I am a product designer (furniture, lighting, accessories, etc.) and I have been using hand drawn sketches for all of my product work up until now.
I am new to sketchup and need some guidance. Please forgive me in advance if I do not have the proper terminology.
I would like to learn the best way to show my product designs in multiple finishes (textures/materials) and various detail changes all in one document.
For Example:
Let’s say that I designed a two-tier round side table that has four legs.
I’d like to see what this table looks like in 3 different wood finishes. I would also like to see all 3 wood finishes with 3 different leg options. I won’t always use these options in my final designs. However, I would like to be able to see all of my options in one document to help me decide which design combos work and which ones don’t work. How should I do this? Do I create multiple groups of these designs, put them side by side on the screen and then use scenes? Or should I be using tags? Need some direction on workflow practices.
Any advice or helpful videos suggestions would be appreciated!!
FYI…the example and the numbers that I used above are just for the sake of keeping this “HELP” request basic. In many cases I will be testing out products in 20+ finishes and 20+ detail variations.
You have a few different options depending on how you want to show the piece of furniture and the options. You could have multiple copies, each with different materials and show them side by side if you wish.
Or you could have them stacked in the same location but give each one a different tag so you can control the visibility of them independently. Here I’ve done that and have three different scenes to show the tables.
This option would be good if you want to show the piece of furniture in the context of a room with other furniture and things.
You could do either of these with different components for the legs or differently shaped top or… Here are some old examples showing different legs and different pull arrangements. same basic cabinet the base assemblies have different tags so they can be swapped in and out as needed. Same with the pulls and the doorsdrawer fronts (with or without holes).
This is very helpful Dave!! Thank you!!!
When you wrote that I “could have them stacked in the same location”…would this be making a copy of my group and then using Paste in Place?
Copy and Paste in place would be a great way to do this. I would start by having the tags set up to give to the pasted components. Assign a tag to the first component and then copy it. hit Paste in place. the copy will be highlighted. Immediately give it the next tag. Rinse and repeat as needed until you have enough copies and each with its own tag. Of course the component could be an entire piece of furniture or as in the case of the sideboard models I showed, Only the bases or the doors or pulls as appropriate.
