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    What's your beginners tip?

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    • K Offline
      KXI System
      last edited by

      @halane34 said:

      Como todavía soy un principiante, toma esto por lo que vale la pena. La mejor ayuda para mí fue la serie de Aidan Chopra de videos en YouTube. Ahora también tienen la guía complementaria .. "de SketchUp para Dummies". Está muy claro que habla y fácil de entender y tiene un montón de buenas sugerencias. Es perfecto para un novato de gráficos 3D como yo!
      Espero que esto ayude!

      Translation:

      @unknownuser said:

      As I'm still a beginner, take this for what it's worth. The best help for me was the number of Aidan Chopra videos on YouTube. Now also have the companion guide .. SketchUp for Dummies ". It's very clear and easy to understand speech and has lots of good suggestions. It's perfect for beginners to 3D graphics as I do hope this helps!

      SO true!

      Getting the perfect sig is hard...

      Google it!

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      • M Offline
        Mensa
        last edited by

        These tips helped greatly, thanks!

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        • M Offline
          mm5949
          last edited by

          It took me a while, but I finally learned the "Intersect with Model" tool. This is a good (only?) way to make accurate mortise and tenons for woodworking. It's explained on page 222 of the (downloadable...887 pages!) SU User's Guide which I downloaded from the official SU website (at http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=116174). It is a powerful tool. ☀

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          • V Offline
            vindemiatrix
            last edited by

            hello everyone and all the french community in the world ^^ my tips for beginners it's to learn with the video on youtube cut your screen in two , one youtube one sketchup and practice on one things everyday first the basics with sketchup4school but they are american so it's hard to undrestand because of there texas accent eating bublle gum ^^

            and go far , found "good" technical tuto is quite difficult like how using the light in vray or how smooth or connect the edge but there is !!!
            like "andeciuala" he speak a undertandle englih speak slowly i think he was indian cool people and explain very well and so technic amazing i use a plugin for firefox to save this tuto it's download helper a free plugin that's all .
            i design for jewellery in france .

            win 7 64bit , 8go ,nvidia 320gt,intel i3 5300 with two screen perfect for sketchup 22" & 21"

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            • C Offline
              chrisjk
              last edited by

              @mm5949 said:

              It took me a while, but I finally learned the "Intersect with Model" tool. This is a good (only?) way to make accurate mortise and tenons for woodworking. It's explained on page 222 of the (downloadable...887 pages!) SU User's Guide which I downloaded from the official SU website (at http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=116174). It is a powerful tool. ☀

              To save the palaver of deleting a lot of unwanted geometry after using an intersect operation, I find Bool Tools from Smustard indispensable.

              Chris

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              • B Offline
                bob-designer
                last edited by

                Never draw anything twice. Never draw anything twice. In my cad days it was Blocks.
                In SU, make it a component. My tip, Bob

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                • S Offline
                  ScrubBurnRepeat
                  last edited by

                  use the shift key, early and often.

                  08-Feb-2010 edit: avoid using mouse to select "hide" from context-click menu. every once in a while the mouse will mistakenly click "erase", and the result will appear the same as if mouse had clicked "hide". Unfortunately, much later (even later after a few unhide-all's) you will wonder to where some parts have disappeared.

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                  • J Offline
                    jessemorton24
                    last edited by

                    CONVERT INTERSECTION CONTOUR LINES TO UNIFORM B SPLINES FROM FREDO's PLUGIN!!! THEN EXTRUDE BY RAILS!!!! FROM TIG's PLUGGINS!!! ANYTIME YOU INTERSECT TO FACES TO CREATE A CONTOUR LINE FOR COMMAND EXTRUDE PROFILE AND RAILS!!.. AND DO IT AT 100!!!! SO IT IS SOFT AS A BABY'S BOBO!!

                    Parkways, Driveways, Gateways, Pathways...

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                    • mitcorbM Offline
                      mitcorb
                      last edited by

                      It may have been said several times in this topic:
                      Go through all of the 9 or so pages in this thread.
                      Then look up the Duh/Doh thread. There "may" be some gems there, too.

                      I take the slow, deliberate approach in my aimless wandering.

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                      • G Offline
                        GoldenFrog
                        last edited by

                        @pmolson said:

                        Beginners of an appropriate age of course.
                        Awww...really? 🤣

                        Remember, great minds think alike, and fools never differ.

