It was only a matter of time until someone wrote this book:
Sketchup for Dummies
This is actually a page on the Sketchup Blog , where there is always new information about Sketchup. CB.

Hey daiku...

Thanks for the video links...

Did you see the modeling ones.....that was Way Cool

I think CB has the sketchup bug...
would be nice to see bit more of your work, I can only find a couple of models in the 3D warehouse, is there any sketchup stuff on your website?

oh ya, I like those videos
check out moving and copying part 2, made my day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K93025DDUpw

Hi Mark.

Yes, I've definitely caught the bug (thanks, Pegs). The models you found in the warehouse are pretty old. I've actually taken to modeling the joinery now, right down to the peg locations. That may sound extreme, but it's actually not that hard once you've built up your component library. I've also written some ruby extensions to Sketchup, specifically for timber framers. They will do things like automate the creation of joinery and shop drawings, as well as generate material lists from your whole-frame models. I'll be posting more information about those shortly.

You may also have noticed in the current Scantlings, or on the Guild's main web site, that there will be several presentations on Sketchup at the upcoming fall conference in Montebello. I'll be doing both a full-day preconference workshop, as well as a 90 minute presentation during the main conference. Mike Beganyi will be presenting on Sketchup as well. CB.

Daiku also has some rubies for SU..

It allows you to insert joinery elements so you don't have to draw them all.

Watched the videos and found these little jewels... I thought they were really useful

copy and paste allows you to move things into and out of a group without connecting them to a group

Resizing a model....never understood why I would use it...now I get it...allows you to free draw without any need to measure....just your eyes...when you are done you can "resize" the whole model based upon one measurement...nice..

Field of View....I have wanted to know this since the first house I did....It allows you to change how much you can see from a given point....say for instance...10% might be like looking through a tube.....while 40% might be like looking through a 6" pipe...but thats not the most important element...changing the field of view allows you to see inside a house the same way YOU would in the real world....It is really helpful for customers and walkthroughs.... In the default menu...you tend to feel like a giant walking around inside a house...if turn around you end up in a wall.....changing the field of view not only allows you to see more....IT SHRINKS YOU....So you FEEL more like you are the right size when you move around the inside of the house...

Double clicking allows you to repeat a task...lets say you need to change your rafters from 6x8 to 6x10....all you have to do change one and individually double click the rest...SU will repeat the change on every rafter....

Unless of course you made your rafters components....then any change you made to one rafter would be repeated automatically in every rafter.....

Yep definetly do love this program.....I think we should work on our own libraries for furniture, appliances, etc...

Good Tips!

Filed of View is something I had never experimented with, and it will realy help with customer demonstrations.

And the "double-click to repeat" thing was also something I hadn't discovered. Cool stuff. CB.