[Turnip]

Th. is is a 2 part question... i'm trying to incorporate some existing cabinetry that we want to recycle/repaint in our kitchen....


1). Can you add in your own cabinets/dimensions in Ikea Planner tool? (I guess i could resize a "your own" applicane to masquerade as a cabinet but wanted to know if there is a better way to do it).

2). I started using Google Sketch Up and took all the tutorials. I was able to create some custom size boxes...... but:

a) I wasnt' sure how you size the room first..... the way you do in Ikea Planner? Google SU is sort of in infinite space which is weird.

b) i can't really find the Ikea models easily. I find some but not the way it is in Ikea planner.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

[DesignDiva]

I know nothing of Sketchup, so I can't help you there. But there is no way to resize cabinets in the Planner, you will have to use one of the "Your Own Appliances" to do that. Or maybe one of the items in the Room Planning screen, like a duct or radiator.

[Mykitchen]

Somebody here created all the IKEA cabinetry that could be used in Sketch Up...I know because at one point I had downloaded it. I'll see if I can find it...
R

[Mykitchen]

Read this link for Ikea cabinets and google sketch up.
R
Mac Users - Kitchen Planner

[fisheggs]

But as an answer to one of your specific question, you don't "resize" the initial space, you just make boxes that are the size of your room and then you put the components (cabinets, applicances) inside.

I found it best to build a cube, then delete the roof and one wall so that I can see inside. I also can peer through a "door" and "window" to get views of my setup.

One hint: things that aren't in "components" will stick together if they touch. I.E., if you make a cube, select it and then move it so that it touches another cube, they will merge and be difficult to move apart. That's why using pre-built components or appliances that are already in component form is nice. Once you start making things on your own, build them off to the side of your room, then select your new cabinet or appliance or whatever, and make it into a component. Then you can move it into your house without having it velcro itself to anything.

[DesignDiva]

I am going to sticky this thread and keep it as a resource for Mac users. Please add your tips and tricks for SketchUp here!

I am going to change the title as well, apologies to Turnip for that!

[csholocene]

Sketchup and OSX don't always play well together. (Which is funny in many, many ways because it was originally a Mac tool...)

So - save often, restart the app whenever the cursor starts leaving trails. (Former acid heads will immediately know what I mean.) If you have an Intel Mac, boot up under bootcamp and run the app on your Windows installation.

Use a pointing device, preferably a drawing tablet and pen, especially if you're on a laptop. Zoom a lot.

Quit all other applications, except maybe a browser. This is not the time to be processing tuples in the background or ripping CDs.

[dcumberl]

I've had a lot of luck with the latest version of SketchUp for the Mac. I believe I'm using version 6. I modelled the entire house without a single crash.

I also wanted to report that I've been able to use the Ikea kitchen planner tool on a Mac through Parallels. Of course, it's still running on Windows which is running through Parallels, but it is an option for those of you who are already using Parallels.

[zeuss]

I wrote a couple articles to help with Sketch-Up
Sketch-Up: A quick and easy lesson
Sketch Up - Customizing Materials

Hopefully they'll help.

[zeuss]

For all you SketchUp challenged people out there or those that just want to get better with SketchUp, I have a new hero - Aidan Chopa. He wrote SketchUp for Dummies and has 62 videos (so far) to accompany. They are all on YouTube or you can find them in order at www.aidanchopra.com - Google SketchUp For Dummies

He is an excellent teacher.

While on YouTube learning more about SketchUp, I stumbled onto the SU Podium videos and that is how I discovered this great and EASY program for adding lights and reflections to SketchUp.
SU Podium

Here are the Podium videos: (they are much shorter than the Aidan Chopra SketchUp for Dummies videos)
SU Podium