[lgalla]

anyone tried Sketchup and phlatscript?
https://sites.google.com/site/wikicncdiy/sketchup
Thanks
Larry

[txcncman]

Sketchup is cheap (free -$0). You get what you pay for ($0).

[subnoize]

anyone tried Sketchup and phlatscript?
https://sites.google.com/site/wikicncdiy/sketchup
Thanks
Larry

SketchUp is a nightmare. The pro version is even worse. All you have to do is go read their forums. It is utter ugliness and totally unprofessional just like their software. Basically Google paid for the software to do 3D models for Google Earth and nothing else.

Its sad really because the software has a few cool concepts like the guides and the infrencing other points. If Rhino3D had these features I would uninstall SketchUp Pro and never look back.

snz

PS. sorry, I just looked at the plugin, no! go get CamBam or something like that if you don't have a lot of money. you will just be fustrated and not understand why its not working the way you want it too.

[AssassinXCV]

WHAAAAAAT??!!! Sketchup is awesome!!!

It was perfect for me to start drawing up parts for cnc-ing.

Download the STL Export Plugin and you're set for CAM use.

Here are some of the things i made on sketchup:
[IMG][/IMG]









Ofcourse, when i first started using it i hated it, i didnt like the controls for moving objects, but once i got the hang of it, i made tons of models.

For a free software, it blows Blender out of the water.

**They even used Sketchup to model the Capital Gate building in Abu Dhabi (furthest leaning building in the world)**

Ofcourse, now i use Autodesk Inventor since that's what i'm being taught for my B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering Program, and i have a student version.

Give the program a chance. Ofcourse; curves and smooth planes take some practice.

[txcncman]

Yup. Looks pretty cheap to me.

[subnoize]

Yup. Looks pretty cheap to me.

You are being nice, txcncman!

I want to see something designed in sheet metal, then bent and fluted and be exactly fitting within 1/64 of an inch. I want to see the SketchUp file, the actual product flat, then bent and fluted and then mated with the other parts to prove its tolerances. You get brownie points for drilling holes that line up on the parts that are bent ;-)

That's one SketchUp file, 3 real world picts with calipers, preferably digital.

Mr. Assassin guy, get me those and we'll talk. As to the STL stuff, I have SketchUp pro and No, I am not good to go anywhere except to cleanup!

snz

[subnoize]

For a free software, it blows Blender out of the water.

I didn't catch this one at first but this line is pretty darn funny! Blender is animation software, not CAD.

Blender is FREE software, silly!

As far as what Blender is suppose to do, SketchUp isn't even in the same universe. I can't see a comparison even if I were drunk...


snz

[AssassinXCV]

...Blender is FREE software, silly!...
snz

Okay, well

"Android Blows iOS out of the water"..."iOS is Free software, silly!"
"Google blows Bing out of the water"..."Bing is Free Website, silly!"

Doesnt matter if blender is free; sketchup still better.
My comparison wasnt that one was free and one wasnt (meaning that sketchup was paid for and blender is free), i was saying that, even thought BOTH were free, sketchup is much better for 3D MODELING.

[subnoize]

i was saying that, even thought BOTH were free, sketchup is much better for 3D MODELING.

You really need to get a book called "Beginning Blender: Open Source 3D Modeling, Animation and Game Design" by a chap named Lance Flavell.

In his first 5 chapters you will know how to do everything SketchUp offers with one exception, inferencing other points and object.

One of the things I try to impress into my employees is never feel strongly about a piece of software! You are not marrying it! You will find that software is like a hammer. Now, you have big, small, rubber, ping, heavy, light, whatever but its still a hammer. Use the one that works best for the project. If you walk around with a hammer that you believe is the "bestest in da whole wide world!" you deserve to loose your money! Somebody like me walks in with a more rounded knowledge and takes your contract because I know more tools that you do.

So, if its some square representations of a building or a room, SketchUp will rock. If I'm laying in 2D blueprints for an aircraft designed in 1968, SketchUp rocks. If I'm designing the bell crank for ailerons, Rhino 3D or AutoCAD is going to rock. Jet engine? AutoCAD or Rhino 3D!

BUT!

If I'm making a slobbering grotesque alien monster for a horror movie, SketchUp isn't my tool. Blender is!

I don't even see a comparison between SketchUp and Blender. They are on the polar opposite ends of the spectrum in output. Now the room with the alien monster in it might begin in SketchUp, but the final output would be Blender or Maya into 3Delight.

Half the battle is knowing which tool to use where and when. :banana:


snz

[jgro]

Have a look at what can be done with Sketchup: View topic - Most impressive SketchUp modelling • SketchUcation Community Forums These images and models changed my perspective on this software.

jgro

[subnoize]

These images and models changed my perspective on this software

What is always been amazing to me was the earlier CGI where the model entry was by hand, every single point, every single face from graph paper.

My point has been, SketchUp isn't a tool to use for personal fabrication on close tolerance projects. If your CNC is something you made and this is for your educational project, SketchUp is a great tool.

If you are cutting for a client and money is evolved, get AutoCAD or one of the others. If accuracy is involved, AutoCAD or one of the others. If your life is online the line, AutoCAD or one of the others.

