SketchUpdate

Organic modeling made simple with Curviloft

2012-01-26T11:48:00.004-07:00

The process of extruding one 2D profile such that it ends in another, different 2D profile is often called lofting. There’s no easy way to do this in plain ol' SketchUp, but there are plenty of plugins that make it possible. The one I’ve been obsessed with lately is called Curviloft; it's by the venerable Fredo6. If you need to learn about plugins in general, including how to install them, visit the plugins page on our website.

Curviloft lets you do three basic operations; which one you use depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. For the sake of brevity (and simplicity), I’m going to focus on only the first operation in this post: Loft By Spline.

The Basics

Let’s say you have two profiles that you want to connect together. The example below is super-simple: It’s a circle directly above a square. Here, I want to connect the two with a shape that goes directly between them. Curviloft’s Loft By Spline tool was made for just this kind of thing.

I start with two flat profiles (shapes) positioned one above the other.

Fredo6's Curviloft plugin includes three handy tools. This post deals with the first one: Loft by Spline. To use it, you need two or more profiles. These can be closed shapes (as above) or simple, unconnected edges (see the end of this post for an example).

With nothing selected, I activate Loft By Spline and click once on each shape. Because there are only two, it doesn’t matter which shape I click first. If there were more than two, I’d click in the order that I want to connect them, starting at either end. When both profiles are numbered, I click the green checkmark in the Curviloft toolbar (see below). This brings me into Preview mode, where I can see what I’m about to end up with.

Activate the tool, then click on the profiles you'd like to use as the endpoints for the shape you're trying to create. When you're done, click the green checkmark to enter Preview mode.

The Curviloft toolbar is complicated; there’s no getting around it. The good news is that you don’t have to understand what all the controls do in order to use the tool. In Preview mode, you can just click things to see what happens. There's no shame in experimentation.

The Curviloft toolbar is a doozy, but you can (and should) click buttons to see what happens. Every case is different, and some settings look better than others.

When you perform a Loft by Spline operation with Curviloft, the tool is generating two different kinds of geometry which it later combines. Intermediate profiles (left) are "in-between" 2D shapes spaced between the profiles you start out with. Splines (right) are lines that connect adjacent profiles together. They can be straight or curvy, depending on the settings you choose.

I like to fiddle with the Spline Method settings first (see below). This is where you control the shape of the vertical lines (splines) that connect the two profiles—in this case, the circle and the square. The three options that I find give the most interesting results are “Junction by connected lines”, “Bezier curves – Respect tangency (Method 2)” and “Junction by Orthogonal Bezier Curves”. By all means, try the other buttons, too; there’s gold in them thar hills.

Different settings usually produce fairly different results. Click around until you like what you see.

Playing with the Vertex Matching controls also yields some useful options (see below). Here, you’re telling Curviloft how to decide which points on the perimeter of each profile should connect to one another. In this case, the circle has 24 endpoints and the circle only has four. The tool does its best to figure out the intermediate geometry, but the Vertex Matching settings let you provide guidance. For me, the most interesting button is the one on the far right; often, deselecting “Orientate contours to their best-fit box” seems to produce better results. Click it a few times to see what happens.

To be honest, I really don't understand what these buttons do. I have eyes, though, and I can tell what looks good and what doesn't. I bet you can, too.

When you’re satisfied, hit Enter on your keyboard (or click the green checkmark on the toolbar) to finish generating the result.

I'm delighted every time I do one of these operations. Modeling this "by hand" would take so long that I doubt I'd even bother attempting it.

Cool variation #1: Twisting

While you’re still in Preview mode, clicking on black part of your preview object opens yet another set of controls. The Properties of the Edited Junction window shows you more information about the connections in the operation you’re doing. My favorite widgets here have to do with twisting; they let you rotate either of your profiles (in this case, the circle and the square) by 15 or 90 degree increments. The result is an insanely cool twisting effect. Click the little right and left arrows and you’ll see what I mean. Addictive, no?

Twisting 3D forms is one of those things that SketchUp modelers have resigned themselves to never being able to do. When I discovered this functionality in Curviloft, I got up and danced around.

Cool variation #2: Offset profiles

Loft by Spline works great on profiles that aren’t lined up perfectly, too. Below, I’ve moved and rotated the circle.

Your profiles don't have to be directly on top of one another to use Loft by Spline.

Again, trying different Spline Method settings produces pretty wildly different results.

Using straight splines connects the profiles in a very direct manner. Choosing a curvy spline method produces a much jauntier shape.

I dare you not to waste an afternoon playing with Curviloft. The other two tools in the set let you loft along a path and "skin" connected profile edges, but Loft by Spline is pretty powerful on its own. Remember that Curviloft is donationware, meaning that if you like it, you can contribute to its author; you'll find an option to do so in the Curviloft menu after you install it.

Here are some quick examples of shapes I whipped up while I was working on this post:

Both profiles are identical, but I used the twist options to spiff things up a little.

Lofting between a complex profile and a simple one can be tricky, but the smooth transition that ensues is always lovely. Rocket? Tree trunk? Bicycle handlebar grip?

Your profiles needn't be fully-enclosed faces. Try lofting between arcs and other edges to produce all kinds of things that would be painful to model without Curviloft.

I used Curviloft to model parts of this queen I'm making. Some of us on the SketchUp team are collaborating on a 3D printed chess set.

