How Precise is SketchUp?

[WhitneyK]

OK, forgive me if I have missed it somewhere, but here's my question(s).

If I create a "plan" for a TD in SketchUp, (or even use Dan's design for that matter) make sure all my intersections meet with no gaps, can I use these dimensions to cut the pieces to build a TD?

Is SketchUp "precise" enough?

Will this be like a template? (smaller scale of course)

If it would be possible to print to scale, could it be used as a pattern?

Thanks for the help / guidance / direction / comments.

Oh and THANKS Dan for your instructional video, that helps alot!

[_Ryan_]

SketchUp is absolutely precise enough. I wasn't familiar with it until I started my design and now I use it for everything. It's used a lot for cabinet makers apparently.

If you are careful when designing you can use the resulting model as a guide to cut all your pieces. This is what I am doing and so far so good. It's very nice to have the exact measurements, down to 1/16 inch when trying to get all your pieces to fit exactly.

Another great thing is that you can test out different ideas before you ever touch a piece of wood. At the same time you will see things that won't work beforehand. This has saved me hours upon hours of time I'm sure!

As far as printing out a guide I don't see why it wouldn't work if you had a printer that could handle that. I also had the idea that you could get a projector and project something, like the profile, on a board. You could then trace it out and cut very accurately. Of course you would have to get the scale right but an idea I had rolling around in my head anyway.

Almost forgot! Another cool use is to take your pieces and lay them out on a piece of virtual plywood to plan your cut more efficiently.

[wyldesyde007]

And yes you could technically print out a full size pattern although depending on the size of your printer that could involve a lot of paper! have a look at this program http://woodgears.ca/bigprint/index.html this allows you to print out a plan to scale and use it as a template.

[jeff0520]

I've used sketchup to design a few things including a 9 cage mini lattice barn for raising rabbits. Every time I've used sketchup, my cutting and joining errors were greater than any error factor in the software. I don't know if it's super precies, but it's WAY more precise than I can cut things I've also had assembly errors bite me in tender spots too. When using dimensional lumber and making a butt joint if you told sketchup you were going to have the butt on the top, and you actually butt it on the side, you just introduced a 1 1/2 inch error in BOTH dimensions. when you are building a sketchup plan it's really tempting to use the textures to make it look as realistic as possible. The problem with that is it's really easy to loose track of where the seam is in a 90 degree butt joint. If you want to pretty it up with textures, be sure you save a version without the textures to help you keep all of that straight.

[_Ryan_]

when you are building a sketchup plan it's really tempting to use the textures to make it look as realistic as possible. The problem with that is it's really easy to loose track of where the seam is in a 90 degree butt joint. If you want to pretty it up with textures, be sure you save a version without the textures to help you keep all of that straight.

You can apply all the textures and colors you want then switch back to wireframe or simple shading at any time by changing the option in the menu: View -> Face Style. No need to save different models.

[jeff0520]

when you are building a sketchup plan it's really tempting to use the textures to make it look as realistic as possible. The problem with that is it's really easy to loose track of where the seam is in a 90 degree butt joint. If you want to pretty it up with textures, be sure you save a version without the textures to help you keep all of that straight.

You can apply all the textures and colors you want then switch back to wireframe or simple shading at any time by changing the option in the menu: View -> Face Style. No need to save different models.

Good advice! I didn't know that feature was there. I'm a Linux user, and Google stopped supporting Unix/Linux, so no sketchup for me unless I borrow a Windows computer. I love sketchup, but half my attention is used up in the operating system switch and I tend to miss things like that.
Funny that Google doesn't support Linux anymore when their Andriod operating system uses the Linux kernal.

[_Ryan_]

Good advice! I didn't know that feature was there. I'm a Linux user, and Google stopped supporting Unix/Linux, so no sketchup for me unless I borrow a Windows computer. I love sketchup, but half my attention is used up in the operating system switch and I tend to miss things like that.
Funny that Google doesn't support Linux anymore when their Andriod operating system uses the Linux kernal.