Cutting out furniture for your kitchen, SketchUp... get the direction I'm headed? SketchUp isn't a CAD program in the ttraditional sense. They at Google dn't want it to be CAD.

The last part aren't my words thats what they fflamed me over on their forums! Go read it yourself.

For my purposes, SketchUp Pro isn't worth the money. If SkecthUp Pro was free I would say "it is what it is" and leave it at that. They took my money and over promised and their customer service sucked so, there you go. Skip it if you want to be serious...

snz

[BurrMan]

One of the things I try to impress into my employees is never feel strongly about a piece of software! You are not marrying it!

It appears you have had a bad marriage to sketchup that failed... You dont like the ole hag anymore???

[BurrMan]

Yup. Looks pretty cheap to me.

Interesting statement here.... Could easily load those models up in a renderer and apply all the materials so you would think "WOW, looks expensive!" lol

[subnoize]

It appears you have had a bad marriage to sketchup that failed... You dont like the ole hag anymore???

I use it for rapid entry of hand draw, evolutionary style blueprints ( the type where the designer starts with a shape and subtracts from it in a stepped or evolution process). I use it about once a day.

SketchUp strong points are 1.) Guides (the tape measure) and 2.) the infrencing of other points or edges.

And No, those two features are not worth $400.00 for me. The DXF and STL output are flawed. The customer support is a bunch of people who respond poorly to others pointing out failures and asking for resolution.

So, no I never married it, I paid money for what was advertised as a more complete piece of software and was given a buggy, incomplete freeware program.

As to TXCNCMan's response, my assessment was worse. Looks like a 2 year olds drawing...

snz

[subnoize]

Yup. Looks pretty cheap to me.

Sorry, Wendy. All of your images are 404!

For future reference this is a forum on CNCZone so if you post images that are rendered please post the picture of the final real world product as well. Nobody here is impressed with renderings. We want to see what you made with it.

thanks,

snz

PS. Or was the GoDaddy advertisement with the *****cat Dolls what you were talking about? Liked the advert! GoDaddy certainly has a hit with Danica Patrick (is that how you spell her name :-)~

[subnoize]

Libo Zhu, Wendy? Whoever...

I don't think your web site is up anymore or something is wrong with the permissions on your server.

snz

[BurrMan]

Libo Zhu, Wendy? Whoever...

I don't think your web site is up anymore or something is wrong with the permissions on your server.

snz

subnoize,
These posts are forum spams that get removed... It wasnt a real poster/user. You'll note it is even just a "copy" of a previous post in the thread.

[subnoize]

thanks, yeah I got fooled didn't I?

[vtcnc]

It's interesting that almost no one posting here actually paid attention to the original poster's request. He was asking if anyone used SketchUp for CAD and CNC work. It wasn't a request for bashes by others who use other software and don't like it.

Of course the answer is yes, people do use SketchUp as a CAD and for CNC use. The Phlatprinter software also mentioned is a CAM add on.

I have used it to design and ultimately CNC cut foam patterns for lost foam casting, also cut foam wings and fuselages for R/C model planes, design concrete castings for industrial processes, wind turbine blades, among other things.

If you'd like to see how SketchUP is used as a CAD Here are some links to at least the R/C use of it as a CAD. Also Phlatprinter plugin CAM software which makes it suitable for milling not only with the Phlatprinter but other mills and routers:

Using google Sketchup for modeling... With practical examples - RC Groups


I could list more, but you get the idea -- if interested, Google is your friend.

To address the other points, there are many misconceptions expressed in this thread about SketchUp.

The biggest problem is that SketchUp was offered in a free and a paid version. One of SketchUp's greatest strengths is that anyone could write additional Ruby code and create a plugin to add features. As a result the free version eventually had as many features available as the paid version -- written as add-ons and plug-ins. There are literally thousands of plugins available. For instance, DXF import and export is one of them. I own the free version and have not trouble using it as a CAD.

SketchUp is therefore not just one thing. And so it is true to say it isn't a CAD, just as true as to say SketchUP is a CAD -- depends on how you've structured your particular version with plugins and settings. It is a very flexible and convertible program.

SketchUp has a very user friendly and intuitive new user interface for a 3D design tool. UNLESS you are already own and use a more conventional CAD. In that case SketchUp can be frustrating (as well as unnecessary). It is NOT intuitive if you already use another computer drafting procedural model.

This is the reason for a lot of negative reviews. Why would someone used to AutoCAD want to convert to a free 3D design program which would require re-learning drafting methodologies and adding plugins to do what they already do, day to day? They wouldn't. On the other hand, the conventional AutoCAD user needed to invest heavily in initially learning to use their own software -- both in time and money.

Free SketchUp offers a new user the opportunity to start designing at zero cost and with fast intuitive learning curve for a non-cad user. Those are great advantages to those who can't afford to go to school and spend thousands of dollars to learn a conventional CAD.

I hope that SketchUp will merit its own thread topic here on CNCZone. While it's fine that others have personal preferences or needs that SketchUp doesn't meet, there are plenty of people who use it every day and disparaging the program or its users really serves no purpose. If you don't like it, no need to use it or read about it.

[subnoize]

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