I've written about a couple of Fredo6's other terrific plugins in the past. RoundCorner gives you the ability to quickly and easily create rounds and fillets on almost any shape. FredoScale is a toolkit for stretching, bending, twisting and otherwise deforming your models in incredibly useful ways.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

Google Earth 6.2: It's a beautiful world

2012-01-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

[Crossposted from the Google Lat Long blog]

We're taking bird's eye view to a whole new level with the latest version of Google Earth, released today. With Google Earth 6.2, we’re bringing you the most beautiful Google Earth yet, with more seamless imagery and a new search interface. Additionally, we’ve introduced a feature that enables you to share an image from within Google Earth, so you can now simply and easily share your virtual adventures with family and friends on Google+.

A seamless globe
The Google Earth globe is made from a mosaic of satellite and aerial photographs taken on different dates and under different lighting and weather conditions. Because of this variance, views of the Earth from high altitude can sometimes appear patchy.

Today, we’re introducing a new way of rendering imagery that smoothes out this quilt of images. The end result is a beautiful new Earth-viewing experience that preserves the unique textures of the world’s most defining geographic landscapes—without the quilt effect. This change is being made on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Earth. While this change will appear on all versions of Google Earth, the 6.2 release provides the best viewing experience for this new data.

Grand Canyon before and after

Sri Lanka before and after

Share your explorations with Google+

Google Earth is a great way to virtually explore the globe, whether revisiting old haunts or checking out a future vacation spot. With the Google Earth 6.2 update, we’ve added the option to share a screenshot of your current view in Google Earth through Google+. If you’ve already upgraded to Google+, you can share images of the places you’ve virtually traveled to with your Circles, such as family, friends or your local hiking club. To try this new feature, simply sign in to your Google Account in the upper right hand corner of Google Earth and click “Share.” Images of mountains, oceans, deserts, 3D cities, your favorite pizza shop on Street View—you can now experience all these amazing places around the world with people on Google+.
Search improvements

We’ve also made some updates to the search feature in Google Earth. Aside from streamlining the visual design of the search panel, we’ve enabled the same Autocomplete feature that’s available on Google Maps. We’ve also introduced search layers, which will show all the relevant search results (not just the top ten), so now, when looking for gelato in Milano, you can see all the tasty possibilities. Finally, we’ve added biking, transit and walking directions, so if you’re itching for a change of scenery or looking for a new route for your regular commute, you can now use Google Earth to generate and visualize all your options.

Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager, Google Earth

CustomMade: A community design marketplace

2012-01-23T10:27:00.001-07:00

Here’s an interesting twist on our Make Ideas Real project: sometimes great designs aren’t your ideas. The good folks at CustomMade.com have developed a marketplace that connects roll-up-your-sleeve makers with people who have project ideas they want to bring to life. (Editor's Note: CustomMade is part of the Google Ventures portfolio.) Have an idea for a one-of-a-kind armoire? On CustomMade there are about 3,000 contractors who can help you bring that idea to life.

"Kari’s Armoire," contracted, designed and sold on CustomMade.com, Michael Colca

Of course, if you’re one of those designers and you find yourself competing with 2,999 others, affordable and efficient design software is a pretty key resource. Enter SketchUp. CustomMade’s CEO Mike Salguero recently shared a few compelling projects that were brought to life using SketchUp:

White Oak and Wenge coffee table, Jon S Manss

Sure enough, SketchUp plays a critical role in not just the design of CustomMade projects, but in the collaborative conversations between clients and artisans. Jason Hernandez, of Jason Andrew Designs, uses SketchUp to fuel the ideation and iteration process between clients and contractors: the end result, a project that both parties can buy into.

Posted by Mark Harrison, Community Manager

Message from CustomMade.com
Have you started designing your dream project with SketchUp? Post a project description on CustomMade’s “Get it Made” job board and upload .skp files as attachments. Artisans interested in building your custom project will have the chance to experience your inspiration in 3D and contact you. Let the collaboration begin!

New Book: SketchUp for Game Design

2012-01-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve yet to meet a SketchUp modeler who doesn’t—at least just a little bit—want to work in the video game design industry. I get a stupid grin on my face when I think about how much fun it it would be to make battle tanks and exploding oil drums and secret doors for hidden basements full of zombies. In the gaming world, boring things like gravity and cost take a backseat to novelty and sheer coolness.

But how to turn your SketchUp habit (and job cranking out toilet stall details) into days full of armor design and wandering through bad neighborhoods looking for interesting photo-textures to shoot?

Google SketchUp for Game Design is Robin de Jongh’s newest book; he also wrote SketchUp 7.1 for Architectural Visualization. It presumes that you’re a SketchUp beginner, but then quickly gets on to the good stuff:

Finding good resources for photo-textures
Using Meshlab to convert your models in useable 3D game assets
Working with the Unity 3D game engine (which is widespread, free-or-low-cost middleware for designing game levels)
Creating high-quality textures for games
Adapting your models for use in video games
Authoring custom levels
Modeling low-poly game assets (including cars) and selling them online

Robin’s writing is accessible and easy to follow. He packs a lot of information into each page, but manages to keep the tone friendly and even funny at times. While the book’s in black and white, color versions of the images are available from the publisher’s website.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

What would you 3D print?

2012-01-11T12:00:00.001-07:00

It’s easy to see why 3D printing has captured the imaginations of modelers around the globe -- it’s captured ours as well! Being able to hold what you’ve modeled in your hand brings a new dimension (no pun intended) of understanding and usefulness to the 3D design process.

We’re curious to learn more about what SketchUp users want out of 3D printing: if you were going to (or already have!) print a SketchUp model, what would it be? Take a couple minutes to let us know.

