Printable View
In an attempt to raise some money for my build I am wondering about writing an ebook about how to use sketchup effectively. I have been using it for more than seven years so it is one of the few things I am an authority on.
Firstly do you think this would be useful? And does a £5 on eBay sound reasonable?
There seems to be a fair amount of stuff available for using sketchup on the net which is free so my first question Joe would be what would your guide offer that's not already available? Not saying it's a bad idea at all, there are lots of tutorials for photoshop available, some are very good some are rubbish so a lot is down to the author.
Other thing is are there any copyright restrictions that would stop you doing it? Don't want to spend a lot of time & effort producing an ebook only to find you have to pay the software producers lots of money.
I would totally agree with Martin on this Joe. Personally I've found the free tutorials to be excellent and afraid my Scot's blood would stop me spending any dosh when it's available gratis. Lots of time and practice is needed and is unavoidable IMO.
Fair enough guys thanks for the feedback! I know when I was learning CSS there where lots of free tutorials but parting with a few quid for a well written ebook saved me so much time it was well worth it. Not sure on the copyright front though, I guess screenshots might be the only sticking point ??
Just remember the feedback so far is nothing more than the initial view of two old farts... well, at least one is an old fart!
If you feel it will work, then go for it Joe! Nothing ventured...
Joe, the reason I mentioned photoshop was because there is an abundance of learning support, some free & some very expensive as I am sure you already know, like you I was happy to pay for some of the help I needed but all the stuff I paid for was recommended to me by people I know & trust.
If you are going to do something like this then I am sure some people will be happy to pay a few quid for a good tutorial but how many you sell will be down to how well you promote no matter how good it is.
Andy, your first comment was correct 2 old farts lol
i'd pay for it but only because at the minute my brain seems to have died... and i infact cant be arsed to find the information i need. i am really struggling, i know what i want the software to do but it either doesnt do it or i dont know the right way of making it do it
Wilfy, sorry don't use the software or know anything about it so can't really help. Don't know what the tutorials are like but just know that there seem to be quite a few about.
Have you watched the vidoes on the sketchup site?? My advice as with any new software is take things easy & start with the basics, don't even think about the cnc build until you have got yourself familiar with how it works.
i'm keeping this brief as i cant really get in to words what i'm trying to achieve but basicly i'm finding it hard to find video as i dont know what to search for if that makes sense? i'll report back 2moro once i've thought more about things and try come up with ideas of help that i need
Wilfy, have you watched these?? Sorry don't know if they are any good as haven't watched them myself. Don't use this software.
Trimble SketchUp
Those Trimble tutorials are great IMO. I would suggest that new SketchUp users :
Download the four part getting-started-series from https://sites.google.com/site/sketch...started-series and watch and practice the basics.
Download the four Combined-Videos for Toolbars from https://sites.google.com/site/sketch...etchup-toolbar, watch them all initially, and then only watch them as and when needed.
The tutorials here are also a good starting point - www.sketchupforwoodworkers.com
the links for the first 4 part series are coming up in french and i cant see the download button :/
Think that's probably a setting on your PC... Or have you converted to French overnight?Quote:
Originally Posted by wilfy
Try these four direct links wilfy...
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1Nw...hl=en_US&pli=1
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1Nw...hl=en_US&pli=1
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1Nw...hl=en_US&pli=1
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1Nw...hl=en_US&pli=1
lol when i click your links the text on the page is still in french.. i think this is the last straw for me now.. time for a reformat.. i'll report back in a hour or 2 and hopefully them links will work as i really need to start moving forward now
nope strange still showing in french even after a reformat and new install of windows :S i have however just clicked what i thought was the download button and i now have the vids thank you
Ah... suspect you've been pulling my leg about the French...
Hope your download's not in Greek or Tagalog. Lol
i can take a screenshot ya know ;)
made it through the first 3 videos now so thank you for that.. somethings really starting to make sense so hopefully i'll be drawing up my machine some time soon
joe harris
thanks very much for the "View>component edit>hide rest of model to fully isolate the element so you can work on a part that would otherwise be hidden - can be a life saver some times! (hope i'm not teaching you to suck eggs but someone is bound to find that tip useful.)"
It makes life so much easier
I have a space navigator that I use to navigate round in sketchup and it's great, I paid £20-£25 for one a few years ago but they seem to have shot up in price to £80-£100. Not sure if I would pay that much for one, but if anyone is finding mouse navigation in 3D a pita and also has a chunck of change burning a hole in their pocket...
This is a demo of one being used in eaglecad
Use a 3D mouse with Eagle CAD
And if the price is offensive to you you could always make your own with a cnc machine/3d printer
Futuristic 3D mouse originally Arduino powered and 3D printed
No problem! - using groups and components correctly is the key to sketchup. Get some shortcuts set up for those two and 'hide rest' and you will be flying!Quote:
Originally Posted by STEVEYG
Thanks again joe for another tip "shortcuts"
If any one is interested i found some good videos for sketchup at Home - Harwood Podcast Network. I do find it a fantastic program and it's free. I've found the easiest way of transferring holes from one component to another is to draw a line at 90 degs from the centre of the first hole through the other component and then draw a circle on that components face. I tend to leave things at that because i find it difficult repairing "punched through holes" if it needs to be moved.