I'm new to Rhino and need help!

I have previously used Sketchup and wanted to model with accuracy to create drawings for 3d prototyping. I am untutored and used my intuition to make some drawings using symmetrical arcs which are very accurate and am now not able to shade the drawings, or when I experiment by making another drawing, shade a part, a box for instance, I then can’t turn the shading off once I have done it. My drawings are reasonably complicated and have some straight lines as well as arcs. I have used control points. When I try to shade the drawings the lines disappear and the control points remain. I don’t know anyone else who is using the Rhino for Mac so any help would be appreciated.

Not sure what you are trying to do. Show some screenshots or add a model, if you want help. I never used Sketchup, so I can’t compare.

It sounds like you made some curves but didn’t make any surfaces using those curves. W/o surfaces there is nothing to shade. Dig through the help file and tutorial on basic surfacing to get yourself started. The help file is very instructive.