I am desperately trying to learn how to use Google Sketchup and it may just be the most frustrating program I’ve toyed with in a LONG while. Screw you Sketchup and your complicated rules and axis and inferring and lines not crossing.
As an experimentation project I wanted to model out The Brick House including the patio project and my proposal for a horizontal slat screen on the front porch and a matching slat wood gate for the driveway. It took me awhile to figure out that you could load already prepared 3-D elements…
Wow, that is way wonky. But you can kind of get the idea about the slats? Right?
Look a grapefruit tree! Much cleaner and much more well trimmed than ours.
There are all those pesky pavers in a virtual world…and they are still a pain to install. I haven’t figured out how to add gravel yet.
The roof was the worst thing to make, OMG geometry is not my strong suit. This little blank model represents about a good solid two days of intense work. Slow and steady as I tried to figure it out, watching tutorials and looking around at the 3-D warehouse. I may start again and try to get it all cleaned up and done correctly…I can’t wait to start redesigning the laundry room.
Anybody else play with this Sketchup beast? Any tips or tricks?
I can see the appeal and want to get a little more competent, but that learning curve is mighty steep.
27 Comments
That is really cool looking. Nice job for an experiment, nice job in general. It looks ultra modern in the 3-D rendering. The Slat Screen on the porch looks awesome. This will be great for choosing other lanscaping choices too.
You did a great job with this one. The last couple of times i have moved i’ve tried to make sketchup models of the apartments but the only end result has only been anger and frustration and i’m no novice computer user. The interface just bugs the hell out of me and i really hate the bad overall design.
Your model looks all right! try to render it with some textures!
Horizontal slat screens like the one you illustrated here are VERY common here in super-sunny Brisbane, Australia.
I’ll take a walk around the neighborhood tomorrow and take some photos of examples in action.
I really like the slats.
Your pavers are starting to stress me out!
Once you get the hang of it, sketchup is an AMAZING program! i’m an interior designer (well, once I finish my MA I will be!) and I work at an arch firm and use this program constantly to build house models. the key to sanity is COMPONENTS! make every individual piece a component, create layers, and your life will be much, much easier. you can then isolate/hide elements and things won’t stick together. i would be happy to help you if you have specific questions or just need more help-email me at seatwo [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
I’m v. impressed you stuck with it..and with such nice results. We tried using it to create our landscape plan in the front and got pissed off with it and gave up. Hated the program. Sounds like DC Sarah might have the magic touch…and tips!
I tried SketchUp a while back and gave up on it. Since then, I found http://www.floorplanner.com which, even without instructions, was easier for me. It’s a much more limited program, though, and (as the title implies) is designed for floorplans, not 3D renderings.
You really stuck with it though!! The models look awesome! I’m trying to teach myself sketchup to design our kitchen remodel. Oy. Quite possibly the most frustrating program ever. I’m just now starting to get the hang of it. I can see how it’s a very powerful program but… man is there a steep learning curve!
SketchUp really is awesome once you get the hang of it. The interface is very different from other modeling programs, so it is a little tricky at first. You have to unlearn what you know to some extent.
I am currently working with an architecture firm that uses SketchUp for all of their preliminary modeling. I use it at home for furniture design. You can’t beat it for speed and ease of use.
I agree with DC Sarah: make everything a component. This prevents objects from “healing” to one another. Seriously, this is critical. Once you get in the habit of doing this, everything else will be more or less intuitive. Also, make sets of components into groups, so you can manipulate related objects all at once. Definitely use layers to further group entities together. Layers are great for experimenting with different design permutations. Use the arrow keys to lock movements to a particular axis. Use the field in the lower right hand corner of the interface to enter exact dimensions for everything.
Your model looks really good. Don’t give up. SketchUp is a powerful tool and is worth getting the hang of. After you mess with it a little more, you will get really quick with it.
How to use sketchup: marry a software engineer.
Sorry, can’t offer any other help. That program tried to kill me.
DC Sarah and Jeremy are bang on. The interface is actually quite easy to use, once you figure out how to “think” in “SketchUp language”. You should also know that if you’re using a tablet and stylus, you will go crazy. I am an interior designer and use SketchUp all the time, but have still not figured out how to use it with my Wacom tablet.
The other secret is to not use the icons, but learn the keyboard shortcuts, instead. That will save you a lot of time. For example, L is for line, R is for rectangle, Q is for rotate, O is for orbit, etc etc etc. Your eyes and brain probably get tired, going from the drawing to the toolbar and back again, constantly.
Good luck! Your model looks great, by the way. Not wonky at all!!
