Customer Reviews

3D Construction Modeling

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dr. Fukai:

Thank you for writing your 3-D Construction Modeling textbook. I am new to SketchUp 4.0 and building design. I am attempting to design and build my own metal sculpture studio from scratch. I discovered SketchUp quite by accident. While reading the Winter issue of Tools & Shops by Fine Woodworking Magazine, I came across an article written by John Yurko. In the article Mr. Yurko described his experience using SketchUp to construct woodshop machinery and design the overall look and flow of his shop.

Before I read this article, I was tempted to purchase another brand of off-the-shelf architectural software. Thank goodness I did not.

Last month my wife ordered a copy of SketchUP from @Last Software to use in her first-grade classroom. I began to experiment around with the software myself, but was I rather disappointed in the training tutorials offered by the company. Their video tutorials were useful yet were designed to be more general in nature. I prefer using a "project" textbook written in step-by-step fashion as you have done. I am a metalsmith, and for several years I have dreamed of building a workshop behind our home. My goal has been to use SketchUp to visualize both framing construction and overall visual appearance of the shop before construction. Being able to work out the framing details and obtain an overall "look & feel" of the shop in advance will help me to avoid costly errors once the real construction begins.

It is impossible to express how excited I am to have found your book! It is exactly the textbook I was hoping to find and use. To my surprise I also discovered the book contained a CD-ROM containing 50 interactive video "Shorties" that take the user step-by-step though the entire building sequence. The book's casual, yet highly detailed and sequential approach is what makes it so valuable.

Dr. Fukai, thank you again for creating such a fresh and dynamic approach to learning the SketchUp program.

Sincerely yours,

Jim Teachey

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

www.village-pewter.com/newsite

I am sure if you are a Google fan you now know that they offer SketchUp for free. Dr. Fukai's book assumed you had a limited amount of time (480 minutes) using the SketchUp 4.0 trial version included with his book. I can say that his book is truly one fantastic way to learn a lot about the details of modeling with SketchUp. Dr. Fukai's interactive "shorties" allows you to go over as often as needed to learn the details of this 3D software. I was having some difficulty part way through the tutorials and emailed Dr. Fukai and received detailed instructions on how to proceed. He is an excellent teacher and his book is highly recommended.

This is my first 3D program to learn, and i'm glad i found this book. Good thing about this book is that i don't have to read the book. ^^ Just play the movies and follow his steps.

Has anybody seen author's cell phone number listed on the book? It shows how much he cares about the readers.

I just started step 1 second time to follow exactly what he is teaching us in the book. Without this book i would have never guessed how to apply SketcuUp in the real world.

Dennis' book, "3D Construction Modeling: Project Based Learning" takes you on a 300-minute journey, and by the end, even the most computer illiterate person has created an amazingly detailed, very realistic model of a small building. Thanks to the creative, graphic novel layout style, it is easy to read and follow - anyone that can check their email and read the Comics section in the Sunday newspaper can make a 3D model with this book and with SketchUp. Working with SketchUp itself, you get the feeling that the program is a kind of "AutoCAD meets Legos." And by the time you've finished the book, you don't even realize have better time management skills and over 100 new construction definitions stored in memory.

This book is interesting in two aspects. One, the book acts as an interactive communication tool that has been developed based on project based learning mechanism. Two, the book allows the understanding of home construction for novices like me. In a short period of time, I was able to work on developing 3D construction models in SketchUp. Thanks to the new graphical approach demonstrated in this book, I became more involved in modeling my own dream house. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning sketchUp. For newbies like me, this book is definitely a boon! Five sparkling stars to this book!

One of the awesome books I have ever come across. I am a visual person and understand things better when depicted graphically. I purchased this book after hearing raving review from a friend of mine. Sure, in a matter of hours, I felt like I had hands-on experience on the 3D modeling software - SketchUp. I highly recommend this book to anyone on the go and don't have time to pour over "text" based books or boring lengthy software manuals. Simplicity and powerful elegance are the design parameters behind this meticulously made book! Kudos to the author of this book and I expect more interesting releases on construction modeling from this great author.

Project based tutorials have to be one of the best ways to learn new software and this has to be one of the best books to learn SketchUp. The book is based on the 3D construction of a timber framed house from foundation excavation to roofing. In so doing the reader is introduced to most if not all of the functionality of SketchUp. It requires care and patience to get the most out of the book but you will be well rewarded with the results. The author has even included a CD with a series of short video screen capture clips of each element of the software medeling processes so you can see how it was done. This is an excellent aid to learning. I teach construction related topics at a university and there is growing demand to demonstrate complex processes using 3D computer based modeling. If you are in this situation don't hesitate to buying this book. I whole heartedly recommend it.

The book is awsome! The instructions are so detailed and outlined. I plan on building my own family home, this is the Book!

As for the author, a master of his craft!

Mr. Fukai and Mrs. Babara Fukai, You have both left a wonderful lasting memory in my mind!

Thanks You

Michael in San Antonio Texas

3D Construction Modeling with interactive CD has obviously been

prepared by a seasoned teacher. The presentations and tutorials are concise

and precise. They are clear and move at a comfortable pace showing what is

necessary and alerting common pitfalls. The author assumes nothing about

the experience of the reader; therefore it can be as valuable to any kind of

beginner as it is to the advanced, both in terms of construction and 3D

modeling. Speaking as a Mac user and as an architect, this is a welcome

discovery.

Yes, you can still learn of lot from this book, as noted in the other reviews. But it is now showing its age. This book was written for Sketchup 4.0 when only a time-limited trial was available for free. Sketchup is now at version 6.0 and free from Google (except for the pro version). The advice in this book on how to squeeze a tutorial session into a time-limited trial is just distracting. More importantly, you will not be introduced to the new features in 6.0, such as styles and better organization of model structure. It would be very useful to have Dennis Fukai's advice on how best to use Sketchup 6.0.