Google SketchUp

[akoscielski3]

I was looking through some of Googles applications and found http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/index.html


Has anybody used it before? And is it good at all? I already have solidworks on my computer but im just curious.

Thanks

[lynca]

Its good for students who have no experience with CAD tools. They can download and install it quickly. But once the student reaches a certain level of motivation and dedication to CAD, they need to switch to Autodesk/Solidworks /or PTC.

[Chris is me]

It's a great way to illustrate a concept in 3d. Not good for actual detailed design, but great for showing off a concept.

[sanddrag]

Coming from a world of real CAD, I can't say I care much at all for Sketchup. I found the lack of precision frustrating and difficult to use for the types of things I do, and the file format to be very restrictive in terms of exporting or converting to other types. It seems more geared toward artistic type things.

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

Google sketch-up is a good way of learning the basics of cadding. Many things you do in sketch-up will be similar as to how you do things in Inventor and Solidworks. I myself started with Google sketch-up and can say that it helped me a lot when I stitched to Inventor. Try making something like this (http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=16ff954c65cb2e99dec8e8e3324cefee). Just remember that you probably want to switch to some of the other cadding software after a while.