Sketch This!

NEW HOME!

2012-02-15T21:58:00.001-05:00

If you're reading this, you've somehow stumbled on the old blog.

We've combined SketchThis.NET and this blog into one great site.

Go to SketchThis.NET/Blog to view of the blog posts, and explore the rest of the site. Thanks so much!

(update your Google Reader, or other subscription service accordingly!)

RenderIN Beta Test

2012-01-22T21:35:00.000-05:00

Through the Twitterverse the other day the RenderIN folks told me that they are having a contest to get testers for their next version of RenderIn. They are looking for 30 new testers. All you have to do to participate is download the trial version of RenderIN, render up an image and send it it. The best 30 images from users will be chosen for the beta program.

I downloaded the trial and started playing with it myself. While I have nothing yet that I would consider worthy to send it, the "Real time radiosity engine" is quite interesting. See the video below on how it works. Certainly worth a try. Click here to post an image to the contest.

2011 Year End Review

2012-01-10T20:39:00.001-05:00

It's been a spectacular year for this blog. What started out as a humble blog for Sketchup related tips has expanded into a globally read resource read by thousands every month.

Not only is this post a review of some of the high points this year, for all of the new readers it will be a great way to get up to speed on what goes on here. Consider it a "Cliff notes" or a "Best of album" for 2011. Let's jump right in!

First and foremost, there is a lot of Sketchup content from this year.

Draw Countertops with Components (Saves time!)
Save Those Components! (Learn to save components for reuse later)
Sketchup: Now with mind bending capabilities (Learn to use Shape Bender)
Shaderlight, my favorite render package for Sketchup
Jason Wu Brizo products now available in Sketchup
Apps for Sketchup? Steve Jobs is not amused (Learn to use Material Replacer for Sketchup)

There was a lot of coverage on mobile apps this year too:

Happy Trees with Sketchbook Pro for iPad (Learn to draw and paint on the iPad with this amazing app)
3DVia: View Sketchup models right on your iPad!
WebPad for iPad: Draw on someone else's computer screen from your iPad over the Internet!
JoinMe: Hear an incredible store of how this screen sharing app took our design competition global with just a few clicks.
Measure Digitally: Learn to use your iPad, iPhone, or Droid to measure an interior space
I'm Eric, and I used to be addicted to flash drives. (Learn how I kicked my addiction to flash drives with Evernote)

And lastly, everything else!

Profitting in the New Digital Age: This was a presentation I did for the Kitchen & Bath Design News Leaders Conference in Chicago
Steve Jobs has passed away
Kitchen Technology: I was challenged by Design Kula to do a review on kitchen technology. It ended up being three parts, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
LetsBlogOff: This is a bi weekly blogging challenge that I participated in. The topic? Top Gear.

And most importantly, I want to thank everyone for reading this year!

Maide: MultiTouch for Sketchup via iPad

2011-12-22T12:42:00.000-05:00

So just the other day I stumbled across this app for the iPad: Maide Control for Sketchup. Basically, what this does is turn your iPad into a giant multi touch controller for Sketchup. I have been playing around with it for a few days and so far it's pretty handy. I have yet to really use it on a hardcore modeling project, I have just been toying around with it.

The app is very well done, and setup is really easy. As you may know, I am a big fan of the 3D Connexion Space Explorer. However, as great as the Space Explorer is, it's not exactly portable. Maide allows you to make a great accessory for Sketchup out of something that you're probably already carrying around. Check out this video to see what it's all about. Maide works on both Mac and PC. If you end up trying it out for yourself, let us know how it goes in the comments.

Jason Wu & Brizo now in Sketchup!

2011-12-11T19:11:00.001-05:00

If you aren't aware of Brizo faucets, you should be. Brizo was started about eight years ago as a spinoff of from the Delta faucet company. Brizo is quite the opposite of a mass production, engineering first, design second faucet company.

Much like Apple, Ferrari, and other boutique companies they focus on the design of their products above all else. They apparently drive their engineers insane asking for the impossible. A few years ago, to further their commitment to design they partnered with Jason Wu, a then up-and-coming fashion designer. Since then, he's worked closely with Brizo developing the lastest design's in faucets.

