jpz

jpz

I am an accomplished lifelong woodworker and an electrical engineer with more than 35 years experience in the computer and graphics industry, ranging from computer design to executive management. I retired as Vice President & General Manager, Desktop Graphics Development at ATI Technologies Inc., since acquired by AMD.

I was introduced to SketchUp when I read a Fine Woodworking article titled “A Quick Course in SketchUp” by Tim Killen in December of 2007. I immediately dropped TurboCAD, which I used to model my furniture. By mid- 2008, I was writing SketchUp tutorials and teaching live SketchUp courses in community colleges.

Although Sketchup lacked a few features that would make it ideal for woodworkers, it did offer an applications programming interface (API) using the Ruby language. I set about learning Ruby and began to plug those holes. Shortly thereafter, I was introduced to Greg Larson through one of Greg’s students. Greg owns the New England School of Architectural Woodworking (nesaw.com). I began teaching SketchUp at Greg’s school. That partnership was the beginning of CutList Bridge and CabWriter (cabwritersoftware.com), two extensions I have written for SketchUp.

I teach SketchUp in both video and live courses. I have also published a book titled SketchUp – A Design Guide for Woodworkers (https://www.amazon.com/Woodworkers-Complete-Illustrated-Guide-Sketchup/dp/1440342016) and offer free SketchUp plans and help on my blog.