then couldn't figure out how to put them together. Some searching lead me here.

I am working through the tutorial by Chiefwoodworker at http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=183&t=8810 . Things are starting to come together in my head. He advocates doing training by building project as opposed to a series of exercises, which I agree with completely. The Hanging Shaker Cabinet might be a good one to use. Not too simple and not too complicated.

BTW - I love PW. I have been conversing with Chris on some hand tool stuff, and he has been tremendously helpful. Keep up the good work.

Dave

Hazza

@boblang said:

I'm also preparing to teach a class, and I'm curious as to what people struggled with as they first began using SketchUp.

How to stop the walls of my bird house from joining the floor and cutting bits off each other. Eventually I worked out I had to group them so they kept seperate. Later I worked out to use components so that a change in one was reflected in the other copies.

Now I make components of EVERYTHING, even if there is only piece in the model.

Really hammer home the "Use components" message..... actually this is starting to drift off topic... maybe start a seperate thread specific to woodworking models. Keep it in this forum, general starter tips is another thread that I started in the Newbie section. You could do a whole article from that thread alone

Dave R

That seems like a reasonable thing on Mr. Lang's part. It might have made some sense to check out how models he's already put out there were built before going to all that trouble.

Besides, why wouldn't you make components of the parts in the model? Save yourself a bunch of time and work.

PKast

Tale Gunner sorry to hear of your problems,

Here are the guidelines for submittal from the Popular Woodworking website:
"... Here are a few guidelines for modeling:

•Make each part into a component and give the component the name it had in print
•Show the relevant joinery
•Make the model as clean and accurate as you can
•Don't bother getting fancy with the rendering, we'd rather keep the file size small..."

Best,

todd burch

Y'all be sure to get the Nov. 1999 issue #111. That's the issue your's truly debuted - the "Out of the Woodwork" column - very back page.

Hazza

@unknownuser said:

I just got a reply for Mr. Lang. If you are not drawing the units as components you will not get recognition for the drawings.

owwww...... that must sting, the requirements for the models are there on the blog entry though.