think it's key to having a successful event. If I come and learn about a feature of SketchUp that I didn't know about, it's kind of like a new feature, at least for me. I hope that makes sense.

CatchUp: You may have heard some chatter about this in the SketchUp Community Forums, a 3D Basecamp-like event to be held in Europe. What are your thoughts about this, do you think Google would support it and are you in general favorable of an event organized by the community instead of Google itself?

Aidan Chopra: When we launched the website for 3D Basecamp 2008, I honestly didn't know what kind of response we'd get. As a free, on-campus event at Google, I knew there would be interest, but I didn't ever think that more than 4000 people would sign up in six days. To be honest, part of me hoped that only 300 people would add their names to the list. That way, we would be able to invite everyone, and there wouldn't be any disappointment. That didn't happen, so now we're left wondering what to do for the thousands of people we can't accommodate.

That's why I'm so happy to hear about the SCF's efforts to organize another event, no matter where it is. Since this 3D Basecamp is in North America, I think it's perfectly reasonable to hold another event someplace else, and since so many of the SCF community is based in Europe, I think that would be a great place to start. Basically, anything that provides opportunities for SketchUp users to get together is something I endorse wholeheartedly. And in general, community-

initiated undertakings are a lot better than ones planned by the establishment -- even when we're the establishment : ) With respect to official Google support, I think it would be safest and most productive to plan an event that can succeed without any involvement at all from Google, then invite us to participate in whatever capacity you think would be most beneficial. While our enthusiasm is great, our resources (human and otherwise) are limited. It's not that I don't think we'd help in any way we can -- it's just that the simpler things are, the faster they progress. And a lot of us really, REALLY want to attend the first non-Google, SketchUp event as soon as possible.

CatchUp: Last question for this interview: Will there be future 3D Basecamps and are you also thinking about doing similar events in Europe and perhaps other places around the world?

Aidan Chopra: It all depends on the success of the 3D Basecamp we're having next month. Of course we want to have as many of these events as it takes for everyone to be able to attend one, but they're big, complicated and expensive undertakings. All I can say is that we would love to have more 3D Basecamps and that we would prefer to have them all over the world. We'll do what we can to make it happen, but first, we have to get through the one in our own backyard : )

Aidan's SketchUp for Dummies book is distributed by Wiley Publishing and can be found in most popular bookstores and of course on Amazon dot com here.