Sketchup For Woodworkers

Building a toolbox: Introduction Preview 04:40

A quick run through of the construction of the toolbox which features in the build section of the course.

Outline Box; start the design process in SketchUp with overall shape and size Preview 03:47

SketchUp is perfect for quickly evaluating different design ideas. Its very quick to draw outlines of things, but even better than that, making edits to those initial ideas is really easy! Once you are happy with the overall design idea, you can start to refine the details, and then use this to build the components!

There is a PDF file to download with this lecture, which has all the dimensions of the toolbox on it, as well as an annotated 3D exploded perspective.

Use your outline design as a template to start the construction of details Preview 03:40

Building the toolbox in SketchUp is similar in many ways to actually constructing it in the workshop, in that you can use finished components to size and add details to other components. This also applies to your outline design, which you can begin to use as a template to construct the outer carcass of the toolbox. Also learn how and why using Layers is so important when using the in situ method of building a model.

Front and Side Worksheet Preview 02:26

A summary of the "Use your outline design as a template" video lecture, using text and images.

Setting up dovetails is easy and adds realistic detail to your outline design Preview 05:58

Learn how to set up dovetail in SketchUp, using the Tape measure tool to create guidelines, and the Move tool to create an array of the dovetails.

Set Up Dovetails Worksheet Preview 03:05

A summary of the "Setting up dovetails" video lecture, using text and images.

Cutting dovetails; if only it was this quick and easy in the workshop! Preview 03:48

Use the outlines of the dovetails you have already drawn to cut them in the front and side components. Use Flip Along to speed up the drawing process.

Cutting Dovetails Worksheet Preview 01:24

Marking out the sockets; get out the virtual pencil to finish your dovetails Preview 04:54

Its easy to model things in SketchUp by using bits and pieces of one component to make another. Learn how in this lecture!

Marking Out Worksheet Preview 01:45

Making the top: create a top with a tongue using the Push/Pull tool Preview 02:47

Using the side and front of the toolbox to size the top with the Rectangle tool, and the Push/Pull tool to create thickness, its a simple job to then edit the top and create a tongue around the bottom edge.

Making the Top Worksheet Preview 01:38

Cutting the top grooves by drawing rectangles on the top and pasting in place Preview 03:49

There are lots of ways to do the same thing in SketchUp, and here I show you the first method to use for cutting out grooves using a component, the top, that you have already drawn.

Cutting Top Grooves Worksheet Preview 02:27

Cutting the bottom grooves using a great mirroring technique Preview 03:19

Learn how easy it is to "mirror" things from one part of a model to another, and create new features, using Flip Along. This really is a great time saver.

Cutting Bottom Grooves Worksheet Preview 02:13

Quiz 3; editing components

Make the bottom of the toolbox in one easy move and edit! Preview 02:30

Following the basic first principle of computer drawing, which is: draw something once and use it again and again, its a simple thing to make a bottom out of a top with a bit of editing! Save even more time and effort here.

Creating the Bottom Worksheet Preview 01:09

Splitting the side or get the virtual saw out Preview 02:56

Unfortunately no virtual saws were found for this lecture, so instead I edited the side to create two parts, a top and bottom, to start creating the lid and base of the toolbox.

Splitting the Side Worksheet Preview 02:04

Splitting the front or a bit more cutting with the virtual saw! Preview 03:28

Copying the process of splitting the side, and this time you're a bit more on your own, and instead of a voiceover, there's some background music ( and captions of course)!.

Splitting the Front Worksheet Preview 01:00

Creating the linings; more drawing once, using twice Preview 04:21

This lecture wraps up the construction of the main part of the toolbox with the construction of a couple of mitred linings. Sizing things is easy from your model, and use the Clipboard again here to save a bit more drawing time.

Creating the Linings Worksheet Preview 02:22

Main tray side and front: streamlining the Copy and Flip techniques Preview 03:02

Computer drawing of any kind is all about looking or thinking ahead, and asking yourself if you can re-use this bit of drawing somewhere, or do you need to draw this whole piece...so a simple thing like only drawing half the tray sides is an important part of learning to draw efficiently!