Hey it's your lucky day, I'm a Linux user too and it runs great for me using WINE. If you need some help getting it up and running send me a PM.

[jeff0520]

Good advice! I didn't know that feature was there. I'm a Linux user, and Google stopped supporting Unix/Linux, so no sketchup for me unless I borrow a Windows computer. I love sketchup, but half my attention is used up in the operating system switch and I tend to miss things like that.
Funny that Google doesn't support Linux anymore when their Andriod operating system uses the Linux kernal.

Hey it's your lucky day, I'm a Linux user too and it runs great for me using WINE. If you need some help getting it up and running send me a PM.

Thanks! I haven't had a lot of luck with Wine, but there it a product called Crossover from CodeWeavers that is essentially the Wine engine with an autoconfioguration and debug sustem laid over it. I tried an evaulation copy of that, and it worked well, but that was years ago. I had no pressing need for Wine at the time, so it slipped my mind until now. I'll have to shell out the money and get a full version.

[_Ryan_]

Thanks! I haven't had a lot of luck with Wine, but there it a product called Crossover from CodeWeavers that is essentially the Wine engine with an autoconfioguration and debug sustem laid over it. I tried an evaulation copy of that, and it worked well, but that was years ago. I had no pressing need for Wine at the time, so it slipped my mind until now. I'll have to shell out the money and get a full version.

Wine has advanced by leaps and bounds lately. If you're using Ubuntu just "apt-get install wine", then download SketchUp and run the installer with Wine and you are good to go. Everything works great except the web based SketchUp sharing center.

My advice is to away from Crossover, it is a waste of money and I'm not sure if there are any benefits of using it over Wine these days. Good luck!

[danlott]

OK, forgive me if I have missed it somewhere, but here's my question(s).

If I create a "plan" for a TD in SketchUp, (or even use Dan's design for that matter) make sure all my intersections meet with no gaps, can I use these dimensions to cut the pieces to build a TD?

Is SketchUp "precise" enough?

Will this be like a template? (smaller scale of course)

If it would be possible to print to scale, could it be used as a pattern?

Thanks for the help / guidance / direction / comments.

Oh and THANKS Dan for your instructional video, that helps alot!

It is a very percise program. The trick is knowing how to use the program to get precise measurements. When you make your initial side profile make sure to save that in a layer by itself. You can then create a grid layer over the top of the profile layer. I used a 2 inch by 2 inch grid over my profile. I then took measurement of various points in SketchUp and layed them out on the plywood. I little time consuming, but very accurate results.

Dan

[WhitneyK]

You can then create a grid layer over the top of the profile layer. I used a 2 inch by 2 inch grid over my profile. I then took measurement of various points in SketchUp and layed them out on the plywood. I little time consuming, but very accurate results.Dan

How/where do I find this "grid layer"?

[danlott]

I created the grid layer. Just make a bunch of lines spaced equally apart. When you have the grid created you can group all the lines together and the assign the group to it's own layer. You can then move the grid layer over your profile. After that use the measuring tool to measure various points of your profile as compared to the grid.

Dan

[_Ryan_]

Instead of lines you can also use guides. Create a rectangle that defines the outer edges of your profile then use the measuring tool to drag guide lines out every 2 inches. This rectangle can also be the size of the plywood you are cutting the profile from.

I made it an group so you can selectively hide the entire grid at any time, and made it a child object of the sidewall itself. You can group them in a hierarchy by dragging and dropping objects by using the Window -> Outliner window.


You can then place the guide group over the profile and use the dimension tool to draw measurements between the profile edges and the guides. This will allow you to see any measurement without repeatedly using the measurement tool each time. You can create a group for this as well so you can view/hide them at any point.


As far as precision, I would say it worked out very well to transfer from the digital plan to the wood itself.

[gorving405]

As a relative newcomer to Sketchup,I found it see ms to be precise enough to
flesh out some good 3D designs,which can be used to create full sized patterns.
Operator error is the biggest stumbling block o n my part.

[WhitneyK]

Thanks everyone for the replies!!!

I'm gonna dig a little deeper into it now.