Just recently, an entire line of Jason Wu bath products has been launched. No longer do you just get a great faucet, you get towel bars, soap dishes, cabinet pulls, and even a trash bin. All of these are made by Brizo, and designed by Jason Wu so they all look fantastic together. Want to check them out? Head over here to see them (and preorder)

How about this, do you want to see them in 3D? Well you can! Just fire up Sketchup and go to your components window (Window>Components) and punch in "Jason Wu" into the Google Search. You can get this entire line in 3D to use on your next bath model!

I am working on a bath design right now, I will be posting it later in the week.

If you use these, I'd love to see what you come up with, so feel free to post your models in the comments!

Click here to see the Jason Wu models in the 3D warehouse!

Sketchup 8 M2 Released!

2011-12-02T14:12:00.001-05:00

A new, improved and updated version of Sketchup has been released. They have fixed and polished about 150 things. If you want to dive deep, you can read them all here.

Most notably though:

Fully OSX Lion compatible (YESS!)
Ruby Scripts are now easier to install with the RBZ Extension
Advanced Camera tools now a permanent part of Pro

So if you want the new bits and bytes on Windows you can to go Help> Check for updates. If you are on a Mac, go to Sketchup > Check Web for update.

I am most excited about the Mac 10.7 Lion compatibility, all of those nasty bugs are gone.

Make your textrues even better!

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

So obviously I am a huge Sketchup nerd, but I've never been that good at Photoshop or any other photo editing software for the computer. Just because someone has a camera, doesn't mean their a photographer, and just because I have Photoshop doesn't mean I am a graphic artist.

There is hope however! You can use Photoshop, or any other photo editing program on your computer to edit your textures. That's right, beyond Sketchup's built in photo editing abilities, you can take things to the next level with a photo editor.

Even with my lack of photo editing skills, I can leverage Photoshop to clean up my textures, remove blemishes, and make nice repeating textures.

This demo will show you how to link Sketchup up with your favorite photo editor and start messing around with all of your textures. Don't worry though, I won't show you how to use Photoshop, you'll have to find your nearest graphic artist or 14 year old for that.

Put your models on a diet!

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

In just a few days we are heading into what I like to call the "Eating Season". Diets go out the window, people eat everything in sight, and then New Years resolutions usually are formulated based on this period of overeating. While I am not going to offer you any diet advice, I can show you how to put your Sketchup models on a diet. This is one New Years resolution that you'll be able to keep!

Did you know that when you model in Sketchup, every time you bring a new material, or a new component it's saved in your Sketchup model even if you delete it from your model? That's right, even if you delete a material or a component from your model, it's still taking up space when you save your model. Thankfully there is a really easy way to purge all of these left over materials and components. Click past the jump to see a short and sweet video on how to do this.

Rev A Shelf app for iOS

2011-11-16T07:05:00.000-05:00

In the past week, Rev A Shelf has released an app for iOS. This handy app has the entire Rev A Shelf catalog in it. It's fast and easy to use. With a few taps you can have any of their products displayed right on the screen in high resolution color. I noticed to that their popular items have a lot more pictures then the paper catalog, great for giving a customer details right out on the show floor.

What's even better is that all of the relevant specs are just a swipe away for every product.

Head on over to the Apple App store and get this app! It's better then the Rev A Shelf catalog, and it fits in your pocket. All for the low low price of free!

Also, and Android version is said to be on the way very soon.

Learn to use the Tape Measure tool

2011-11-10T08:59:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks I have been doing posts suggested by my Twitter friends. Corey Klassesn mentioned that he learned about the "Unglue" feature of Sketchup, so I did a post about that. Last week, my friend Arne Salvesen asked me a question on Twitter about the Tape Measure tool. I thought today would be a great time to do a little video on just that topic. I use the Tape Measure tool constantly while modeling in Sketchup. In it's basic form, it works just like any old tape measure. You can also use it to draw construction lines too. I use this feature to lay out windows, doors, and cabinets from my field dimensions.

Click past the jump to watch the video.

If you have a question on Sketchup, drop it in the comments, or ask me on Twitter!

RE RUN: Brizo VS Miami Vice

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

How can you compare Brizo to Miami Vice, and put a design software spin on it? Read on past the break to find out! If you have any questions, drop us a comment at the end of the post!