Posted by Mark Harrison, Community Manager

The strengths of autism shine in 3D

2012-01-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

About 8 years ago, the SketchUp team started receiving some pretty intriguing calls: parents of children on the autism spectrum were calling to let us know how SketchUp was changing their kids’ lives. People with autism tend to be unusually strong visual and spatial thinkers, and it became clear that SketchUp plays to those strengths. With that bit of information (and help from the Autism Society of Boulder County), we launched Project Spectrum with a single goal: connecting the autism community with SketchUp.

For some children on the spectrum, especially those who are nonverbal, SketchUp serves as a way to communicate allowing them to share their thoughts through images. Other kids learn life skills that help them to achieve educational and career goals they might not have even aspired to before SketchUp. It seems SketchUp builds self-esteem since these children are able to model circles (and squares) around their neurotypical peers.

Certified SketchUp instructor Steve Gross teaches two children how to use the SketchUp at an iSTAR camp.

It was these anecdotes that inspired Cheryl Wright, Associate Professor in Family & Consumer Studies, at the University of Utah, to study the SketchUp/autism connection in detail. Cheryl and her team have hosted several SketchUp camps, called project iSTAR, for dozens of children with autism. Here's a short video intro to the program:

Cheryl’s team studied hundreds of hours of video of campers, and last month they published a paper in the Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal outlining their findings. While the camp set out to develop a skill set that could lead to potential employment, Utah researchers found several added benefits, such as stronger interpersonal relationships and greater confidence due, in large part, to a focus on the kids’ talents instead of their disorder. Cheryl explains, “[The campers] talents are often invisible. In our program, we provided a platform for their talents to shine.”

This, of course, is only a taste of the study’s findings, and we encourage you to read the team’s article to learn more. Lastly, we’d like to thank the University of Utah for helping us, and the world, understand how we can better prepare children on the autism spectrum for success. We look forward to continuing to forge new learnings that will enable us to touch more lives.

Post by Tom Wyman, Project Spectrum

Make Ideas Real: Projects for You, Projects for Me

2012-01-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Reviewing the hundreds of designs that SketchUp users have submitted to the Make Ideas Real project, we’ve noticed that a large number of submissions could be described as “useful.” (Shocker right? People design things for a reason!)

For some folks, “useful” means a project they’ve designed and built for their personal use. For instance, these two submissions are great examples of (small and big) personal projects modeled on SketchUp:

Bird's Eye Maple Side Table by Chris Donaghue

Tool Shed by Gary Watson

“Useful” also means creating something of value for other people, and then actually selling it! Consider the Kapsule Lightstand, a lighting accessory for the Amazon Kindle, designed by Jonathan Hirschman of the NYC SketchUp User Group. (PS You can actually help fund this project through Kickstarter!).

Kapsule Lightstand by Jonathan Hirschman

We were also impressed by this Apple cord holder from Dean Heckler of Heckler Design:
another Kickstart project with great design, and also a great design story:

Whether you design projects for yourself or for the rest of the world, we want to see what you’ve created. If you have a SketchUp model that has become reality, add it to our Make Ideas Real collection!

Posted by Mark Harrison, Community Manager

Santa Claus is coming to town... find out where with Google and NORAD Friday

2011-12-23T09:14:00.002-07:00

[Cross-posted on the Official Google blog]

It’s that time of year again! The stockings are hung by the chimney with care and Google and NORAD are ready to answer the question of “where?”

NORAD’s tradition of tracking Santa on Christmas Eve started in 1955, when a Sears and Roebuck ad promoting the Talk-to-Santa hotline inadvertently sent callers to CONAD (NORAD’s predecessor) commander-in-chief’s operations hotline. After recovering from the surprise that the call was not from the Pentagon or the White House but instead a little boy inquiring if the commander was Santa Claus, Colonel Harry Shoup asked his team to check their radar for signs of Santa’s sleigh and a tradition was born.

The Santa tracking tradition has grown over the years and today it’s also possible to track Santa using Google Earth and Google Maps on the NORAD Santa site, and on your mobile phone as well. Starting tomorrow (Saturday, December 24) at 2:00 a.m. EST, visit www.noradsanta.org to follow Santa’s journey from the North Pole to homes all over the globe. This year there are many ways to keep tabs on Santa’s sleigh, no matter how quickly it moves:

Follow Santa on Google Maps: Visit www.noradsanta.org to see where Santa is currently flying and where he’s headed next on Google Maps. Click on the video icons to watch “Santa cam” videos from all over the world, and the gift icons will display information about each city along the route.
Watch Santa fly in 3D with the Google Earth plug-in: If you have the Google Earth plug-in installed on your computer, you can track Santa’s location in 3D and see him deliver presents everywhere from the mountain villages of the Swiss Alps to the white sand beaches of Hawaii.
Track Santa from your mobile phone: Follow Santa on the go by searching for [santa] on the Google Maps for mobile app.
Get updates via social media: The NORAD team will be posting updates about Santa’s flight throughout the day on December 24. Follow them on Google+, Twitter or Facebook for live updates.
Subscribe to the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel: All “Santa cam” videos will be posted on the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel as they’re captured. You can also watch a recap of Santa’s 2010 trip. Check back often for updates!

Santa flying over London in Google Earth

NORAD Tracks Santa is a special project near and dear to all of us involved. I started working on the program seven years ago and it’s been a thrill to watch it grow over the years. Recently, I was given the opportunity to speak at TEDActive about the origins of NORAD Tracks Santa and how Google has brought this to life in Google Earth.

