Are there particular Sketchup requirements/demands that I should be aware of in picking a new machine? Is that still the recommended intro for a first-time hobbyist?ģ. I see Dave Richards video and Tim Killen's book as popular intro materials. The 'pro' at $300/yr is not in the cards for me, but what exactly do I get with the $120/yr subscription over a free service? Which version(s) do you folks have?Ģ. I see on Sketchup site they offer free, 'shop' and 'pro' versions.

It looks like Sketchup is popular among hobby woodworkers. I'd like to move from paper to CAD as my woodworking evolves. I am very sorry, but installed base beats superior design in the software arena.

I see lots of SU in FWW and Popular Woodworking, and at Rockler and Woodcraft and my other vendors. IMHO this is where woodworking design and planning is going to go for the immediate future.

I will just hunker down and learn this sucker. I am just completing a total rework of my shop, trying to learn and build original design, and pretty much starting from advanced-beginner/low intermediate to try and build skills. I can learn to overcome design quirks, having my knowledge base obsoleted will please me not at all. I am less concerned about ease of use than I am about survivability. There seems to be a thriving community behind it, who give me cool things for free so I don't have to learn Ruby and go back to coding. SketchUp Make 2017 is about as close as I can find. I did a career in software, proprietary products left me old and bitter, so I very much like open source. This is also running on Win 10 with no issues. I did this because the FWW SketchUp course is run in SU8. That is the last free version that was stand-alone for the desktop, I'm running it on windows 10 with no issues. My recommendation is find and download SketchUp Make 2017. I looked at Sketchlist, thought about what I might want to do and decided to just march in the trenches and learn Sketchup.

Sketchup for woodworkers 2020