3D Modelling for Dummies

I've been frustrated for some time due to the fact that 3D modelling tools blow my mind!

I was good in high school geometry, I can program in 3D (OpenGL, VRML) -- but when it comes to the tools... the construction metaphor just escapes me. I get the primitives, sphere, cylinder, metablob -- but putting them together and creating something that looks more sophisticated than a snowman is beyond me for some reason.

I'm not alone in this. I was chatting with Loz and he finds the tools equally perplexing even though he's been a 2D designer for ages.

I was thinking if only there were something that was along the lines of Adobe Illustrator but extended into the 3rd dimension.

Finally, I found something (thanks to the magic google keywords of 'simple' and 'powerful') -- Sketchup.

It's exactly what I need. Not something that will produce photorealistic 3D scenes, but rather something I can quickly use to put down some ideas and animate them.

I recommend everyone give it a try -- there's a free trial download and tutorials on the site.