As an ex Draughtsman who worked with a drawing board I prefer 2D but I had to progress to Auto Cad, Auto Desk is or was a basic version of Auto Cad. So Peter your demo of Graphic was interesting, keep it simple if it works for you. I am almost 75 years old now so simple is good, I used Draftsight at one time but it is more complicated than I need. I also have an iMac, so to see it working on yours has prompted me to get this program. Thank you for your videos you always take time to explain very clearly!
less than 2 min in and I already thumbs up'd. As a designer, builder, creator - starting simple and worrying about complicated details later is a big plus.
I prefer 2D engineering/cad programs vs drawing, but I worked as a naval architect for a while, so it's what I'm familiar with. (and I am making things on a cnc machine, so the precision is nice) I currently use CorelCad, because I picked up a cheap forever license on a humble bundle creative sale. It's approx 2D autocad/draftsight/etc, so I'm right at home with how it works. Even for simple cnc/manufacture, 2D is a big time saver for simple designs. (I don't have to care about what plate thickness I'm going to use until I'm in the shop looking through the scrap bin for what to use)
General public is often unable to accept that the drawing/model is just a concept/illustration. Often the case in any engineering field. You show someone a mock up of a program's UI and they start to pick up on colours and layout while you try to get them focused on the content.
I really like the ease with which you can create a design. I’m hooked on Sketchup 2017 using the free Open Cut List extension which helps me to produce a cutting list and optimise use of lumber and sheet goods. Thank you for the video. Cheers 👍😎🇦🇺
I have used CorelDraw for years, I think version 2 was the first I had and its great for all round drawing and illustration. If I do anything more complicated I used a good sharp pencil and a drawing board with an accurate drafting motion, it works out faster than using Sketchup as long as you don't want too many alterations.
Great video. Omnigraffle is also pretty good for Mac, and also available on iPad. I find it's horses for courses, nothing beats the simplicity of 2d, my partner needs to see a 3D version of a piece of furniture to visualise it. And you are right, Peter "will it be that colour?" and similar questions are exactly what happens!
Wholeheartedly agree. Been using AutoCAD since 1989. When we got rid of the drafting tables and went to shifts to run the limited number of computers, everything slowed down. When we went to 3D solid modelling we had tons of fitup problems. And slowed down. Revisions were faster which is good because we had a lot more of them. We just built a new house and I did use AutoCAD for the house and Sketchup for the kitchen cabinets. However, I did a ton of pencil and paper sketching first. That is the big challenge in my opinion. People get lost in the weeds of the command structure of the CAD software and it is an exceptional individual who can do the CAD intuitively enough to think freely. And if they do not think freely or "what you need", you still end up with a poor design. In my shop, it is pencil sketches and then maybe AutoCAD. A little practice w sketching and you can get pretty good. Add a little shading and clients love it. IMHO
Totally agree Ed! Making changes and revisions is where a software-based solution wins out, but every stick of furniture I’ve ever made starts out as a pencil sketch - or pen & ink, if I’m feeling confident! 😂 Thanks for taking the time to comment, the feedback is much appreciated!👍👍
Thank you Peter for this video. I purchased this program (I-Draw) years ago and forgot about it. I plan to do our bedroom closet and some cabinets in the garage. This will be very useful for both.
Nice info for the guys who are relatively new to this work. I personally don’t miss this part of the job. But since we had some CNC machines we always worked with a CAD program and presented simplified drawings to most of the customers. Stay safe and healthy Peter.
I use a cabinet design software for my production stuff but for one off, you can’t beat sketchup. But I’ve used it since day one and very proficient with it.
Nice wee prog. I wrote one like this about 20 years ago, although I didn't put in any fancy curve tools - rectangles & circles do a hell of a lot. If I needed to sketch a profile or a chapeau de gendarme, Mr. Rötring and my great-uncle's surgical-steel drawing instruments (ca. 1915) never let me down.
Holy frick on a stick, I found this channel again!!! I was so worried I wasn't going to find this video when I saw it at work (I work at a big box hardware store) so I'm over the moon I found it!!!
very handy, being a joiner , we are finding more and more customers want drawings, and doing it in pencil on a drawing board is tool long winded, even more so if they want to alter anything. might look into this more thanks Dean
Very interesting. Was just playing with SketchUp yesterday for the first time and was going to try your tool later so the tutorial is perfect timing. Thanks.
If you’re drawing BICs then yes I guess 2D drawing packages suffice. IMHO it’s when you get a little more complex that 3D drawings excel. For example, a standard kitchen unit is fine in 2D, even with recessed panels. However, a Greene and Greene cabinet is better in 3D to show cloud lift and joinery issues.
I have had a similar experiance as you describe. At the close of my career I provided support to Social Services in providing diability adaptions. With the occupational therapist we would measure for a design to the patients individual disability (there is no such thing as a typical disability) I would draw up what was agreed and send to social services to confirm it is as agreed. Sketchup or CAD is of no use to the occupational therapist there computer skill limit being Word. A simple clear drawing easy to understand is what they wanted. My requirements are a drawing a contractor could work to, a surveyor take off and price quatities and I could maintain my copyright in otherwords the drawing could not be copied or altered. Thanks for sharing Mike.
I prefer a drawing board, using a scale ruler and a pencil/drawing pen, I can do it quicker than any program, Adrian Newey the Red Bull F1 designer still uses a drawing board and I have seen it at the Red Bull Factory. I still have all my woodwork and technical drawings from CSE in Woodwork and Technical Drawing. I just can't be bothered to master a program. I know I'm old fashioned but there is something special of doing a hand drawn drawing or sketch and for most of my projects I do a hand drawn freehand sketch and then make it from that. I know that I am only doing drawings for myself of for friends projects. If I Was doing it professionally I would probably still do the same and then copy it on my scanner/printer. Thanks for sharing this hope you care keeping safe at this time.
