How to Design Furniture on SketchUp

The SketchUp software enables users to figure out the proportions, design dimensions and design layout with great accuracy. Numerous powerful tools have been offered by the SketchUp software, which help to design furniture projects in 3D.

The SketchUp software can make furniture designs on the basis of the custom dimensions, which helps to create usable woodworking plans. Basic design concepts have been covered by the SketchUp software, which helps to model the piece of furniture.

Process of making furniture designs with the help of the SketchUp software

Measuring the space

At first, the user has to measure the area in which they want the furniture to fit. In this context, the users have to find out the height, width and depth of the furniture pieces. The user can use the guides from the SketchUp software to draw the basic dimensions of the furniture.

Drawing the tabletop and providing depth

The rectangle tool of the SketchUp software is used to draw the tabletop of the furniture. The tabletop can be extruded by using the Push/Pull tool. After drawing the tabletop, the user has to make it a component and give it a name.

Making guides for the designs

The tape measure tool of the SketchUp software enables users to draw guides on the bottom of the tabletop.

Drawing square

With the help of the rectangle tool of the SketchUp software, the users are able to make a square, which can snap to the guides and to the corners. After that, the leg can be extruded to the baseline of the SketchUp file with the help of the Push/Pull tool.

Colouring the inside faces and making duplicate legs

The user has to double-click on the leg to enable the editing option, and after that, they can duplicate the leg of the furniture. The users are able to colour the inside faces of the leg with different colours. After completing the colouring process, the users can duplicate the leg component and can also rotate those legs to place them in each corner of the furniture.

Determining leg offset

Users are also allowed to leave the leg on the outside of the tabletop, which helps to achieve a different look for the furniture.

Experimenting with the thickness of the leg

With the help of the Push/Pull tool, users can edit the leg thickness on the basis of their design requirements.

Marking the apron pieces

With the help of the measuring tape, users are allowed to draw a guide parallel to the bottom of the tabletop, thus creating a rectangle, which can create the basis for the apron piece. Those apron pieces can be extruded to the desired thickness with the help of the Push/Pull tool.

Looking at the design and adding joinery

The users are able to rotate the camera to get a look at the design after finishing the furniture design, and the design components can also be modified on the basis of the design requirements.

Using dimension tools

This tool helps to achieve detailed dimensions of each piece of the furniture design and also helps to achieve a usable woodworking plan to make the furniture.

Effectiveness of the SketchUp software for furniture design

With the help of the SketchUp software, users are able to make pre-built projects on the computer before executing them in real life.

Availability of design variations in 3D

The SketchUp software offers lots of 3D design variations for furniture design, which is less expensive as compared to experimenting with this in the shop. In addition, the SketchUp software also enables users to visualise numerous iterations as per the design requirements without wasting a single part of the wood.

Availability of design variations in 3D

Get goods quickly

he SketchUp software helps to get furniture designs quickly and in a very productive way, which enables users to get designs for the furniture without wasting time.

Precise measuring capability

The SketchUp software enables users to input measurements for designing the furniture, take dimensions and also generate the 3D cutlists before building the entire furniture design. In addition, the cabinet modelling process has become easy and precise, with the help of the woodworking design feature of the SketchUp software.

Offering a 3D toolbox for real materials

With the help of the SketchUp software, the users are able to upload photos of the wood grain, the colour and finishes of the furniture. In addition, the users are also able to select designs for the furniture from the material catalogs on 3D Warehouse.

To learn more, watch the following video tutorial.

Video Source: Sketchup Guru

Download 3D Modeling for Woodworkers

Cost estimates

SketchUp software also helps to report model information for the furniture, which provides an idea about the cost of the furniture and also allows the users to add parts for cutlists.

Offering a 3D model library

There are millions of pre-built 3D design models for furniture offered by the SketchUp software, which helps to speed up the design workflow of the users.