a r c h i r i d z || an architecture blog

SketchUp 7 Released

2008-11-27T04:10:00.001+06:00

My favourite software Google SketchUp has come with its latest version 7. A good number of new features is added in both the free and pro edition.

Before we jump into the new features, let us have a look what the programmers worked on for this release. As the newsletter describes:

More intuitive and more powerful

Crossing lines split automatically. When you draw a line that crosses another line on the same plane, both lines are split where they meet. Most folks think this is how SketchUp should have worked from the start. Well, now it does. Say goodbye to tracing over edges to make them split.

Scale without stretching. New Dynamic Components are special: they're programmed to know what they are. When you use the Scale tool on a dynamic staircase, it automatically adds or removes steps as you make it bigger or smaller. No more stretching, no more distortion.

Configure objects with Component Options. Some Dynamic Components are hooked up to the new Component Options dialog box. Instead of breaking out the modeling tools to make a change, just choose options and watch the component reconfigure automatically. It's modeling without the mess.

Introducing the Interact tool. Clicking things is fun – especially with the new Interact tool. Some Dynamic Components can perform animations, rotate, move, resize, change color or move to a scene in your model when you click on them with Interact.

Build components that know what they are (SketchUp Pro 7). With Google SketchUp Pro 7, you can turn any component into a Dynamic Component. Endowing your models with behaviors like animation and smart scaling makes them easier for you and everyone else to use. If you can use a spreadsheet, you can build Dynamic Components.

Custom attributes (SketchUp Pro 7). In SketchUp Pro 7, you can assign custom attributes to any group or component in your model. From tracking a part number to adding your company's website url to dynamically calculating a unit cost based on a model's current configuration, attaching metadata to your models is as simple and straightforward as using a spreadsheet.

Learn more about Dynamic Components »

Sharing and Collaboration

Search the 3D Warehouse. We've added Google 3D Warehouse Search to the Component Browser, which gives you access to jillions of models (give or take a zillion) right inside SketchUp. You can also save particular searches as Favorites, making it easier to find stuff quickly later on.

Download models locally. You can save anything you find on the 3D Warehouse to your local drive, making it easy to work even if you happen to be offline. Better yet, you can download models to local collections up to a dozen at a time.

Take (and give) credit. Tag your models with your nickname so that people will know who built them no matter where they end up. And since Credits automatically keeps track of the stuff you use to build your own models, it's easier than ever to give credit to your collaborators.

Custom Templates. You can include all of your organization's proprietary Styles, Watermarks and components in a custom Template so that every member of your team has everything they need, right from the start. In SketchUp 7, saving custom templates is a breeze.

Generate reports (SketchUp Pro 7). Use the metadata embedded in your components to create tabular reports. In SketchUp Pro 7, you can export detailed lists of every named entity and their corresponding attributes in either HTML or CSV format, for use in your favorite spreadsheet application.

And that's not all! We improved the inferences to make them more visible and easier to use. There's a new area of the Status bar that tells you more about your model. The VCB is now called Measurements, and you can change its location on your screen. You can make textures unique, and choose to edit them in the photo-editor of your choice. You can apply anti-aliasing to textures to make them look better from a distance.

LayOut 2: Create professional presentation documents, fast (SketchUp Pro 7)

Work bigger with Vector Rendering. LayOut 2, now out of beta, makes it easier to work with complex models and larger paper sizes. Switch to Vector Rendering when you want clean, resolution-independent drawings. If you want to tweak the line weights a bit, you can "explode" your model to vector edges and tweak it line by line.

Explode to vectors. Right-click on any placed SketchUp model and choose Explode. Depending on how it was rendered, you'll get vector lines, raster images, or a combination of both. It's the easiest way to get vector geometry to edit directly, hands-down.

Long live Measurements. You know the little text box in the lower-right corner of the SketchUp modeling window? The one you use to enter dimensions, angles and other stuff? Now you can key in numbers in LayOut just like you do in SketchUp. Be accurate to your heart's content.

Curves are fun again. Its boring name notwithstanding, LayOut 2's new-and-improved Line tool has superpowers. It's simple and intuitive, and it incorporates everything you already love about SketchUp's inference system. Try it and you'll see -- it's like taking off your mittens to tie your shoes.

Editable paths. Double click any shape in LayOut 2 to edit its control points. Drag any point onto an adjacent one to make the first one disappear. Hold down Ctrl (Option on a Mac) to add a point or make a smooth curve pointy. Reshape any curve fluidly by dragging its handles. Delicious, no?

Move, rotate and scale. We've completely redesigned LayOut's geometric manipulators to be easier to use and to stay out of your way. You can move, scale and rotate anything on your page without changing tools, and the new "heads-up" display helps with accuracy as you work.

Export to images. Need JPEGs or PNGs of your pages? LayOut 2 includes direct export to these formats, which saves you from having to use another tool to rasterize your PDFs. We suggest using your extra time to do something for yourself. Maybe buy a hammock.

In-place Group edit. Use the Select tool to double click a group to edit its contents. You can move, scale, rotate and copy/paste inside the group, then click outside to go back to the rest of your file. No more ungrouping and regrouping just to make a change.

Improved Text. For LayOut 2, we've fixed problems and added some new functionality for text. You can now create both bounded (confined to a box) and unbounded text, depending on your need. Text can be aligned to top, bottom, left, right or center within its bounding box, both vertically and horizontally.

