Google SketchUp Training
Paul Hensey is an experienced and awarded garden designer. On the panel of the Society of Garden Designer's Adjudication Committee and a regular contributor to magazines and journals on material/ construction and CAD related issues. Classes are held monthly to both private groups and as open classes across the UK. Paul believes that courses should be entirely relevant to the needs of those who attend and therefore content will be determinded by both student's requirements and skill levels and as such these listings are general and are subject to change.
All course requirements: Laptop/ computer (PC or MAC); 3 button mouse (Mac users note – a Magic Mouse is not suitable), SketchUp (free or Pro) installed
SketchUp Essentials 1 (1day)
This class is intended for students who are new to CAD and want to appreciate what it can offer. No previous experience is required and the class will progress at the level of the students. Students can expect to be able to create a simple landscape/ garden by the end of the day.
Introduction to CAD/ 2D vs3D/ SketchUp Pro vs Free
examples of good SketchUp models, where to get help on the Web
Setting up the interface & icons/ get the units right
setting the units of measurement, activate toolbars
Navigating: how to use the mouse zoom, orbit
control what you see, std views and perspective
Making basic shapes
cubes, cylinders
Draw things: pencil/ arc tools
create more interesting shapes, steps and at the size you want them
Put things where you want, move and rotate
how to control and reposition objects
Manage your geometry
bundling things together, making groups, components and layers
Get things the right size
use of guides/ construction lines and resizing
Make it look real
adding colour texture and shadows to your creations
Make use of your masterpiece, creating 2D drawings
exporting images, creating simple drawings in external packages
Using sketches to create 3D models
importing a sketch and using it to create a 3D landscape
Make it move, simple animations
setting up your own views and simple animation
Make your images look different to everyone elses
change the way your models and drawings look
SketchUp Essentials 2 (1day)
The Essentials 2 class is intended for students who have had limited experience of CAD and in particular SketchUp. It will introduce and expand on the key modelling elements that will allow students to start creating their own simple garden spaces and landscapes. Students need not have attended Essentials 2.
Review groups/ components Layers
review essential techniques and ensure everybody is using best modelling practice, tips and tricks for basic modelling
Make SketchUp do more, adding plugins
enhancing SketchUp by plugins/ Apps
Simple terrain modelling
how to create simple landforms using sandbox and other tec
Accurate shadows and using Google Earth
make your shadows accurate
creating drawings using SketchUp (-Free version)
create a construction drawing in an external package
How to orient, adjust textures
change textures orientation and size
Creating your own textures:- basic
using photographs to create your own textures
Custom models (follow me, intersect
other tools to create your own custom objects: intersect, follow me tools
Create and manage a custom library
set up and save objects to your own library
Creating sections
how to set up and save landscape sections
Solving attendees problems
SketchUp Advanced for Landscape and Garden Design 1 (1day)
This course is intended for users who have previous experience with SketchUp and would like to develop skills specifically to support the creation of external spaces, landforms and structures.
The class reviews student skill levels and ensures the basic techniques are understood. At least half of class time is dictated by students and the problems they experience or would like to solve.
Review groups/ components Layers
review essential techniques and ensure everybody is using best modelling practice, tips and tricks for basic modelling
Managing models and groups with Outliner
Use of Outliner to manage your models more efficently
Model size, adjusting geometry to optimise workflow
create and adjust geometry to make large models work better, use less memory
Creating custom textures, seamless images
how to create a seamless custom texture in Photoshop
how to approach a survey: what to record and how to use it to make an accurate model
modelling from and over photographs
photomatch and other techniques
Useful plug-ins
some great and essential plugins (free and £)
Terrain modelling advanced
use sandbox to create and control terrain, helpful plugins for modelling landscapes, conceptual grading
introduction to Layout
getting started in Layout and how to create drawings to scale
Solving attendees problems
SketchUp Pro Advanced for Landscape and Garden Design 2 (1day)
This course is intended for users who have previous experience with SketchUp and would like to develop skills specifically to support the creation of external spaces, landforms and structures.
Building on the skills of SketchUp Advanced for Landscape and Garden Design 1, this course will use SketchUp Pro (Pro is not a requirement to attending this course) to help students explore plug-ins, optimise working with large files, plants/ planting plans,working with Layout
Using Layout to create impressive construction drawings
How to create custom drawing borders in SketchUp alone
Photorealistic rendering (PR): types and methods
what is available, what works and setting up models for use in PR packages
Beyond the mouse
try out graphics tablets and 3D spaceball devices for SketchUp
That's mine!
Adding watermarks to scenes/ views
Creating unque styles
edit styles, make unique styles
Advanced shadows,
setting up models to make better shadows
Walkthroughs
animating walkthroughs, altering field of vision, depth of field
Working with DXF/ DWG Autocad files
how to request AutoCad survey drawings/ how to edit them for SketchUp/ creating 3D terrain from them
Creating 2D & 3D plants
creating simple plants
Solving attendees problems
SketchUp Additional Courses
Follow on courses for advanced users are frequently run, by request. Existing skills are assessed and complimentary techniques are shown. Specifically the courses are geared to attendees requirements and problems and these are used as the basis for advancing the whole class.Please contact us to discuss your needs.
SketchUp Individual tuition
One on one or one to two classes are run by request. These can be held via Skype and are tailored to individual needs