Out with the old, and in with the new!

I am sure most kitchen designers out there have seen this in their designs, using their "favorite" design program:

There's an old TV show that comes to mind whenever I see this...

Well, with the help of Brizo Faucets, Igloo Studios, and Sketchup, you can now have cool faucets like this:

How much better does that look? Even if you don't like that faucet, the beauty is in the utility, as that faucet ACTUALLY EXISTS! Yes, its a Brizo Faucet that can be found right inside Sketchup from their 3D warehouse collection. So whether or not you think its good looking or not, your client might love it!

Now, about that utility part.... This faucet does more then just put on a good show, it actually helps you out with your work... Do remember what I have been saying in the past that Sketchup is becoming your one stop place for design information? Well check out what you can get if you "right click" on this faucet and select "Dynamic Components" and then "Options":

Now this has got some important technical information in it, kinda boring, but necessary at times. The really useful and cool part is the "Product page" link in there, that brings you to this page:

Thats right, without ever leaving Sketchup you can search for, and insert Delta and Brizo faucets right into your model! Imagine doing a design with a client, and you are deciding on faucets, would you rather flip through a spec book, or show them their faucet, in their kitchen, live in 3D?! The best part too is that with the website links, all the options, and prices are right there!

Sketchup can help sell kitchens, and now it can help sell faucets! Miami Vice was good, but who really watches that show anymore?

Try these models out, open Sketchup's component browser, and search for "Brizo"

Make a smart outlet in Sketchup!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

In previous posts I have shown you how to create components in Sketchup that you can save out for reuse in new models. I have also shown you how to take components that are "glued" to walls and unglue them so you can do custom things to them.

Now I am going to show you how to make your own glued components. Sketchup has a neat feature where you can specify components to stick to a surface. For example, if you created a rug in Sketchup, you could specify that it only stick to horizontal surfaces (the floor). Or, if you created a picture frame you could specify that it only stick to vertical surfaces (walls). In this example, I am going to show you how to make an electrical outlet stick to a wall. Not the most exciting example, but you could apply this to all kinds of things, like lights, towel bars, artifacts, or even shelves. Check out the video below to see how it's done.

I'm Eric, and I used to be addicted...

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

...to USB flash drives.

That's right. What you are seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg. I had lots of these drives in circulation. I have several different computers that I work on, all in different places. I was constantly transferring pictures, documents, and files between all of them. On my best days I could keep track of what was where. When the caffeine wore off, all bets were off.

I tend to stay ahead of the curve and keep up with the latest technology. I tried all kinds of ways to keep my files in sync. I used to email files to myself, remote desktop into my "base" PC, I even have used cloud file strorage service like DropBox. As brilliant as DropBox is, in the back of my mind I always wanted something that could do more.

I wanted something that I could clip websites to, write down notes, record sound, and take pictures with my smartphone. I wanted all of this on one place, accessible anywhere. I wanted to be able to search those notes, by text, location, and keywords. I wanted to be able to access these notes from anything that was connected to the internet. I wanted to be able to share those notes with anyone easily. Well, for a long time I didn't think such a service existed until I discovered Evernote.

Evernote is the most brilliant app I have discovered this year. It has changed the way that I work. Evernote at it's heart is a cloud based storage service. You can create typed notes, store documents, pictures, files, and even recorded audio to the cloud. What can you use to create these notes? Damn near anything. They support all kinds of mobile devices (even Blackberry!), Mac's, PC's, even the web browser. Let me walk you through a typical day with Evernote:

I start out my day reading the news. Since a lot of my blog posts I write are about things in the news, I can with just a click or two, clip new articles into my Evernote. I have a special notebook just for these articles.

Later on, I may head to a jobsite and measure out a space with my iPad. There, I take the measurements with a drawing app, and I take pictures of the space. When I get back to the office I send all the pictures and notes to Evernote to a notebook labeled for that job. As I start designing the space with Sketchup, I export all the pictures to Evernote in that same job notebook. Later, I clip all the websites for appliances into the same notebook. I can even walk around the showroom taking pictures of hardware with my smartphone to add to the notebook. Now I've got all of my notes for a job in Evernote, accessible instantly from any device I choose, anywhere on the planet. Say I end up talking to the client on the phone and I am away from my computer, I can just open the Evernote app and look up all the information for the job.