And that's not all! We made improvements to almost every corner of LayOut in its first non-Beta release: Styles handling, text editing, layer visibility, toolbars, presentation mode, overall stability, view performance, memory management -- you name it, we made it better.

Learn more about LayOut 2 »

Style Builder: Make your own sketchy-edge Styles (SketchUp Pro 7)

Turn models into sketches. Showing a hand-drawn sketch does two things: It abstracts detail so you and your client can talk about what's important, and it communicates that your concept is open for discussion. With Style Builder, you can create personalized sketchy Styles that tell the story of your design.

Brand your models. The Styles you create with Style Builder are completely unique. When you apply them to your models, you'll have computer models that look like you made them. After thirty years of CAD, isn't it about time everybody's drawings stopped looking the same?

Use any medium at all. Your Styles can be based on any mark you make, in any medium. Marker, pencil, crayon, burnt stick, technical pen, ballpoint, gouache, smudgy finger, pen and ink, highlighter... You get the picture – anything.

Learn more about Style Builder »

If you're really interested in details, take a look at this article on the Help Center.

It seems quite impressive to me. I have downloaded the free version, and its speedy than before and yeah, the new features are cool. I'm sure you'll love working with it.

Download SketchUp 7 free or Pro from here.

Next design project: Beach Restaurant

2008-10-31T17:01:00.000+06:00

Writing after quite a long time! Actually getting busy again with studies and life. Our next design project is Beach Restaurant. Already we have visited the site at Cox's Bazar. It was a short but nice trip at Cox's Bazar. We collected information about the site and studied the existing restaurants to have a good idea about the site. On this term climatic comfort is emphasized in our design, so we have to ensure a good healthy and comfortable situation in our designed form.

Satellite view of the site:

By the way, for those who doesn't know, Cox's Bazar is one of the strong competitor for the New 7 Wonders of Nature . Currently it is in number 3 position. Please vote for Cox's Bazar which is the largest sea beach of the world.

Watch this video made featuring Cox's Bazar:

Some photos taken by me at Cox's Bazar:

To see the full album, click here and yeah, don't forget to vote for Cox's Bazar!

Eid Mubarak!

2008-10-02T12:42:00.002+06:00

Today is Eid! Eid Mubarak to everyone!!

Since this is Eid, that means my Eid vacation is going to be ended soon :( Still I haven't prepared my Climate Report, got all the infomations though from my group mate. I got to work with it, but not feeling like doing so. Wish me luck!!

Ah.. vacation!

2008-09-23T21:47:00.003+06:00

My Eid vacation has been started. Having a long vacation after a long. My classes will be started hopefully from 11th of October. Though its a vacation, but I have several work to do. I have to prepare my Climate Report for my next design project. Its a group work where each group will prepare report on a single climatic condition. We are going to work on Monsoon. Hoping to get the text ready from my group mate soon, then I'll be preparing the layout with necessary diagrams and graphics.

The Eid will be on 1st or 2nd of October (depends on moon sighting). Want to enjoy this vacation. Then again the old, but not so bad, life. Our next design project is not officially announced yet. Unofficially we came to know that it could be Bank or an Art Gallery. I would love to design an Art Gallery more than a Bank, cause I think there is a better chance of doing interesting work with the Art Gallery. Anyway, let's see what happens!

My 2-2 project: Vacation Home

2008-09-09T02:16:00.014+06:00

I have just completed my 2nd term of level 2. Had a great Jury on last 4th instant. Our project of this semester was "Vacation Home". My design was appreciated. My Presentation Sheet and 3d renderings were appreciated a lot as well. Teachers told me to give them the soft copy of my Presentation sheet and the 3d views.

Here goes the project details:

Project Name: Design of a Vacation Home.
My Concept: Vacation Home is Like an Aquarium.
Project Duration: 3 Months
Level 2 - Term 2

Some of my 3d renderings are here. I used Sketch Up, Kerkythea and Photoshop for completing the rendering.

Here goes my Presentation Sheet

World's first shape-shifting skyscraper

2008-09-08T02:46:00.007+06:00

When I first saw the news in newspaper, I was amazed. An ambitious plan to build a revolutionary 420-meter shape-shifting skyscraper in Dubai have been unveiled by Italian architect David Fisher.

The 80-story Dynamic Tower, described as the "world's first building in motion," will also be the first skyscraper constructed from prefabricated units, according to a press statement released by New York-based architect David Fisher's Dynamic Group.

Each floor would be capable of rotating independently, powered by wind turbines fitted between each floor.

"You can adjust the shape the way you like every given moment," Fisher said. "It's not a piece of architecture somebody designed today and that's it. It remains forever. It's designed by life, shaped by time."

Fisher said that plans to build a second rotating skyscraper in Moscow were at an advanced stage and that the group intended to build a third tower in New York.

Fisher has called prefabricated construction techniques the "future of architecture" and says they will radically transform 4,000-year-old "brick-on-brick" building methods.

By using preconstructed parts, Fisher said each story could be built in just seven days, resulting in environmentally cleaner building methods.

But some have expressed skepticism. Fisher has never built a skyscraper before. He says he has teamed up with reputable architects and engineers in the United Kingdom and India.

Although he has received a development license for construction in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, he has not disclosed the site of the building. The Moscow mayor's office said that it was looking into the project and that a decision had not been made.

Source: CNN