Cheers Ray! W Honestly, whatever you're comfortable with is what you should be using, and every stick of furniture I've ever made starts out as a hand-drawn scribble on a sheet of paper or in a notebook. You can't beat a computer-generated drawing for making changes or revisions though - or just for duplicating components - but I totally understand where you're coming from. Adrian Newey's a bit of an oldster though, isn't he, and as CTO at Red Bull he could probably do drawings in crayon on a post-it note and they'd be happy; bet he has a whole team of guys under him who use CAD though! 😂👍👍
Good video Peter but I have to be a lone defender of SketchUp, I've drawn my whole house renovation on it, everything from the structural work, layers of insulation, plasterboard, plaster, woodwork, fitted furniture, windows, kitchen, fireplaces through to the underfloor heating layouts, manifolds, plumbing, drainage, tiling, bathrooms and full air circulation and heat recovery system. Even a replacement traction motor drive sprocket for my digger. I was gobsmacked it was free. Whilst I appreciate there is a learning curve with a little bit of perseverance and practice you can knock out almost anything and very quickly version umpteen iterations. If I would give anyone advice on tech tips it would be "groups, groups, groups, oh and don't forget to group everything.... Plus make a few components"...... That generally saves most of the issues new users come across. Plus all the tape measures and protractors you'll ever need 🤭
I’ve nothing against sketchup and I used it for a while, but I like simple; simple works. And for the record, Sketchup is only free for personal use; if you’re a business like me you can pay ~£600 for the ‘classic’ or ~£300/year for the Pro, which takes plugins etc... You can get (many generations) older ‘classic’ versions free for business use, but you have to hunt them down. 🤷♂️👍
I switched from SketchUp to Fusion360 - it was like changing Paint to Photoshop. Better everything. And not much more complicated after few small projects. And all is parametric. I use User Parameters to set all my dimensions or even material thickness so if I want to switch between 18mm ply to 20mm MDF, changing one value and voila, whole project is updated.
For years I’ve used Word for simple diagrams. Even in scientific reports and proposals. I started to learn Sketchup but found it a steep learning curve and no longer free.
Same idea, but I use Powerpoint. It has a couple of extra features that Word doesn't, such as the ability to combine two shapes, or subtract one from the other. But you can copy shapes in one application and copy them to the other, if you do need a specific feature but prefer to work in the other one.
I agree with your principles. I have been using Powerpoint to do this level of work but the additional dimensioning and layers will make it better. Many thanks
Hadn't thought of using Powerpoint as an option - interesting, thanks! And yes, if you're on the OSX/iOS platform, then Graphic is pretty easy to get to grips with, and a very reasonable one-off purchase. 👍
I'm amateur in every aspect but Sketchup is plain simple and powerful with addons. Great channel sir, learned a lot from you. For simple wardrobe and other design, cut list and all just buy Polyboard, best software and easy to use.
@@mrki412 the window breaks easily and on the other side is a tree growing apples that taste so much better than the broken shards of window. It's really quite easy to figure.
Seems a bit of an hassle to use compared to Fusion 360 which I personally use for my things. Note that I don't do much wood working stuff, but I modeled my diy router table with it. For me it's better for visualization as I can easily import or at least do mockup of, let's say my router model into work space and visualize that I have enough to use ie. speed controls, switches and so on. I've F'd up so many times by going full into without planning properly beforehand. Also note that I'm not saying that 2D drawings aren't valid. They're vital at manufacturing, but for design I 100% prefer 3D these days.
I had a builder walk into my joinery workshop,and ask me to quote on alcove cabinets from a set of drawings I had left with the client that I had hand drawn after about 6 hours of meetings.Told him to leave them with me.....Unfortunately they went astray in the office!...
Peter ,i use something like that ,yea they called it a pencil and paper ,its great its cordless and can even be used in low lighting conditions , i have to admit ,auto cad is a great thing but when i took drafting in school ,well we just got a pencil and paper and a drafting table( think that tells my age LOL) i can draw it faster then i can using a cad program, and i have a plethora of information ,some of it is pretty much useless ,but its there ,BTW very good point in telling people NOT to give them the dimensional drawings when giving them drawings ,something else to mention ,don't give a customer even a copy of the drawings unless you ve got a deposit for the job ,reason being sometimes you got to make two or three versions for the really picky customers that takes time ,you ve just done what they couldn't ,yet another great video Peter ,still waiting for my Silver sharpie sign super square ,and stay safe during this pandemic .
Thanks Syd! Drafting tables! Don’t get me started - I think we had one at schools that was properly parallel! And yes good point about not giving drawings out without a deposit! 👍👍
Interesting comments about making models rather than work out problems on the screen. Alex Moulton (of the iconic 60's bicycle and car suspension) hated using computers to design. He sketched idea out on paper quickly and then turned the drawings into models, using wood, metal and plastic to visualise the idea before making a full sized version to test the concept.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, by that I mean that it depends on what you are used to. Since I am familiar with sketchup I believe I can create 2-D drawings just as fast as you can in your application. I think that goes for most people and their program of choice. But as others have mentioned I do feel more in tune with the creative side when using pencil and paper.
Great! I’m not anti-Sketchup - I used it for quite a while - but on almost every level, it’s not for me; and by the feedback I’ve had over the last 3 years, I’m not alone in that. If you’re happy with it then crack on. 👍👍
It’s such an interesting subject . As you know Peter, like Wayne I’m also an advocate of SketchUp and argue for it’s speed. However in all honesty I have poured hours of time over years now, to make it do all sorts of clever things, with a view to going straight from customer drawings on the survey to cutting lists in the workshop. I’ve done this with some success, however on my most recent survey, social distancing and trying to be efficient for the customer’s sake, I resorted to pen and paper and a quick line drawing. The customer signed off on it and the job is going ahead. I think both Brady and I could manually work out the cutting list from this if we had to, and I wonder how much quicker that would be vs drawing every part and outputting it to CutList software as usual. The issue here is the attractive but elusive dream of a fully automated system. In theory the 3D parametric cad route is precise and efficient. But in practice there is always something non standard that doesn’t quite fit the system. Unless you limit yourself to a very standard system, like with most kitchens at standard width and heights of cabinet. I think the other issue is communication. Drawing in 2D simply and intuitively may be best for one man setups where you know in your head the setbacks of shelves or the overlaps of joints and don’t really need to draw them. For me it was when I took on staff and wasn’t always in the workshop to oversee manufacture that it seemed essential to detail everything in a 3D drawing from which all questions could be answered. Now though, Brady know our methods so thoroughly that perhaps it is redundant again. The detailed cad drawing can become really constrictive, hard to resist making everything ‘just right’ on the drawing, and sort of locking down your intuitive ability to simply work it out later.
