Sketchup Fans, What do You Think of This?

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Evening,
I've toyed around with Sketchup now and then, but could never get beyond the early phases.

Now there's a new thing apparently on the way that might replace Sketchup, at least the way I see it.  Well, maybe I'm wrong about that, but it does seem like a fascinating new development.

Take a look at this video.  The most impressive part for me starts around 3:35...
http://vimeo.com/1669862?pg=embed&sec=1669862

What do you think?  Can this apply to woodworking?

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[whk]

I'll bet this software leads to several tablet computers being tossed across the room.  Entering 3D visual data into a 2D interface is never easy.  I expect that data entry based on nuances of pen strokes would drive a beginner nuts.  Just to be totally negative, I think that software offers the disadvantages of both computer drawings (pain of entry) and pencil and paper (lack of precision).

Will

 

[vkumar]

Matthew,

Thanks for bringing this up.  This software looks quite innovative and I for one would certainly like to try it. I am a skilled user of Proe and Solidworks, but the free form drawing that this offers can be a good supplement.

The only drawback I see is the need for a tablet type interface.  But such an interface is very valuable for Photoshop.

Vijay

 

[cflansbaum]

I love Sketchup, and while I'm by no means an expert, I do use it extensively for all my projects -- from the initial design phase to the finalized drawings showing details and to scale.  Probably the one thing that's hard with it is to do the initial design sketches, where one is not worried so much about scale, individual components, etc.  I could see something like this useful in this case - especially if you could then import these into sketchup!

carl

 

[daveg]

From that video, I don't see an immediate justification to use it to replace SketchUp for WW designs. It looks good for organic drawings, but I didn't see anything that would allow drawing to specific dimensions and then generating a cutlist, etc. Maybe it has those, but that wasn't conveyed in the video.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I'm not yet a SketchUp fan; that is because I don't know how to use it or any other PC based drawing software.  I still do my sketches freehand or with use of very simple drawing tools.  Nevertheless, based on what is demonstrated in the "I love Sketch" video, I think that software is best suited for conceptual drawings, including works by sculptors.  If the creators of "I love Sketch" could link / interface it with a program or subroutine that assigns dimensions and then allows those to be edited and scaled, then it would be a very powerful program for purposes of interest to me (designing furniture, shop jigs, etc.).  To me, that combination would be more powerful and user friendly than what I have seen in the first few On-Line tutorials for SketchUp.

Dave R.