Online resources for teaching SketchUp to teens

Steerpike

I'm working at a summer camp and one of my courses is called "3D Modeling." There will be 15 students (mostly boys) from ages 13 to 15 who have chosen a technology-oriented program. The course description (written by my predecessor) is as follows:

@unknownuser said:

The technologies used to create objects in movies and video games are now at your fingertips! Learn how to navigate in 3D space and transform simple wire frames into stunning three-dimensional models. Explore the fundamentals of materials, textures, lighting and camera views.

Can anyone recommend sites that a) can help me stay ahead of the little geeks (no mean feat!) and b) can be assigned to them as opening tutorials to make sure everyone is up to speed before we get in to the design projects.

Thanks for any ideas!

driven

hi,

good luck!!!

my initial questions are:
what hardware will they have access to
what software did your predecessor use
will they have online access
do you want to use SU

john

Steerpike

@driven said:

hi,

good luck!!!

my initial questions are:
what hardware will they have access to
what software did your predecessor use
will they have online access
do you want to use SU

john

Imac10 w/4gb of memory. Most have Wacom Intuos 3. Networked drive with 10gb for storage of student work.
My predecessor used SU, and I've installed the latest verseion on all the machines.
All machines have robust online connections.

Thanks for your interest.

Patrick

Gaieus

Hi Patrick and welcome!

I would be honest with the little geeks explaining that you have just got this job and practically speaking this will be a common learning curve. Believe me, they will appreciate it much more than anything when it turns out that you do not know a detail.

Certainly you can (and should) be a bit ahead of them. Here (below the boring forum stuff) is a couple of links to various tutorials and videos (some links are outdated a bit but you will discover):
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=1398

Another thing: do not "ban" them from online resources. If just one is interested in the material, will eventually find this forum and you - so that honesty would pay twice; instead, encourage them to visit online resources (including these forums). People are generally patient with newbies (and especially youngsters) here so there should not be any issue (and if there is any, here are the moderators and me to kick butts)