Design. Click. Build.

Groups and Components

Fri, 11 May 2007 16:57:00 GMT

Bruce, a reader, has a few questions.

“I am having trouble completely understanding the use of/difference between components and groups. I have frequently made components, perhaps just as frequently exploded them, have not found a use for groups.

"What is the real difference between them? When do you choose to employ one over the other and why? On a slightly different tack, how does one make a component in the library of one model (or file) available for any other file, new or old, without constantly opening and closing the files? In other words, how does one create a "universal" component library?”

ANSWER:
Groups are used primarily to make a simple quick relationship between objects in order to perform an operation on all of them at once (move, copy, scale, etc..) Components are much more powerful. In addition to all the functionality of a group they offer the ability to be saved as part of a library and identical components in a model can all be edited at once simply by changing one of them.

The difference is related to the scale of the projects you do, whether or not it is something you are likely to reuse more than once, and if you want the ability to edit all identical items at the same time. Think of the differences between furniture design, a house design and a neighborhood development. In designing the furniture I would make all the legs, aprons, spindles, etc.., components but might just group the whole assembly. In a house design, I would want a library of simplified versions of the furniture as components for easy reuse and placement. I would want simplified components of houses for laying out a neighborhood.

You mentioned that you frequently explode components. Remember that you can edit components or groups without exploding them. By double clicking on them you open them up for context editing. This is a powerful feature that you will want to understand. It is what makes editing multiple objects at once possible.

Making libraries of components is a great time saver and easy to do.

1st - right click on the component and choose "Save as:"

Select the location where you want to save your components. We'll add this directory to your library later in the next step:

Now open the components window, click on the details icon and choose "Open or create library:"

Browse to the directory where you just saved the component:

The directory is automatically added as a favorite in your component library

You can switch between favorite libraries of components with ease. Any new components that are saved to that directory will automatically show up the next time you open Sketchup.

Box Joints, Cabriole Legs, and More

Tue, 08 May 2007 15:37:36 GMT

I created several video tutorials that walk through the process of designing various furniture components in SketchUp. I posted these a few months back on the Knots forum but I thought I would add them to this blog, as well.

Box Joint Tutorial

Posted by: Bob Babcock

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Cabriole Leg Tutorial
Posted by: Bob Babcock

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Shaker Knob Tutorial
Posted by: Bob Babcock

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Designing a Chair Leg
Posted by: Bob Babcock

If you have any questions about these designs detailed in the above videos, post a comment below.

Sketchup Learning Resources

Wed, 02 May 2007 17:31:08 GMT

This blog is intended to help you use Sketchup for woodworking, but I wanted to share some of the other resources that have made learning Sketchup a bit easier for me.

First, the Sketchup Web site has pretty much everything you need to get started. In fact, they almost have too much. But taking the time to go through the tutorials will save you time and frustration in the long run. That said, don’t hesitate to ask questions here if you get stuck with the basics.

Stress – What happens when your mind says “no way” and your mouth says “Of course, I’d be glad too”

When I first started to use Sketchup it was in response to an urgent need. With only a slight passing knowledge of the software I said I could complete a design visualization for a very complex, very visible, industrial development project proposal. To make matters worse, we were late getting into the game and had only two months to finish what should have been four months of work. The SketchUp work to be done was perhaps 1/4 of my responsibility, but it was the only part I was unsure of and had me sweating bullets.

I needed a way to learn it quickly and during odd hours. The video tutorials available from www.Sketchup.com along with the self-paced tutorials made that a much easier task. Between the project and the tutorials I didn’t get much sleep for a couple of weeks but that effort really kick started my experience. Two months later I was producing animations of exactly what the project would look like as you drove by on the local highways.

Here are some helpful links:

Main Sketchup tutorial page

http://sketchup.google.com/tutorials.html

Tutorials with some Google Earth focus

http://sketchup.google.com/vtutorials.html

Self paced tutorials directly in Sketchup

http://sketchup.google.com/sptutorials.html

Get help fast

The Sketchup web site at the time of this entry had its users guide links backwards for the operating system type (note the link names). It may be fixed by the time you read this so be sure to check by looking at the table of contents in the file. It lists the operating system on the first page.

