Square 1: Where to start?

Good Afternoon!

I am a draftsman working at a construction company in the Midwest. We are looking to expand more into the rendering/modeling area for a variety of uses. While I’ve messed around with SketchUp a little bit (we have Mozaik cabinetry software that works with SketchUp 8), I really feel that learning how to use SketchUp the right way from the beginning would help me when starting from scratch or a CAD floorplan. That said, I’m not sure what the best way would be to go about doing that. I would assume an online course where I could follow along would be best since I’m sure there’s nothing in our area to attend in person. Of course, cost is always a factor and we’d like to keep expenses down if possible. Has anyone used a particular course they felt was thorough and explained the nuances of the program well?

Thank you in advance!

Try the sources referenced in the following links:

Thread One
Thread Two
Thread Three
Thread Four
Link to SketchUp School website

Wishing you all the best in your quest for knowledge!

I did see the SketchUp School classes before, but $159/month is pretty steep for how we’ll be using it. It will be relatively intermittent. I won’t be working in SketchUp daily, and maybe not even weekly. I like that it seems to be very thorough, though.

I’d found the workbooks from 3DVinci. I’d be curious to know if those work well for teaching yourself.

I think a lot of what I’m really looking for is to find out how others were taught/taught themselves. I can mess around with it and have done simple renderings, but before I start using it more heavily I want to make sure I don’t create bad habits if I can avoid it.

I guess it goes without saying that everyone learns at their own pace. I learned to use SketchUp from several sources, but the primary instruction was derived from the many online tutorials provided by the SketchUp Team. I also garnered very directed lessons from texts provided by 3DVinci, most notably the SketchUp Book by Bonnie Roskes, to which I frequently refer even to this day.

SketchUp’s online tutorials are an excellent way to get up to speed and each video is offered in bite sized chunks. Of course your proficiency will increase with greater use of the program, but studying and following the previously identified video tutorials in the order presented in the accompanying link will guarantee your becoming proficient in relatively little time:
SU Introductory Videos

This Forum must also be included as a fine resource for expanding your modeling skills.

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