I’d like to thank all of Santa’s “elves” that helped out across Google and NORAD far and wide. Happy Holidays!

Posted by Bruno Bowden, Lead Google Engineering Elf

3DOn ARchitecture: Augmented Reality for iOS devices

2011-12-22T01:00:00.003-07:00

Paul from 3DOn Ltd. presented at an event I attended a month or so ago. After his presentation, I asked him if we could tell the SketchUp community about his product, 3DOn ARchitecture. He said yes, but at the time the app was only available in the UK. Now it’s available to SketchUp users all over the world. Hooray!

3DOn ARchitecture is an augmented reality app for architects. It allows you to upload your SketchUp models and view them on an iPhone or an iPad in three different modes. Preview mode lets you overlay your model onto a photograph of your site. Walk mode lets you explore your model inside and out, and On-site mode lets you view your model in situ—in real time.

3DOn ARchitecture can be downloaded for iPhone (3GS or later) or iPad. For more information, you can visit the 3DOn website or follow the 3DOn team on Twitter.

Posted by Chris Cronin, SketchUp Sales Team

SU Walk: Photorealistic animations for SketchUp

2011-12-16T10:28:00.002-07:00

Sometimes a SketchUp model is only as good as its presentation. Users often take advantage of render plugins to add realism and detail to their work. But to truly illustrate the power of a 3D model, nothing beats a video. To that end, Cadalog, Inc., the makers of SU Podium (a popular render plug-in) have introduced a new plugin, SU Walk.

With SU Walk, you can create beautiful, photorealistic animations from your SketchUp models. Key features include:

Photorealism. Apply reflections and lights directly inside SketchUp.
Keyframe animations. Export a variety of formats including .mp4 and .avi.
Weather environments. Choose from clear sky, moving clouds, rain, fog, even moonlight to add realism to your animation.
Speed. Polygon reduction makes camera movement in the scene very fast.

Here is a video of SU Walk in action:

Several more examples and tutorials are available on SUPlugins YouTube channel.

SU Walk costs $129 for a single license, but discounts are available for bulk purchases, educators and owners of SU Podium V2. SU Walk works with Google SketchUp 7 or 8 and is currently Windows only, but a Mac version is upcoming. Learn more: suwalk.com.

Posted by Gopal Shah, SketchUp marketing

Sketch-a-Space contest deadline extended

2011-12-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Easter Seals has extended the contest deadline and will now be accepting Sketch-a-Space entries up until January 13th, so there’s still time to enter.

To refresh your memory, this year's competition is focused on drawing attention to the employment needs of individuals with autism. The idea is simple: use SketchUp to design a space that represents your dream job, career interests or plans for future employment.

The contest is open to all, so submit your entry soon for a chance to win up to $3,000.

Posted by Gopal Shah, SketchUp marketing

Skelion: A solar energy design plugin for SketchUp

2011-12-13T16:00:00.001-07:00

Skelion was designed to make working in SketchUp quite a bit easier for solar professionals. It features the ability to automatically insert solar panels on SketchUp surfaces. Because the developers are solar professionals themselves, I have a feeling others in the industry will find this plugin quite useful. I had a chance to ask one of Skelion’s developers some questions:

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Well, I am Sam Jankis, industrial engineer and co-developer of Skelion, although my partner is the real code developer of the plugin: Juan Pons is a Spanish engineer and programmer. Skelion was born in July 2011 after two years of development. It is a plugin for Google SketchUp that allows you to, among other things, insert solar panels on surfaces automatically.

Why did you build Skelion?

Skelion was developed to automate the design of solar systems using Google SketchUp. The goal was to do all the design work we were doing, but automatically. Now we can do with four clicks what we were doing in four hours. Skelion reduced considerably our average time expended on doing layouts and energy production reports of solar systems, and allowed us to multiply by four the preliminary studies we could do.

How does it work?

Basically, you select a surface where you want to insert solar panels and click on the solar cell logo. A menu appears that asks you about tilt and orientation for the panels, the type of panel, and a shading range for a given day. Photovoltaic panels can be selected from our database or you can create your own, and they can be placed in portrait or landscape orientation. After that, the plugin automatically inserts the solar panels on your selected surface. It also works with irregular surfaces. For more information, take a look at our video tutorials.

What are your goals for the plugin?

The goal for Skelion is to become a standard design tool in the solar industry. We believe that as soon as solar designers get familiar with the plugin they are going to love it—as we do.

How can SketchUp modelers try Skelion?

They can download the plugin from our download page. The Free version includes the most powerful feature: the automatic insertion of solar panels. With the Pro version, you get some interesting and useful features such as energy reports.

Posted by Chris Cronin, SketchUp Sales Team

SketchUp Pro Training Schedule: Jan/Feb 2012

2011-12-12T15:41:00.002-07:00

Our Jamuary and February 2012 SketchUp Authorized Training Center schedule is now available. The map below contains information on specific locations, dates, and courses provided:

View in a larger map

Posted by Shara Rice, SketchUp Training Team

Making your models more useful with Trelligence Affinity

2011-12-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Some architects begin new projects by creating a “bubble diagram” that turns the program — the list of space requirements for a building—into a set of shapes. Mostly, these diagrams are useful for figuring out adjacencies and loose spatial relationships. They’re really about translating information in spreadsheets into something that can begin to inform decisions about space, form, structure and all the other good stuff that makes buildings worth building.