Main tray dovetails plus a few keyboard shortcuts Preview 03:54

This is the second set of dovetails you construct in the course, so this lecture focuses on a few extra things, like keyboard shortcuts, and also gives you a rest from constant talking, with a bit of music!

Main tray bottom and grooves: introducing the powerful Intersect Faces option Preview 05:43

Introducing an important new technique in this lecture; Intersect Faces....which is a powerful modelling tool, similar to some of the solid modelling tools in other software. It's possible to create some very complex shapes with this tool in SketchUp, although I'm just starting with a couple of grooves in the tray sides here!

Adding dividers, and what on earth is a tangent arc? Preview 03:33

In this lecture I'm introducing you to tangent arcs...okay, I'm not really sure what these are either (I'm kidding, but its tricky defining them!) Sufficient to say that they are a great tool to use, once you know how (and what they are!)

Small tray sides and building a grid with guidelines Preview 02:56

This is a basic exercise in layout using guidelines to create a grid, and then the sides of the small tray. I also have to own up to not doing this as efficiently as I could have done, so maybe you can do better!

Model the small tray dovetails Preview 03:30

Yet more dovetails! One small variation is the use of the Midpoint to establish the inner lines, as there are only two tails here. Its really a good revision exercise though, and set to music with captions, since I'm hopeful that you won't need me telling you what to do by this point.

Small tray bottom and grooves, finishing (almost) the construction Preview 05:21

Finishing off the small tray (almost) by completing the sides and adding the bottom and grooves. I also discuss the advantages of window selection versus triple clicking, fascinating stuff!

Holes in the main tray ends Preview 02:40

This lecture includes an alternative method of editing a component, in situations where hiding lots of stuff isn't necessary or desirable. Very useful to remember this one, and I use it again when chamfering the top.

Filling in the jigsaw pieces Preview 04:49

The end (nearly) of all your hard work, where the finished toolbox takes shape. Half-built until now, the missing components are filled in by copying and flipping existing ones.

There's more than one way to chamfer a top. Two in fact. Preview 03:30

Hopefully, showing you more than one way to put a small chamfer on the top won't be confusing, but will instead add to your growing range of drawing techniques.

Rounding over the outer edges of the main tray Preview 03:32

Its pretty easy to create a roundover in SketchUp, and its even possible to do two at the same time. How? Well, you see the answer in this lecture, using the Follow Me tool.

Starting the finger pull Preview 05:08

This doesn't sound like a big deal, making a finger pull for the toolbox. Well, its actually the trickiest bit of modelling in the whole thing, and these two lectures take you through a range of techniques which are pretty useful, and will get you out of trouble when all else fails. I also show you the really surprising and amazing SCALE trick in SketchUp. I don't know why it works, but it does, time after time!

Finishing the finger pull Preview 02:51

Really using the Intersect Faces command to its maximum effect in this final bit of model building.

Styles - An overview of setting up and editing styles Preview 11:12

Styles - Lines (or Edges as SketchUp calls them) Preview 07:13

Looking at ways you can add non-standard lines or edges to your model using the Mix tab in the Styles editor

Applying materials Preview 06:17

An introduction to applying materials to models and how to edit them to suit the size and scale of your project. There are also some graduated fill textures to download with this lecture.

Working with wood grain Preview 08:25

A look at how to add and edit wood grain to your model. This lecture includes some sample wood grain JPEGs for you to download and use yourself.

Scenes; how to use scenes to display your model, including animation Preview 09:21

Scenes are a great way to save individual settings and can be used to create different image alternatives to display your model, but can also be used to create very effective animations which can be uploaded to YouTube, a website or any other platform.

Adding Dimensions Preview 07:26

This lecture outlines how to make the most of SketchUp dimensions, including setting up elevation type drawings and linking them to scenes.

Output: some of the great alternative ways to present and share your model Preview 08:24

SketchUp has all sorts of great presentation tools and this lecture looks at the best of them, from PDF prints of dimensioned views to animations of saved scenes which can be turned into Mp4 files and uploaded to YouTube.

Bonus lecture: additional drawing resources at my LineMine website Preview 01:04

This lecture will have promotional coupon codes for the paid membership options and updates on drawing downloads, upcoming courses and more.