Authorized Training Courses.

These curricula have been defined by the SketchUp Team and are prerequisite in order for a trainee to obtain an official certificate of the completion of the authorized training courses (no matter SketchUp is owned by @Last, Google or Trimble).

SketchUp Essentials 1 - this course is intended for new Google SketchUp users or anyone interested in learning the basics of Google SketchUp.

SketchUp Essentials 2 - this class is intended for those who have already taken the Essentials I class (see above), or who possess the equivalent knowledge and skills.

SketchUp Advanced Skills - this class is designed for experienced SketchUp users who want to investigate advanced topic areas including working with CAD, creating curved surfaces and employing advanced presentation techniques for SketchUp models.

Advanced Landscape Modeling - this class is designed for experienced SketchUp users who want to create custom face-me plant material, import and export models to Google Earth, utilize various plug-ins and ruby scripts, model terrain and understand advanced techniques working with large files. This course can also be an introduction to working with various organic forms ranging from golf courses, through skate parks to sculptures.

SketchUp for Geomodeling - this class provides students with a comprehensive overview of the process and benefits of exploring the interoperability of SketchUp and Google Earth. Although now, with Trimble's acquisition of SketchUp from Google, this course may seem to be obsolete, by now a growing number of businesses and government agencies have realized the various, useful ways SketchUp can be used in this field.

LayOut - this class provides students with the strategies and techniques needed to effectively and efficiently present 3D SketchUp models in digital and print formats.

Specialized Training Courses

Although the "Authorized Training Courses" are always pre-defined by the SketchUp Team, SketchUcation can (and may - i.e. "is allowed to") give other, more in depth or more specialized courses of which we issue our own respected certificate of completion. Moreover, members of our team have been dealing with various problems and questions of users all over the forums for years and only the "Core Team" (see above) has more than 50,000 helpful answers during the years. Without going into extreme details, our team can offer expert, in depth training in the below fields:

• Architecture - from expressing early stage design ideas to exporting to CAD applications or importing existing CAD drawings for presentation purposes;
• Landscape architecture - from dealing with different surveying data to optimizing the models for enormous poly-count;
• Engineering - from dealing with tiny geometry to assembling complex structures in a presentable way;
• Urban planning - from dealing with huge, complex models to presenting them in different ways;
• Woodworking - in fact, everything about woodworking;
• Interior design - the mos effective ways to adopt in the design then in the presentation period;
• Product design and organic modeling;
• Archaeological data processing - from dealing with data collected from field through stratigraphical analysis to reconstructions of finds;
• Photorealistic rendering - from basic introduction to the general terms to advanced tips and tricks in a multitude of rendering applications
• Parametric modeling - from the basics of SketchUp's native dynamic components to the use of various, 3rd party plugins;
• Ruby scripting - for the very stout-hearted who wish to write their own plugins in the future
• and many-many other fields...

Using Plugins

Let's face it: since the acquisition of @Last SketchUp by Google back in 2006, SketchUcation has become the hub of 3rd party plugin development. We maintain confidential beta forums for developers and our team is not only expert at installing, trouble shooting and using all sorts of available plugins but also some members are the leading plugin authors and contributors of the community.

Flexible prices

Our prices may highly depend on your needs. Combined with our Premium Membership Program, you already receive a 10% discount from any training session and 20% discount from trouble shooting "help" session. Further discounts are available if you sign up for a considerable amount of courses/classes and, of course, via group training when applicable.

For simplicity, see some examples below about various, sliding pricing plans but if you have any individual need or special idea, do not hesitate to contact us. We can always connect our training programs with our services for instance - i.e. help you with your project while you learn during private forum or online sessions along the course.

Note that the below training prices are all set for one-to-one training sessions. This way we can make sure that the trainee is provided with the maximum attention and care and that he/she can progress in his/her own pace - as well as the sessions can be organized as flexibly as the trainee wishes.

(In some comparable ATC's, trainees pay the same amount yet they share the trainer's attention with many other trainees.)

If you are not sure which plan to choose, you can start with a lower valued plan and if you decide within ten days to carry on with your training, you can sign up for the following classes as if you had originally started with that plan. For example: you sign up for 8 classes for $50/h and decide you need 8 more - you can now sign up for the next 8 classes for only $45/h - and even receive the additional, bonus Premium Membership.

SketchUcation's Authorized SketchUp Training Center Trainers

Michael Lucey

Mike is an architect by profession with over 35 years experience. He will be assisting in construction and building design related matters. Mike is located in Co. Clare, Ireland were SketchUcation is registered and head quartered.

Csaba Pozsárkó

By profession, Csaba is an archaeologist and knows just about where to find information on any particular SketchUp topic you can think of. He is also listed as a “SketchUp Sage” (and Top Contributor) by Google/Trimble. Csaba is located in Pécs, Hungary.

Rich O'Brien

Rich specializes in Product Design with SketchUp, Rhino and MoI as his weapons of choice. He has over 14 years experience as a cubicle dweller from his previous life as an aviation technical trainer. Rich is located in Limerick, Ireland.

Dave Richards

By profession he is in the Anesthesia Biomed maintenance field but also a highly skilled Woodworker. Dave’s furniture design knowledge and construction skills are top class. Dave is located in SE Minnesota, USA.

Trevor I. Grant

Trevor is a registered UK architect, based in Northumbria specializing in production information and realization on site. He is also a software developer. Occasionally lectures at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne on 'Sketchup and Ruby'.