3D Printer for Home, Education and Rapid Prototyping

Schooling with SketchUp: Modeling the Future with 3D

Bonnie Roskes is the creator of 3DVinci, a company that offers training in SketchUp and other application tutorials to beginners and professionals and everyone in between. Roskes is a professional structural engineer who loves teaching others how to use great modeling applications. Her “Google SketchUp Cookbook” was a Graphic Design Amazon Bestseller in 2009.

 In The Beginning

3DVinci was an innovation born out of necessity. “I wrote the first tutorial for SketchUp in 2001, when SketchUp wasn’t at all mainstream. There were no other tutorials on the market, and people needed guidance on how to use the software. In 2006, when Google bought SketchUp, there was a free version that teachers were flocking to, but weren’t sure how to use, so I wrote tutorials for the education market as well.”

SketchUp for 3D Printing

“I started creating tutorials on SketchUp for 3D printing in 2013, while I was writing K-12 projects,” explains Roskes. “Having a 3D printer is really fun. I have five kids, and when their friends come over, they stare at my Afinia 3D printer for hours. The whole neighborhood loves it and people ask me to make things that will fix little issues that they have!” Roskes uses her creativity to find solutions to all sorts of problems. [Read more…]

Testimonial: Kal Kaletsch: “Very Impressed!”

So far, I’m very pleased with the unit. It worked as I expected it would. Easy to use and good print quality. The software is better than expected. I like the way it builds its own base below the actual print. My 10 year old daughter imported a cat into sketchup. We exported it into an STL, using a free plugin and it printed perfectly, without any tweaking. I’m looking forward to using it for more serious jobs.
Reviewed by: Kai Kaletsch from Saskatoon, Canada. on 1/13/2013