Prepare your SketchUp model

SawWise is designed to work with models saved from SketchUp Free. It works best when the model is organised like the real project: one group or component for each physical piece. Good model structure matters more than decorative detail.

Model physical pieces, not just shapes

A physical board or panel should be a group or component. For example, a cabinet might contain separate components for each side, shelf, rail, door part, and back panel.

Loose faces and edges at the drawing level are left out of purchase and cut lists because there is no clear way to know which piece they belong to.

Tip: If loose geometry is a real piece, group it in SketchUp and import the model again.

Use repeated component instances

When several pieces are identical, make one component and place repeated instances. SawWise counts effective placed instances, including repeated instances inside assemblies.

Groups work too, but components make repeated quantities and names much easier to follow.

Repeated parts may appear on separate rows when they have:

• Scaled or mirrored instances.
• Similar components with different dimensions.
• Components copied into several nested assemblies.
• Instances with different material assignments.

This split is handy when pieces look similar but are not actually made the same way.

Nested assemblies and leaves

You can organise a project into assemblies such as Door, Drawer, or Leg frame. SawWise follows nested component and group instances and treats the final leaf pieces as candidate parts.

A leaf is a group or component with no further grouped or component parts inside it. The assembly container itself is not added as another cut part. This prevents a complete door assembly from being counted in addition to its rails, stiles, and panel.

Keep decorative or reference objects out of manufacturing assemblies where possible. If they remain, exclude them deliberately during review.

Hidden objects: Hidden objects may still be imported. Use Exclude from cut list for anything that is in the model but not part of the build.

Plan one assembly at a time

Open Work items after import when you only want to build part of a model. You can select one or more top-level or nested assemblies, and SawWise combines their leaf parts into one cutting session. Reset to whole project restores the normal complete-model plan.

If a model contains assemblies as well as leaf parts at the top level, SawWise flags those loose parts for review. You can assign several of them to an assembly at once or confirm that they are genuinely separate work items. This assignment changes planning only; it does not edit the SketchUp file.

Work-item choices are remembered in this browser for the recognised project. Review the active scope before buying material, especially after changing the SketchUp hierarchy.

Rectangular bounding boxes

SawWise derives dimensions from each part's bounding box: the smallest rectangular box aligned with that part's model axes that contains its geometry. It sorts those dimensions to reason about thickness, width, and length.

This works nicely for clean rectangular solids. You may want to enter a manual blank size for:

• Angled or skewed pieces.
• Curves, arches, circles, or organic shapes.
• Parts with notches, cut-outs, holes, or projecting details.
• Components whose local axes do not describe the intended manufacturing orientation.
• Rough blanks that differ from the modelled finished shape.

SawWise only plans rectangular stock and panel cuts, so treat an irregular part's dimensions as a suggested rectangular blank.

Dimensions and materials

Model the size you want SawWise to report. If you like to cut blanks oversize for trimming, planing, or jointing, enter that larger size as an override or put it in the model.

Clear component, instance, and material names help SawWise offer better suggestions. If different names or faces give mixed clues, the part is simply highlighted for you to choose.

Tip: Names such as 18 mm birch plywood side are easier to review than Group#24, even though dimensions still drive much of the initial stock matching.

Supported files

Save or download the .skp file from SketchUp Free, then import that file into SawWise. Files from other SketchUp editions can also work, although paid-edition users will likely find the OpenCutList extension a better fit. Some unusual model structures or material assignments may not be supported.

A quick model check

1. Make each cut piece a group or component.
2. Give useful names to parts and materials.
3. Count repeated pieces and look for accidental duplicates or scaling.
4. Check sheet thicknesses and timber cross-sections.
5. Save the .skp file and import it.
6. Compare the resulting quantities and dimensions with the model.

Continue by learning how to review detected parts before selecting stock.