Evernote has one more ace up it's sleeve: it can recognize text from pictures. Think about this, you can snap a picture of a business card and put it in Evernote. Evernote can read the text in the picture and make it searchable. I was over the moon when I discovered this. I started using it for business cards, but now I use it for spec books and all kinds of other text.

Boarding passes end up in there, parking tickets, handwritten notes, you name it! I could go on and on...

Here's what I suggest, go to Evernote.com and get this app. It's free unless you are a total upload glutton like me, and then it's $5 per month, or $45 per year for an astronomical amount of storage space. This app has literally changed the way I work. (Nope, they didn't pay me a dime to say that either)

Save Those Components!

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

I originally did this post for Useful Spaces, a blog that my fellow kitchen designer and Sketchup Geek Arne Salvessen maintains. If you haven't read it, you should!

A lot of times when you are modeling things in Sketchup, you create items that would be great to reuse later. In this video, I will show you how to turn that useful fruit bowl, picture of your favorite pet, or anything else into a component. Once you've done that, you can save it into a folder and easily pull it in to a new Sketchup model with just a click. This is a great time saving tool for any modeler at any level of Sketchup experience.

Need some carpets?

2011-10-21T08:30:00.000-04:00

The other day I was looking for some slick carpets for a design. Rather then make my own, I searched the 3D warehouse and came across this collection of Design Within Reach carpets.

These are very well modeled carpets that work great in Sketchup. Best of all they are embedded with extra "smarts" so they can be resized. Just drop on in your model, right click it, and select "Dynamic Components" and then "Options"

To find these, just open the 3D Warehouse in Sketchup and search for "Design Within Reach rug"

Enjoy!

Got a sticky component?

2011-10-17T07:58:00.000-04:00

Did you know that components in Sketchup can "glue" themselves to surfaces? Most people don't know this, but I'll bet most people have used a component that "glues" itself...

Imagine a picture frame that you got from the 3D Warehouse, when you bring it in, if it's built properly it will know that it needs to go vertically up against a wall.

Now in some instances you don't want things to glue. Check out this video below to learn what glueing is, how it works, and how to turn it off. Don't worry, it's really simple and if you've ever been frustrated by this problem, you'll find this really useful.

Steve Jobs has passed away

2011-10-05T21:08:00.000-04:00

I just got a text a little while ago from my sister, it read "Steve Jobs died, look at the news"

I didn't believe her. I checked Google News, and Twitter. There were only a few posts on Twitter, and one half-posted news article. I thought it was all fake, then I went to Apple.com and saw this:

Then something very odd happened to me, I got a little upset. We've had a lot of celebrity deaths in the past few years, Michael Jackson, and Patrick Swayze to name a few. Not that I take their deaths with a grain of salt, but I never really got upset over these deaths. I just wasn't emotionally attached to these other stars in the way that I just realized I was attached to Steve Jobs. I don't even know the hit movies in the theater, the latest tv show, and I don't even watch live sports. I have referred to Apple product launches as "My Super Bowl" on several occasions as my friends will attest. Steve Jobs has even gotten me to go off on several angry rants on this blog.

My father died of cancer several years ago. He was an incredibly smart guy who worked harder then any other person I have ever met. He would stop at nothing to get through the next hurdle or solve a problem to get ahead. My father's tireless work ethic made him very successful, and someone who I wish was still here that I could look to for advice and guidance on my own endeavors. In the days before my father passed away, he was still working. Judging by the little time that has passed since Steve Jobs resignation, and the time he died, he and my father may have shared a very similar work ethic.

Perhaps I never let myself realize this before, but my admiration of Steve Jobs and what he has accomplished in his short life, for me runs deeper the latest iPad or MacBook, it's his tireless dedication in creating one of the most amazing companies on the planet.

Steve, you've left behind a wonderful legacy that will inspire people for generations to come. You've certainly inspired me.

Chicago: Not just for blues.

