Sketchup and Turbocad advice please

[trumpetmonkey]

Hi,

I've use sketchup, find it very quick. Now I need to produce cutting lists and detailed production drawings - dimensioned components with drill hole locations etc - to have components manufactured elsewhere.

My dad kindly bought me Turbocad professional, but it's a steep learning curve and I'm thinking of getting Sketchup Pro. I'm looking for advice:

- Will Sketchup Pro do what i need efficiently?

- Is anyone interested in buying Turbocad second hand from me?

- Or will anyone stand up for TurboCAD over sketchup pro and persuade me to learn it?

 

[SketchUp Guru]

You could do what you need with SketchUp. You don't need pro to create the cut list or the views of your parts although using LayOut which is included with SUpro will make the dimensioning and document creation much easier. There's much better dimensioning capability in LayOut than in SketchUp and it is easier to make accurately scaled views in LayOut.

Did you already install and register TurboCAD?

 

[trumpetmonkey]

Thanks for reply Dave R.

Yes installed and registered TurboCAD but its possible to unregister. Are you interested in it?

OK, so I am trying to use Sketchup at the moment to show components. I draw it all in sketchup anyway so the components are all there as part of the 3D piece of furniture I have created. But to get them as diagrams, and cutting lists I am having to laboriously copy and rotate them onto the same plane, add dimensions etc, and it is a bit limited, not having the layout tools.

With SU Pro, can I tell it for example to show components in plan and elevation, without me having to manually copy and reposition the component?

 

[SketchUp Guru]

No. I'm not interested in turboCAD, thanks. I was just curious.

Pro doesn't offer anything different than the free version as far as spreading out the parts and laying them on the same plane. That seems like a lot of needless work to me, though. Why don't you try it the way I do it? In a nutshell:

1. After the model is completed with all the required components, I make layers for the parts. Using a simple table as an example, I make a layer for the top, another for the aprons and a third for the legs. I make layer associations for the components. Remember, Layer 0 should always be the active layer and edges and faces always remain on Layer 0. Only components get associated other layers.
2. Turn off unneeded layers so only the part of interest is displayed.
3. Set up a standard view, i.e. Top and set Camera to Parallel Projection.
4. Adjust the view as needed to show the desired details.
5. Create a scene (View>Animation>Add Scene or Window>Scenes, click on the +)
6. Repeat the process for the other required views of the part.

You might want to make a copy of a specific part and move that off to one side for the views but there's no need to be rotating it all over. You can leave it in its original orientation.

If you are going todo the dimensioning in SketchUp, you'll probably want to create additional layers for dimensions so you can make some dimensions invisible to eliminate clutter.

If you were to spring for the Pro version of SU, you wouldn't need to do the dimensioning in SketchUp and you could do much better looking dimensions in LO.

 

[trumpetmonkey]

Thanks for that.
At the moment I am having to copy, rotate, and move into the same plane just because I don't have Layout, so instead of viewports I am just duplicating the object because I need to show different sides of it on the same drawing! And I wanted to just output PDFs from sketchup rather than arranging separate exported images in another program. You're right, it's not a good way of doing it - it's taken me all day!

Still, I wonder if Pro will be a bit limited. Current project is a tall MDF DVD shelving unit. I'm getting a manufacturer to CNC cut and drill the parts, then they get sent for powder coating, before I assemble and install it all.

The shelves have irregularly placed dividers; so they have holes in different places, top and bottom, each shelf different. I need to detail each shelf (10 of them) in plan and elevation. So using your method, I would have each shelf on a separate layer and create scenes of each one - plan, sides, and bottom - then I can place different views side by side in Layout right? I guess thats do-able. Dimensioning in layout makes a lot of sense too to avoid clutter.

Money is tight, so I'm hoping to be able to sell Turbocad to pay for sketchup Pro.

I don't want to impose on you too much, but I could send you the skp file to get your thoughts on it.
Thanks

PS I'm a bit confused by lines and surfaces staying on layer 0, while the components that incorporate those elements are on different layers.

 

[Jensmith]

I use AutoCAD at work which is the standard professional software but the basis will be similar. I know the guys on here use SketchUp a lot and are far better at using it than me but I found CAD very easy to learn and providing you are doing 2D drawings I think it would be easier to do it in a CAD program than in SketchUP. CAD will also do 3D but I've not used this for work and don't have much knowledge of it.

SketchUP pro we have at work and I've used both versions. I don't think it offers much more in terms of what you would need and probably isn't worth your cash. It's more for modelling terrain and that sort of thing that the professional version does.

In a CAD program you can set up your paper space with viewports that can show the different sides of your shelving unit.

In terms of adding dimensions and detail it really what TurboCAD and the like are designed to do. For plans and elevations I really would give TurboCAD a go. I think you'll find it a lot easier than SU.

Hope that helps a little

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I understand why you are copying and rotating components to make views, they don't actually have to be in the same plane if you are using Parallel Projection.

As to the layers thing you must keep in mind that SketchUp's layers are totally different than those in AutoCAD or TurboCAD. Layers in sketchUp have only one function and that is to control visibility of entities. They do not do anything to separate the various elements of your model I would suggest that you go to the Online Help center and look at what Google has said about layers. You can ignore my advice which is also Google's advice but I don't think it is wise. FWIW, I offer a service of fixing models when the layers get all balled up. i charge by the hour.

You can send me a file to look at if you'd like. Send me a PM and I'll send you my e-mail address.