Interesting comments Peter. Having trained as industrial designer, I find Sketchup to not be parametric enough compared to say the old Pro Engineer or Solidworks, which is what I normally use for 3D work. For simple 2D work or when starting a design I use pencil and paper, sometimes Illustrator since I have it.
Thanks David. Yes, every stick of furniture I’ve made starts out as a pencil sketch - and Graphic is a kind of ‘Illustrator for folks who don’t like subscription software’ 😬👍👍
I had asked what you used for 2D drawing some time ago maybe a year or more ...... Got a copy of Graphic back then, as I could not find any help videos for it, I struggled a bit with it, It just shows a little Input from the content in this video has got me opening it up again and I’m flying .....Just goes to show a little bit of show and tell from someone in the know can open up a whole new world for others ...... although I’m having to look hard at myself in the mirror and think how did I not work that out for myself.......Thanks again please keep your work up you do great video fantastic channel to watch...👍👍👌👌
yes, I agree simple is better for all the reasons you mention...love the thoughts of your wisdom, experience, and knowledge, not so much for the misguided, loud, inexperienced crowd...
It's often said that the best tool for the job is the one you have and the one you know how to use. Fortunately the only client I have to satisfy is my wife so Paper and Pencil works fine. Thanks for another great video Peter.
Finally someone speaking out that Sketchup is to much! Like selling plans for simple projects .. there are 5 panels, why you'll need plans or a 3d model?
I used IMSI Turbo CAD for years in its the early days but found I only used the basics of what it offered. Since then I did play around with Sketch Up but also found I spent more time at a computer than the workshop. I do go back to my old version of Turbo Cad now and again but the likes of free software like Inkscape are around and I do like to pop up the garden with a cuppa and a sandwich to sketch many of my designs with a pad and pencil. By the way, I don't have clients that I need to please.
Great video Peter, Ive tried and tried to get into sketchup and failed miserably! usually end up with pencil and paper or as a PC user use powerpoint (very similar to your mac program) Nice one!
Another great share. I was starting to think something was wrong with me as I too prefer 2d sketches and physical mock-ups over sketch up. Don't get me wrong sketch up is great but sometimes you can get lost in the details when getting to work is what you need.
Pete... I've been using Autosketch CAD for the last 20 years ... running on an old standalone PC with XP ... 🙄 It excels in 2d but its 3d is just too much work... you can group & rotate , you can take measurements in scale dims. (e.g. 7'6") thats a GREAT feature ... & there is basic rendering... I find the 2d is more than good enough for my mainly metal machined parts drawings where dims & tolerances on the drawing are a MUST... colours ... not so much.... Lifes too short to spend hour upon hour making a sexy 3d rotatable rendered work of art... 🙄😉 It becomes a project in itself 🥱😴 😎👍☘🍺
@@10MinuteWorkshop Peter F makes a good point about 3D rotatable. I expect most of your furniture is up against a wall, so there is really very little benefit in the third dimension. It add's nothing to be able to view a built in wardrobe from the back. I expect you'd be fairly suspicious if a client asked for a 3D model of their fitted wardrobe so that they could get an idea of what it looked like from the inside looking out. Especially if they asked for finger holes instead of handles.
Next year: Peter promoting drawing on cave wall with red paint on his hands ;-) I swtiched from Sketchup to Fusion 360 about a year ago and never looked back. In Fusion you start a sketch in 2D and don’t have to go 3D unless you want to ofcourse. It’s full parametric CAD so it’s a a breeze to alter central measurments like spacings etc that normaly gets spread all over the place and can take ages to update if done manually. Want to try out a differnt with of styles and rails? Change one number and it's done. And constraints lika symmetry, perpendicular, parallell, tangency etc. keeps everything together. A measurement can be expressed as an equation of other measurements and or parameters. I really love this tool. For designing boxes, maybe overkill but it's a joy to work with.
Thanks for these ideas. I tried sketch up but found it too slow. For kitchens or standard cabinetry I use kcd. You can rent it on a month to month basis and I just build it into the cost of the job. It has a prefab library and is just drag and drop. For anything custom I just use a pencil and paper. If I need to figure out a tricky joint I mock it up with scrap material. And if I need to show a client a fancy built up crown or something, I set up a sample section.
There really is nothing wrong with sailing or riding a horse to get from A to B or for that matter wearing hand-made shoes, building Gothic Cathedrals, rebuilding those few remaining Colonial houses, which are made of hand-made brick (often the convict's signature on each brick), steam engines, walking, reading a book, watching a play. All of these things and much more. Nothing really wrong with them at all.
That was great. When I had access to an Apple Mac, many years ago (back in the 8year 0’s), I used Draw. It had similar features to iDraw. When the company went all IBM PC I switched to Visio (early 90’s), which was great until Microsoft bought and then it went downhill. For my designs I use both Visio and SketchUp depending on what I want out of the design. SketchUp is useful where the interconnections and relationships are of importance. But I don’t use it exclusively.
I really like Inkscape for vector graphic work, it's great on Windows but awful on Mac! Plus it's free and open source. Having been using Sketchup for over half my life I can knock a design out faster than I can draw it on paper! But as I've been getting more and more in to 3D printing and CNC work, I've pretty much switched over to Fusion 360. I still use Sketchup for 'sketching' my 3D models before I model them up properly!
So basically a 2D line drawing that you could as easily make in SketchUps LayOut with sketch to scale. But in that package you also get the 3D modellering.
I use Rhinoceros by Mcneel for all my 2D and 3D furniture, carpentry, metal fabrication, and home remodeling designs. I've been using it since V1 and have been relatively happy with it. I tried Sketchup and found it to be somewhat unintuitive. Perhaps this was because I was used to using Rhino, a NURBS based design tool, for so long. I think the best way to go is just find a good 2D/3D design program that works for you and your level of technical comfort and stick with it. Time, practice, and use will provide the ability to make quick designs. More time can then be spent in the shop building, rather than sitting in an office chair staring at a computer screen. Something to be avoided, for obvious reasons.
Tegan69 I think every package has its own internal logic. Personally I find SketchUp really intuitive!! However when I recently tried fusion360, it kind of blew my mind what a completely different approach it took to parametric drawing, and then going back to SketchUp it suddenly felt a bit limited!