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                        • leedeeteeL Offline
                          leedeetee
                          last edited by

                          I've no idea if this has been covered before but one think I have just discovered (embarassing!) is the fact that when moving/rotating groups or components, rather than having to use the rotate tool (which can be tricky if the object hasn't a flat face, e.g a person or a tree) you can just use the move function and rotate with the little red crosses that appear on the faces.

                          I know this is probably old news but it saved me a load of time/heartache. 😳

                          moverotate.png

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                          • I Offline
                            iiian2009
                            last edited by

                            As a beginner myself, I don’t feel that I am really qualified to give tips, but … I have found that learning to use layers properly has helped me enormously. By turning on and off layers, you can access and see parts of your model that would otherwise be very difficult to work on. Imagine if you could do this in real life - you would be able to scratch your feet without taking your shoes and socks off! Bliss!

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                            • GaieusG Offline
                              Gaieus
                              last edited by

                              @iiian2009 said:

                              As a beginner myself, I don’t feel that I am really qualified to give tips...

                              This is not true. There is nothing more important in the learning process than these "enlightenment" moments and sharing them with other beginners can bring seemingly basic but not necessarily obvious things (more experienced users may not even think about) to their attention.

                              Now as for your "discoveries"; if you turn some layers off and make a scene (View > animation > add scene - or when you already have one, just rightclickon the tab and "add..." or add one from the scene manager - see below) then turn them on again and make another scene, next time you do not even have to go and turn them on - just click on the scene tab and the parts "vanish".

                              Best is to open your scene manager (Window menu) and uncheck the "camera location" and "Include animation" when you only use the scenes for working. Don't forget to refresh the scenes if you make any changes in existing ones.

                              Gai...

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                              • G Offline
                                gabwil
                                last edited by

                                maybe the wrong place for this question...

                                Is there one place to see all available plugins?

                                I find posts about the ones I want but have a hard time finding the actual file for download. I am looking for: line_normals

                                gabwil

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                                • GaieusG Offline
                                  Gaieus
                                  last edited by

                                  Hi Gabwil,

                                  Here is an extension index where you can find most of the plugins ever published and here is a list of plugins published on these forums (some are not listed in the index above). The actual plugins are generally attached to the bottom of the very first post (by the author) in each topic.

                                  Gai...

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                                  • X Offline
                                    xrok1
                                    last edited by

                                    and the #1 beginner tip is.... post a picture (even 2d or hand drawn!) of what your trying to acheive with your question****!!!!!**** 👿

                                    “There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.”

                                    http://www.Twilightrender.com try it!

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                                    • G Offline
                                      gonegoing
                                      last edited by

                                      Learn keyboard shortcuts. It really speeds things up
                                      Another one: When you export an image do so at about 3000 pixels. Then reduce image size in Photoshop to smooth the lines.

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                                      • D Offline
                                        Dadoing
                                        last edited by

                                        1. If you use Microsoft Office, check out MS OneNote for collecting and organizing notes about SU.

                                        2. First time you open Sketchup to see what it's all about, consider setting it up to look like the attached image. Check out View/Toolbars.


                                        First setup.jpg

                                        Problem with Sketchup is it's more fun than cleaning up sawdust and sharpening tools.

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                                        • J Offline
                                          JamesPhilip
                                          last edited by

                                          Hi. I wanted to share a technique that I learned. While working with large projects, the computer becomes slow while using the orbit tool for rotating, or the Pan tool. I usually switch to wire frame mode just before using those tools, and after rotating or panning, switch back to the shaded view. I think this method reduces the load on the computer.
                                          Another method is to assign plants, furniture, vehicles etc., to particular layers, turn off those layers and turn them back on after completing the detailing works. This also reduces the load on the computer.

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                                          • J Offline
                                            JamesPhilip
                                            last edited by

                                            I would like to share another method that helped me to keep every thing in order. Suppose you are modelling a complicated shape, like a designer window inside one of the rooms in a house. First you turn the window into a group. The window should be at the exact location where you want it to be in the finished model of the house.Move this group a particular distance, say about 300 cms or 10 ft(using multiples of 100 will be easy. Also dont forget this distance) along the blue axis in the upward direction. Now the group is away from the model of the house. Now you can select the house without affecting the window and hide it. This will reduce the load on the computer. The parallel projection mode and front, side or rear view can be used with advantage for selecting the house. Now do the detailing works on the window. After that unhide the house and move the window 300 cms down.

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