SketchUp is a versatile piece of software that hardly needs explaining anymore. More and more professionals are finding their way into SketchUp, and it’s increasingly used in secondary and vocational education too. But it’s still quite rare to see children in primary school working with SketchUp.
That’s why it’s so special that we got to interview a very young SketchUp user. We spoke with Sora, who is incredibly enthusiastic about SketchUp. Sora is in year 6 and frequently works with SketchUp as an enrichment to the regular curriculum. He really enjoys it.
Hi Sora, it’s so great that you’re so excited about SketchUp! We’d love to ask you a few questions. To start off, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
“My name is Sora and I’m 11 years old. I’m good at gaming and I play football. My sister is 16 and I live in Gorinchem with my mum and dad. And I’m in year 6.”
How did you come into contact with SketchUp? That’s pretty unique for someone still in primary school.
“Sometimes at school, I’m allowed to do something different, like extra maths or enrichment. I also often work with Languagenut to learn German. Or Scratch, where I can create a game that the class can test. I don’t really like school. It wasn’t going well at first, but now it’s much better and I have time left over every day. So we try to find things to make my school day more fun. That way, the boring assignments are less annoying to do.”
“I love drawing villas and I can easily make a 3D drawing. So my mum thought I might like SketchUp. The teacher was fine with it. That’s when I actually started looking forward to school.”
How did you teach yourself to use SketchUp? Do you watch tutorials, for example? And do you have any favourites?
“My mum showed me how to use it once, and then I got it. I already knew what I wanted to make. Then I just tried which tools I needed to use. To make a sphere, I looked it up on YouTube. I watched TheSketchUpEssentials. Do you know him? Can you say hi from me? That’s also where I saw how to make windows more nicely. My first project was a villa. Since I already knew what it should look like, SketchUp made it easier to create than by drawing. The process began with a pillar, followed by the roof, and then the walls with windows.
“In the Plus Class, we were allowed to redesign a zoo. We had to make a drawing of it. But I said we could also do it in SketchUp. I showed it to everyone. And I explained how the other kids could create an account and how to use it. They weren’t that good at it.”
What’s your favourite SketchUp tool? And can you explain why it’s your favourite? And which one do you like the least?
“My favourite is the tool for making squares and rectangles, and the one that lets you stretch a block wider (push/pull, ed.). Because then I can make the details nicer and straighter. In the desktop version, I think the terrain tool is cool. It’s quite difficult though.”
“I can’t use that at school, because there I only have a Chromebook. But I do it at home. The Warehouse is also really handy because then you don’t have to make everything yourself. That would take a lot of time. The eraser is sometimes annoying, because when I try to delete a plant or a line, sometimes a whole wall disappears.”
Your mum told us you want to be an architect. That’s awesome! Do you already have an idea of what kind of buildings you’d like to design?
“When I was younger, I used to build buildings and temples with Kapla and Lego. Or I’d make a city out of paper and tape. But doing it on the computer is even more fun.”
“I really want to design villas. That’s what I enjoy the most. Because they’re big and beautiful. I like a sleek design. I’d also like to design a villa for myself. It should be a nice size, not too big and not too small. With a swimming pool, an underground garage, big plants, and lots of grass around it. And 2 or 3 floors, white walls, and big windows. And a little space for a puppy. At school, I’m also working on recreating the school building. I’ve already taken photos and studied how it looks.”
Have you ever designed something that was actually built? Or do you have plans to design something for your home, for example?
“I haven’t done that yet in SketchUp. At the open day of Fortes Lyceum, they had a 3D printer. They printed my name on it. Later, I want to do Technasium. Maybe I can design a house in SketchUp or a Minecraft character. Or a stand for my mum’s glasses and phone. I made that out of Lego for now.”
You’re working with SketchUp now, but are there other programs you’d like to learn to use?
“I think Scratch is fun, but I really want to design a professional game. And I’d also like to edit videos. I could post them on YouTube. For example, I could make videos about SketchUp or gaming.”
