SketchUp 2014

Dave Richards

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In case anyone is interested, SketchUp 2014 was just released this evening. You can get it from SketchUp.com. Probably the most obvious new features will be a couple of new Arc tools but there's other stuff and a bunch of tweaking under the hood to improve performance. They have a What's New section on their site so take a look.
 
Dave
So did us free users lose anything this time. Will any old plug ins sill work? i have been sticking with Sketchup 8 so far did finally dl 2013 guess i was a little late in that!

Garry
 
Garry,

No. The free users didn't lose anything with SU2014. Plugins will work but DO NOT copy them from your older installation. SketchUp 2014 now uses Ruby 2.0 and many plugins had to be updated to meet those new Ruby standards. Most authors have updated already but some may be a little slow. Install fresh copies of the plugins using either the Extension Warehouse of SCF PluginStore.
 
Just downloaded it, thanks for the heads up Dave.

Now I really need to learn how to use it. I would be very useful for the recent quotes I've been fielding.

Cheers!
 
In case anyone is interested, SketchUp 2014 was just released this evening. You can get it from SketchUp.com. Probably the most obvious new features will be a couple of new Arc tools but there's other stuff and a bunch of tweaking under the hood to improve performance. They have a What's New section on their site so take a look.

Does 2014 convert to a reduced function Sketchup when the trial ends or does it just stop working? I'd like to play with it some and might have limited use for it.

Thanks
Jack
 
Sheesh, I just downloaded Skecthup 8 a few days ago and started playing with it. I think I need to go to Youtube University to learn now to use it. I didn't like anything I tried to accomplish and that always means I wasn't doing it right.
 
Not to toot my own horn, much but maybe this will get you started. Or maybe you should look into this.

At least be careful and don't start learning a bunch of bad habits. There are a number of tutorials out there that teach less that desirable methods.
 
Watching the first video you linked, wow, learned a bunch already, thanks!

I just downloaded your instructional Video from the Taunton store too, now I have something more to learn! :D

Cheers!
 
dave in the new 2014.what do we need to do to make our tool list look closer to yours in the cabinet video i used 13 and it was similiar but the new 14 version i lost something?
 
Hi Larry,

Those videos were done in SU8 and I basically set my SU2013 and now SU2014 toolbars to look much the same. Go to View>Toolbars and select the individual tool bars you want to show. You can use the Large toolset for the toolbar on the left if you want or you can do what I did and make two custom toolbars by clicking on New in the Toolbars window. Then hold Ctrl and drag tools from the native toolbars to the new ones. I'll make some screen shots and post them. Hang tight.
 
OK, let's see if these help.


Click on View>Toolbars and you get a window that looks like this. It probably won't have as many toolbars in the list because a lot of what you see comes from various plugins I have installed. To make new toolbars for the left side, click on the New button. If you want to make two bars like I did, go through the process twice. Then open the following toolbars: Camera, Construction, Drawing and Principal. Then, while holding Ctrl, click on the tools you want and drag them over to the new toolbars. I made two of them and alternated dragging the tools into the two toolbars and left out tools I don't use.


You can see my two custom toolbars on the left compared to the Large Tool Set on the right. The custom toolbars don't include the dividers and, again, you can see I've omitted tools I don't use, at least from the toolbar.


I leave Tooltips turned on but I untick Large Icons. I can see the small icons just fine and that helps to reduce the required real estate for toolbars.


This is the screen I use for the video tutorials. Since I switched to SU2014, I am using the Large Tool Set for this screen. I also have this screen set to 1280 wide so it matches the video format.

Across the top I have the following toolbars displayed: Shadows, Standard, Styles, Views (Listed in alphabetical order).


My normal working screen has a lot more toolbars displayed. I have the main window set so it is a little narrower than the available width of my screen so I can keep the various other windows I use out but out of the drawing space. There's still more than enough room for drawing and I don't need to worry about covering up some of my model when I open the windows. Windows that aren't needed can be collapsed by clicking on their title bar.
 
Dave, just let me say, for the record, you are a real Asss...et :D

One thing that I know will make all of this easier for me on this go round is that I have a nice new to me fancy 24" high end Dell monitor that is designed for CAD work in the Dungeon, the extra real estate on this thing is great!

Cheers!
 
Thanks, Dave! I think your videos will give me a good start. But I have a question. Do you always start at the bottom and work up? I think one of my problems is that I was starting at the front. :eek:
 
Billy, I hope the videos do give you a good start, indeed.

I don't always start at the bottom but usually I do. Sometimes I'll set out some guidelines at the height of the top of my model and start there but it depends upon the project. The key things to remember are:

The red and green axes lie on the ground plane. The model should be built above the ground.
The solid blue axis runs up from the origin.
If you want the standard views to work correctly, the front of the model should run parallel to the red axis and the model should extend back along the solid green axis.

I always work with the front of the model on or close to the solid red axis and to the right of the green axis.
 
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