If you change one item on your model, the rest intuitively updates to reflect the change.

Sketchup covers simple box diagrams for shelves up to molding, joints and complicated layered and fitted designs. The software is free and so are the video tutorials, many of which are offered by woodworking magazines and professionals so good teachers are free too. It’s intuitive and has a short learning curve. In Sketchup, there is no need for learning 3 D modeling.

But the issue with woodworking remains accuracy of measurements more than the intricacy of design.Ī simple graphics program is needed rather than a complicated and cumbersome one to use. If you like mechanical drawing, you can lay out your image on paper too.

As easy as it might be for you to draw out your idea, a computer will be better at accurately relaying it visually.Īdobe is famous for their creative suite of programs and there are other three-dimensional sketching programs for the computer. In woodworking, you need to make the pieces separately and make sure the pieces fit together. SketchUp is a program that is easier to use than traditional graphics or drawing programs and lets you sketch out an idea before you begin building it. When it comes to woodworking, projects tend to be three dimensional and they require accurate measurements to fit the pieces together. It’s easy enough to picture a flat scene or even a carved two-dimensional object. Creating something from scratch requires an image in mind.

Sketchup woodworking