Windows User Guide

http://sketchup.google.com/pdfs/ug_sketchup_osx.pdf

Mac (OSX) User Guide

http://sketchup.google.com/pdfs/ug_sketchup_win.pdf

Quick Reference Card

http://download.sketchup.com/GSU/pdfs/QuickReferenceCard.pdf

Online Help

http://download.sketchup.com/sketchuphelp/gsu6_win/gsuwin.html

Mac Online Help

http://download.sketchup.com/sketchuphelp/gsu6_mac/gsumac.html

Support – Frequently Asked Questions

http://sketchup.google.com/support/

Layout User Guide – Layout is presentation software that allows you to prepare hard copies with the graphics linked directly to the model

http://dl.google.com/sketchup/gsu6/docs/ug_layout_win.pdf

Sketchup User Group

http://groups.google.com/group/SketchUp

Sketchup Pro Forum (requires registration to post) A great place for answers to all kinds of SU related questions. Tutorials too…

http://forum.sketchup.com/

Components and Materials

http://sketchup.google.com/bonuspacks.html

There are many, many sites out there with Sketchup content (tutorials, components, plugins, etc..) available. Grab a cup of coffee or a beverage of your choice and Google “Sketchup tutorials” . I’ve listed a sampling of the more popular sites but you will want to look and play for yourself…..lots'a good stuff out there.

3rd Party Sites

Sketchup tutorial site: http://www.sketchucation.com

Some interesting useful scripts, some free: http://www.smustard.com/

SuWiki…tutorials and more: http://www.suwiki.org/suwiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Original Sketchup 4 tutorials: http://www.caddtutorialsonline.com/sketchup-tutorials.html

(download them for viewing whenever you need a refresher)

Drawing Dovetails

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 03:44:30 GMT

How To Draw Dovetails
Length: 1:49
Posted by Bob Babcock

In this short tutorial, I'll show you how to draw dovetail joinery in SketchUp. This process can be used to create a variety of furniture joints.

Meet Bob Babcock

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:37:42 GMT

Bob Babcock here…OK…OK…I know that reading about me is pretty boring so I’ll try to keep it brief. 49 years old, Married 25 years, 2 daughters. I’m a Senior Designer for a mid-size engineering/architectural firm. Almost 30 years of design/drafting experience with 20 years of heavy Autocad use.

I’ve used a wide variety of CAD/graphics software over the years. I can’t think of any that has been as much fun or easy to use as Sketchup though, especially when it comes to 3D modeling. I happened upon it by accident about 3 years ago while developing a proposal for a project. Which we won despite being the high bidder by $1million (due in part to the capabilities of Sketchup) but that’s another story. Needless to say, Sketchup has become a primary tool for me professionally.

It’s only been the last few years that I have tried to become a more capable woodworker. Most of my projects prior to that have been related to my other hobby, landscaping/gardening. Benches, decks, arbors, gates, chairs, lampposts, you name it, if it goes outside in the average (and sometimes not-so-average) landscape and is made of wood I’ve probably built one. Then the boss tells me we need new furniture……and a light goes on…..hhhhmmmm…..that would require some new tools…..OK, I can do that! It just happened to coincide with me finding Sketchup…..fate, syncronicity, good karma? I don’t know….but it sure has helped me from wasting a lot of good wood. I wouldn’t think of starting a project now without designing it 1st in Sketchup.

I’ve been an avid user of FWW online and learned a great deal from other users in the Knots forum. When I started seeing questions on CAD and Sketchup I figured this was a good way that I could give back to the FWW community. I posted a few woodworking focused video tutorials to answer some of the questions and soon was being asked for more. Evidently Matt Berger was paying attention (Thanks for the invite Matt).

I’m really looking forward to working with Dave, Tim and Matt to help bring you a great resource for learning Sketchup. I’ve always learned more while teaching others so I’m looking forward to a great learning experience.