As I was cruisin’ around the wine shop a few night’s ago, admiring a particular wine label, I thought it was about time for a Skill Builder on the topic of mapping images to curved surfaces in SketchUp.

Trilogy Partners is a design-build firm based in Breckenridge, Colorado, specializing in bespoke residential projects.

In expos and conferences, in studios and on job sites, in workshops and meetups, in makerspaces and classrooms, in forums, at Basecamps, on YouTube... People who use SketchUp are everywhere. But for every SketchUp aficionado, it seems there are twenty more people who don’t realize how much is possible in 3D.

It’s winter in Colorado, but there is a lot I’m looking forward to in the SketchUp universe this spring.

I remember way back when I started learning SketchUp, I wanted to draw a robot. I wanted the robot to have a nice smooth domed head. I was able to do so… kind of. Initially my geometry looked great and smooth, but as I edited it and changed the geometry, some of the edges were showing up and ruining the smoothness of my robo-dome!

I’ve been hooked on 3D printing ever since I got my first wooden MakerBot back in 2009. I have thousands of printing hours just on that machine alone.

Dave Richards is an expert woodworker, contributing author to Fine Woodworking magazine, author of SketchUp Guide for Woodworkers – The Basics (DVD), and writer on the Design. Click. Build. blog.