Google Sketchup for Dummies

THIS BOOK WAS EASY TO READ AND UNDERSTAND. THE AUTHOR WAS TOTALY HONEST, HE TALKED ABOUT THE STUFF HE KNEW, SPREAD OUT THE PRINCIPLES IN EASY TO UNDERSTAND CHUNKS, IF THE AUTHOR DID NOT KNOW SOMETHING, HE SAID SO, GAVE REFERENCES TO FIND OUT FOR ONES SELF.IMHO, A PERFECT BOOK TO START WITH, '10', I NOW HAVE A PRETTY GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF GOOGLE SKETCH UP.BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK, I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SKETCH UP.I HONESTLY CAN'T THINK OF ANY NEGATIVES,easy to read,proper cartoonsgood quality paperno jesus stuffgood basic primer on the subjectprice seems fairgreat tips and tricksgood sense of 'oops' and how to fix themthe type was little bigger, made for less straining to readthe book was bound well, did not split any pages, I carried this book everywhere,might want to include an interactive dvd, show something, then let the reader copy the actionalso, might consider a coupon for a discount on the pro 6, I would take avantage of this offerJack g

I recently taught a Google Sketchup introductory class to my Woodworking group - after sampling some of the video tutorials Aidan has available I sought out and purchased the book that references them (this book!). I've found it invaluable as a reference and recommend it to anyone thinking about using Sketchup - it's well written, simply presented and provides ample guidance for the self-learner. It also provided me with some good ideas on presentation when delivering a classroom session on the topic. I plan to present several more classes in Sketchup with a focus on the woodworker and small project design. The book can be used as reference with little adaptation. Sketchup is one of those programs that can be taken in small chunks for a beginner to get up and designing, or it can be explored in depth to produce some stunning presentations, integrated into an entire project plan with examples, production details, animation and movement, multiple perspectives and even cutlists for woodworkers (using the Cutlist plugin). Kudos to the conception and execution and to Aidan Chopra, both the writer of this guide and the Google Sketchup advocate.

I started using sketchup for the past 6 months to illustrate and study my designs before having to make final models. I purchased this book with a knowledge base of the program so it was not a "break-through" guide that it might be to someone else. In any case, this book is a clear guide to this program and what's even better is that the author provides free guided videos on [...] to further assist this book.This book won't reveal any special tricks or teach expert methods if there are any, but it should definitely be read for any users of sketchup who want to solidify their knowledge base of Sketchup. The only reason I left one star out is because it was as "in-depth" as I hoped~amassingdesign.blogspot

I am so glad I bought this book. I had played around with SketchUp for months but always got frustrated when things didn't work the way I thought they should. Within the first few chapters of this book the light bulb went on and I finally 'got it.'The only reason I did not give it 5 stars it that I felt some of the examples 'skipped' steps... I often found myself needing to page back several times because something seemed to be missing something between step "A" and "B"... a bit frustrating but not a big deal. I think the author just assumes your going to do little intermediate steps on your own.If you really want a great foundation for using this amazing software - start here.

I am a retired professional engineer, architect, and 3D graphics artist/instructor. I have been using SketchUp Pro for about 3 years mainly for creating Earth and space structures that I later import into Daz Bryce for rendering. This well written, light-hearted, and extremely thorough book is an essential asset for begineers and a valuable reference tool for anyone using SketchUp. Computer software manual writers can often times get over zealous with methods and confuse everyone but themselves. Fortunately Aidan Chopra is not one of those people. If you want to draw most anything you can imagine you need to do two things. First download the free version of SketchUp and second buy this book. You will be very pleased with both actions.

Aidan first came to my attention as the author of a series of online Sketch-up tutorials. This book is an excellent companion to those videos, providing some additional detail not covered in the videos. With that said, there are some nuances explained in the videos that just don't come across as clearly in written form. Nothing like seeing it in action after reading how to do it in the book. Using SketchUp is very easy with this book. I was able to create my house and import it into Google Earth for all to see.

I just had to get this because I wanted to learn more about Sketchup and this was a good way to do so.

the training was great

Disappointed in its format

Google have now sold Sketchup but I hope that it keeps going. It is one of the most useful three dimensional darwaing tools around. This book gives all the basic information to get you up and running.

Essential reading

Love this book, very intesrting and funny. Helps extremey

Very helpful for a very powerful drawing application, with a long learning curve.