Google Sketchup

I've been searching for a while to find some free software that will allow me to model our new house (inside and out), and use it to figure out how to position furniture in our room and landscaping, so on and so forth.

I realize I could spend less that $100 on some landscaping & home planning software, but I majored in finance and feel that I should be able to find something for free in exchange for being bombarded by advertisements on every website I visit.

About a week ago, while looking at Google's "even more>>" section, I stumbled upon the program that they use to model all the 3d buildings in Google Earth. If you don't know what google earth is, you haven't been spending enough time with me....

The program is called Sketchup. Using it made me recall some old childhood memories. Some of my first experiences with computing were in elementary school. We started a computer class in the 5^th grade. It was fairly simple and I don’t really remember much about it other than learning some BASIC programming. You know, simple programming for 5^th graders… Anyway I learned how to write music with the beeps of the computer. One of the best things I remember is a little CAD (computer aided design) program that was the first experience I had to 3 axis stuff. I had lots of fun drawing all the lines and making a 3d house or whatever else I could think of.

Sketchup is by far the simplest modeling software I’ve ever seen, yet it’s robust enough for real designers to use. Google did it right on this one. Somehow they managed to make software that’s so easy, my four year old can use it, yet powerful enough that designers use it too.

It’s a little tough to explain in print, so I’ve added a link to a youtube video that shows you just how easy it is.

If you haven’t tried it and are the least bit interested in designing your own stuff (carpentry, room design, etc…) you should give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.