[Plugin] SketchUp Blog

SketchLife - SketchUp to Second Life

2009-07-15T18:08:00.004-04:00

Sketchlife is a system which allows you to model for Second Life using SketchUp.

Updated Construction Line Tool

2009-07-13T16:24:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Henry Schorradt, who modified my Construction Line Tool so that it no longer creates multiple CPoints at the same location.

[ Construction Line Tool | Blog of Henry Schorradt ]

Plugin: BTM Sculpt Tools

2009-07-11T07:00:00.001-04:00

Sketchucation member BTM created a powerful new toolset for sculting meshes directly in SketchUp. This plugin fills an often-requested feature set and is very much appreciated by the SU community. The toolset includes vertex pushing, pulling bulging, and smoothing.

Download and discuss the plugin here.

Plugin: RoundCorner by Fredo6

2009-07-10T10:44:00.004-04:00

The most recent plugin from Fredo6. Performs 3D operations called by various names such as: bevel, round-over, bullnose, fillet, chamfer, radius.

RoundCorner performs the rounding of the edges and corners of 3D shapes along a 2D profile, in 3 modes: Round corners, Sharp corners and Bevel.

Download and Discussion on Sketchucation Forums.

Pachube SketchUp Plugin

2009-07-09T07:12:00.002-04:00

Pachube (pronounced "patch bay") is a web service that enables you to connect, tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices, buildings and environments around the world. [read more]

Pachube has a plugin for SketchUp which allows access to Pachube data (i.e. sensor and environment data) in Google SketchUp.

[ tutorial (download) and video ]

Plugins by TIG

2009-07-08T07:44:00.006-04:00

TIG's super extrudeEdgedByEdges plugin allows you to create surfaces from 2 curves.

[via sketchucation forums]

This plugin is only the most recent for the prolific author. Be sure to look for more outstanding plugins from TIG.

SketchUp Transformation Tweening Animation Videos

2009-06-24T11:51:00.003-04:00

These 2 quick demo videos show Groups being animated in Google SketchUp.

Although the motion is most noticeable, it is not strictly the position that is being animated - each Group's Transformation is being tweened from the initial to a target Transformation. This means it should be possible to tween rotation and scaling of the Group also. The rotation is also shown in the videos, but the scaling is not working yet.

The first video shows a 'quad in/out' easing, and the second a 'back in/out' easing.

The animations are slow because my computer is old.

Updated GreyScale Plugin

2009-06-22T10:11:00.022-04:00

Sorry for the re-post - Picasa ate my images.

GreyScale

I have updated my GreyScale plugin to include a new mode called "Front Face". Front Face is similar to SketchUp's Monochrom mode, except that textures remain and are color-matched to the Front Face color.

Normal Colors and Textures

Here is a model as normally viewed.

Model in GreyScale Mode

In GreyScale mode, all in-model colors are saved, then their color values modified to a greyscale equivalent. Note the textures are still visible, but their colors have been modified to shades of grey.

Front Face Mode

Now, if we set the Face default color using the Style Dialog...

Now we switch the the plugin's Front Face mode, you can see the colors and textures all take on the same color as the Face default color set in the Style dialog. Again, very similar to SketchUp's Monochrome Face Style, but textures are kept visible.

Revert Selected Colors

When in either GreyScale or Front Face mode, you can right-click on a painted or textured object and Revert the material to it's original value for highlighting.

Notes

A model can be saved in either GreyScale or FrontFace mode with no problems. When re-opened, the model will be in the same mode it was saved in, so check the Mode in the menu to reset the original color values.

For FrontFace mode, once the mode is selected and the in-model colors modified, you can continue to change the Front face color without changing the in-model colors again. This way if you have elements that are untextured and uncolored, their color can be changed using the Font face default color.

I can see the use in this, but I lack the talent to demonstrate it. So here is a link to a sketchucation forum thread showing how some very talented people are using it.

Smustard.com

Finally, with this update I have signed up with the great people at smustard.com to offer this updated version for sale at a very reasonable price.

Thank you for understanding that it takes time and effort to create these plugins.

Buy GreyScale here.

-- Jim

Embeded 3D Models from 3D Warehouse

2009-06-21T14:15:00.005-04:00

It is now possible to embed any 3d model on Google's 3d Wharehouse on a web page.

Here is my Spiral Stair Dynamic Component Demo. It is a try at making the handrail completely dynamic. This demo is close, but not quite there yet. And below that, the options dialog for all the stair settings.

To include a model in your web page, first visit the 3d Warehouse page for that model. Then near the bottom, click the Include link, and select the 3d Option. Copy and paste the code into your web page.

SuRDebug Update v. 1.2.47

2009-06-18T12:16:00.002-04:00

Sketchucation member pecan has just updated his SketchUp Ruby GUI Editor/Debugger with the following upates:

Added KeyMacs text key macro recorder/player
Added KeyBinder to define/store user hotkeys/shortcuts key definitions
Find/Search fixes and conveniences
Added Ruby Abbreviations code insertion (see Preferences)
Data Tooltip fixes.
Added Ruby Beautifier (see Tools menu)
Many fixes to code errors and annoyances.

Visit his Google code project here: Google Code Wiki

Point Merger Tools

2009-06-17T17:00:00.002-04:00

BTM make his Ruby debut with a neat set of tools to merge points.