There is Draftsight for drawing plans etc. It's a bit like Autocad. It can output drawings as a pdf or as a dwg. Best of all it's free to use on a Mac. I think it's about £100/year on pc. Also Sketchup used to have a 2D plugin but I don't think it's valid any more.
Very good video. Been looking for a simple graphics tool for the same purpose and other possible uses and this looks to fit the bill. Could never really get into Sketchup, probably just too impatient.
I’m a big fan of layout that’s part of sketch up for doing 2d like this. I’d switch to fusion 360 if they took sketches seriously so they can be printed etc.
Nice video, thank you for showing how easy it can be. No need to complicate things. One question though, when you draw the dimensions it says, in the left corner, "line tool" with coordinates and then "type" with three buttons and it appears one of them is a dimension line with arrows and all. Is it something you have tried or am I seeing thing wrong?
Thanks Peter - currently building my first set of DIY wardrobes, so you channel has been invaluable. One question I did have about cabinet construction, is there any reason why it's better to have top and base connecting into the side panel from the side rather than sitting on top/underneath side panels?
Interesting, I also found that people get hung up on colours rather than design. I solved it by learning sketchup and use layout in the pro edition. Styles and templates are your friend there. Especially with the ability to control tags in SU+ layout in version 2020. I just find drawing things once in 3D and placing sections is less time consuming and helps to avoid mistakes.
been in the trade 25 plus years, all plans just elevation & plan from big civil jobs to small extensions .Only 3d for kitchen renders which i never put dimensions i'm not a free planning service
Graphic is a great little product - I have been using it for a number of years (originally iDraw). A great shame it seems there's no further development / software releases but still very useful
Hi Peter. I got very excited when I saw your video but am I right in thinking this is only for apple computers or is there anything for windows 10. James
Hi James. Yes, this is for OSX and iOS; I think if you look through the comments there have been a few recommendations for Windows software that does something at a similar level, but nothing I can recommend I'm afraid, as I'm not on that platform. 👍
Thanks Peter excellent video! You make it look so simple and this gave me the confidence to have a go. Got myself graphic and now rewatching your video second by second to learn the skills! #muppet PS I am a technophobe so need the help😉 more videos on this topic are welcome as far as I'm concerned
Hi Peter, excellent video as per usual.....just one question, is this draw package a one off payment to download or is it on a subscription basis? Regards Ade
As an ex Draughtsman who worked with a drawing board I prefer 2D but I had to progress to Auto Cad, Auto Desk is or was a basic version of Auto Cad. So Peter your demo of Graphic was interesting, keep it simple if it works for you. I am almost 75 years old now so simple is good, I used Draftsight at one time but it is more complicated than I need. I also have an iMac, so to see it working on yours has prompted me to get this program. Thank you for your videos you always take time to explain very clearly!
less than 2 min in and I already thumbs up'd.
As a designer, builder, creator - starting simple and worrying about complicated details later is a big plus.
I prefer 2D engineering/cad programs vs drawing, but I worked as a naval architect for a while, so it's what I'm familiar with. (and I am making things on a cnc machine, so the precision is nice)
I currently use CorelCad, because I picked up a cheap forever license on a humble bundle creative sale. It's approx 2D autocad/draftsight/etc, so I'm right at home with how it works.
Even for simple cnc/manufacture, 2D is a big time saver for simple designs. (I don't have to care about what plate thickness I'm going to use until I'm in the shop looking through the scrap bin for what to use)
Thanks! 👍👍
General public is often unable to accept that the drawing/model is just a concept/illustration. Often the case in any engineering field. You show someone a mock up of a program's UI and they start to pick up on colours and layout while you try to get them focused on the content.
I really like the ease with which you can create a design. I’m hooked on Sketchup 2017 using the free Open Cut List extension which helps me to produce a cutting list and optimise use of lumber and sheet goods. Thank you for the video. Cheers 👍😎🇦🇺
I have used CorelDraw for years, I think version 2 was the first I had and its great for all round drawing and illustration. If I do anything more complicated I used a good sharp pencil and a drawing board with an accurate drafting motion, it works out faster than using Sketchup as long as you don't want too many alterations.
Yes, it’s the alterations that are the killer! 👍👍
Same here ive been using coral since it first came out.. not upgraded for year and just use 12 I think it is..
More great content Peter, thank you again for sharing and was nice to see this part of your build explained.
Thanks Cliff! 👍
Glad I found your channel. Love your approach. Your exacting standards are to be admired. Brilliant
Thanks and welcome 👍
Great video. Omnigraffle is also pretty good for Mac, and also available on iPad.
I find it's horses for courses, nothing beats the simplicity of 2d, my partner needs to see a 3D version of a piece of furniture to visualise it. And you are right, Peter "will it be that colour?" and similar questions are exactly what happens!
Wholeheartedly agree. Been using AutoCAD since 1989. When we got rid of the drafting tables and went to shifts to run the limited number of computers, everything slowed down. When we went to 3D solid modelling we had tons of fitup problems. And slowed down. Revisions were faster which is good because we had a lot more of them.
We just built a new house and I did use AutoCAD for the house and Sketchup for the kitchen cabinets. However, I did a ton of pencil and paper sketching first. That is the big challenge in my opinion. People get lost in the weeds of the command structure of the CAD software and it is an exceptional individual who can do the CAD intuitively enough to think freely. And if they do not think freely or "what you need", you still end up with a poor design.
In my shop, it is pencil sketches and then maybe AutoCAD.
A little practice w sketching and you can get pretty good. Add a little shading and clients love it.
IMHO
Totally agree Ed! Making changes and revisions is where a software-based solution wins out, but every stick of furniture I’ve ever made starts out as a pencil sketch - or pen & ink, if I’m feeling confident! 😂 Thanks for taking the time to comment, the feedback is much appreciated!👍👍
Thank you Peter for this video. I purchased this program (I-Draw) years ago and forgot about it. I plan to do our bedroom closet and some cabinets in the garage. This will be very useful for both.
Cheers Paul - I was the same, bought iDraw ages ago, and forgot about it until I needed it! 😂🤷♂️
Brilliant, you have a real knack for cutting through the clag. Thanks!
I am right there with you. I use 2D 95% of the time, 3D 5%.
