Computer-Aided Design

John P. Reid | June 8th, 2016

Computer Column #330

Antiquers occasionally need drawings or plans. Instruction to a woodworker for making a replacement part for furniture restoration is one example. A three-dimensional layout for a show booth is another.

Many Tools

Computer-aided design (CAD) has been a major software tool in manufacturing and construction industries since the 1980s when it replaced the drafting table and T-square. Autodesk (www.autodesk.com/store/all-products) is a major supplier for Windows and Macintosh with an 85% market share. Its AutoCAD is $1680 per year. A 30-day free trial and monthly rates are available. Any CAD software has a substantial learning curve. Free and paid instruction is available, especially for AutoCAD. A trade school industry is built on such training.

A number of competitors can be found by online search. For example, TurboCAD Pro (www.turbocad.com ^[2]) is well regarded. Annual subscription is $399.99 for Windows or Macintosh. A 30-day free trial is available.

A few free CAD programs can be found. Some are merely 30-day trials of expensive products. However, FreeCAD (www.freecadweb.org ^[3]) is an open-source free program developed by volunteers. Its website warns that development is not complete and calls the current update a "beta" version. A brief look showed that FreeCAD has tools for 2D and 3D drawings, but they are hard to understand. Tutorial information is brief and often amateurishly produced. FreeCAD might be a gem for computer buffs who love a puzzle.

Dimensioned drawing of a finial from "SketchUp Furniture Plans" on the Internet.

SketchUp

Industrial-strength CAD software is not necessary for antiques restorers, dealers, or collectors. A free alternative is SketchUp (www.sketchup.com ^[4]), available for Windows 7 and later or Macintosh OS X 10.9 or later. Google bought SketchUp from its developer in 2006 for use in Google Earth and sold it to Trimble Navigation (www.trimble.com) in 2012.

SketchUp can create three-dimensional objects such as cubes, prisms, or cylinders. An object is stretched in various directions using the mouse. Exact dimensions are added along the way by keyboard. Objects can be attached to one another. The finished object can be displayed in separate front, top, side, perspective, exploded, x-ray, or wire-frame views. Fully dimensioned plans with parts lists can be printed. Pictorial views with textured surfaces are also available.

The free version is called SketchUp Make. It is also a 30-day trial version of the $695 SketchUp Pro, used by architects, machine designers, and city planners, which is necessary only if an interface with other CAD programs is needed. Most antiques projects need only the free Make version. Ignore the fact that it is also a trial Pro version.

It is fun to play with SketchUp to make odd objects. There are plenty of tutorial videos, but the software is complicated, and there are many little tricks that avoid frustrations. For furniture restoration uses, I recommend the December 2015 edition of the book SketchUp: A Design Guide for Woodworkers by Joe Zeh, available at online booksellers for about $20.

Zeh's 286-page book is immensely detailed. The author's frequent digressions and suggestions that one of the many appendixes be read are annoying at first but usually worthwhile. The book includes a chapter on setting up the computer screen work space. Then it guides the reader step-by-step through a number of furniture design projects. The first is a bedside table with tapered legs, both mortise and dovetail joints, and a drawer with cockbeading and a pull. Others feature a dough box with splayed joints and a stool with splayed, turned legs and rungs. Several projects feature curved legs and bracket feet. Surface treatments including wood grain are available.

One intimidating part of SketchUp is extension scripts. Hundreds are available to provide additional features from drawing curves to making materials lists. The book covers the installation and use of a few, including a Bézier curve tool, the computer equivalent of the old-fashioned drafting table's French curve. It helps draw smooth, graceful curves.

Booth Layout

Laying out a show booth with SketchUp is far easier than furniture design. Clicking SketchUp's "3D Warehouse" button accesses thousands of reusable object drawings such as folding tables, chairs, bookcases, easels, and lamps. These can be placed within the booth boundaries until everything fits. A layout plan and perspective views can be printed.

Joe Zeh's book is still important. For example, if a new object such as a backdrop or special display case is created, it must be designated as a component and moved to a separate file area. This makes it reusable and less likely to get incorrectly attached to another object. The book addresses the procedure early and often.

A show promoter can use SketchUp Make to lay out an entire venue. If a number of booth layouts are identical, a one-booth component can be created and used repeatedly.

Booth planning is not limited to antiques shows. My millennial grandson uses SketchUp Make to lay out his booth at Gen Con (www.gencon.com ^[5]), a gaming convention, which was attended last year by over 60,000 people. He shows his technology that recognizes trading cards with a web cam and augments the inventory system of retailers that sell trading cards.

Installation

The software is downloaded from the SketchUp site listed above and installs smoothly. Windows users may find one kink. If the computer has Apple iTunes for Windows installed, the installer may ask that "Mobile Device Service" and/or "iTunes Helper" be temporarily disabled. To do this, simultaneously press the "Ctrl,""Alt,"and "Del" keys on the keyboard. Click / "Task Manager" in the dialogue that appears. If either of the above tasks is listed in the "Task Manager" dialogue, click the task and then click "End Task." Close "Task Manager" by clicking the "X" on its upper right. Then return to the installer. The tasks will be restored next time the computer is started.

Both Windows and Macintosh OS X keyboard shortcuts are used throughout Joe Zeh's book, but a two-page appendix provides additional help for Macintosh users.

After installation, go to SketchUp Furniture Plans (www.srww.com/sketchup-furniture-plans.htm ^[6]) and view some completed plans with parts and assembly drawings. Booth designers should explore the SketchUp "3D Warehouse" button on the "Warehouse" toolbar.

Mobile SketchUp

Both Apple iTunes and Google Play offer a SketchUp Mobile Viewer app for $9.99. It cannot create or edit plans but can display plans created on a Windows or Macintosh computer. It is compatible with most smartphones and tablets. The reviews of these apps are not universally high. Some reviewers complain that only certain views are available or that it does not work on their device.