Computer Aided Design or CAD has been a hobby of mine since I was in high school. I had ventured into the world of AutoCAD and Revit thanks to the drafting class I was in. Around the same time, a new Google product debuted called SketchUp. SketchUp brought 3D CAD design to everyone with a computer thanks to the fact that it was free, had a simple interface and was easy to learn.

For the next 10 years, SketchUp grew in versatility and design but kept its simple interface and short learning curve. I was there the whole way making models ranging from apartment floor plans to spaceships to models for 3D printing. SketchUp was my go-to CAD program, that was until October 2018.

Since then I have completely moved my workflow from Blender. Blender is a completely different animal to SketchUp. It’s been used to create SFX in feature films, created entire animated movies, and utilized in a huge number of projects. It makes creating amazingly detailed models, animations, lifelike scenes, easy, and beautiful, once you learn how to use it. Because of its expansive features and versatility Blender does take a bit longer to learn but it’s absolutely worth it!

If you’ve been using SketchUp and ready to transition to Blender I’ve created a series of tutorials to help do just that. Start with Part 1 discussing the basics around Blender navigation.