Key details

SketchUp training course for beginners teaching core skills for designing in 3D.

Our Introduction to SketchUp course teaches the fundamentals of 3D design in SketchUp. You learn how to:

• Create 3D designs.
• Incorporate textures, scenes and styles.
• Produce visualisations of your designs.
• Use SketchUp’s key tools and commands.

This course is relevant to you whatever you’re going to be using for. People attend this course to learn how to use SketchUp for interior design, architecture, landscaping and many more purposes.

Been furloughed? You can still participate in training without this affecting your furloughed status, as confirmed on gov.uk.

In-class or online

In-class courses are now available to book again. We’re taking comprehensive measures to ensure your health and well-being – fewer people in-class, you won’t sit next to another person, comprehensive cleaning. To read more, see Covid-19 measures.

You can participate in this course online, from your place of work or home, at a discounted price. To read about how this works, see Live online training.

Upcoming course dates

Who should attend?

This course is ideal for anyone who wants to begin designing and producing visualisations using SketchUp running on a Windows computer or a Mac.

How will I learn?

SketchUp training is hands-on and practical.

Our trainers teach the necessary theory then demonstrate techniques step-by-step. You then practice the techniques taught on a computer running SketchUp.

There is plenty of time to ask questions, and you can take away all the files you create.

Expert SketchUp trainers

SketchUp courses are hosted by experts in 3D design, CGI and the production of visualisations and rendered images. See Expert trainers.

Free SketchUp bonus pack

You’ll receive a set of bonus models and textures, representing many hours of work in preparation, to start your all-important library of assets for your design projects. Following your training, we’ll send you a download link to these files.

The main model is a residential interior, with set dressings, textures, styles and components. If you are into interior design, this will be just right for you. Even if your focus is elsewhere, the models and textures are transferrable and will assist you in your work, helping you to further understand Sketchup and its processes and get started fast.

We give you a royalty free licence to use these models and textures, inside Sketchup, for the purpose of 3D visualisation. They are free for you to use in your personal or commercial projects.

SketchUp training guide and certificate

Course delegates receive:

• A highly-practical training guide for SketchUp, to refer to throughout the course, and to use as a refresher afterwards.
• An e-certificate confirming successful completion of SketchUp training. Click here to see an example of the certificate you receive.

After course support

Following SketchUp training, you’re entitled to 30 days’ email support from your SketchUp trainer to help with any post-course issues. For further details, see Support.

Prerequisites

No prior SketchUp knowledge is necessary.

SketchUp version

Training is based primarily on SketchUp 2020, running on Windows. It is relevant to all recent versions of SketchUp.

Our guarantees to you

We offer:

• A price guarantee that you’re getting the best value for money.
• A training guarantee that you’ll learn the concepts and skills you need.

On-request Sketchup training available

Introduction to SketchUp training is available on-request, i.e. one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group, hosted at one of our centres, your venue or online.

On-request Sketchup training can be tailored to take into account any existing knowledge you have, and the work you’re going to be doing. Please contact us for a quote.

General information

Course times

9.30am–4.30pm.

Payment

Payment for Sketchup training can be made bank transfer or card.

We accept purchase orders from UK-registered companies and public sector organisations.

If you’re self-funding your training, you can pay in staged payments, interest-free, over 12 months.

For further details, see training course payment options.

Cancellations and transfers

You can cancel a booking on a scheduled training course, or transfer to a later course, without penalty providing you give us 10 working days’ notice. Any fees already paid will be refunded.

If you cancel a booking on a scheduled Introduction to SketchUp training course giving less than 10 working days’ notice, or request a transfer to a later course, a cancellation/transfer fee is payable. The fee charged depends on the notice period given. For details, see cancellation terms.

Different terms apply for the cancellation or postponement of an on-request course (one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group). For details, see course cancellations.

Terms and conditions

Training course bookings are subject to our terms and conditions.

Expert trainers

Introduction to SketchUp training courses are hosted by:

• Rod Cleasby
• Stewart Cobb

Rod Cleasby

Rod has over 25 years’ experience working as a designer, visualisation expert and artist. His specialist areas include architecture, interior design and the production of photorealistic 3d virtual environments. 

AutoCAD, 3ds Max and SketchUp have been the mainstay of Rod’s professional work for 20 years. He is also an expert in various related tools and technologies, including Photoshop, and he has expert knowledge of a wide range of renderers, including V-Ray, ART, Arnold and LightUp.

Rod has extensive experience training experience. He has worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster on their Computer Visualisation course, and he is a long-established Autodesk Certified Instructor.

Away from his professional work, Rod is an accomplished artist and musician, and a prolific writer of novels, novella, poetry and prose.

Stewart Cobb

Stewart began his working life as a junior draughtsman, and progressed through to Design Director leading a studio of designers working on both 2D and 3D projects.

He then worked for himself for over 25 years, completing around 100 design projects per year for a myriad of clients, including household names such as Vauxhall and McDonalds.

