I am a wood working hobbyist. It’s what I do to relax “after work”. It’s my plan when I retire “from work”. My paper plans are sort of OK, I’m not great with drawings. If I could make a plan of an object, then rotate, move, shift, re-dimension, stretch, etc., I believe I can better visualize what I wish to build. Sketchup might be just what I need for this purpose. I have a decent iPadPro (no Windows or MAC computer), so I am waiting for the next release of Sketchup for iPad. Any woodworkers out there that have had good (or bad) experience with Sketchup?
I’ve had very good experience using SketchUp for woodworking. I started using it for that in 2003. I mainly use a PC but have used a Mac as well. If you’re interested you can see a little of what I’ve done in the woodworking line here. Some of it was done for fun, some for my own woodworking projects, and some for others. I regularly make full-blown plans for woodworking projects using SketchUp and LayOut.
I can’t comment about the iPad version, as my ancient iPad can’t run SketchUp. But l use SketchUp on Mac for all my woodworking designs, both for clients and myself. I find it easier to use than any alternative I tried earlier.
Like Dave and Steve I’ve used Sketchup for years for woodworking and many other projects.
I have the iPad Beta version, and it’s usable (needs an Apple Pencil), but I still find the desktop version (Mac or Windows) easier to use, and with access to plugins/extensions much more versatile.
It’s not clear when the iPad version will become publicly available. You could sign up for a beta trial version, but I understand it is heavily oversubscribed, and can take months to get access to it. It may be public before you could get on to the beta programme.
If you can afford to wait, do, then try it.
But for me, I’d buy an inexpensive Mac or Windows machine (almost any recent second hand one would do, if money is a concern), and download Sketchup Make 2017 (starts as Pro 30-day trial), with any scroll wheel mouse. Most of the extensions useful for woodworking are free, from either the Extension Warehouse or SketchUcation Plugin Store.
While the desktop SU can work with an integrated graphics chip, it works much better on Windows with a separate nVidia graphics card.
Thank you for your kind words and advice. The new iPad (both the Air and Pro) use the same M1 chip as in the high-end MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. So I will wait for the release of Sketchup for iPad Pro/Air. In the meantime, I’ll survive with my cheesy drawings both on paper and in Notes.