Google Sketchup

[Tetraman]

Google Sketchup is not CAD, nor is it useful for CAD applications. It is a program to make 3d sketches, not 3d final products.

There are, to my knowledge, no libraries of any FIRST Robotics parts - however you can find most of the recent year's Robotics Fields.

There are ways of opening AutoCAD files into Sketchup, however you will need the Pro version of Sketchup to do this. If you can afford Pro, just simply do a Google search for uploading CAD files and you'll get your how-to's. I just did, took me 10 seconds.

I use Sketchup quite a bit, but since I use it for art and basic design purposes, that's all I need anyway. When designing a robot chassis, or any part of the robot for that matter, I would rather use what BJC suggested of either Inventor or SolidWorks. The extra options both of the programs have make actual building of things much easier. Inventor is better for FIRST applications, but SolidWorks has its charms.

Sketchup is a very useful and, in a way, powerful tool to use - but it doesn't have a chance to become a staple of FIRST design tools when you already have access to Inventor and SolidWorks. Go with what works.

[scottydoh]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

Google Sketchup is not CAD, nor is it useful for CAD applications. It is a program to make 3d sketches, not 3d final products

Just out of curiosity, how would you define "CAD" then? And that's a serious question, don't take offense.

And I'll agree with everyone else here, since Inventor, AutoCAD (and Solidworks?) are free, you might as well just stick with them. Sketch Up is excellent for concept sketches, and I feel the workflow is much easier to understand for inexperienced users than most of the "Professional" CAD packages. I can model/Draft just as fast in Sketch Up as I can in AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit (generic models) or Max

Also, if you have access to Sketch Up Pro, you can export those concept sketches/models as .dwg's or some other native CAD formats. 3dsMax also directly imports the .skp files.

All in all, just learn Inventor or Solidworks...it will pay off in the long run.

[Eric222]

I would definitely second everything everyone has said already. I have used Sketch Up just to play around with some house designs and other things, but if you need anything complex, Autodesk products are the way to go, especially since you can get them for free. Certain things such as the robot chains, belts, and electronics would be impossible in Sketch Up from my understanding. If the preloaded tutorials do not help your learning, try looking into getting some workbooks. That is how I learned at first.

[scottydoh]

Originally Posted by Eric222

If the preloaded tutorials do not help your learning, try looking into getting some workbooks. That is how I learned at first.

This, and Youtube...that ability to actually watch someone work through the tutorial is priceless.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by scottydoh

Just out of curiosity, how would you define "CAD" then? And that's a serious question, don't take offense.

I like to call Sketchup "Google Concept Design" because it cannot do detailed design. That's just a fact.

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by scottydoh

Just out of curiosity, how would you define "CAD" then?

I would define Sketchup as a sandbox game - whereas you are given a set of simple tools to play around with simple shapes. It's perfect for beginners and for getting quick ideas down. And there are some advanced capabilities that can be applied given time, lots of time. Give yourself enough time and you can use Sketchup the same way you could use other programs.

A Computer Aided Design program is not a sandbox game. You are not limited by the capabilities of the program, but instead by your willingness to dig deeper into Inventor and/or Solidworks and get the result you are looking for.

[Rangel]

As a person who was actually ignorant enough to go into build season trying to design the robot in sketchup, go with Inventor in Solidworks. Trust me, I can cad stuff in sketchup as fast as I can in Inventor or Solidworks but when you have to change something in the design it becomes a new level of complexity. I ended up scrapping sketchup a week into build season and learned Inventor very fast. Which I can also say that sketchup is really good at helping you get into the "good" cadding software. Inventor and Autodesk take some getting used too but I promise you will grow to like it.

[Chris_Elston]

As everyone has said, Sketchup is great for concepts. It's also great to check dimensional data very quickly, to see if it's possible.

I guess let me lead by example to show this off. Here are a couple of a concept sketches we made in the past seasons.

In 2010, there was a 3 inch rule, we wanted to quickly see what that meant so we used google sketchup to see a picture of what this rule looked like.

In 2011, the same with the 80 inch rule, several of us did not know if there was enough room to design a gripper, once again using sketchup to show it's gunna be ok...

In 2011, we wondered if a robot could fit between the mini-bot pole and wall and a few other things, again sketchup helped us see visually the design constraints and moved into CAD after that.

Credits: In the 2011 the field was drawn by someone else here at CD, we downloaded it and used it. Thank you who ever you are.

[scottydoh]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

I would define Sketchup as a sandbox game - whereas you are given a set of simple tools to play around with simple shapes. It's perfect for beginners and for getting quick ideas down. And there are some advanced capabilities that can be applied given time, lots of time. Give yourself enough time and you can use Sketchup the same way you could use other programs.

A Computer Aided Design program is not a sandbox game. You are not limited by the capabilities of the program, but instead by your willingness to dig deeper into Inventor and/or Solidworks and get the result you are looking for.

That's a fair answer. Thanks.