# Furniture/woodworking design software



## wld9901 (Mar 28, 2009)

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good design software program?


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## a1tomo (Dec 3, 2008)

I only have experience with AutoCAD. The cost of this program is probably prohibitive for anyone that is a casual user. The version I have is about 13 years old, and was purchased when I retired at a reasonable price at that time.

I think a lot of wood nuts are using googlesketch, which I understand is free! Can't beat that price!

Hope this helps a bit.


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## GBM (Dec 18, 2007)

I wish someone who knows how to do this cad stuff would take a free program like ( you name it ).... 
and make up some ' macros' ..' libraries' ... if that is the correct word..(if not please correct me...)

So that regular woodworkers could download one of these free programs.. or one that is already in Windows ... or whatever... I am not suggesting any particular one of them because I do not know anything about them..( except their learning curve is a little above me )...

The macros , library, or whatever the correct name is for the concept ... would have standard sizes of wood available for drag and drop, rotate, merge,cut, etc....

So the 'regular guy' would not have to know how to make from scratch, size ,merge,cut and place each cad piece of wood they wanted in order to be able construct the working drawing on the computer screen and perhaps print out the part list... that sort of thing.. 

Of course we are talking about 3D.


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

It appears that a lot of woodworkers are using Google's SketchUp, and many seem to get by with the free version. There is a fair amount of community support for SketchUp over at the Fine Woodworking site, too.

That said, I'll confess that I've tried to use it, but find the underlying concepts counter-intuitive for woodworking design purposes. I guess I just need to work through more of the available tutorials to find out what I'm missing, or not understanding at the conceptual level.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Ralph, I do beg to disagree with you as to SketchUp being "counter-intuitive" for woodworking design. If that is the case, then there is an awful lot of woodworkers and furniture designers out there using the wrong program. The "free" version of SketchUp is an excellent woodworking design software if you configure and use it correctly. But, as in any "3D Cad" type program there is a fairly stiff learning curve. There is a ton of tutorials from Google and the general internet... youtube (just search SketchUp), individual websites, etc.. Fine Woodworking's web site has a blog on SketchUp called "Design, Click, Build" that is an excellent source of information at...
'Design. Click. Build' Blog - Fine Woodworking

If you take the time to learn how to use the program you will find it to be an excellent investment in your time and also save you time in building your projects in the long run.

This is just my opinion, but I think anybody with average abilities can learn this program. All it takes is an investment in time and effort. After all, I have learned the basics and am most definitely no mental giant.


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## nzgeordie (Oct 22, 2006)

You're right about Sketch Up, George. I find it excellent for concept drawings and one day I'll get the hang of dimensioning and scale:laugh:. I also believe that what GBM is looking for - a library of shapes and parts - is achievable with Sketch Up and you can share an on-line library of other peoples designs.


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## Mike Gager (Jan 14, 2009)

GBM said:


> I wish someone who knows how to do this cad stuff would take a free program like ( you name it )....
> and make up some ' macros' ..' libraries' ... if that is the correct word..(if not please correct me...)
> 
> So that regular woodworkers could download one of these free programs.. or one that is already in Windows ... or whatever... I am not suggesting any particular one of them because I do not know anything about them..( except their learning curve is a little above me )...
> ...


there are tons of free plug ins that allow you do almost what you are asking with sketchup. you still have to know what you are doing though in order to actually build the piece, however sketchup is quite easy to learn. plus its FREE


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

curiousgeorge said:


> Ralph, I do beg to disagree with you as to SketchUp being "counter-intuitive" for woodworking design. . . .


George, I'm not saying that it _is_ counter-intuitive, but rather that I simply have found it so, up to this point. I'm coming from a manual drafting perspective, and haven't found how to make it do what I'd expect. I'm accustomed to being able to grasp complex software systems quickly, so having to slog through multiple layers of tutorials is just foreign to me. But, as you say, based on the number of people using it successfully, I'm sure that spending the time would be useful.


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## GBM (Dec 18, 2007)

Can someone ' point' me to some of those plug ins.. if that is the same as a macro or library with free and lightweight wood sitting there... nothing heavy...my mouse is made of plastic...
I have to go to the library with my laptop to download Youtube tutorials... so references to good ones that you know of would be appreciated... Thanks,Greg


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

Here are a few tutorials.
Self-paced Tutorials by Google - Google 3D Warehouse
Sketchup for Woodworkers - Tutorials 
'Design. Click. Build' Blog - Fine Woodworking


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

GBM said:


> Can someone ' point' me to some of those plug ins.. if that is the same as a macro or library with free and lightweight wood sitting there... nothing heavy...my mouse is made of plastic...
> I have to go to the library with my laptop to download Youtube tutorials... so references to good ones that you know of would be appreciated... Thanks,Greg


The "plug-ins" for SketchUp are called Ruby Scripts. Here is just one of the places to get them...

Ruby Library Depot

Here is another video tutorial site...

Sketchup Video Tutorials

If you will go to the Google SketchUp home page and do a little research of your own you can find most of, if not all, the answers to your questions. If you don't want to do that I doubt you will devote enough time to learn it's use any way.


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## Mike Gager (Jan 14, 2009)

here is a good forum for sketch up as well

SketchUcation Community Forums • Index page

they have a woodworking section too

Ralph, i come from a cad background as well and had no problem with the "backwards" way sketchup works. what exactly are you having a problem with?


to me it works like this

i want to build something, i know its going to have many parts. i construct the pieces one by one as components just like i would if i were building a real project. once i have all the pieces i put it together just like the real thing


i sometimes actually sketch out the project 2D in cad to get the dimensions of pieces i want to use before building it in sketchup. for me theres less mistakes with fit and function that way if i dont have to redo stuff because the legs are too short or the mortises arent deep enough, etc. kind of like drawing a full scale drawing of a piece of furniture in the shop before cutting into the wood


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## westend (Mar 31, 2009)

Thanks for the headsup's about Sketchup and the libraries, tutorials, etc., I'm about to install Sketchup 7. Available Here for download.


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