by Katie McBride

Members of the NorthStar Scrollers club had their thinking caps on for the May-meeting program. Bill Browning led a very informative discussion on the ways that woodworkers might use a 3-D modeling program called SketchUp to design their creative woodworking projects. During the meeting, members who had already worked with SketchUp shared their knowledge and experience.

Some members brought their laptops with the program already installed. They were able to experiment with some of the features during the meeting. Other members brought with them the handout that Bill provided prior to the meeting.

The Intarsia Sketchup handout found HERE gives you access to the tools you need to learn how to use the 3-D program. It contains links to demonstrations, video tutorials, SketchUp forums, and many free plug-ins that increase the functionality of the program.

Bill is a self-taught user of SketchUp for his hobby of building virtual aviation projects. He learned to use features such as the SketchUp Warehouse, which is an online treasure trove of free SketchUp models built by other SketchUp users.

Thanks, Bill, for giving us the opportunity to expand our vision for creating Scrollsaw masterpieces.