2011-10-03T08:10:00.000-04:00

If you had been following my tweets, my irreverent Facebook posts, or my Foursquare check ins, you would have known that I was in Chicago last week. Normally when I go to Chicago, I like to see live music, and eat amazing food all while punctuating these events with a small amount of sleep. This time however, I was on a mission. No, not a mission from God, but a mission from Kitchen & Bath Design News.

The fine folks over at this publication have a conference every year called the Leaders Conference. They invite senior level execs and "decision makers" from all corners of the kitchen and bath industry to learn the state of the industry. We had economists and psychologists among the speakers. They also asked me to speak there. I was charged with presenting the topic "Profiting in the New Digital Age". The focus for me was to explain how our digital world is changing, and that the target customer for these companies was changing very rapidly.

In a nutshell, I had to do an hour long presentation on "being me". At first I thought this was going to be easy. I mean, I could just get up there and explain my digital life. But then I realized that I was being rather selfish, this "digital revolution" isn't about me, it's far, far bigger then that.

For this presentation to be convincing, I had to get everyone to take a huge step back and see the big picture. The digital revolution that we are in is way more about the latest smartphone, Google, or even the latest metal slab from Apple. I am not much of a history buff, but I know enough to understand that it often repeats itself. This got me thinking...

I started out my presentation with a look at the industrial revolution. This was a time of rapid development in technology and communication, something that I see going on today. Did you know that the first internet was actually a series of tubes? Well, everyone that saw my presentation knows now!

After covering a brief bit of history, I outlined some trends and behaviors that I see going on in todays society. One of these is folks that live their lives online as well as in the physical world. People today share so much of their lives online, something that ten years ago almost no one imagined would happen.

I also talked about the "Maker Instinct". Technology today allows people to build and create amazing things virtually and in the physical world. One example I used is a gadget that someone created that can solve a Rubik's Cube in 24 seconds. What I find amazing about this invention is not only what it does, but that it was created with a cheap cell phone and Legos. All stuff that you could pick up at the mall. The products used to make this amazing project were products that are "open sourced". In other words, the companies, in this case Lego and Google Android encouraged hackers to reverse engineer their product to solve unique problems.

Some other amazing changes in our world I talked about were "crowd sourcing". I outlined many examples of how companies can take part in the social aspect of the internet to get input on their products from many people really easily.

Of course I tied a lot of these concepts in with Sketchup. Sketchup has a robust API that allows people to add features to it. It has a social and crowd sourced aspect to it called the 3D Warehouse that allows people to create, collaborate and share models with anyone in the world. It is doing wonders for the design industry.

So in the end, this was a very interesting presentation to research and give. To me, what is even more amazing than all the geeky technology out there is a big shift in human behavior. If you understand that, you will understand how to "Profit in the New Digital Age" regardless if you can sync an iPod or not.

If you want to know more about this presentation, or would be interested in having me present for your company, please contact me here!

Rerun: WebPad for iPad

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

If you're reading this on Monday morning, I am on my way to Chicago for the Kitchen & Bath Design News "Leaders Conference" where I will be presenting "Profiting in the new Digital Age".

Keep an eye on the Twitter for live updates, for now, here's an older post that is still very relevant.

So to add even more awesomeness to the iPad, I have discovered a new app called WebPad. WebPad lets you draw on your iPad, live on someone else's computer screen. Ok, I realize that doesn't sound that exciting, so let me give you a real life scenario for this:

A customer called me a while back, I had been working on a design for them. There was a particular detail that I was describing to them. I had a picture in my head, and I was attempting to put it into words. Like a lot of customers, they aren't telepathic, so they didn't understand what I was talking about. If I was talking about this face to face, I would have fired up Adobe Ideas and draw out the sketch for them. In this case, I didn't have that choice.

Enter WebPad: With WebPad, I can fire it up, instantly email my customer a link. Once they click on the link, they see my iPad screen live on their screen! As I draw, it shows up on their screen. AMAZING! Virtual paper. Watch my demo live below!

Awesome Appliances

2011-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

When you are designing a kitchen on the computer, you always need to include the appliances. Most design programs have generic appliances that you can substitute for the real ones. Just make sure you have your specs handy so you can check to make sure they fit.

