Virtual joinery, shop drawings, and the core of using SketchUp for timber frame design.
I’ll be teaching a SketchUp preconference workshop at the Timber Framer’s Guild Eastern Conference. I’m stepping in for Clark Bremer who had some last minute plan changes and will not be able to make the trip. The course is filling fast – sign up with the TFG – I hope to see you in Saratoga!
SketchUp for Timber Framers and Designers 2008 class photo.
There are still a few seats remaining for the SketchUp for Timber Framers and Designers at Heartwood May 25-27, 2009. Contact Will (will (at) heartwoodschool (dot) com for more details, or visit the Heartwood website.
Traditional joinery and shop drawings...
...and tricks and tips for modeling compound joinery.
Rifling through my various portfolios I found slides of work completed by some of my students way back in 1999. I had the pleasure (and challenge) of getting a last minute assignment to teach foundation level design at the Cleveland Institute of Art. I was simultaneously trying to breathe new life into the foundation level wood shop – so I had my hands full as I took time off from graduate school. A mid semester project was to create a device to lower an egg two stories safely to the ground. Typically a high school physics problem – we explored this as conceptual art meets design problem. I placed a heavy focus on ‘craft’ and hands on skill building in my course – be it a student taking on complicated wood and metal working or learning techniques for staging and coordinating their own documentary photography. Concept played a key role in all of the projects – and craft followed as students learned to make their vision a physical reality. Below are a few of my favorites.
I made a quick YouTube screen capture of some dynamic timber components I’ve been working on. SketchUp Pro V7 adds new functionality to create parametric components – in this case timbers and joinery that can change size from an option menu as opposed to editing the geometry. Displayed in the video are: dynamic gable shell creator, dynamic posts and timbers, a dynamic rafter, and examples of dynamic joinery. I’ve detailed two small frames using a combination of the dynamic components and Clark Bremer’s TF Rubies. The components need a bit of work – but in all they are a great first step to creating a parametric based timber modeling package.
I will be teaching SketchUp for Timber Framers at the Heartwood School May 25-27, 2009. Check out the course description – and sign up soon – our last class at Heartwood booked solid!
The view from our wonderful accomodations.
Returned from teaching an intense two day introduction to SketchUp workshop in Tamworth, New Hampshire. We had a small class and focused on using the software for timber frame design (but the techniques can be applied to furniture design, woodworking, and other general construction tasks). The group had a wide range of skills – so we started with the absolute basics and worked our way into compound roof design, shop drawings, and even took a quick look at exporting materials lists for estimating and job site coordination. In the right hands and with a bit of creativity SketchUp can be a powerful presentation, fabrication, and estimating tool for designers and builders. Special thanks to Jon and family for putting us up in a wonderful rustic farmhouse with an amazing view of the White Mountains.
Basic workshop frame including joinery design.