Here are 2 links to the demo videos:

Merge Points

Merge to Lines

Check them out - they could save you a lot of work if you work with terrains.

City Gen SketchUp Plugin

2009-06-07T10:34:00.006-04:00

City Gen is a SketchUp Plugin project initiated by SketchUcation moderator Remus Knowles.

Some of the initial design goals included:

Module design to make adding features easier.
Rapid build-up of roads and buildings.
Possible dynamic level-of-detail depending on proximity to an object.

The project is in the early stages, but still does a couple of useful things - mainly creating roads from color-coded lines.

City Gen is an open-source project with the code hosted using Google Code, with general discussion hosted on the SketchUcation CityGen forums. There is a City Gen Blog, too.

The model below shows a building generator module for City Gen which I am currently ironing out.

Lego Architecture

2009-06-04T13:07:00.008-04:00

I'm sure many of you have seen the new architecture series coming from Lego.

I was curious about the size of buildings. Assuming the bricks in this image are standard bricks, then this is about the actual size of this model.

I posted a .ldr file here.

SketchUp Fillet/Round-over Plugin

2009-06-03T18:22:00.009-04:00

Fredo is working on an addition to the Round by Bezier plugin. The results look like what you would get if Follow Me worked in 3 dimensions. Can't wait.

Podium 1.7 Beta Released

2009-06-03T08:10:00.003-04:00

A beta version of Podium version 1.7 is out. It features blurred reflections and an expanded Podium Wizard.

Get it here.

Official - Save $100 on Google SketchUp Pro

2009-05-30T12:04:00.003-04:00

Helen put together a promo code that knocks $100 US off the price of a new single-user Pro license (it's normally $495). European and UK customers save 20%, which works out to about the same thing.

Good until June 19th.

via Official Google SketchUp Blog

SketchUp to Blender Armature Creator

2009-05-30T06:45:00.000-04:00

But I had a brilliant idea the other day:

Make it easier to add the armature to Blender and to assign groups to bones in the armature.

[WIP/Experiment] X's - SketchUp to Blender Armature Creator

LightUp v1.5 available

2009-05-29T11:57:00.000-04:00

Some hilights are:
- Color & UV animation
- Metal shader mode
- GUI improvements
- Better Proxy support
- Cubic image generation
- IES improvements

via LightUp

The House That Jeff Built

2009-05-28T08:46:00.000-04:00

Jeff Lummis recently finished a great little Lego house (set #4956) with his daughter - he sent pictures.

He thought some readers might like to build it, and I thought that was a cool idea too. So, trying out my plugin, I was able to load SketchUp with all the parts needed to build this set (except this one part.) The plugin fetches the Peeron page for the set, parses out the part #, quantity and color, and then populates the model with Components.

The plugin needs a SketchUp library of components whose names match the part number in the inventory. I have about 100 parts of the library finished, and will be making it available with the plugin.

This is a publicly-editable model, so download it, work on it, and upload your changes. (I reserved the right to approve changes.)

When it's finished, I would like to test another part of the Lego plugin - creating build instructions from the model. At first I thought printed instructions were what I wanted, but why not just use SketchUp - the SketchUp model IS the instructions.

By using Scenes, you can step through each step of the build. In a model like this (bottom-up), the steps can be mostly automated because each vertical layer of bricks can be assumed to be a step. And that is exactly how this image was created.

Deck

2009-05-27T20:41:00.001-04:00

Image of a deck I drew up some time ago now.

New Cadyou.com Model & Texture Search

2009-05-27T09:57:00.003-04:00

Tom of cadyou.com has created a new 3d model and texture search application that searches 13 sites for models and textures.

The search returns thumbnail links of the models and textures, and has some great sorting and filtering options.

Give it a try - it works well, looks nice, and is a real time-saver if your searching assets.

Modelur - a SketchUp tool for parametric urban design

2009-05-26T14:08:00.001-04:00

Besides being available for Microsoft Windows, the updated version now installs on Apple Mac OS X also and can be downloaded as a part of our Pre-beta Partner Program free of charge. Due to a great response to our initial release and thanks to help of our prebeta-testers, we can now provide three additional (Portuguese, German and French) translations of the Modelur user interface.

http://www.modelur.com/

Kitchen Images

2009-05-25T12:39:00.004-04:00

Old and new images of a kitchen exercise made for learning. Large and small variations of similar views. Images created using SketchUp, Podium, Kerkythea, and Picasa.

Small Lego Gallery

2009-05-22T17:13:00.008-04:00

I created these images while writing the ldraw importer - sort of as a "screen test" for Lego parts in SketchUp. Nothing terribly interesting, but there they are.

I was going to post the model also, but I seem to have lost it. Oh well, here's Obi Wan and Luke's Landspeeder:

Sketchup Sun Position Plugin Version 1.0

2009-05-20T12:42:00.005-04:00

Gabriel wrote in to announce his new Sun Position plugin:

Here is a Sketchup plugin which will draw the path that the sun travels for one day. It does this by first calculating the sun's position at the moment the plugin is run and then adding one half hour and redrawing it repeatedly until 24 hours have passed.

Nice plugin and thoroughly documented.

Thanks, Gabriel.