Nick and Matt teamed up in order to deliver Nick’s entire workflow and processes in this book. He has taught hundreds of thousands of people how to use SketchUp through his online tutorials, in person classes, and one-on-one training. Matt Donley is the founder of, and the author of the book, SketchUp to LayOut.

He has pioneered many techniques and styles in order to refine the entire design process. His workflow has been featured in numerous SketchUp videos, highlighting the custom residential homes he designs in Truckee, California. Nick is a leading architect who made the switch from AutoCAD to SketchUp & LayOut over 10 years ago. SketchUp & LayOut for Architecture was co-written by Nick Sonder and Matt Donley. In SketchUp & LayOut for Architecture, you’ll learn a step-by-step workflow that will enable you to eliminate CAD from your workflow, focus on your design, and produce beautiful construction documents for each phase of design, including Schematic Design, Design Development, and Construction Documentation. SketchUp has a unique way of prioritizing the design, and LayOut provides the conduit to communicate your design on paper. Where SketchUp shines is in its ability to create accurate 3D models quickly in an easy-to-use interface without forcing users to learn complicated tools or workflows. Creating anything custom further complicates the process, or is simply not possible. There are plenty of 3D design programs out there that automate much of the process of designing a building, but you sacrifice the design once again because you are forced to learn and abide by complicated technical processes in order to get the software to do what you want. The design becomes the primary focus, and the construction documents become a by-product of the design. The restrictions of the documentation requirements and the technical limitations of the software take priority over the design itself.ĭesigning in 3D gives you the freedom to visualize how the project will look in real life. The problem with traditional 2D CAD is that you sometimes lose touch with the overall design because you are forced to think from the perspective of flat construction documents.

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