Book Review - Google SketchUp for Dummies

Google SketchUp for Dummies
Chopra, Aidan, Wiley Publishing, Hoboken, NJ, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-470-13744-4
$25 (list price)
$16.50 (street price)

Remember when your high school English teacher explained that every word in the sentences you write needs to carry some meaning? While the rest of us missed that point, Aidan Chopra was paying attention. Google Sketchup for Dummies is a tightly written, fun to read book that gives a lot of byte for your buck. Aidan Chopra works at Google as the product evangelist for Google SketchUp and he's the editor of the monthly SketchUpdate email newsletter. He knows SketchUp inside and out and uses plain English to show you the ropes.

Google SketchUp is a 3D drawing program that defies easy description. It's fun, playful and at the same time very powerful. The free version of the program is very feature rich. The $495 version of the program is popular with architects. SketchUp's special charm is that the program seems to know what you want to do next in your drawing. Using inference points and inference lines -- and drawing tools found in no other drawing program -- it guides you to create the structures and objects you want to design.

When the free version of SketchUp was announced in the summer of 2006, I downloaded the program to check it out. I can tell you honestly I have little talent at creating computer graphics, but Google SketchUp grabbed my interest. Within15 minutes I was creating simple 3D models -- and having fun in the process. I found myself giggling the first time I used the program because of its low learning curve.

I showed Google SketchUp to some middle school students and they caught on even faster. I was intrigued to watch them explore the program -- and wished that I had a guidebook that could help me guide them. Google SketchUp for Dummies is that guidebook. Unlike other Dummies series books, this book goes beyond beginner level topics. "Comprehensive" is perhaps the best ways to describe this book.

Here is where I found the most value in the book. Chapter 16 of the book is titled: Ten SketchUp Traps and Their Work-arounds. Bingo. A jackpot of usetul tips.

Another very useful part of the book is on YouTube. YouTube? Yes, the book comes with a bunch of well-made screencasts that are freely available for anyone to view. These screencasts, created by the author of the book, make most sense when viewed in conjunction with the book. Here are some of the best screencasts.

Using infeferences to help you model

More fun with Push/Pull

When all else fails, use the Line tool

The tricky case: Mapping photo textures to curved surfaces

The layout of the book is uncluttered. Visually appealing. As you turn the pages, you find yourself saying to yourself, "Lookee here. I wonder what's being explained here." You'll probably get the most from this book after having used Google SketchUp for a bit. I found the explanations cognitively meaningful because I've had some experience dabbling in Google SketchUp.

By now you might be wondering what the system requirements are for Google SketchUp. For Google SketchUp 6 you'll need a G4 Mac running at 1 GHz (or faster), or any Intel Mac. On the Windows side of things you can get by with Pentium III, 700 MHz, and Windows 2000. You do need to have a good quality graphics card, though, if you're using older Windows hardware.

Here in the United States there are many Pentium III and low-end Pentium IV computers entering the donation stream. I can think of nothing more fun that installing OpenOffice and Google SketchUp on these computers and passing them on to some youth or adult who has never owned a computer. I hope public libraries will have copies of this book on hand so people who get their first computer can dive into Google SketchUp at no cost.

Youth, in particular, might find it fun to explore the capabilities of Google SketchUp. The skills and confidence they develop in using this program could serve as a springboard for jumping into other graphics programs including Adobe PhotoShop, Macromedia Flash and Apple's Final Cut Pro. If I had to design a computer curriculum of free software for elementary and middle school students I'd include OpenOffice, Inkscape, and Google SketchUp. For one example of how to use OpenOffice Draw in conjunction with Google SketchUp, check out the screencasts in the Infinite Museum project I worked on shortly after the free version of Google SketchUp was released.

Since we dream in 3D, Google SketchUp is a tool for drawing our dreams. Wilbur Wright once wrote in a letter to his father, "My imagination pictures things more vividly than my eyes." (The Wright Way, page 177.) Wilbur Wright would have adored Google SketchUp.

I was raised in the creative ecosystem of Applesoft BASIC, HyperCard, and HyperStudio. Those were the creative tools my friends and I had the most fun using and teaching each other. Google SketchUp has emerged as an heir to these creative traditions.

The fact that Google gives away a free version of SketchUp is an excellent first step. The next step is to make sure the free version of Google SketchUp is bundled on all new computers. People won't find out about the program unless that happens. Had you heard about Google SktechUp before reading this book review?

The first time I started Google SketchUp I came to a screen that said: Welcome to SketchUp: Design a New World. Well, yes, thanks for the invitation. I'd like to do that.

Some Hesitations I Have About the Book

A complete book reviews needs to mention hestitations a reader has about a book. Although this book is exceedingly well done, it does feel as if it is missing something in the early chapters. With a program as rich as SketchUp, I would have liked to see more narrative about SketchUp basics -- including anecdotes about early adopters of SketchUp explaining about the projects they worked on -- showing that ordinary people can create wonderful 3D models in SketchUp. It was almost as if the editors of the book prevailed upon the author to "keep it as concise as possible." Yes, that's a worthy goal, but the author might have concised out some parts of the book that we really wanted to read.

This 400 page book would have been better as a 600 page book or an 800 page book. Perhaps a second edition of the book can head in that direction.

Luckily for me, I was able to fill in my knowledge of SketchUp by viewing the very professionally done (and entertaining) SketchUp Level 1 Training DVD created by Mike Tadros and Alex Oliver. In an ideal world, that training DVD would be bundled in with this book. If only there were some entity interested in organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible.

A Linux version of SketchUp would be nice, too, to future-proof the program.

Phil Shapiro

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(This book review may be freely redistributed for any nonprofit purpose, including use in computer user group newsletters. Kindly indicate the source of the review as http://blogs.pcworld.com/communityvoices)

The blogger has been working to bridge the digital divide for 20 years in the Washington DC-area. He loves Macs, adores Linux and likes Windows. Reader responses welcome in the comments below or at philshapiroblogger@gmail.com

Comments

This is great software, imagine you go kitchen shopping with yoru drawings and could simply get the cabinets on a CD and go home and build your dream Kitchen. Wow!

The DVD and the screencasts are very nice as well. You are right, they are professional grade.

Conficio

November 02, 2007

6:02 PM PT