More recently, Stewart’s focus has been on training. He has been an Autodesk Certified Instructor since 2010, hosting courses in AutoCAD, Revit, 3ds Max, AutoCAD Plant 3D and SketchUp.

In between courses, Stewart uses these applications professionally when carrying out project work for clients. Using the applications regularly helps him to keep up-to-date with the latest technologies and practices. He also specialises in the production of photorealistic rendered images and visualisations using renderers including V-Ray.

Outside of work, Stewart enjoys music (he runs the sound desk for a number of local bands), reading and playing with any new piece of technology he can lay his hands on!

Course content

What is SketchUp?

How to get around inside SketchUp

Zoom, pan and rotate

Understanding the XYZ axis

Selecting toolbars

Applying templates

Drawing and using the pencil tool

Drawing basic geometric shapes

Drawing with measurements

Drawing circles and arcs

Sticky Geometry solutions and benefits

Discovering tags (previously called layers)

Using shortcuts

Measuring items inside SketchUp

Information and database

Moving and move / copy

Simple Array techniques

Rotating objects

Rotate / copy

Scale fractional and relative

Making components

Making groups

Comparisons and benefits

Saving components

Re-loading components

Creating a digital warehouse

Modelling techniques

Using Push Pull

Using Follow Me

Intersecting Geometry

Copy and Offset Faces, edges and polygons

How to use polygons in 2D drawings

Paint bucket

Materials Editor

Textures and bitmaps

Getting to understand the Materials Editor

What makes a good texture?

Where to find textures

Positioning textures

Limits to graphics and bitmaps

Create new scenes

Create new styles

Saving scenes and styles

Introduction to animation

Dimensions inside SketchUp

Annotation inside SketchUp

Printing from SketchUp

Exporting 2D images or PDF

Live online training

Live online training lets you participate in a Sketchup course from your place of work or home.

We do everything possible to make your online training experience as close as possible to actually being in the classroom. You can:

• See and hear our trainer, and see the other delegates participating in the Sketchup training…
  
• Interact by speaking, using chat, or raising your ‘virtual hand’ if you need assistance.
• Share your screen with our trainer, and allow them to control it to demonstrate something.

We endeavour to provide you with the best online training experience…

• Online Introduction to SketchUp courses are presented by expert instructors, following the same syllabus as our classroom-based courses.
• You receive comprehensive training materials.
• Your training is hands-on. You carry out assisted exercises using Sketchup.
• If you don’t have access to Sketchup software, we’ll send you a link to fully-functional trial software that you can download and install.
• You’re entitled to 30 days’ email support from your trainer.

When you attend live online training, you’re participating in a real course, hosted by a real trainer, in real time.

All you need is an internet-connected computer and a webcam – see Hardware recommendations for live online training. The setup is simple, but if there’s anything you’re not sure about we’re here to help.

For a limited time, we’re offering discounts for bookings on live online courses.

Discounts

To make your Sketchup training as affordable as possible, we offer:

• A range of training discounts on our scheduled Sketchup training courses.
• A price guarantee that you won’t get Sketchup training for less.

Training discounts

Multiple places

If you book multiple places on any courses, we can offer you:

• 10% discount if you book two places.
• 15% discount if you book three or four places.
• 20% discount if you book five or more places.

This can be for several people attending one course, one person attending several courses, or a combination.

These discounts are available for both classroom-based courses and live online training.

Concessions

We offer a 10% discount on scheduled Sketchup course places to:

• Students, teachers and lecturers.
• People who work for a registered charity.
• ISTC members.

These discounts are available for both classroom-based courses and remote training.

Please call us if you qualify for a discount. Evidence of your status that entitles you to a discount may be requested.

Terms and exclusions

Only one of the above discounts can be applied to any booking.

The above discounts are not available for on-request course bookings (one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group).

Price guarantee

When you book training with Armada, we want you to be certain that you’re not paying over-the-odds. So, if you book a place on any scheduled (public) course and then find the same course at a lower price elsewhere, we will match that price.

To qualify for the price match:

• The course you find must be comparable. By this we mean it must:
  • Cover the same subject.
  • Be the same duration or longer.
  • For classroom-based courses, be in the same region, i.e. within 50 miles of our centre.
  • For online training, be a live course, i.e. not pre-prepared e-learning content.

• The lower price must be advertised on the other company’s website.

To claim a price match, just call any time before attending your course and tell us where you saw the price.

Samples

SketchUp has a built in OpenGL renderer which lets you see your design in 3D, with shadows and illumination from the sun. The following sample shows the image quality you can achieve using SketchUp ‘out of the box’:

If you require high-quality, photorealistic images, with features such as reflective properties and higher quality materials, you need to use a third party renderer. Two popular options are V-Ray and LightUp. These are provided as SketchUp plug-ins, so you still render directly from within SketchUp – there’s no need to open a separate application.

Here’s a sample showing the image quality you can achieve for the above design when you render using V-Ray:

And using LightUp: