Not a fan of Sketch up

If you could bear to have one more try with Sketchup, I would recommend Swamp Road Woodworks tutorials at http://www.srww.com/google-sketchup.htm. They are produced by Joseph P. Zeh, a cabinetmaker, are excellent and show the occasional errors and corrections as he does a working demonstration of how each task is performed on a typical woodworking project. I actually left my PC to download each tutorial so that I could get on with other things, and then view/review the lessons when convenient.

I had also tried Sketchup previously and given up a couple of times, but watching these tutorials enabled me to get the program working well. The breakthrough for me was the idea of making each solid object a component, so that other parts could be drawn and moved without them attaching themselves to something already drawn. Putting the components on their own layers also meant that they could be displayed or hidden as required. The 'overhead' in creating components on layers seems tedious at first, but soon becomes second nature and takes only seconds, but gives enormous benefits - in my opinion.

Don't laugh but I too have tried various programs through the years and here's my final solution to it all:



You'll notice the Vemco arm, left handed at that. I know the advantage of computer programs that allow you to make changes without having to do the drawing all over but for me, drawing the project manually lets me "build it in my mind" which I find saves a lot of time in the shop. Of course, I can't rotate, add textures and shading, but in the end, this is what works for me.
This desk is made of Andirobe and spalted Maple. The area below is where I keep my reference books. Being able to stand up and work is a big plus for me as well.