Wood Archives | SketchUp for Design

Interested in Mass Timber Buildings, Construction, and Related Topics?

February 8, 2026February 7, 2026 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

John W. Olver Design Building under construction (Photo: A. Schreyer) As you may know, in addition to my SketchUp book, I am the lead author on the book "Fundamentals of Residential Construction" (now in its fifth edition) as well as the co-author of the recently published book "Mass Timber: Materials, Design, and Construction". Both books are published by John Wiley & Sons and are available in print or as e-books wherever books are sold. I recently created the website buildingfundamentals.com as a place to post companion materials for those books but also blog about the wider construction industry - with a particular emphasis on wood buildings. If you find those topics as interesting as I do and want to hear more about them, then you can now subscribe to my new site by email. That way, you receive a newsletter as soon as I post something. Follow this link to get started: Subscribe to buildingfundamentals.com via email Of course, you can also just visit...

Modeling a Log House

March 16, 2022February 23, 2024 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

In this video tutorial I show how useful SketchUp's Solid Tools (especially the Trim tool) are when modeling a log house. The process as shown here makes it easy to create clean log overlaps and door/window cutouts. Of course, the log portion of this is just an example - you can use the technique for much more than that. Note: I am not showing the entire modeling process here, just the basic principles based on two walls. You can easily expand this to other walls and windows, etc. Tutorial Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rokkx7EmZXM Did you design your own log house this way? Let me know below in the comments....

Merry Christmas, Joyful Holidays, and a Happy New Year 2020!

December 25, 2019December 25, 2019 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

Dear friends and colleagues, I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas, a peaceful and joyous holiday season and a healthy, happy, and successful new year 2020! Cheers, Alex P.S. Once again my card is a SketchUp model, this time with a wood-block print theme. Rendering was again accomplished in Sketchfab. In case you want to play with the original model, here it is: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/xmas2019-5385a758e8ab447bad301f7236c68ce5 ...

Modeling and Rendering my 2015 Christmas Card Image

January 8, 2016February 23, 2024 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

Did you see my 2015 Christmas card tree image on this site? In case you were wondering how I modeled and rendered it, here is a video that explains that process. It's a bit of a minimalistic design, but as you can see in the video, I used a bunch of SketchUp extensions and the Twilight Renderer to make it happen. I hope you find the tips and tricks useful for your own projects. Covered topics: studio setup, materials, Erode extension, components, scale tool, Fredoscale extension, Selection Toys extension, Profile Builder extension, Twilight extension, Twilight materials, Twilight lights, Twilight rendering options. Tutorial Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBhhXavm48&feature=youtu.be...

Second edition of “Architectural Design with SketchUp” is now available!

October 26, 2015February 24, 2019 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

I am very excited to be announcing the release of the second edition of my book "Architectural Design with SketchUp" today! For this edition, I went back through the text and updated and improved a lot of content. As before, my main goal was to keep it relevant for as large a variety of SketchUp users as possible and at the same time provide thorough yet easy to follow examples and tutorials. I am also very excited to announce a completely new chapter on physically making things with SketchUp that includes 3D printing, CNC cutting, and other techniques. Lots of fun stuff! As before, this second edition will use the companion website at http://sketchupfordesign.com/the-book where you can find free sample chapters, videos, references, 3D models, and tutorials.There are also now over 30 videos that accompany the book and can be accessed using the instructions in the book. Interested in getting the book? Check out Amazon or Wiley. Here's the official press release: 3D Modeling in SketchUp and Digital Making Come Together in Second Edition of “Architectural...