Over time, we’ve seen an awful lot of architects use SketchUp Pro as a tool for making more-accurate bubble diagrams. They create “rooms” whose areas match the ones in the program, group each one, and arrange them three-dimensionally. The results aren’t buildings, per se—I prefer to call them shoebox models. They can be very useful, but there’s a catch: once a room changes size, there’s a disconnect between the spreadsheet (which is what the client is asking for) and the nascent design.

That’s where the SketchUp interoperability in Trelligence Affinity comes in. Affinity is Windows software made specifically for the architectural programming and schematic design phases. It includes neat tools for visualizing program information in different ways and using that information to guide your design. The new Affinity plug-in for SketchUp lets you easily connect your shoebox model to Affinity, creating a permanent connection between the model, the spreadsheet and all the underlying data about the building requirements. Forgot to include a conference room? Inadvertently doubled the size of the cafeteria? Affinity will let you know. The workflow is actually bi-directional; you can begin in either SketchUp or Affinity.

You can start with a programmatic massing model in SketchUp. I like to think of these as 'shoebox models'.

Scanning your model with the Affinity plugin assigns it useful metadata.

In Affinity, you can view the scanned SketchUp model in different ways.

The architectural program in Affinity can be linked to your SketchUp model.

This video tells the story quite nicely:

To download the plugin and get more information, check out the plugin page.

Posted by Chris Dizon and Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Team

The more the merrier: Introducing Sketchup Ur Space

2011-12-07T16:35:00.006-07:00

One of my new favorite sources of SketchUp inspiration and information (inspormation?) is Sketchup Ur Space. A virtual smorgasbord of articles, tips, forums and imagery, this website is sure to make you smile. There’s a monthly PDF magazine, too. The creator of Sketchup Ur Space is Debarati Nath, an India-based writer who shared some information about herself and the new site:

What am I doing in the arena of 3D?

My name is Debarati Nath and I have done a degree in Mass Communication. Well, I am not a geek, in no terms so, when I started out working with SketchUp I had only one consoling factor. I had read that SketchUp – a 3D designing tool is for every person and not for geeks alone. Indeed after working with SketchUp for some time now I have realized that even a common person can draw anything from a nail to Burj Khalifa using this designing tool. Thus my work soon became my passion and I wanted to promote the thought of SketchUp to the common masses and of course to the 3D designers all around the world.

Sketchup ur Space Magazine Gets Its Own Website

I joined the company SketchUp 4 Architect as a content writer last year. Our company was outsourced SketchUp work and we started out by launching our magazine on www.sketchup4architect.com. This magazine is published in two versions flash and pdf. Soon the magazine became immensely popular and we decided to launch an independent site for the magazine. With this idea the www.sketchup-ur-space.com was launched in March 2011.

Progress of Sketchup ur Space as an Editor

In the earlier days the magazine had to travel through troubled waters. Many hardships had to be borne. But soon the magazine earned me many friends. Our journey was made smooth thanks largely to the help and support from Jim Leggitt, Bonnie Roskes, James Hanningan, Nomer Adona, V-Ray/Chaos Group, AR Media and many other friends.

Goals That Push Us On

Our motto is same as SketchUp. We want ‘everyone to experience the power and fun of building their ideas in 3D’. Sketchup ur Space always wants to lend its helping hand to the budding SketchUp designers by providing various tutorials, tips and tricks. We want to be a piazza for all the SketchUp artists all over the world. We would like to provide them a common platform to share their views and opinion. Newbie as well as renowned SketchUp artists, geo modelers, architects and SketchUp writers are featured in our magazine. Recently Sketchup ur Space had organized a SketchUp Competition to boost the SketchUp spirit of young designers with V-Ray/Chaos Group to mark our first anniversary.

Hope that you can add more power to SketchUp and help to make it best designing tool. Connect to Sketchup ur Space Magazine and be a part of our future vision.

LET US HELP DESIGN 3D DREAMS NOT WITH SUPPOSITION BUT WITH PRECISION!

I love that last sentence—I’m thinking about having it tattooed on my forehead.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

Ideas Made Real: a Wine Bar, a Trebuchet, a Skate Park, a Movie Model...

2011-12-07T09:52:00.004-07:00

In November, we launched the Make Ideas Real project with the goal of creating a showcase of the best SketchUp work from around the world. To build out this showcase, we asked you all to share stories of how SketchUp is helping you to turn your ideas into something tangible. The response has been overwhelming.

In just one month, our launch video received nearly quarter million views and several hundred of you took the time to tell us your SketchUp story. Your positive reaction and the quality of the work you’ve shared with us is inspiring, but to truly blow out this showcase, we need to hear from even more of you.

If you haven’t yet told us your SketchUp story, share it now by filling out this form. If SketchUp has helped you turn an idea into reality, we want to hear about it.

And for your inspiration, here are just a few of the hundreds of quality submissions we’ve received so far:

Wine Bar design by Bertier Luyt of France

More images (See! You can use SketchUp to build a wine bar.)

Scout Trebuchet by Peter Leroux and friends of South Africa

More images | 3D model | Ropes and Poles blog

X Games Street and Park Courses by Dug Ketterman of California

Dug's website

The Machine by Evan Seccombe of California

A re-imagined prop from the film Contact, 3D printed

Posted by Gopal Shah, SketchUp team

Another important update for SketchUp 8

2011-12-01T10:30:00.008-07:00

In the world of software, the designation “M2” refers to “Maintenance Release #2”. Maintenance releases are mini-versions that come out between major updates. They aren’t really about flashy new features; they’re more like tune-ups for your car; squeaks and rattles get fixes, tires are rotated, fluids are changed. You get the picture.

