Google SketchUp 8 For Dummies

When I first downloaded SketchUp years ago, I thought I was the coolest guy on the block because I could push/pull a square into a cube. Then I went online and saw what some other folks were modeling and realized I needed to up my game FAST. So like many folks, I turned to (my now colleague) Aidan Chopra’s Google SketchUp For Dummies book.

I learned a lot from this Dummies book, so I’m especially proud to be able to announce that the newest edition of Google SketchUp For Dummies is on bookshelves now. This new edition is fully revised and updated to cover all the tastiness we packed into SketchUp 8—both free and Pro. You can find the book online and at bricks-and-mortar bookstores.

If you’re new to SketchUp, the book is a great primer. It will teach you how to (among other things):

  • Navigate SketchUp’s user interface.
  • Build a model from scratch.
  • Create and use components.
  • View and present your models.
  • Use LayOut to create documents and presentations.

A detailed table of contents is available for download from the publisher’s website. If you’re a grizzled SU veteran or already own an older version of this book, I’d still recommend checking out the newest edition. It contains several new sections about:

  • Adding additional floor levels to your models
  • Working with solids and the Solid Tools
  • Using the revised Match Photo toolset
  • Geo-modeling with SketchUp 8 and Building Maker
  • Presenting your designs with LayOut in SketchUp Pro
  • Finding and making use of Ruby scripts

There are also two additional chapters available for free download on the website, and the book’s accompanying YouTube channel has 62 supplemental videos that walk through the many techniques and examples presented in the book.

I like to tease Aidan and say that I only read half of his book. What I don’t tell him is I read the first few chapters straight through to get me up and running, but I refer to the advanced chapters often to brush up my modeling skills! In other words, this is a great resource no matter what your level of SketchUp expertise.

New SketchUp books for interior designers

Judging by last year’s SketchUp Pro sales numbers, it’s pretty clear that interior design is one of our fastest-growing markets. It’s about time, too—between the piles of content on the 3D Warehouse, the availability of awesome photo-rendering plugins, LayOut and SketchUp’s all-around awesomeness, there’s plenty for interior designers to love.

And now there are books, too! Adriana Granados is an architect and interior designer who happens to know an awful lot about SketchUp. She’s written a series of mercifully short, to-the-point manuals collectively titled Google SketchUp for Interior Design & Space Planning that are available for sale online. The books are printed in full color and I think they’re really helpful.

Photo-rendering with Shaderlight

If I had a nickel for every time someone asks me which renderer they should use with SketchUp, I’d have a fleet of helicopters perched on the turrets of my castle. One look at SketchUp’s Fan Photos page on Facebook is all you need to understand our community’s obsession with delicious photo-realism. There are piles of fantastic rendering tools to choose from, and more become available all the time. Happily, most of them have a “free mode” that you can use to try things out.

Shaderlight, an awfully-impressive (and relatively new) offering from ArtVPS, is one such rendering tool. Its interface is clean and straighforward, there’s a free version available and the video tutorials are easy to follow and comprehensive. It’s currently only available for Windows, but I’m told that a Mac version is in the works. Here are some tasty sample renderings to whet your appetite:

Boat interior rendering by Sully114

Rendering by Daniel Tal
Kitchen rendering by Eric Schimelpfenig
Villa interior rendering by Sully14

In the interest of fairness to all of our rendering friends, our plugins page lists some of the other tools you can investigate if photo-realism is your bag.