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.

The techniques taught are relevant whatever you’re going to be using SketchUp for. People attend this course to learn SketchUp for interior design, architecture, landscaping and many more purposes. See examples of work produced in this course.

In-class or online

This course is available in-class at eight centres or live online.

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 keep all the files you create.

Windows or Mac

SketchUp works almost identically on the Windows and Mac platforms.

Our centres offer both Windows and Mac computers for delegates to use, so you can choose to carry out exercises on the platform you’re familiar with.

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 practical SketchUp training guide, to refer to during the course and use as a refresher after. Choose from a printed, bound guide or a PDF – whatever suits you best. If you’re participating online and you choose a printed guide, we’ll post this to you.

• 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 or CAD knowledge is necessary.

You should have strong computing skills, and a good working knowledge of your operating system (Windows/Mac OS).

SketchUp version

Training is based primarily on SketchUp Pro 2024 running on Windows or Mac. It is relevant to users of SketchUp Pro 2020 or later.

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 also 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 by:

• Bank transfer. Please call 01527 834783 for our bank details.
• Card. All major credit and debit cards accepted. Payment can be made securely online or over the phone. Card payments are processed by Stripe. Armada doesn’t record or store your card details.

Purchase orders

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

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 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
• John Billyard

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, Civil 3D, AVT and Advance Steel. He’s also an expert user of Trimble 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!

John Billyard

John has used CAD software for over 35+ years, providing high quality engineering and architectural designs to a wide range of clients

He has provided training in the applications he uses for a similar length of time, and for the last 15 years, has been commissioned directly by Autodesk to provide consulting and training services to their corporate client base.

John hosts courses in various Autodesk applications including AutoCAD, Inventor and Vault. He also trains Dassault Systèmes’ SolidWorks, Trimble SketchUp and Epic Games’ Twinmotion.

He takes pride in keeping pace with the latest industry design tools and technologies, enabling him meet the challenges and demands of an ever changing working environment.

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

Basic geometric shapes
Measurements
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

Examples

Here are some examples of work produced in Introduction to SketchUp training.

Please note that the content changes for each course to focused on the topics of interest to the delegates in class, so you may not produce these precise models.

Interior

Table

Kitchen

Luxury apartment

Double garage

Rendered images produced in SketchUp

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:

Live online training

Online training lets you participate in a live 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 the other delegates participating in the course…
  
• Watch our trainer demonstrate techniques in SketchUp.
• Interact by speaking, using chat, or raising your ‘virtual hand’ if you need assistance.
• Share your screen with our trainer, and allow them to take control to explain something.

Like our in-class courses, online Introduction to SketchUp courses…

• Are presented by expert instructors.
• Give you plenty of opportunity to carry out assisted, practical exercises using SketchUp.
• Offer 30 days’ email support from your trainer.

All you need is an Internet-connected computer with…

• SketchUp installed.
• A webcam and audio capability. If your computer running SketchUp doesn’t have these, you can use a second device, such as another computer or tablet. See Hardware recommendations for live online training for further details.

If there’s anything you’re not sure about we’ll do our best to help you. We won’t, however, be able to assist with your SketchUp installation.

We provide everything else…

• Links to download the files, resources, etc. you’ll use in your course.
• A training guide. For most courses, you can choose from a printed copy that we post to you, or a PDF.

In the week before your course, we’ll send you an email containing everything you need to prepare for and participate in the training. Then, a couple of days before your course, we’ll give you a courtesy call to make sure you have everything in place and answer any questions you may have.

Please note that we are not able to record scheduled online courses for privacy reasons.

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

Discounts and bundles

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

• A discounted SketchUp training bundle.
• A range of training discounts on our scheduled (public) SketchUp training courses.
• A price guarantee that you won’t get SketchUp training for less.

SketchUp training bundle

Book places on:

• Introduction to SketchUp (2 days),
• Intermediate SketchUp (2 days) and
• SketchUp LayOut (1 day)

for £895 + VAT (classroom-based) or £745 + VAT (live online training), saving £140 + VAT in both cases.

The bundle price will be applied automatically when you add these two courses to your basket.

Training discounts

Multiple places

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

• 5% discount if you book two places.
• 10% discount if you book three places.
• 15% discount if you book 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.