Absolutely love the simplicity of this! Clean and clear! Thanks for sharing, Peter!
Thanks David! I like simple! 😂👍👍
Nice info for the guys who are relatively new to this work. I personally don’t miss this part of the job. But since we had some CNC machines we always worked with a CAD program and presented simplified drawings to most of the customers. Stay safe and healthy Peter.
Thanks Thomas - you too! 👍
Peter Millard 👍😊
Well Done! You took a complicated subject and condensed it to get a clear understanding. I have only used 2D for years. Works fine for me. Thanks.
Nice & simple! I use AutoCAD day in day out for our production furniture/fit out work & SketchUp for a cheeky visual if I feel the need!!
Inkscape is similar, is open-source (free) and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. 😉
I use a cabinet design software for my production stuff but for one off, you can’t beat sketchup. But I’ve used it since day one and very proficient with it.
Nice wee prog. I wrote one like this about 20 years ago, although I didn't put in any fancy curve tools - rectangles & circles do a hell of a lot. If I needed to sketch a profile or a chapeau de gendarme, Mr. Rötring and my great-uncle's surgical-steel drawing instruments (ca. 1915) never let me down.
Holy frick on a stick, I found this channel again!!! I was so worried I wasn't going to find this video when I saw it at work (I work at a big box hardware store) so I'm over the moon I found it!!!
Welcome back! 👍
very handy, being a joiner , we are finding more and more customers want drawings, and doing it in pencil on a drawing board is tool long winded, even more so if they want to alter anything. might look into this more
thanks Dean
Yes, it’s those alterations & revisions that are the killer! 👍👍
Very interesting. Was just playing with SketchUp yesterday for the first time and was going to try your tool later so the tutorial is perfect timing. Thanks.
If you’re drawing BICs then yes I guess 2D drawing packages suffice. IMHO it’s when you get a little more complex that 3D drawings excel. For example, a standard kitchen unit is fine in 2D, even with recessed panels. However, a Greene and Greene cabinet is better in 3D to show cloud lift and joinery issues.
Great video. Thanks. SketchUp has fried my brain for years. 🤦♂️👍🏻
I have had a similar experiance as you describe. At the close of my career I provided support to Social Services in providing diability adaptions. With the occupational therapist we would measure for a design to the patients individual disability (there is no such thing as a typical disability) I would draw up what was agreed and send to social services to confirm it is as agreed. Sketchup or CAD is of no use to the occupational therapist there computer skill limit being Word. A simple clear drawing easy to understand is what they wanted. My requirements are a drawing a contractor could work to, a surveyor take off and price quatities and I could maintain my copyright in otherwords the drawing could not be copied or altered. Thanks for sharing Mike.
I prefer a drawing board, using a scale ruler and a pencil/drawing pen, I can do it quicker than any program, Adrian Newey the Red Bull F1 designer still uses a drawing board and I have seen it at the Red Bull Factory. I still have all my woodwork and technical drawings from CSE in Woodwork and Technical Drawing. I just can't be bothered to master a program. I know I'm old fashioned but there is something special of doing a hand drawn drawing or sketch and for most of my projects I do a hand drawn freehand sketch and then make it from that. I know that I am only doing drawings for myself of for friends projects. If I Was doing it professionally I would probably still do the same and then copy it on my scanner/printer. Thanks for sharing this hope you care keeping safe at this time.
Cheers Ray! W
Honestly, whatever you're comfortable with is what you should be using, and every stick of furniture I've ever made starts out as a hand-drawn scribble on a sheet of paper or in a notebook. You can't beat a computer-generated drawing for making changes or revisions though - or just for duplicating components - but I totally understand where you're coming from. Adrian Newey's a bit of an oldster though, isn't he, and as CTO at Red Bull he could probably do drawings in crayon on a post-it note and they'd be happy; bet he has a whole team of guys under him who use CAD though! 😂👍👍
Ive had Graphic for a long time and couldn't live with it up until now. Thanks for making it usable for me. Great Job.
Good video Peter but I have to be a lone defender of SketchUp, I've drawn my whole house renovation on it, everything from the structural work, layers of insulation, plasterboard, plaster, woodwork, fitted furniture, windows, kitchen, fireplaces through to the underfloor heating layouts, manifolds, plumbing, drainage, tiling, bathrooms and full air circulation and heat recovery system.
Even a replacement traction motor drive sprocket for my digger.
I was gobsmacked it was free. Whilst I appreciate there is a learning curve with a little bit of perseverance and practice you can knock out almost anything and very quickly version umpteen iterations.
If I would give anyone advice on tech tips it would be "groups, groups, groups, oh and don't forget to group everything.... Plus make a few components"......
That generally saves most of the issues new users come across.
Plus all the tape measures and protractors you'll ever need
🤭
I’ve nothing against sketchup and I used it for a while, but I like simple; simple works. And for the record, Sketchup is only free for personal use; if you’re a business like me you can pay ~£600 for the ‘classic’ or ~£300/year for the Pro, which takes plugins etc... You can get (many generations) older ‘classic’ versions free for business use, but you have to hunt them down. 🤷♂️👍
I agree, once you get over the learning hump with sketchup, you can really model complex shapes and structures with ease...and, quickly too!
I switched from SketchUp to Fusion360 - it was like changing Paint to Photoshop. Better everything. And not much more complicated after few small projects. And all is parametric. I use User Parameters to set all my dimensions or even material thickness so if I want to switch between 18mm ply to 20mm MDF, changing one value and voila, whole project is updated.
Yes, I’ve played with Fusion and liked it very much. I’ll be looking into it more for the CNC work I have planned. 👍👍
Thanks for that, Peter. I've just bought Graphic on the basis of this video. Older versions of Sketchup are a pain on a Mac: they keep crashing.
sketchup has layout tool for exactly this purpose you need it for :)
Enjoyed that Peter, I don’t like Sketchup, it’s too long winded, my time is better spent building and fitting. Thank you
Me too! 👍👍
Agreed totally!Also thank you Peter for making a common sense!
For years I’ve used Word for simple diagrams. Even in scientific reports and proposals. I started to learn Sketchup but found it a steep learning curve and no longer free.
Same idea, but I use Powerpoint. It has a couple of extra features that Word doesn't, such as the ability to combine two shapes, or subtract one from the other. But you can copy shapes in one application and copy them to the other, if you do need a specific feature but prefer to work in the other one.
