I came from 2d cad, and honestly thought this program was beyond me.
I learned tools one at a time (I hardly use some of them!)
You may find the tactic useful too, and btw my maths is not a strongpoint either.
Stick at it, good luck.
There is a free Video Capture/Screencast software called CamStudio that works in Windows. I have used it with some success, although it seems not to like recording sounds in sync (for me, at least).
There is also a nice screen to .gif program called Screen2Gif at https://screentogif.codeplex.com/
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I know what you mean. Been using SketchUp for 10-11 years now, and consider myself āvery competentā as far as āthinking in 3dā and creating good, clean models, in a fairly efficient manner, but there are so many processes and shortcuts that I have no idea about, and Iām amazed every time when I see people use them to cut time in half ā when I thought I was efficient!
For your comfort @pnpn, I still remember the first time someone recommended I use groups, and I had been designing complex interiors for like five years already.
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I donāt use SU everyday, but it plays a big part in my āarmouryā. It quickly became apparent that I would be no genius at it as there are so many avenues of use.
I like the beauty of the fact that you can be as simple or complex as you like. A rough idea can be put together in minutes, it can be embellished for days depending on what you need.
Iāve come to the conclusion I donāt need to know everything, I probably wonāt use it anyway. I need to learn to be more efficient at what I do, and just by browsing this forum daily for the last six weeks Ive learned loads.
It really is a great place to better yourself (even if the odd troll does pop up to rear his ugly head now and again!)
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Well said.
I think whatās different with me is that I used to think I was a genius at it, until I started reading the community.
Like the old saying, āWhen I was young I thought I had all the answers, now I donāt even have all the questionsā.
Shep
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Iāve done some more stuff. Itās giving me a sore head 
I built a table following a tutorial. That at least was successful.
Whatās the best online learning resource you guys know of?
I think this is a good start, there are of course others.
Shep
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Hello pnpnā¦!
The best way to ālearnā Sketchup, is when playing not working.
As soon as you set a goal, āto produce a drawing/modelā, you have limited yourself.
You donāt have to be āgoodā at mathā¦you have to be good at figuring it out.
Sketchup is a computer programā¦it will do math quicker than youā¦
Heckā¦it can Only do mathā¦!
Soā¦as long as You Give it the right jobā¦you can ācountā on Sketchupā¦!
Working/Thinking/Drawing in 2 and 3 dimensions, is creativeā¦not logic.
Like imperial versus metric:
āHalf of That thereā and not āHow many unitsā
The Backbone of Sketchup is referring, inferingā¦
use it as much you canā¦
Understand: Sketchup is keeping check of it allā¦even the mistakesā¦!
There are lots of fine videos on you tubeā¦from woodworkers and architechts among othersā¦ people close to your professionā¦
Matt Jackson have āThe digital jobsiteā:
Sketchup have a channel:
and there is Sketchup School:
Greetings for nowā¦Jakob.
Itās like riding a bike, start with training wheels (Training videos) practice makes perfect. Once you learn how to ride without training wheels you never forget and the same goes with Sketchup. before you know it you will be wheel standing down the main street.
BTW Sketchuctaion has a book called the Doāh moments. It was written by all of us who realised (years later) a single move, tip, trick or shortcut that could have saved us thousands of hours.
If I can offer my perspective pnpn, as with all software, it can take a while to get into the āhead spaceā of the developers. Also, we all have very different abilities when it comes to visualising 3D space, however if you can reach the point where playing with Skutchup stops being a daunting chore youāll be well on your way.
For me, my āeurekaā moment with Sketchup came once I started using āComponentsā to control and isolate elements (stop them joining), and even now, the first thing I do is generate a ācube Componentā which I can use as my X, Y, Z anchor, or static reference for planes.
Moving on from that, there many ways of generating the geometry you require, but unfortunately, Iām not smart enough to generate an animation for you, but my approach would have been to construct a vertical line from the centre of the polygon and then join the vertices. Those simple ālinesā could then be converted to your āhip raftersā or whatever theyāre called in a spire.
Hopefully, this sheds some light on your problem, if in no other way than to offer a different perspective on your particular problem.
Good luck
Stick with it! It will start to feel more comfortable and native to you with a bit of practice. Donāt be afraid to make mistakes or not do something 100% right at the first go of it. Making mistakes is the best way to learn and CTRL+Z (undo) makes it easy to undo any āwrongā moves.
The online video tutorials at SketchUp Campus and youtube videos were a huge help for me when I was first learning SketchUp in order to land my last job. Now, I work at SketchUp and learn a little bit more about how it works everyday =)
To ad to the previous comments, watch this forum. I have learned a lot looking at the questions and trying out the answers. Also do a little looking around the net, there is a wealth of training info available. Some of it is free and some requires a credit card.
The mention of CTRL+Z reminded me of one of the things that helped my workflow. When I realized I could assign my own shortcuts to commands that I needed every day, it saved a lot of steps. For example, to my knowledge, the Component/Hide Rest of Model command doesnāt have a default shortcut when you install SU, but itās something I use every other minute, so adding that shortcut chopped a bunch of wasted time. I recommend figuring out the things you run to the toolbar or the right-click menu for, and learn the shortcuts for them, or assign one if they donāt already have them.
Yes, shortcuts and the ability to set your own custom keyboard shortcuts are FANTASTIC!! I highly recommend new SketchUppers get familiar with the native shortcuts and build out their own. It makes for such a fast and easy workflow.
This olā forum post is a good spot for brushing up on shortcuts: Complete List of Keyboard Shortcuts
The Master Sketchup link give an error that it is unavailable or I donāt have permission. How can I get to it?
Either google master sketchup or go to YouTube and search Master Sketchup there?
Hmm, if I right click on the link it will open in either a new window or new tab (Chrome).
You try this.
Shep
Yay! That worked. Thanks!
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