Greetings. I’m a complete newbie to SU, and to all things CAD, rendering, etc. I’m tired of trying to draw things in MS Paint and Powerpoint, and want to give SU a try.
I did watch the online “official” video tutorials on the SU main web site, and they give a good sense of what I may eventually be able to do with the program–very motivational. But as an instructional tool, they are a bit clunky to me: Run the video, hit “pause”, open SU, try to replicate what I just saw (don’t explore anything new or it’s a risk of wrecking the ongoing drawing and then you are off the rails concerning the video tutorial’s project), toggle back to the video and watch a bit more, etc.
Surely there’s a “live” tutorial of some kind that runs >on top of< SU, maybe with an audio track and some visual assists showing you where to move the cursor, an occasional callout text box to tell you if you need a left click, use the scroll wheel to do something else, etc. Creating a few drawings with this sort of handholding would be a big boost for a newbie.
I did try just playing with Sketchup, but there are so many interdepenencies/complex functions (“do this >while< doing that”) that it’s not an especially good way to learn for a brand-new person. Once I figure out the basics, I’m sure that will be a good approach.
So, is there somewhere I can find “Sketchup for Dummies” live software tutorials, or something similar? Thanks for any leads.
Thanks,
I don’t know of any “overlay”, “live” tutorials like you describe. There are "self-paced tutorial"s available through the 3D Warehouse. Look for the ones from SketchUp.
Example:
You might also find a community education class or you can get someone such as myself to do live online training.
DaverR,
Thanks, I’ll poke around the 3D Warehouse (I thought that was just a repository for importable graphic elements, etc).
Maybe this is a product idea for someone to eventually develop. A video might be a good way to learn to rebuild a carburetor (see–>do) but when learning to use software we could do so much better.
Community education class: That’s a good idea. I’ve taken advantage of these through my local community college. Not perfect (“okay–is everyone still with me?” Then 20 people wait while the instructor steers Billy back onto the rails. Even if I’m “Billy”, it’s not very efficient).
Can you tel me more about in-person online training? If the response would be too commercial/proprietary for this venue, feel free to send me a PM (if this forum has such a capability).
I learnt SU by having an idea of what I wanted to model. Then reading the manual, watching the video tutorials, paying attention to techniques I may need to produce what I want. And last, but not least, use the forum. There’s all sorts in info and tutorials in these posts. And when you get stuck on something, post an inquiry and someone will help.
I subscribed to sketchup school website. Very nice videos that explain how to actually do things. You can access for free and watch it an then decide if you keep the subscription or not. I highly recommend it. https://www.sketchupschool.com
There are losts of great tutorials that you can download from the 3D Warehouse. We’ve been working on uploading more ourselves. He is a link to one of our new tutorials showing how a sphere can be built using the Follow Me tool.
John and Box,. Howdy. I’m still here on the sidelines. I’ve tried SU and just explored around solo, learning the program that way (the way I’ve learned every other piece of software I’ve used) just is not my cup of tea. Even the most basic 3d drawing was extremely frustrating (i think an input device other than a mouse might help). When I get a chance I’ll try another approach to learning SU.
Building a live tutorial overlay for such a popular program would seem logical, I was surprised it doesn’t exist. I guess it hasn’t been done because there’s no demand or it is very hard to do.
Thanks for the advice.