But wait, we're designing in 3D, why can't we do all of that at once? Impossible sounding, I know.. But it can be done. If you look through the 3D Warehouse, there are some appliance companies that have stepped up and put their products online, in 3D. Not only can you download these accurate models into your design in Sketchup, they are embedded with all that information you need. Information like dimension guides and installation instructions. Oh, did I mention that they are accurately modeled in 3D? Now you can save yourself a bunch of work, and even show your customers exactly what their appliances look like. How cool is that?

Check out below for a few appliances. Get Sketchup today and try it out for yourself!

Drawing Countertops with Components

2011-09-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

The other day I was drawing an island, and I had a symmetrical countertop. Whenever I am dealing with something that is symmetrical, I like to chop it in half, draw one side, and then mirror that half on the other side. This is a really efficient modeling technique. What if you want to change the thing you just modeled later? Do you chop it in half, fix it, and then mirror again? You could, but this takes time and is tedious. I like to use components to make this happen automagically. Check out this video to see how I do this when drawing a countertop.

As always, if you have any questions on anything you see on this blog, you can feel free to contact me on Twitter, or here!

Guest Post: Corey Klassen on LayOut

2011-09-06T23:17:00.000-04:00

Corey is a fellow kitchen designer who I have come to know over Twitter. Since being Twitter buddies, I've had the pleasure of meeting Corey in person at KBIS and Brizo's NYC Fashion week. Corey has a sharp sense of style, and an incredible grasp of Sketchup and LayOut. He teaches Sketchup classes Vancouver Canada. I have written for Corey's blog, Design Kula before, and he has wanted to write for me. In tossing around ideas, he shared with me some of his LayOut documents. As soon as I saw them I was blown away. Check out what he does below:

Presentation Plans with LayOut

As a residential interior designer, and a kitchen & bath designer, I demand a lot from my design programs. I started using SketchUp about 5 years ago (when I returned to design school, again) as a vehicle to create better ways of communicating my design program. When I made the leap and purchased Google SketchUp Pro my complete work-flow and method of communicating my design program changed.

Creating a dynamic and informative presentation package use to involve several applications like PhotoShop, MS Word, MS Excel, and AutoCAD. Not only can the licenses be costly and time consuming to learn multiple applications, but it is a very inefficient way of working. With Google SketchUp Pro, LayOut can help you achieve the same effects as all those other applications - but in one single, lower costing option. With LayOut, you can do it all.

I recently designed a kitchen for a client that presented some unique and interesting challenges. It’s a late 70’s Architectural style home with an amazing view of the public spaces from the second floor bedrooms. The challenge was to eliminate the six traffic patterns that flow right through the working triangle and actually create something interesting that represents the style of the residence. I turned to SketchUp and LayOut (as I usually do) and literally designed this kitchen right in front of the clients. I knew that communicating my ideas to the non-visual thinker clients was going to be tough.

The presentation package
I created a unique set of construction drawings that blended the standard interpretive drawings with a presentation package. You can see that the cover page is pretty standard, as far as cover pages go, but I also included the top view as the first drawing. Not only does this save an extra page, but it help give the clients and immediate and clear idea of what is being designed for them.
My second and third pages are always perspectives, but with a twist. You can see that not only have I included an interpretive drawing, but I’ve included more detailed specifications. The drag and drop functions in LayOut allowed me to insert manufacturer product images taking the interpretive drawing from design inference to design intention. Add some leader lines, fly-outs, boxes, text and you have a complete spec package right on there on the page! Who needs cut sheets?

I always try to mix up my perspectives with different views. I’m selfish, I like to save on work and provide as much overview as possible in the least amount of pages. Whenever I have an obstacle in the way, in this case an second floor and a bulkhead, I always make it a wire-frame so objects below are clear and visible. Again, saving on time and energy is my goal because no one likes to pour endless cups of coffee until the wee hours of the morning to complete a drawing package.

Using LayOut as your complete design presentation tool includes creating inspiration boards, digital material boards, case studies, site analysis, and more. There is nothing that Google SketchUp Pro can’t do. To view the complete Construction Drawing Package, you can Corey's Construction Drawing Package to open the Picsa Album.

