Help: All I want is a simple workbench design !
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Hi Folks,
_____I thought it should be simple enough, or so I thought, with this easy to learn program.
Ha !
_____I can do it freehand in 5 minutes with pencil, paper and any straightedge. Why have I wasted over an hour with sketchup ? And I STILL don't have a drawing on paper !
_____I need to be able to draw a solid object (like a 2'x8' 3/4 ply board) on 4 legs (of 2"x4") with a lower shelf of the same size.
_____So how is this sketchup so intuitive that I can draw a rectangular object and then set the EXACT SIZE from the keyboard's numeric keypad ? Because I'm NOT interested in endlessly jiggling the mouse !
_____And, yes, a "Two by Four" is actually One and Three quarters of an inch by Three and Three Quarters of an inch. It is NOT 1.75 inches by 3.75 inches. It is NOT Two inches by Four inches. Not in any lumber yard. Unless you want to get charged the ignorance tax. In some places, it is quite high...
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Welcome to the board Larry. If you can do a better and faster job on paper then I suggest you do so. If not there are many helpful tutorials on you tube that I suggest you watch.
Here's one to start. -
Hi Larry,
It is always the same. No matter which tool you want to use. You must first learn its features. Before you drove the first time a car you had to learn how to drive a car. But you must not use a car.
Karlheinz
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Hi Larry,
Specifically for your current needs, it seems that for this "project" you need the
Rectangle tool and the PushPull toolSee the links above and specifically the sections "Specifying precise values" for each. Note that the Guide I linked to is for version 6 but for a first glance, it is easier to navigate than the current guide you can access from the Help menu of SU I suppose - and of course, it is still valid.
Also, in your SU Window menu, go to Preferences > Templates and see if there you can find one with the unit settings you like (if I understand you correctly, you do not like decimal inches). You can also set your custom units under Window > Model info > Units - and when you are done, save it as a custom Template under the File menu - now go back to Preferences > Templates and choose this one as your default when you start SU.
And welcome to the forums, of course. Note that every one of us used to be a beginner at a time and was uncertain about all these things. Believe me that after a short while, it will be faster and more precise to draw (to scale) in SU than on paper - with pencil and ruler and such.
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Here you will find some helpfull video tutorials.
MAKE SketchUp Workbench video tutorial:
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Fwiw, you can enter fractional dimensions.
Draw a line (of any length) then immediately enter 1 3/4 in the measurement box (just start typing the number. No need to highlight the measurement box with a mouse click)
same for rectangles (as well as the other tools). Draw a rectangle then enter 1 1/2, 3 1/2 in the MB and the rectangle will be drawn to those dimensions.
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