Get your Free
7-day trial here
Have you heard about Sketchup for woodworkers? If you’re searching for the best free woodworking design software it’s an excellent choice. As carpentry software goes it comes with many benefits. If you’ve ever spent time struggling to create a simple design on paper, the old-school way, you’ll already know it’s prone to errors. You don’t get any of the design support that’s integral to Sketchup, all the things it does for you automatically behind the scenes.
For a start it will save you huge amounts of time as well as making everything you draw a lot more accurate and reliable. As you can imagine, a drawing with the slightest inaccuracy can lead to wasting expensive materials, or at the other end of the scale not buying enough for the job. Easy-to-learn Sketchup Pro is a real asset to carpenters and woodworkers, exactly what you need to start presenting your work to clients in a professional and highly realistic way.
You’ll be able to create beautiful 3D Interior designs for rooms like kitchens, then tweak and manipulate everything quickly and simply using the software to get things perfectly right. You can even develop and present stunning furniture designs using Sketchup’s legendary 3D capabilities. Read on to find out why Sketchup woodworking design software is so popular.
Get your Free
7-day trial here
Get your Free
7-day trial here
If you’ve never tried free woodworking design software before, you might be feeling a bit nervous. Some carpenters and woodworkers are put off by the thought of learning how to use 3D design software. But don’t worry. Sketchup is genuinely incredibly easy to learn and use, which is one of the main reasons so many people like it so much. It’s widely praised for being simple, intuitive, and very powerful indeed.
If you’re concerned about the learning aspect, you’ll be supported by an abundance of excellent teaching resources, everything from video tutorials to follow to enhanced pdf courses stacked with embedded video, text and imagery. There’s something for everyone, and there’s even a book on the subject. However you like to learn there’s plenty for you to dive into and learn at your own pace. In our experience even the most tech-phobic, computer-hating carpenters and woodworkers quickly discover they actually love working with Sketchup. You design faster, make accurate plans, know how much material you need, and can change your designs in seconds rather than re-drawing that takes hours. And client presentations are a dream with such impressive output.
I have used SketchUp for over 10 years in my interior design business and the simplicity of it is second to none, it is so easy for me to create floor plans and designs for my clients and it doesn’t break the bank!
I started with SketchUp when a builder introduced it to me as we were doing some work on our home in Bristol. This was around 10 years ago. I love playing with graphics and realised how quickly I could learn this as a tool. I’m not CAD trained so I am self taught at all the 2D work we produce. This has not limited the opportunities and CowPlan now employs two CAD specialists as part of our small team.
Try SketchUp Pro For Free
You can see the idea in your head. You know exactly how you want it to look. But how do you transform a bright idea into a representative 3D design in Sketchup? Sketchup for woodworkers is fast, and that’s one of the best things of all. An idea occurs to you, you sketch it fast and accurately, then you can amend it, play with it, enhance it, all in no time at all. No faffing around with paper and pens, no messing things up and taking hours over it.
Whether it’s a piece of unique furniture or an interior design element like a set of smart hand-made wooden kitchen units, you’ll draft it quickly and enjoyably so it looks just as appealing as it does in your imagination. The 3D representations created in Sketchup are so much more appealing than standard 2D construction plans, easier for your clients to understand and decode. You can manipulate your models, examine them from every angle, make changes, adjust the size, colour, materials, you name it, all in record time, even as your clients watch. It’s a truly professional way to create, design, present, and ultimately build.
Free resources are the name of the game with Sketchup woodwork software. For a start there’s a wealth of Extensions and Plugins. They’re extra tools created to speed up various Sketchup actions, and make them easier by either cutting out steps you’d usually need to take or adding extra functionality. They’re just as easy and fun to use as the main software, and there are thousands of them to choose from. If there’s a design challenge you’d like to overcome, there’s probably a plugin or extension to help you.
There are many excellent free extensions that support great carpentry. Take OpenCutList, which generates perfect cut lists and cutting diagrams for woodworking and all sorts of other projects. 3D RubyWindow is a top way to create stunning window frames and doors with ease and flair. They’re just the tip of the iceberg, along with loads of great tutorials to learn from.
There’s more. Make your way to the Sketchup 3D warehouse for even more free woodwork software resources to make your world a better place. You can download pre-made furniture designs, grab a load of wonderfully realistic materials and finishes, use ready-made accessories like potted plants to enhance your work and make drawings even more realistic. There’s a host of really good free woodworking plans as well, an alphabetical list containing every kind of woodworking design you can imagine, from furniture to bee houses to boats.
Here’s something you’ll appreciate. Sketchup Pro isn’t just about creating engaging 3D woodworking design software models. It also generates all the necessary construction documentation, which makes it truly invaluable. All that hard work, calculating, counting, and figuring out is taken care of in the background. There’s no risk of getting it wrong as long as you’ve input the right information in the first place.
Complex 3d woodworking CAD designs can be readily represented in plan and documentation form, so every component can be accurately cut and made according to your plans. Imagine the stress-busting effect this has on your workflow, with so much more time for making and creating. Can you imagine how this would apply to your furniture design life, for example? The software will automatically create accurate cut lists for every element of your design, so you don’t have to struggle with it. Instead you can relax in the knowledge you’ve got it right the first time, every time.
You know the score. In your world you always need to measure twice to cut once. Plenty of people in your world end up measuring a lot more than twice in an effort to get things perfectly right, but things still go wrong with annoying regularity, especially when you’re busy or short of time.
You can think of woodworking design software as your reliable accuracy assistant. It provides exact 3D model representations of the items you design, including 100% accurate dimensions, so there’s far less chance for error. In this way, Sketchup supports accuracy and precision for carpenters and woodworkers of every kind, amateur to professional, teacher to learner. Can you see how much time and hassle it could save you? If you’ve ever mis-measured and ended up spending more than you should have on materials, you’ll appreciate it.
Access your free
7-day SketchUp Pro trial now! Sign up below
7-Day access to SketchUp’s free 3D software, SketchUp Pro for Desktop, LayOut, PreDesign and Style Builder, Augmented reality viewing on SketchUp Viewer for iOS and Android, Viewing on the following Mixed Reality (XR) applications: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Hololens, and HP Windows Mixed Reality.
All you need is an internet connection to download SketchUp Pro and a Trimble ID – no credit card required
With over 25 years’ experience in the digital design community, Elmtec is one of the leading suppliers of professional hardware and software. Our specialists offer product knowledge, industry experience and support to ensure we save your business time and money.
Get your Free 7–day trial here
© 2023 Copyright Elmtec. Elmtec is a trading division of Man and Machine Ltd
