For me, Sketchup is the right balance for hands-on project planning without letting the computer overwhelm the joy of creative project designing and building.To replace SketchUp Make, Trimble launched an entirely web-based SketchUp platform on which you’ll find SketchUp Free. ACAD is expensive, high learning curve (and high relearning curve if not used regularly), and overkill, in my opinion.

I have professionally used both ACAD and Sketchup.

Double-check that the major components are buildable, adjust as appropriate, and develop a general materials list and rough cut lists to fit components economically within standard-sized available lumbers 3) Turn back to pencil and paper to envision how the joints will be fabricated and finalize the construction sequence (adjusting cut lists if necessary) 4) Buy the lumber, build, and have fun. My methodology for developing a solid plan for a project? 1) Use pencil and paper for rough sketches that give me a sense of proportion and design look 2) Open and use Sketchup to lay out the major components and be able to look around the project from multiple perspectives. Here is more information regarding learning. Good Luck to you and let us know how you do. There are online Tutorials available from Sketchup for applying all of the tools within the program. Sketchup 2017 is still available for free and offers everything you'll need to complete simple or complex projects. A year from now you'll be answering questions for other newbies. Building a custom chest of drawers and making sure everything fits before you cut any wood can save a lot of grief and money. You can hide details that get in the way until you need them.

The nice part about using a 3D cad like Sketchup is the ability to model & manage a large project in pieces and parts. What's the angle between these two points is easily answered as a result of creating the model. The nice thing about CAD is the ability to scale easily and squeeze out unknown dimensions and angles as a result of the design. The big drawback to most of the CAD programs are the ability to get direct printouts scaled for standard paper (8 1/2 x 11). Once you get the idea of how to create 3D objects you will use pencil and paper in combination with CAD. If you don't have any drafting experience all of the available CAD systems are challenging.

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