Tutorials
Although I've drawn these tutorials in SU5, I've saved them as SU4 files so that those who haven't upgraded can look at them. These tutorials show some specific woodworking related operations but the SketchUp techniques used can be applied to other areas. If you are considering SketchUp but haven't yet taken the plunge, there is a free viewer available from the SketchUp folks.
Paneled Door (810Kb)
Dovetails (184Kb)
Bracket Feet (574Kb)
Router Cut Flutes (855Kb)
I have additional plans for this space. It isn't complete, yet.

Setup
Take a few minutes to set up a starting template. This will give you a starting point for your drawings. You can establish a starting viewpoint, dimensions, colors, units, etc.

Tips
Group early and group often. Grouping makes it possible to keep parts of your model separate.

Use components when possible. If you have more than one of some part in your model, draw one, make it a component and then copy it. If you edit one component all other instances will be changed to match. Component use helps to keep file sizes manageable. SU only needs to keep track of one instance of the component, not all of them.

If you draw something that you might use in another project, save it as a component in the component library. This is handy for router/molding profiles, doors, hardware, etc.

Take advantage of the mirroring function of the Scale tool. This is useful for cabinet sides, doors, anything where you'll have symmetrical parts.

Use construction geometry. Think of construction lines (xlines) as the pencil marks you'd make on the wood. With the Tape Measure tool you can drag xlines parallel to a reference line such as an axis, the edge of an entity or between two points. You can use the protractor to drag out lines at an angle to a reference line.

It is tempting to model every single detail and it is certainly possible. Try to avoid that, though. Consider your audience. If you are drawing a project to show a client, keep in mind you may need to make changes. Those changes will be easier to make if you haven't over modeled your drawing. After the design work is complete, go ahead and add joinery and other details as desired.

Textures. Although you can rotate textures after they've been applied, take a few minutes and create rotated versions of wood grain and other directional textures. Open them in your favorite image editor and rotate them 90°. Save the rotated version with a new name. I also change the name of the original to make it easier to identify which texture I'm selecting. For example you might have Cherry_H.jpg and Cherry_V.jpg. Then add in. For adding textures, see the SU Help file for the Material Editor.

Ruby Scripts
SketchUp can utilize Ruby scripts to add functionality and automation. There are a number of free Ruby scripts out there. I've linked to a couple of different sites that make scripts available. You should also look at the Ruby forum on the SketchUp site.

If you haven't used Ruby scripts then you'll need to do the following:
1. Navigate to the Plugins folder. On a PC it should be:
                         C:\Program Files\@Last Software\SketchUp5\Plugins
2. Open the Examples folder and copy sketchup.rb.
3. Paste sketchup.rb into the Plugins folder.
4. Open SketchUp and check to see that you now have a menu called Plugins.

There are a few other scripts in the examples folder. If you want to use them copy them into the Plugins folder as well.

When you download new Ruby scripts make sure you save them in the Plugins menu.

If you would like to see where you'll look in SU to run the script, open it in WordPad or NotePad. Look near the bottom for a line that looks similar to this:

    UI.menu("Plugins").add_item("Set Center Point") { addCenterPoint }
end
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
file_loaded("centerpoint.rb")

This tells SketchUp to put Set Center Point in the Plugins menu. If you wanted to look in the Tools menu for this instead, you could change "Plugins" to "Tools". I have changed a few scripts to make them show up in what I consider more intuitive menus. I would suggest you work with SU and the scripts for awhile before changing them.

Some scripts are set up to appear in the Context (right click) menu. Keep in mind that the Context menu entries you see are dependent on what you are doing or what you have selected.

Here my list of some of the more useful scripts.

weld.rb
curve stitcher.rb
bezier.rb
CALC.rb
dim_angle.rb
Windowizer.rb
repair broken lines.rb
ExtrudeAlongPath.rb



Links
SketchUp
Rick W's Windowizer Site. Rick's collection of Ruby scripts including one of my favorites, weld.rb.
Didier Bur's Ruby Library Site. A large collection of free Ruby scripts written for SketchUp
John Yurko's Woodworking Site. John has created a collection of SU models of wood shop tools.


Contact Me

SketchUp Models
Woodrat
Raised Panel Jig
Workbench
Sled