It’s been a few months since we released M1; since then, we’ve collected a fresh batch of performance tweaks and bug fixes—over 150 of them, in fact. M2 is a free update for all users of SketchUp 8 and SketchUp Pro 8 in all 12 languages. The best way to get it is to open SketchUp and do this:

Windows: Choose Help > Check for Update
Mac: Choose SketchUp > Check Web for Update

Having stated that maintenance releases aren’t always flashy, we couldn’t resist adding a few shiny, new things that we think you’ll appreciate:

Better Ruby Script Installation

We’ve had a way for other folks to build SketchUp plugins and extensions for years. Anyone with coding skills can use the Ruby API (application programming interface) to whip up new tools that they can distribute any way they like. People have created thousands of great scripts—we consider the API one of the most useful things we’ve done.

The tricky part has always been teaching SketchUp modelers how to install and access the Ruby scripts (Rubies) that they want to use. Adding a sophisticated Ruby used to involve finding a specific folder on your system and putting a bunch of files in all the right places. Try explaining how to do that to your boss.

The Extensions panel in SketchUp Preferences has a new button...

In SketchUp 8 M2, we’ve added two features that should make using Rubies a whole lot easier: The first is a new button on the Extensions panel in SketchUp Preferences. Clicking it lets you install any properly-configured ".RBZ" (ruby zip) file, which puts the needed files into the correct spot, without having to dig around in your computer’s file system. It’s simple, but huge. We’ve also added a lightweight set of “hooks” in the API that should help scripters build their own script-management tools.

Better COLLADA

All versions of SketchUp 8 can read and write COLLADA, a 3D file format that works with lots of other 3D software. It’s managed by the Khronos Group, an industry consortium that decides which features COLLADA should support. As of M2, SketchUp’s import/export support for COLLADA is now compliant with over 90% of the official Khronos compatibility test suite, only leaving out support for animations and shaders—neither of which can be authored in SketchUp anyway.

We think you’ll like SketchUp 8 M2’s ability to seamlessly import and export clean and compliant COLLADA geometry. One particular thing to note: SketchUp now preserves texture names in exported files. This makes it easier to work with COLLADA files in 3rd party rendering tools.

Advanced Camera Tools included in Pro

Back in March, we announced the Advanced Camera Tools for SketchUp Pro 8. The ACTs let set designers, cinematographers, storyboard artists and other people in the entertainment industry work with simulated real-world cameras in their SketchUp models. Until now, the ACTs were a separate plugin that you had to install. In M2, they’re built right into every copy of SketchUp Pro 8.

More Straightforward Pro Trials

After you download and install SketchUp Pro, you can try all of the Pro features for 8 hours (of use) before deciding to buy a license. Up until now, we’ve simply switched off the Pro stuff if you don’t enter a license after the trial period. Effectively, Pro reverted to being just like regular ol’ SketchUp.

The problem was that lots of people didn’t realize that they weren’t actually running Pro anymore. Even worse, folks who had bought Pro licenses and had forgotten (or otherwise been unable) to activate those licenses were missing out on all the great stuff they’d paid for. Our Pro Support team has been fielding dozens of “Why can’t I import a CAD file?” questions per day. It’s been a bit of a mess.

Starting with SketchUp 8 M2, the SketchUp Pro Trial will no longer revert to “free mode” when the trial period expires. A separate version of SketchUp will still be available to download for free, but SketchUp Pro will require a valid license file to run after your trial period has expired.

Mac OS 10.7 Compatibility

Users of Apple’s latest operating system, take note: SketchUp 8 is fully compatible with your hardware. And I ain’t lion. Rawr.

Posted by John Bacus, SketchUp Product Manager

Here comes Santa Claus

2011-12-01T09:13:00.001-07:00

Cross-posted from the Lat Long Blog

Whether you know him as Père Noël, Weihnachtsmann, Babbo Natale, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus, there’s a chance you’re anticipating a visit from the jolly old man this December 24. Although he goes by many different names, the magic he brings to the holidays is felt by children and adults celebrating Christmas all over the world.

Growing up in Lawrence, Kansas, I have fond memories of racing to the tree Christmas morning to see what Santa left during his stop in my town. Sometimes it took a lot of work to stay on the right side of the “naughty or nice” list, but Santa came through for me every year.

Like most traditions, this one has evolved over time. Now, in addition to racing downstairs to their stockings, children can follow Santa online on his annual trip from the North Pole to their chimney. With NORAD Tracks Santa, children and families can watch Santa as he delivers presents all over the globe (with a little help from the North American Aerospace Defense Command). If you haven't yet followed this tradition in your family, we'd like to invite you to join us this Christmas Eve.

The countdown to track Santa begins today. Visit www.noradsanta.org the entire month of December to play holiday games and learn fun facts about NORAD and Santa. Set a reminder for 2 a.m. EST on December 24 to start tracking Santa in real-time on the website using Google Maps, and in 3D with Google Earth. If your phone is handy on Christmas Eve, you can also search for [santa] on Google Maps for mobile to track his journey on the go.

Wherever you are, we look forward to counting down to the holidays with you at www.noradsanta.org. Be sure to finish all your holiday shopping in time so you can join us for the main event on December 24.

In the meantime, to get into the Santa tracking spirit, follow NORAD Tracks Santa on Google+ and enjoy a few highlights from last year’s journey in this video:

Posted by Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering, Google Earth and Maps

SITEOPS: Conceptual design for land development

2011-11-30T16:16:00.004-07:00

Back in architecture school, I once had to lay out a parking lot for a building I was designing. What a terrible, terrible exercise in nitpicky details and perpetual re-arrangement. The solution I came up with accommodated all of four Smart cars and a unicycle. Awful. If only I’d had access to a tool like SITEOPS from BLUERIDGE Analytics.