Yes, thank you guys for the tips – I didn’t even consider using the keyboard shortcuts (I was so ignorant of them). Towards the end of making this I started to figure out how to group things so that they wouldn’t stick together which was driving me CRAZY.
Components and layers. Now I need to figure out how to make layers…shouldn’t be hard.
I also need to figure out how to add textures. But you guys are right – I’m pretty decent on a computer but you really have to relearn to think in the Sketchup way.
funny! the architects i hang out with make fun of sketch up as the “easy” program, (they mostly use 3d animation software like rhino and maya) but i find it difficult, too. very counterintuitive until it becomes intuitive. the slats are great but you should dream bigger. move them to the front of the structure, out from under the porch overhand, make it so they go up a little higher than the edge of the roof, screening a little more of the ugly. if you give in to the logic of what the existing porch is sort of making you do, you end up highlighting the very architectural features you are trying to screen or change. …ugh, hard to explain: a thousand words and a picture and all that. …go bigger! what if the slats in front of the porch and the slats making up the driveway gate lined up in plan? (ie push the porch slats forward and the gate slats way forward) they would have twice the impact with almost the same budget… anyway, impressed by the sketchup, keep going!!!
I always end up lost in a column or something bizarre like that when I use sketch-up. The zooming is awful! You can also place your model into google earth, just the be sure your house plays nicely with the rest of the neighborhood!
Have we seen photos of your laundry room?
love the slats! i think that would look fab with the concrete and gravel.
I have been looking for ease of use design software. no luck but maybe because I am not a professional.
let us know what you find!
Girl. SketchUp made my CUH-razy in design school, but I’m so glad I worked at it because once you figure out it’s little idiosyncrasies, it makes things SO much easier! LOVING the slats! Using them on a current project as a room/staircase divider. Rock on!
I am an interior designer, and use sketch up every day…like they say, once you get the hang of it, it’s an amazing tool! Recently attended a training session at Google and was amazed by all of the things I didn’t even know the program could do!
Wow I’m really glad I found your blog! I am using Plan 3D found it very challenging, I think I will also try the Floor Planner / on one of your comments!! . . .Love your sketches, your doing great works. I am new to bloging, please stop and visit sometime. Sincerely Laurie
I am an interior design student, and 3D Visualization has been one of my favorite classes. We used a textbook by Aidan Chopra, who happens to be the person who wrote Google Sketchup for Dummies. Here’s another one of his books, which is similiar to the one I had for design school – http://bit.ly/bbetH9
If you have the patience for it, you might want to work your way through one of these (or at least have it on hand for reference). I tried learning the software with only the tutorials, but really got to grips with it once I used the textbook.
Keep it up – you’ve done a tremendous job in just 2 days!
i think you did a bang up job! i tried to learn it by making the tutorial chair and finally gave up so angry.
impressed. i use sketch up regularly too. click the paint bucket and change the drop down menu from the color option to ground cover to add gravel. you can also change the scale of the gravel and color. creating components is huge. as is groups (once you change 1 group, it automatically updates everything in that group, for example the pavers). as is the 3d warehouse. file/3d warehouse/get models.
Wow! I’m so glad you’ve brought this program to my attention. Back in the ’80s I pirated a piece of software that let you create architectural floor plans and I used it just as kind of a game, so I’m excited to see if I can use this for practical purposes now that I’m an adult.
Love the slat fence and gate, may look into doing something similar.
These are looking rad, I’ve been freehanding my layouts on illustrator for ages. I’m downloading this bad-boy right now and gonna get all over it. Thanks for the look out.
BTW the slats are rocking.
I tried sketchup for 10 minutes and gave up. Its me…I’ve accepted that. Your model is great!
I really like the way you’ve thought to do the slates across the drive as well. It gives you more private space and the balance is just beautiful. Hope it comes to “life”.
I love Sketchup but I started using it way back when it was, like, 1.0 so I’ve grown with it. It’s both incredibly robust and simple at the same time. The thing is, you *can* do every detail in Sketchup but it’s best if you use it for broad sketches and imagining. Any skp file can be inserted into your file as a component. As long as you don’t ungroup it, it stays like it is in the original file. So, for instance, if you wanted to just mess with, like, the landscape plan in it’s own file without all the other stuff bogging you down you could have a “back yard” file. Work in that and then insert it into another model.
I’ve done a lot of imagining of my house with Sketchup. I’ve got a file with the basics of the property line and everything gets imported into that. Anyway, enjoy it for what it is without trying to make it what it’s not.
Love the screen!
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