@@NickElliottuk must try that.
I agree with your principles. I have been using Powerpoint to do this level of work but the additional dimensioning and layers will make it better. Many thanks
Hadn't thought of using Powerpoint as an option - interesting, thanks! And yes, if you're on the OSX/iOS platform, then Graphic is pretty easy to get to grips with, and a very reasonable one-off purchase. 👍
I'm amateur in every aspect but Sketchup is plain simple and powerful with addons. Great channel sir, learned a lot from you. For simple wardrobe and other design, cut list and all just buy Polyboard, best software and easy to use.
Not for Mac though :(
@@cg3205 what is Mac, McDonalds?! Why would you throw your money through the windows at first place just to have apple logo?!
@@mrki412 the window breaks easily and on the other side is a tree growing apples that taste so much better than the broken shards of window. It's really quite easy to figure.
Seems a bit of an hassle to use compared to Fusion 360 which I personally use for my things. Note that I don't do much wood working stuff, but I modeled my diy router table with it. For me it's better for visualization as I can easily import or at least do mockup of, let's say my router model into work space and visualize that I have enough to use ie. speed controls, switches and so on. I've F'd up so many times by going full into without planning properly beforehand. Also note that I'm not saying that 2D drawings aren't valid. They're vital at manufacturing, but for design I 100% prefer 3D these days.
I use a dedicated cad program for kitchens and bedrooms but there is a lot to be said for keeping it simple. Great video 👍
Thanks! 👍👍
I had a builder walk into my joinery workshop,and ask me to quote on alcove cabinets from a set of drawings I had left with the client that I had hand drawn after about 6 hours of meetings.Told him to leave them with me.....Unfortunately they went astray in the office!...
Unbelievable when ‘clients’ pull stunts like that, no respect. I wonder if they’d try that on with a set of architects plans??
Peter ,i use something like that ,yea they called it a pencil and paper ,its great its cordless and can even be used in low lighting conditions , i have to admit ,auto cad is a great thing but when i took drafting in school ,well we just got a pencil and paper and a drafting table( think that tells my age LOL) i can draw it faster then i can using a cad program, and i have a plethora of information ,some of it is pretty much useless ,but its there ,BTW very good point in telling people NOT to give them the dimensional drawings when giving them drawings ,something else to mention ,don't give a customer even a copy of the drawings unless you ve got a deposit for the job ,reason being sometimes you got to make two or three versions for the really picky customers that takes time ,you ve just done what they couldn't ,yet another great video Peter ,still waiting for my Silver sharpie sign super square ,and stay safe during this pandemic .
Thanks Syd! Drafting tables! Don’t get me started - I think we had one at schools that was properly parallel! And yes good point about not giving drawings out without a deposit! 👍👍
Great timing, I downloaded graphic 2 weeks ago to make my business logo. May as well get some more mileage out of it for designing cabinets too!
Timing is everything! 😂👍
Interesting comments about making models rather than work out problems on the screen. Alex Moulton (of the iconic 60's bicycle and car suspension) hated using computers to design. He sketched idea out on paper quickly and then turned the drawings into models, using wood, metal and plastic to visualise the idea before making a full sized version to test the concept.
Yes, I read that! A man after my own heart, I think! 👍👍
PERFECT! This is exactly what I need. Well done
I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, by that I mean that it depends on what you are used to. Since I am familiar with sketchup I believe I can create 2-D drawings just as fast as you can in your application. I think that goes for most people and their program of choice. But as others have mentioned I do feel more in tune with the creative side when using pencil and paper.
Great! I’m not anti-Sketchup - I used it for quite a while - but on almost every level, it’s not for me; and by the feedback I’ve had over the last 3 years, I’m not alone in that. If you’re happy with it then crack on. 👍👍
It’s such an interesting subject . As you know Peter, like Wayne I’m also an advocate of SketchUp and argue for it’s speed. However in all honesty I have poured hours of time over years now, to make it do all sorts of clever things, with a view to going straight from customer drawings on the survey to cutting lists in the workshop. I’ve done this with some success, however on my most recent survey, social distancing and trying to be efficient for the customer’s sake, I resorted to pen and paper and a quick line drawing. The customer signed off on it and the job is going ahead. I think both Brady and I could manually work out the cutting list from this if we had to, and I wonder how much quicker that would be vs drawing every part and outputting it to CutList software as usual. The issue here is the attractive but elusive dream of a fully automated system. In theory the 3D parametric cad route is precise and efficient. But in practice there is always something non standard that doesn’t quite fit the system. Unless you limit yourself to a very standard system, like with most kitchens at standard width and heights of cabinet. I think the other issue is communication. Drawing in 2D simply and intuitively may be best for one man setups where you know in your head the setbacks of shelves or the overlaps of joints and don’t really need to draw them. For me it was when I took on staff and wasn’t always in the workshop to oversee manufacture that it seemed essential to detail everything in a 3D drawing from which all questions could be answered. Now though, Brady know our methods so thoroughly that perhaps it is redundant again. The detailed cad drawing can become really constrictive, hard to resist making everything ‘just right’ on the drawing, and sort of locking down your intuitive ability to simply work it out later.
Interesting comments Peter. Having trained as industrial designer, I find Sketchup to not be parametric enough compared to say the old Pro Engineer or Solidworks, which is what I normally use for 3D work. For simple 2D work or when starting a design I use pencil and paper, sometimes Illustrator since I have it.
Thanks David. Yes, every stick of furniture I’ve made starts out as a pencil sketch - and Graphic is a kind of ‘Illustrator for folks who don’t like subscription software’ 😬👍👍
Brilliant video Peter great content .......Thanks !!!!
Thanks Peter! 👍👍
I had asked what you used for 2D drawing some time ago maybe a year or more ...... Got a copy of Graphic back then, as I could not find any help videos for it, I struggled a bit with it,
It just shows a little Input from the content in this video has got me opening it up again and I’m flying .....Just goes to show a little bit of show and tell from someone in the know can open up a whole new world for others ...... although I’m having to look hard at myself in the mirror and think how did I not work that out for myself.......Thanks again please keep your work up you do great video fantastic channel to watch...👍👍👌👌
Nice to see how you do this. Simple and effective. Thank you.