Corey S. Klassen, ABKD BFA is an interior designer and kitchen & bath designer located in Vancouver, B.C.

about.me/coreyklassen

Hurricane Irene Relief

2011-08-29T22:10:00.000-04:00

I bumped today's story to ask all of my readers for a favor:

Hurricane Irene as we all know has come and gone, and in it's wake it's left quite the swath of damage. In my home town there was tons of flooding damage. We lost many bridges, houses were swept away, and many more homeowners find themselves with condemned homes. Brattleboro, a town just about 15 minutes from me made national headlines for the destruction that took place there.

This is some of the footage I caught myself in my home town:

Hurricane Irene Flooding Damage from Eric Schimel on Vimeo.

The damage was immense around my area. This videos are only a taste of what went on. I thought things were pretty bad until I read this post from my friend Paul Anater.

He tells a story of a place called Cat Island that he visits. These people aren't as well off as we are. After reading this story, it makes me look around and realize how lucky we are. Sure, my town and surrounding towns are beat up. We've got shelters, aid, insurance, state support, and lots of friends and family to help us out. These people on Cat Island aren't as lucky as us. Paul is turning his vacation into a mission of aid. He's already put $500 dollars of his own money into relief efforts, and I suggest you do to. Any amount will help. Perhaps skip that coffee tomorrow morning (ok, maybe the donuts and snacks) and donate. Any amount will help.

Click here to read the full story and find the link to easily donate a few bucks.

Measure: Digitally

2011-08-29T04:30:00.000-04:00

As any regular reader of this blog knows, I love Sketchup, and I also love a good app for a smart phone. Lately, I have been mashing up a slick mobile app with Sketchup. The app, called MyMeasures (available to Android and iOS) allows you to measure right on a picture. Check out this video to see it in action:

Pretty awesome right? I am working on a kitchen with an old soapstone sink that the homeowners want to reuse. I needed to draw the sink in Sketchup so that I can design a custom cabinet to go beneath it. I used MyMeasures to get the dimensions.

From this picture, I modeled this:

So, using MyMeasures I was able to capture easily all the details I needed to create this sink in 3D. The modeling took just a few minutes. Once I had the 3D model, I was able to work with it as if I was right there on the jobsite in 3D. Try doing that with 2020!

Feel free to download this model and see it for yourself!

What the bleep? (Kitchen Tech Part 3)

2011-08-19T07:11:00.000-04:00

Would you store your food in green goo? How about something that charges your cell phone with no wires? Is it the future? Some of it is, some of it you can buy right now... This post could be originally seen on Design Kula.

Electrolux Biorobot food storage device: Ok, at first glance this thing looks gross. Would you be OK with putting your food in green goo to keep it fresh? That concept might take some getting used to, but a few years ago we never thought we’d be using our phones as computers either. The idea behind this concept refrigerator is that you stick your food in the green goo, it forms pods around it, and by using the light in the room the goo stays cool and germ free. Also, since your food is separate from other items, there is no odor transfer. Interestingly, Sub Zero utilizes this same concept in their refrigerators with multiple cooling zones driven by multiple compressors. This keeps odors from moving from one area to another so your food stays fresher longer. If this goo concept were ever to come to market, there would be so many uses for it. Imagine instead of one giant food cooling area, you could have multiple “goo units” that store food at the point of use. Your wet bar could have a small area for fruit, and a main area for beverages. This could also be great in restaurant use as well.

Inductive Charging Mats: How many kitchens have you walked into that have cell phone, ipod, and game system chargers all over the countertops? We’ve got so many things that we need to recharge these days, and a lot of that goes on in the kitchen. If you’re clever, you can create a nice charging station to manage all those wires. But why manage the present when you could bring your kitchen into the future? How about wireless charging? Powermat, and Energizer make these great mats that can charge your devices by just dropping them on the mat. No wires needed. Older devices will need to have an adapter slipped onto the battery, but a lot of new cell phones are coming with inductive charging built in. Check out this video to see it in action, it’s F***ing awesome!

There is a lot of great kitchen technology out there, and this list doesn’t even scratch the surface. Consumers see more of this technology, they want it integrated into their designs. It makes sense, if they can have all this powerful technology at their desks, why should one’s kitchen be in the stone age?