It is feature rich and offers more than enough functionality for most of us. If you are planning to use SketchUp for personal projects, “SketchUp Make” is the free version and probably the right option for you.

There are two editions of Sketchup available on the web site, so it will be important to choose the right one depending on your needs. Getting Started with SketchUp for Woodworkers

Therefore, I came to the conclusion that this time around I would seek out the training materials necessary to improve my chances of success. The tool set was different from other applications that I have used, and working in a 3D space using a 2D mouse proved challenging without some guidance. SketchUp was a natural choice for me because A) there is a robust version available for free, B) I have seen many example drawings that represented exactly the type of projects that I wanted to design with the tool so I knew that it was capable of performing my intended tasks, and C) because it is so widely adopted, there is an abundance of free and inexpensive self-guided training materials available.Ī few years back I had made a couple previous attempts to just “dive in” to the application but I found it difficult to master that way. I wanted to gain the efficiency of a “real design tool” that would allow me to work in three dimensions with a tool set that was purpose-built for detailed illustrations, so I finally made a commitment to learn SketchUp. All of these approaches left me feeling constrained, and I felt that the limitations of the tools were negatively affecting my designs. Prior to learning SketchUp, I had developed my designs over the years using pencil and paper, as well as a couple of general purpose computer applications that were not specifically intended for furniture design. Most of the woodworking that I do is custom, requiring original design, or at minimum a bit of modification of an existing concept.

Sketchup classes for woodworkers