Thanks Frits! 👍
yes, I agree simple is better for all the reasons you mention...love the thoughts of your wisdom, experience, and knowledge, not so much for the misguided, loud, inexperienced crowd...
Thanks! 👍👍
Thanks Peter, Went and downloaded graphic immediately. So much easier as most carcasses are all of one depth.
Cheers Rob! 👍👍
Great tutorial, thank you. One question though, why not save 28.99 and just use Powerpoint?
and spend more?
It's often said that the best tool for the job is the one you have and the one you know how to use. Fortunately the only client I have to satisfy is my wife so Paper and Pencil works fine. Thanks for another great video Peter.
Words from the wise! Thanks Aby!
Sooo..... yer saying you can satisfy your wife ... 🙄 nice to know 😂
😎👍☘🍺
Finally someone speaking out that Sketchup is to much! Like selling plans for simple projects .. there are 5 panels, why you'll need plans or a 3d model?
👍👍 I’ve never understood the idea of selling plans for simple projects either 🤷♂️👍👍
I used IMSI Turbo CAD for years in its the early days but found I only used the basics of what it offered. Since then I did play around with Sketch Up but also found I spent more time at a computer than the workshop. I do go back to my old version of Turbo Cad now and again but the likes of free software like Inkscape are around and I do like to pop up the garden with a cuppa and a sandwich to sketch many of my designs with a pad and pencil. By the way, I don't have clients that I need to please.
Great video Peter, Ive tried and tried to get into sketchup and failed miserably! usually end up with pencil and paper or as a PC user use powerpoint (very similar to your mac program) Nice one!
Thanks Graham! 👍👍
Thank you Mr Peter....
👍
Cool! I use PowerPoint of all hints, and it works really well for me
Great video, thanks Peter. I bought this software after I heard you and Andy mention it on measuring up PC.
Thanks! Yes, it's a nice easy bit of software to use. 👍
Another great share. I was starting to think something was wrong with me as I too prefer 2d sketches and physical mock-ups over sketch up. Don't get me wrong sketch up is great but sometimes you can get lost in the details when getting to work is what you need.
Thanks! I always thought I was the weird outlier when it came to Sketchup, but clearly not! 😂👍👍
Sketchup all day for me...then export to layout!
Thank for the video I am going to look in to 2D drawings. As I'm going to make some under stair storage thanks again and keep it coming
Pete... I've been using Autosketch CAD for the last 20 years ... running on an old standalone PC with XP ... 🙄
It excels in 2d but its 3d is just too much work... you can group & rotate , you can take measurements in scale dims. (e.g. 7'6") thats a GREAT feature ... & there is basic rendering...
I find the 2d is more than good enough for my mainly metal machined parts drawings where dims & tolerances on the drawing are a MUST... colours ... not so much....
Lifes too short to spend hour upon hour making a sexy 3d rotatable rendered work of art... 🙄😉
It becomes a project in itself 🥱😴
😎👍☘🍺
Exactly, Peter! I literally spent longer on the drawings than I spent on the work sometimes, and to what end? 🤷♂️👍👍
@@10MinuteWorkshop Peter F makes a good point about 3D rotatable. I expect most of your furniture is up against a wall, so there is really very little benefit in the third dimension. It add's nothing to be able to view a built in wardrobe from the back. I expect you'd be fairly suspicious if a client asked for a 3D model of their fitted wardrobe so that they could get an idea of what it looked like from the inside looking out. Especially if they asked for finger holes instead of handles.
I’ve used idraw/graphic for ages- it’s a great bit of software!
Love it - it’s excellent! 👍
On a Mac, I use RealCADD.
Next year: Peter promoting drawing on cave wall with red paint on his hands ;-)
I swtiched from Sketchup to Fusion 360 about a year ago and never looked back. In Fusion you start a sketch in 2D and don’t have to go 3D unless you want to ofcourse. It’s full parametric CAD so it’s a a breeze to alter central measurments like spacings etc that normaly gets spread all over the place and can take ages to update if done manually. Want to try out a differnt with of styles and rails? Change one number and it's done. And constraints lika symmetry, perpendicular, parallell, tangency etc. keeps everything together. A measurement can be expressed as an equation of other measurements and or parameters.
I really love this tool. For designing boxes, maybe overkill but it's a joy to work with.
I’ve had a play - and I’ll be playing some more when the CNC bursts into life. 👍👍
Thanks for these ideas. I tried sketch up but found it too slow. For kitchens or standard cabinetry I use kcd. You can rent it on a month to month basis and I just build it into the cost of the job. It has a prefab library and is just drag and drop. For anything custom I just use a pencil and paper. If I need to figure out a tricky joint I mock it up with scrap material. And if I need to show a client a fancy built up crown or something, I set up a sample section.
Been trying to find something like this for ages! Too man 🙌🏼
👍👍
Hi Peter, take a look at Catchbook (don't know if it's available for Mac).
It's windows-only, but thanks! 👍
There really is nothing wrong with sailing or riding a horse to get from A to B or for that matter wearing hand-made shoes, building Gothic Cathedrals, rebuilding those few remaining Colonial houses, which are made of hand-made brick (often the convict's signature on each brick), steam engines, walking, reading a book, watching a play. All of these things and much more. Nothing really wrong with them at all.
I haven't watched this video yet but I know I'm going to love it, can't wait until I get a spare few mins to watch it
Thanks Pete! 👍👍
That was great. When I had access to an Apple Mac, many years ago (back in the 8year 0’s), I used Draw. It had similar features to iDraw. When the company went all IBM PC I switched to Visio (early 90’s), which was great until Microsoft bought and then it went downhill. For my designs I use both Visio and SketchUp depending on what I want out of the design. SketchUp is useful where the interconnections and relationships are of importance. But I don’t use it exclusively.
Thanks! Always good to see what others use! 👍👍
I seen you using a planer/thickness machine.
I have one from HBM and it has started to not plane flat, and ideas what may be wrong.
Thanks in advance😊
I really like Inkscape for vector graphic work, it's great on Windows but awful on Mac! Plus it's free and open source.
Having been using Sketchup for over half my life I can knock a design out faster than I can draw it on paper! But as I've been getting more and more in to 3D printing and CNC work, I've pretty much switched over to Fusion 360. I still use Sketchup for 'sketching' my 3D models before I model them up properly!
