I see that there is a 3D Text button and I can use it to add text in 3D. It also looks like you cannot edit the text once you've placed it (i.e. for typo's). You have to redo the text from scratch. I think I can move, scale, and rotate the text though. Do I have that understood correctly?

There also is another Text button but I don't know how that works or what I can do with it.

Thanks Pilou. I will definitely check out the other videos at http://www.aidanchopra.com.

Thanks Pilou. Just starting with SU. Not sure I'm ready to venture into the world of plug-ins.

Is there a grid that can be displayed for each axis?

Or do I need to make one? Maybe out of guide lines? Maybe on another layer?

OK, got it, thanks.

Sometimes linear and angular measurements are displayed with ~ and sometimes they are not. Why?

I assume the measurements with the ~ mean they are approximate. But why would they be approximate?

Hello everyone, Matt here, SU newbie.

Is there a way to see all of the inference points all at once rather than discovering them one-by-one as the cursor moves over them?

Thanks for the replies.

The more I play with SU, the more comfortable I become. However, I do feel like I am "wondering around in the dark" in no particular direction. I have watched some tutorials and have learned from them but again, I feel somewhat unguided.

Here's an analogy that might help explain. I am a guitar player and when I first started, I worked with a lesson book and a teacher that taught fundamentals and the best way to do things. These lessons were not very musical, but they created a strong foundation. As I continued, exercises became more challenging and then more musical. Many years later, I also taught guitar lessons to beginners and found that self-taught students often had to unlearn bad habits before being able to progress.

I'd like to become proficient and confident when designing in Sketchup and feel like I am doing things the "right" way.

Can you recommend a book or DVD or other training materials that teach fundamentals and best practices?

Not having a resource like that, I'll continue "exploring" and through trial and error find out what works for me. But having the right resource (like a good beginning guitar lesson book) would speed up the learning curve and hopefully not force me to "unlearn" bad habits somewhere down the road.

Hello everyone, BluesMatt here. I am very new to SketchUp Make but not new to traditional 2D CAD programs. As a hobby, I enjoy designing and building desktop sized mechanical devices with moving parts. I am interesting in learning to use SU to capture my design ideas in 3D and help me build the parts.

I will admit that my prior CAD experience may be hindering my learning SU. I have lots of questions, but here are the first few that perhaps every beginner starting from my position would want to ask.

What I have done so far is some playing around with some of the basic drawing tools like rectangle, circle, move, push/pull and learning navigation using a scroll wheel mouse for zoom, orbit, and pan (I'm on a Windows PC). I am struggling with placing objects (like boxes) where I want them to go. I understand that I need to get used to the inference system but I am having trouble understanding how it makes decisions. What are the rules to the inference system??

While creating a rectangle, I understand that I can edit the size immediately by typing in new dimensions. How do I edit the size of a rectangle after I've created a bunch of other shapes? If I use the move tool, SU tells me how far I've moved an edge (for example). But how do I change a 8"x3"x7 rectangle to a 2"x6"x9" rectangle?

I am trying to establish a workflow for myself. I would like to work virtually just like I would work in the real world. In the real world, I would design parts one at a time, build the parts one at a time, and then assemble them to see how well they work together. Can I / should I use the same process in the virtual world? From reading here, it sounds like I should design each part in a separate instance of SU, save it as a component or group, and then add it to the SU instance that assembles the components. How close am I?

Sorry about the long post, but I am excited to become proficient at SU.