Google SketchUp 8 For Dummies 1st Edition

Before I read this book, I thought I knew a lot about Googe SketchUp 8 but afterwards, I realized how little I really did know. Sure, I had progressed beyond the novice stage some time back but this book filled in all those little gaps in my knowledge base, eliminated all those bad practices that I had developed over time and generally made me so much more productive.For example, I was using LAYERS in the same manner that I was used to in earlier 2D packages. Author Aidan Chopra gently but firmly pointed out the errors of my ways and that LAYERS in SU8 (which is a 3D drawing package) is used in a different way and that I should be placing more importance on GROUPS and COMPONENTS.Aidan makes the point that his book is not for the complete novice, explaining that he does not cover all the menu items and icons within the SU8 package. But, and this I think is important, he does presume that you are perhaps new to 3D modeling. To this end, he steps the reader through the early chapters at a gentle pace, culminating in Chapter 4, which is entitled "BUILDING BUILDINGS". From here on, the going gets a little tougher but nothing to be frighten about. Indeed, I was fascinated with the chapter entitled - "BEYOND BUILDINGS", which taught me how to draw organic forms with the SCALE TOOL; something that had eluded me up to that point.I found it a well rounded book, with the balance just right between the written word and illustrative diagrams. After the first read, it can easily be used as a reference book, with chapters dedicated to particular subject matter. An excellent product and highly recommended!No more am I an DUMMY!!

You can download Google SketchUp for free. Once you have it one your PC or Mac the question is how are you going to use it? Lynda.com has a video course that gets you oriented. Aidan Chopra on the other hand systematically walks you through the many uses and tools of SketchUp and SketchUp Pro. While he suggests that you might want to read mostly those chapters that particularly interest you, it is just as good as a A-Z textbook. Sitting at the computer and going through the exercises is the best way to familiarize you with the enormous potential of this application. There are helpful references to websites and plug-ins.Designers and Architects are probably the primary users of SketchUp, but anybody interested in the third dimension can benefit greatly from this application and Aidan's guidebook. SketchUp your own house and be amazed at what you learn in the process!

The book is very well organized and written. Mr. Chopra injects lots of humor in his writing, but still get his point across. I wasalready fairly well versed in other CADD programs, which isn't always an advantage. You get a little set in your ways regarding how to accomplish certain functions. Mr. Chopra is very familiar with this idiosyncrasy, and hammers home the correct way. He doesn't treat the reader as an idiot, as some "Dummies" authors do. From what I can tell, this guy has been with the SketchUp program for some time, and it shows in his very positive teaching style.

Like most of Sketchup users probably, I just decided to jump in and give it a try based on the intuitive nature of the program, to see how far I would get. This approach has its pros and cons, as in everything, but as a person with little patience I dont really like to go thru manuals first, and then try; just do it and see where it stops. What it resulted in for me, was, apart from a complete in- and outside model as well as a walk-thru animation; a list of questions of things I kept running into. It was then that I started to look into this book, and was able to very quickly locate answers to, or parts of the book that related to, my questions ! This creates more confidence to keep on going with the program. In short; a valuable resource, when doing it on your own just leads to less than best or plain wrong practices, or seemingly 'insolvable' problems/questions ! Definitely recommend this one !

The book is filled with just the kind of information I was seeking about SketchUp. I would highly recommend the printed book version.Unfortunately, the Kindle Fire version is a major disappointment and not worth the money. I bought the Kindle version to use for guidance while using SketchUp on my computer. The book is very graphics intensive because it illustrates graphic procedures. Try as I might going over and over Kindle instructions, I was unable to get any kind of useful enlargements of the book's illustrations. Long before they are large enough to try to read, they are so blurred, rasterized, and out of focus that they are illegible. Kindle did its customers and the author a major disservice by failing to convert the printed illustrations to vector graphics which could be usefully enlarged.Other problems:- No useful table of contents - it doesn't readjust page numbers to fit Kindle's floating pages.- No index. Move to the 'End' looking for an index, and Kindle thinks you're finished and wipes out your position and bookmarks.- If Kindle has solutions to any of these shortcomings, they should stop hiding them.

I ordered this book to give me the knowledge needed to use SketchUp to create basic 3D models of components to be converted (using other software) to gcode to run my CNC milling machine. It did just that. After skimming through the first few chapters I was able to create the basic 3D models that I needed to create. I skimmed through the other chapters as well and picked up some good tips for my designs and any future ones that I make as well. It is well written and easy to skim through (don't need to waste time reading every word) and I think will be a good reference for when I get stuck in the future. I highly recommend it.