SITEOPS is conceptual land development software for folks like architects, civil engineers, landscape architects and land developers. After you’ve brought in a site, you can combine building footprints with critical elements like parking, islands and driveways. These elements are parametric, meaning that they re-draw themselves on the fly as you change aspects of your conceptual design. SITEOPS even provides budget tools for estimating the cost of a project.

Want to see what a parking layout might look like if your building were on the other side of the site? As you slide it over, the parking lot automatically reconfigures to maintain the proper number of spaces. Too cool. This short video shows SITEOPS it in action:

Realizing that lots of their users are also SketchUp devotees, the good people at BLUERIDGE have added an Export to SketchUp button to their product. It lets you figure out the complicated stuff in SITEOPS, then visualize your project in SketchUp. It’s available to SITEOPS customers who have also purchased the Grading and Piping Module. These pictures tell the story better than words can:

This is a view of a 2D site layout in SITEOPS.

A 3D image of the same site in SITEOPS' Grading and Piping Module.

The site after it's been exported to SketchUp. The model includes all of the 3D topographical information from SITEOPS.

Here’s a video that features a couple of SketchUp users talking about their impressions of SITEOPS’ new SketchUp integration:

Update: The folks at BLUERIDGE Analytics are offering a free webinar about using SITEOPS with SketchUp Pro. It's scheduled for 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012. Sign up if you're interested—the webinar also carries 1 PDH or 1 LU.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

Getting a better view of small interior spaces

2011-11-22T15:09:00.003-07:00

When you’re modeling a small room, it can be a pain to see what’s inside. The problem is that the walls and ceiling get in the way. One solution is to lop off the ceiling and work in a top view, dollhouse-style. Other folks set up scenes from the interior corners and adjust their Field of View to something super-wide like 90 degrees.

Looking at a small interior space from the outside isn't very rewarding.

Deleting the ceiling and switching to a top view is useful, but fiddly.

Standing in the corner and making your Field of View really wide is just weird. What are you—a housefly?

Both of the above techniques work—to a point. Personally, I think it’s like trying to read a book through a keyhole. By far my favorite method for working on small interiors is to make use of SketchUp’s ability to have faces with different materials on each side:

The face separating Susan and Sang is yellow on one side and green on the other.

Creating a completely transparent material and painting the green side makes it see-through.

The Entity Info dialog box shows that the selected face is yellow on the front and see-through on the back.

By painting the outward-facing surfaces with a see-through material—one whose opacity is set to 0%—I can see in from the outside. Super useful, super simple.

Here, I painted all of the outward-facing surfaces with a transparent material. Notice that the interior surfaces still look opaque?

Orbiting around my model, I can see through all of the walls. I can even see through the floor.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

Announcing the 2012 Google Model Your Town Competition

2011-11-10T11:00:00.001-07:00

Following the success of last year’s Google Model Your Town competition, today we're launching the second Google Model Your Town Competition. Model Your Town is about geo-modeling – making photo-textured models of real-life buildings that appear in Google Earth. The Model Your Town Competition is also a chance to celebrate your town by adding it to the 3D map. Of course, the USD$25,000 for a local school/district is a nice incentive too.

Barranco, Lima, Peru

The Model Your Town Competition is open to just about everyone, just about everywhere in the world. Form a team, model buildings (using SketchUp or Building Maker) and upload them by the end of February 2012.

You can model as many structures as you like – which types of buildings you choose to include is entirely up to you. The important thing is that your choices say something about the character and history of your town.

If your town wins, a bunch of us from the SketchUp team will visit, throw you a dinner party and do our best to make you feel like the local hero that you truly are. Check out the competition website for details, and start rounding up teammates!

Here's some inspiration by way of the 2010 winner, Jorge De Albertis, from Lima, Peru (just to get your creative juices flowing):

New to geo-modeling? Learn more at Your World in 3D, then get started modeling your town!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Google Geo team

Introducing Maxwell for Google SketchUp

2011-11-09T17:58:00.001-07:00

Among rendering die-hards, the name “Maxwell” has long been synonymous with jaw-dropping realism. Maxwell Render’s makers have offered a SketchUp-to-Maxwell solution for a few years, but it required modelers to have access to Maxwell Render Suite—the full, standalone version. For SketchUppers on a budget (or who only need to make the occasional rendering), this wasn’t an ideal arrangement.

A delicious Maxwell render by Rune Skjøldberg.

To accommodate more people, the folks behind Maxwell have just released something they’re calling Maxwell for Google SketchUp. It’s a dedicated photo-renderer, based on the venerable Maxwell rendering engine, that operates entirely inside of SketchUp. Best of all, it has the Big Three qualities going for it:

Cross-platform. It works on both Windows and Mac systems.
For both free and Pro. It works on both SketchUp and SketchUp Pro.
Two entry points. There are free and licensed versions available.

As you can see in this straightforward feature matrix, the free version allows you to render in Draft mode and limits your resulting image to a resolution of 800 pixels. The Licensed version adds Production mode (faster rendering of complex lighting) and increases your maximum output resolution to 1920 pixels. At only $95/75€, the paid version is a bit of a bargain.

Another render by Rune Skjøldberg showcasing multiple light sources.

