We are new to Sketchup community and are looking for a tutorial on a start to finish full scale build that includes structural and mechanical blueprints and materials list. We have watched the basic how to videos and need a good step by step on structure and mechanical. Does anyone know of a training site or youtube videos that could help us out. We are DIYers in Alaska looking to expand our 1914 craftsman style house.
Your profile says you are using SketchUp for Schools which is a web-based version available only to schools. Is that correct? To do what you propose you need at least SketchUp PRo.
Do you already have a solid knowledge of structural engineering and the like? SketchUp doesn’t know a king stud from a kitchen sink. It’s all just geometry, groups, and components. If you can create components of the desired dimensions you should be good to do the modeling. You’ll have to supply the knowledge about the physical aspects, though.
As for doing the actual modeling and documentation work in SketchUp and LayOut check out the tutorials at Master SketchUp and books by Matt Donley and Nick Sonder.
1 Like
To back up just a second, are you familiar with SketchUp and only looking for info on creating drawings, or are you new to the whole thing? If you are new to SketchUp, check out learn.sketchup.com and watch the Fundamentals courses to start. Regradless of what your end game is, you need to know the basics of drawing in SketchUp before you can go any further.
From there, you need to learn to use the tools (SketchUp and LayOut) to create the drawings you want. As @DaveR mentioned, SketchUp is a 3D modeling tool and will allow you to create whatever drawings of 3D models you want, but it will not create engineering drawings for you. You need to come armed with the knoweldge of what you need to create.
3 Likes
It is possible to do that on sketchup and layout but you must have knowledge of structures so you can model them, sketchup by itself doesn’t create structures or anything, there are plug-ins that speed up the modeling of structural elements, sketchup can also make a list of materials as long as you create them properly adding attributes to them either using dynamic components or plug-ins like quantifier pro. For documentation you should check the courses that Aaron suggested, there’s a course called design package in Layout that teaches you the complete process going from a 3D model made on sketchup to documentation on LayOut.