Can Inkscape do that dimension label thing he showed?
@@mymemeplex Quite honestly I've never checked! I've always just done it manually!
So basically a 2D line drawing that you could as easily make in SketchUps LayOut with sketch to scale. But in that package you also get the 3D modellering.
I use Rhinoceros by Mcneel for all my 2D and 3D furniture, carpentry, metal fabrication, and home remodeling designs. I've been using it since V1 and have been relatively happy with it. I tried Sketchup and found it to be somewhat unintuitive. Perhaps this was because I was used to using Rhino, a NURBS based design tool, for so long. I think the best way to go is just find a good 2D/3D design program that works for you and your level of technical comfort and stick with it. Time, practice, and use will provide the ability to make quick designs. More time can then be spent in the shop building, rather than sitting in an office chair staring at a computer screen. Something to be avoided, for obvious reasons.
Tegan69 I think every package has its own internal logic. Personally I find SketchUp really intuitive!! However when I recently tried fusion360, it kind of blew my mind what a completely different approach it took to parametric drawing, and then going back to SketchUp it suddenly felt a bit limited!
Thanks Peter, I use something similar on my iPad to achieve the same results
Cheers Paul! 👍
I would be interested to know what app you're using on the iPad?
Paul McFadyen iDesign - not as fully featured as the one Peter shows, but workable, and using an Apple Pencil, quite adequate
@@PaulWoodJatobaFilms I'll check it out thanks
Exactly what I've been looking for, doing very similar projects it's a pleasant coincidence. Take care
Cheers Andy! 👍👍
There is Draftsight for drawing plans etc. It's a bit like Autocad. It can output drawings as a pdf or as a dwg. Best of all it's free to use on a Mac. I think it's about £100/year on pc. Also Sketchup used to have a 2D plugin but I don't think it's valid any more.
Good to know, thanks! 👍👍
Very informative. was thinking of learning sketchup but think I will go 2d for now as it's more my way of doing things easier!
Very good video. Been looking for a simple graphics tool for the same purpose and other possible uses and this looks to fit the bill. Could never really get into Sketchup, probably just too impatient.
Thanks! Same here! 👍👍
I’m a big fan of layout that’s part of sketch up for doing 2d like this. I’d switch to fusion 360 if they took sketches seriously so they can be printed etc.
DavidinEssexUK I agree layout works well as a basic vector drawing program
I wish all software was explained like this
Me too! 😂👍
Nice video, thank you for showing how easy it can be. No need to complicate things.
One question though, when you draw the dimensions it says, in the left corner, "line tool" with coordinates and then "type" with three buttons and it appears one of them is a dimension line with arrows and all. Is it something you have tried or am I seeing thing wrong?
Yes, there is a dimension line tool and it works Ok - but it’s not the same as the ‘measure’ feature in say, sketchup. 👍
Thanks Peter - currently building my first set of DIY wardrobes, so you channel has been invaluable. One question I did have about cabinet construction, is there any reason why it's better to have top and base connecting into the side panel from the side rather than sitting on top/underneath side panels?
Check the 2nd video of the series. I had the same question and he explained it perfectly.
You could do thid in Layout from Sketchup, without having to use the full 3d package.
But it's still sketchup. For me, Sketchup is the issue.🤷♂️
Interesting, I also found that people get hung up on colours rather than design. I solved it by learning sketchup and use layout in the pro edition.
Styles and templates are your friend there. Especially with the ability to control tags in SU+ layout in version 2020.
I just find drawing things once in 3D and placing sections is less time consuming and helps to avoid mistakes.
been in the trade 25 plus years, all plans just elevation & plan from big civil jobs to small extensions .Only 3d for kitchen renders which i never put dimensions i'm not a free planning service
Exactly! Unfortunately many kitchen clients get dazzled by the ‘we plan your kitchen for free’ crowd 🤷♂️👍
@@10MinuteWorkshop nothing is free its built in to price
Excellent! Thank you!
Note: If you do email it, remember to delete the dimentions layer first.
Ik ben pionier met Autocad, ik ben gestart met de eerste versie. In al die jaren probeerde ik veel andere programma's ik blijf bij Autocad.
Glad to hear it works for you! And please excuse any grammatical errors - Google translate 🤷♂️
Graphic is a great little product - I have been using it for a number of years (originally iDraw). A great shame it seems there's no further development / software releases but still very useful
Yes, it’s a shame. Still a great app though. 👍👍
Been waiting for this one!, thanks Peter
Hope it was worth the wait! 😂👍
10 min in 20 min video!!!
:)))
Double helping 🤷♂️ I could make it a 2-parter, but you could also do that yourself. 👍
The commands and layout seem to be very familiar. Very similar to Photoshop.
Yes, I don’t think that’s a coincidence! 😂👍
Great video thanks for sharing 👍🏻
Thanks! 👍
Hi Peter. I got very excited when I saw your video but am I right in thinking this is only for apple computers or is there anything for windows 10.
James
Hi James. Yes, this is for OSX and iOS; I think if you look through the comments there have been a few recommendations for Windows software that does something at a similar level, but nothing I can recommend I'm afraid, as I'm not on that platform. 👍
I enjoyed that very much
sorry , a bit off subject but what is the music in your video at the end ? Thanks
If it’s not credited in the description then it’ll be from the standard UA-cam audio library. Other than that, I’ve no idea I’m sorry. 🤷♂️👍
I will try this, could not get on with sketch up,,
Thanks Peter excellent video! You make it look so simple and this gave me the confidence to have a go. Got myself graphic and now rewatching your video second by second to learn the skills! #muppet
PS I am a technophobe so need the help😉 more videos on this topic are welcome as far as I'm concerned
Thanks Paul! And there I was thinking I was the only person alive who didn’t use Sketchup! 😂👍👍
Hi Peter, excellent video as per usual.....just one question, is this draw package a one off payment to download or is it on a subscription basis? Regards Ade
Thanks Ade. It’s a one-off purchase, more info at graphic.com, or link in the video description 👍.
Hi. Thanks for the tips. Does anyone have a link to the software Graphic? Thanks in advance.
It’s OSX and iOS only, so a quick search in the App Store will find it for you. 👍👍