If you’re looking for all the bells and whistles and extra pixels that Render Suite offers, the “bridge” plugin for sending your SketchUp model to R.S is still available. So really, SketchUp modelers who want Maxwell’s delicious, unbiased results have three options. And they’re all good ones.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

New Getting Started Videos for SketchUp

2011-11-03T21:28:00.006-06:00

Our Official Training Videos have been responsible for teaching literally millions of people to use SketchUp. Concepts of SketchUp, the first video in the old series, has been viewed over 7 million times. Collectively, people have spent something like 40 years watching that video. That’s a lot of popcorn.

As popular as they were, our old videos were getting a little long in the tooth; they showed SketchUp 6. We decided that they should be remade, so we locked Tyson in a closet with a computer and a pile of army rations. It worked—our new training videos are not only current, they’re gorgeous. With Tyson’s scripts and visuals (and Alex’s melodious narration), getting started with SketchUp has never been easier. Here they are, in order:

One more thing: We didn’t stop at the videos. We gave the whole SketchUpVideo YouTube Channel a facelift. With helpful navigation menus in the upper-left corner, a new masthead and a big, blue Download button right at the top, SketchUp’s home on the world’s biggest video sharing site is now a whole lot lovelier. Pop on over when you get a chance.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

How do you make ideas real with SketchUp?

2011-11-02T09:51:00.001-06:00

Every week, two million people use SketchUp to breathe life into their ideas. The resulting 3D models get made into houses and schools, movie sets and aquariums, bridges, robots, and furniture. The sum total of all this work represents a larger, yet untold story of how the SketchUp community is profoundly shaping the world around us.

Well, it’s time for all you unsung SketchUp heroes to stand up and take a bow, so today, we’re kicking off the Make Ideas Real project. The result of this initiative will be an innovative, online showcase that does justice to the impact SketchUp users are having on the physical world.

But we need your help to pull this off.

Make Ideas Real with SketchUp

Here’s how you can pitch in: Use this form to tell us your SketchUp story. Send us an image of a SketchUp model with an accompanying photograph that shows your completed project. Anything goes for subject matter; architecture, archeology, industrial design, construction, woodworking, personal fabrication, model railroading, mousetrap design — as long as SketchUp helped you make it, we want to see it. Professionals, semi-professionals and proud amateurs are all welcome.

Here are three examples of what we mean:

City Lights Residence, Steve Oles

SKPR Bot, John Bacus

Stand Up Desk, Dave Richards and George LaRue Downing

Over the next few months, we’ll curate the submissions we receive, and in 2012, we’ll launch a special showcase of SketchUp users who are reimagining the spaces we inhabit. Please share your story with us, so we can share it with the world.

Posted by Gopal Shah, SketchUp team

SketchUp Halloween Challenge: The Best Entries

2011-10-31T03:00:00.003-06:00

Lots of you entered the SketchUp Halloween Challenge, and the results are impressive. In no particular order, here are our favorite entries:

Haunted Houses

Haunted Chapel by Sebastian Sosnowski of Wrocław, Poland
SketchUp and Twilight Render | Model | More Images

Mansion RB by tubero44 of Granada, España
SketchUp and Photoshop | Model | More Images

Haunted House by KonZawad of Morąg, Poland
Only SketchUp | Model | More Images

Casa Tétrica by Ronald of Perú
Only SketchUp | Model | More Images

Arris House by Arris Di Donato of Italy
SketchUp, Photoshop and Paint.net | Model

Haunted Farmhouse by Debi Long of Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
Only SketchUp | Model | More Images

Skull Chapel by Tomasz Szular of ZIelona Góra, Poland
SketchUp and GIMP | Model | More Images

Haunted Castle by Robert Waldo Brunelle Jr. of Jericho, Vermont, USA
SketchUp and Photoshop | Model | More Images

Zombies on Hunted House by Mosen of Brazil
Only SketchUp | Model | More Images

Apparitions and All Ghouls Haunted House(s) by visionvision of Ithaca, NY, USA
SketchUp and Photoshop | Model | More Images

Ghost Home by Kian Lind of Lago Vista, Texas, USA
Only SketchUp | Model

I see dead people! by Jorge De Albertis "Auquicu" of Lima, Peru
SketchUp, GIMP and Google Earth | Model | More Images

The Old RR Depot by Scottio of Newtown, Connecticut, USA
SketchUp, IDX Renditioner and Photoshop | Model | More Images

Haunted House Contest 2011 TMM by Thomas Mutch of Coral Springs, USA
Only SketchUp | Model | More Images

Hallowed Haunts by Pat Hannigan of Philadelphia, USA
SketchUp and Photoshop | Model | More Images

Spooky House by alsomar of Valencia, Spain
SketchUp and Photoshop | Model | More Images

Jack-o'-Lanterns

Three Friends a Greeting by Sebastian St.Troy of Austin, TX, USA
Only SketchUp | Model | More Images

Space Invaders Jack-O'-Lantern by Mike Ford of Surrey, UK
Only SketchUp | Model

Mario Jack-O'-Lantern by Mike Ford of Surrey, UK
Only SketchUp | Model

We Come In Peace by Mark Hammari of Modesto, USA
SketchUp and Shaderlight | Model | More Images

Abóbora Hallowen by Josianny Silva of Belém, Brasil
SketchUp and Microsoft Office Picture Manager | Model

Jack-O'-Lantern in Memoriam by Rachel of Florida, USA
Only SketchUp | Model

As for our top three in each category, we'll announce those in the next edition of the SketchUpdate newsletter. We're still open to suggestions, incidentally; please feel free to use the Comments to vote for your favorites. Thanks to all those who participated, and have a very happy Halloween!

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist