SketchUp Plugins and Blog: 2008

Vue 7 Pioneer Open Beta

e-on software is running an offer to download a beta version of Vue 7 Pioneer free of charge. Vue 7 Pioneer is the entry-level version of the popular Vue landcape/3d environment creation software.

The free Open Beta of Vue 7 Pioneer has the following limitations:
# Picture size is limited to Full HD (1920x1080) and pictures carry a Vue 7 logo*
# You cannot load 3D models**
# Vue 7 Pioneer is for home use only. For commercial use, please consider Vue 7 Esprit or higher.

* You can lift these limitations with the RenderUp module - read more here

** You can however load the locked content you get from Cornucopia3D, or you can create
your own models using the Vue 7 Pioneer modeling tools - read more here

[ Vue 7 Pioneer Open Beta ]

SketchUp Survey: PowerTools

Google SketchUp would like to know which/what kind of tools they could add to SketchUp to make it more powerful.

Survey Here - Tell them what you think.

Build a Model, Earn a CD from Popular Woodworking

Popular Woodworking is asking for user-contributed SketchUp models of projects that have been featured in past Popular Woodworking articles. If your model is selected for their 3D Warehouse collection, you get your choice of one of their free annual CD's.

[ Popular Woodworking ]

New Plugin: BoolTools

Dale Martens released his newest SketchUp plugin for performing Boolean operations with Groups/Components. Operations include union, intersection, and difference.

Available for $10 at smustard.com.

AR-media™ Plugin v1.0 for Google SkecthUp™

The Development Lab of Inglobe Technologies, an italian
company specialized in the development of immersive
platforms of Virtual and Augmented Reality, released a new
Plug-in for Google Sketch-Up based on their Augmented
Reality platform, ARmedia. The platform allows users to mix
both real and digital content in a completely new way, which
also turns to be surprising and, most of all, useful.
With ARplug-in, Google Sketch-Up users are allowed to
visualize their 3D models directly in the real physical
space which sorrounds them. In a very precise sense, through
ARplug-in, Sketch-Up 3D models can be visualized out of the
digital workspace directly on users’ desktop, by
connecting a simple webcam and by printing a suitable code.
The Plug-in provides users with an advanced visualization
functionality which serves two main purposes:
study and analize scaled virtual prototypes in real environments;
communicate 3D projects immersively and astonishingly.
All you need to make ARplug-in work is a personal computer,
a webcam and a printed code attached to the software. For
optimal functioning, a Dual-core PC with a standard graphic
card for 3D videogames are recommended.
The Plug-in is available at low cost and can be bought and
downloaded online directly on the website of Inglobe Technologies.

http://www.inglobetechnologies.com/en/products/arplugin_su/info.php

Gingerbread houses and Podiumn 1.6

The Official SketchUp Blog is kicking off a new modeling challenge for the holiday season. No physical prizes for this one, just the glory being chosen as the best.

suplugins.com has released Podium 1.6 for Windows and Mac. 1.6 is claiming speed increases from 2 - 4 times over version 1.5 depending on the number of processor your computer has.

Boolean Operations For SketchUp

SketchUcation user oscarlok posted this video showing his work-in-progress: booleans for sketchup.

Driving Dimensions Plugin Update

We have recently released the second preliminary version (Driving Dimensions 0.2) of our free plugin.

New:

Support of SketchUp 7 (backward compatibility with SketchUp 6)

Driving distances (between two vertices, two parallel edges, between a vertex and an edge)

Driving planar angles (between adjacent edges sharing a common face)

Improved:
Setting and changing only one circle/arc radius for a cylindrical surface now does not make a conic

Robustness on large models

You are welcome to use it!
For detailed description, new video and the plugin itself please visit http://www.DrivingDimensions.com

wxSU 0.2.0 Released

Peter Ellis released version 0.2.0 beta of the wxSU plugin.

The new release fixes several bugs, updates to wxRuby 1.9.9, and has a few other improvements.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/wxsu/

Updated "Protrude" Plugin

Changes include:

Compatible with SU6 and SU7.
Takes advantage of performance enhancements in SU7.
Fixed bug for handling of comma as decimal point on German systems. (Thanks Stefan!)
Removed dubugging output in the Ruby Console.
Uses current model's Units settings, including Precision setting.
Fixed bug where inputs could be selected but not edited. Yikes.
Can set "Reasonable" Offset and Height independently by clicking the labels "Offset" and "Height".
Added tooltip to "Offset" and "Height" labels.

To install, download the .zip file from the page below, and move the files into your plugins folder - over-writing the protrude.rb file and protrude folder (if it already exists.)

See the Protrude page for download.

CADYOU: Free SketchUp Models, Textures & CAD Blocks

quicklink: http://www.cadyou.com

Tom Moor has launched a new site aimed at providing free, high-quality content for professional designers, architects, engineers, or anyone.

In Tom's words,

"it [cadyou] was born out of frustration for having to hunt through mountains of rubbish files, both for sketchup and autocad to get to the good stuff."

cadyou already has a nice collection of content; however, the success of the site really depends on user contributions. Anyone can sign up and upload content as long as they follow the cadyou community guidelines. Uploaded content can be licensed under one of the Creative Commons licenses.

http://www.cadyou.com

Plugin Roundup: EventRelay, Window Tool, JointSU, Sandbox2, Prince IO

SCF user pecan posted a new plugin called "EventRelay":

EventRelay allows a ruby script to receive all key, mouse, and menu events before
SketchUp does, and allows the script to accept, discard, or substitute some other
action for the event.

(here)

tomot released an update to his very nice window tool (here)

MarcioAB released a new plugin for aligning object called JointSU (here)

And finally zapwizard updated a thread with a link to plugins and instructions about how to get a SketchUp model into the Crysis Sandbox2 editor (here)

And even more finally but not leastly; Google SketchUp developer Scott Lininger posted the source code to the Prince IO Game plugin which can be seen at minute 21 in this video:

Plugin: RpTreeMaker

Al Hart, of Render Plus Systems Inc., wanted to let people know about their new, free plugin for creating tree components in SketchUp:

We have just released the Beta-test version of a new, free, add-on application for SketchUp - RpTreeMaker.

RpTreeMaker

RpTreeMaker generates fractal trees based on parameters - tree type, number of trunks, number of roots, age, bending parameters, etc. - and the creates a tree image and places the tree as a 2D, always-face-camera, component into SketchUp.

Here is a sample Tree Image:

Here is a sample tree loaded into SketchUp on the 3D Warehouse:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=56d27b7355c7093333494eda0df515e9

Documentation

Here is some documentation on how to use it:

http://wiki.renderplus.com/?title=RpTreeMaker

Download

Go here to download a copy:

http://www.renderplus.com/pdf/download.htm

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Beta Test

Remember this is still in Beta Test - we plan to make improvements based on your comments. One feature still to be completed is to provide a polygon background for the tree so it will cast a shadow. For now, you can use the FormFonts script: ImageProfileto generate a polygon from the image to cast shadows.

        Albert Hart
        Render Plus Systems, Inc.

         http://forums.renderplus.com

http://www.renderplus.com

YouTube - Phlat Universal joint

Here's a new Phlatprinter video.

YouTube - Phlat Universal joint

Q-BA-MAZE

Q-BA-MAZE is planning on creating a free online version of their colorful marble-run game "available through SketchUp."

Clearly, SketchUp is the perfect design tool for the game, but it's not clear how deep the integration with SU will go. Will SketchUp simply be the design tool for an online game, or will the game be played within SketchUp?

I don't have the answer, but here is where to look.

Tiny SketchUp Houses

The Tiny House Blog is featuring some small houses designed using SketchUp. I find the idea of simplifying my life to a point where it would be practical to live in such a small space highly intriguing.

(link )

Plugin Preview: Profile Builder

Dale Martens (Whaat), author of the Subdivide & Smooth plugin, has posted a teaser video of his new commercial SketchUp plugin called Profile Builder.

(via sketchucation)

New SketchUp Pro Jobs Group

Jeff Lummis wrote in to let everyone know about his new SketchUp Pro Jobs group:

SketchUp Pro Jobs
(for the Professional users of SketchUp Pro' seeking jobs)

A new "SketchUp Pro Jobs" group has now been formed here and it is welcoming all SketchUp Pro users to join up, showcase their own content and provide contacts and links to their webpages. The Group is specifically intended for Professionals who have the "SketchUp Pro" version, and is intended to help people who seek to employ the services of a SU Pro Artist / Architect / or user find the right person for the job.

At "SketchUp Pro Jobs" you will be able to;

view members content and links to content pages,
reply to discussions, or start your own,
find quick links to other helpful SU sites through the pages,
share files, styles, images and other content,
create and add your own profile including images.

see "SketchUp Pro Jobs" at http://groups.google.com/group/sketchup-pro-jobs

Plugin: Driving Dimensions (Modeling from SU Dimensions)

I ran across some YouTube videos of a plugin I had never heard of before called Driving Dimensions. It appears to allow you to edit a model by editing an objects. Here's the video:

The plugin has a website also ~~but the download link did not work~~ with the free download.

http://drivingdimensions.com/

WxWindows for SketchUp Dialogs

Sang Ahn has posted this on the official GSU blog:

wxSU is a plugin for Google SketchUp 6 that extends the SketchUp API with the capabilities of wxRuby. wxSU bundles wxRuby to provide a cross-platform, pure Ruby solution for implementing GUI dialogs in your SketchUp plugins.

(link to wxSU sourcefoge project)

Sci-Fi SketchUp Ships

Just ran across this cool blog called Concept Ships. The lastest post features a couple ships made using SketchUp.

(Concept Ships)

ArchVision Discovery Viewer: Intereact with SketchUp Model in Word, PP, and IE

The Discovery Viewer allows users to view SketchUp (.skp) and RPC (.rpc) content within Microsoft Office products such as PowerPoint, Word and Internet Explorer on Windows-based PCs.

With support for native SketchUp models including materials and textures, the Discovery Viewer is perfect for presenting designs within PowerPoint presentations. And the easy to use navigation tools make it easy for novices to interact with models in full 3d without the need for complicated software. The Discovery Viewer can be downloaded free of charge for the purpose of viewing a presentation or web page. Two versions of the Discovery Viewer [Desktop and Server] for publishing are available.

http://www.archvision.com/DiscoveryViewer/

(via bldgsim )

Centroid and Area Properties Plugin for SketchUp

Alex Shreyer has posted a plugin written for his students. It calculates the centroid and area properties of planar shapes.

See Alex's centroid plugin project page for details.

Plugin: Free STL Exporter

CADspan is giving away a free SketchUp plugin for exporting a your model as an STL file used by 3d printers and CAM software.

The plugin provides several tools to ease the process of preparing a model for 3D printing:

-Resurfacer: Shrinkwrap a model into one continuous, solid mesh

-3D Print Visualization Style: A visual style that highlights problem areas in a model

-Layerize tool: Easily move all geometry within components and groups to a layer

-Smooth/Unsmooth: Toggle smoothing on a model's rounded geometry

via SketchUpdate

Plugin: Follow Me Rotate

wikii has release a new SketchUp plugin he called "follow me rotate".

Plugin: Matchbox

Matchbox is a recent SketchUp plugin written by SketchUcation user antantant.

See this thread for the download.

Plugin: SmoothStep Animation for SketchUp

Dale Martins (Whaat) has release a new plugin which "allows you to smooth out the jerky scene transitions in a SketchUp scene-tab animation."

Visit SketchUcation for the download.

20% Discount Offer from Hand Drawn Images

Last month I posted about a new company - Hand Drawn Images (HDI), who provide landscape texture collections for CAD and SketchUp users. HDI was excited about the response to the post, and is offering readers a 20% discount on purchases for a limited time.

To get the discount, visit Hand Drawn Images, make a purchase, and use the Coupon Code: SketchUp when prompted.

New 3D Warehouse Features: Sharing & Collaboration for Models

Google has introduced some great new sharing features to 3D Warehouse - its online SketchUp model repository.

Sharing gives you control over who can view, download, and even edit your models.

It's now possible to make a model private, but invite people as either viewers or collaborators on the model. Collaboration does not happen real-time. As a collaborator, you would download the model, make your edits, and then re-upload it. The model owner would then accept or deny the changes. A history of changes is also maintained and previous versions of the model are made available for download.

The Official Google SketchUp Blog has a run-down of the new features, and Alex Schreyer has a write-up on how it works and how it is useful.

PhlatScripT: SketchUp to G-Code Plugin

I breifly mentioned the Phlatprinter in this post. Now Phlatboyz.com has release a SketchUp plugin for exporting a flattened SketchUp model into a g-code file for use in CNC software. The plugin is beta, meaning there might be undiscovered issues, but it's released fully open-source.

See The Process page for download and a video.

Saturday Night SketchUp Support Chatroom

Chatroom closed for the evening (sleep good.)

Edit: I can try this again next week. It seems a good number of people were interested, but I announced too late, and closed too soon.

Updated Protrude Plugin

Oct 1 - Uploaded the latest revision. This is still a work-in-progress. I appreciate all the interest, but I'm still working out some bugs. However, any feedback will help me to get it stable.

Sep 30 - I apologize for this one - this release was nearly a total failure. Please hang in there until I can make it right.

I added the rectangular division to the Protrude plugin. Let me know how it works.

Here's an older video showing what it does:

SketchyPhysics 3 Preview Video

Chris has posted a video showing a few features of SP3, scheduled to be released Nov-Dec.

There is a wealth of SP videos on youtube.

Hand Drawn Images - Landscape Texture Collections

Carol Buckland, Marketing Manager, wrote in to let everyone know about a new division of Scowcroft Studios called Hand Drawn Images (HDI). HDI provides landscape texture collections for cad users.

As many of you may know, Scowcroft Studios, Inc. has been providing architectural rendering and graphic services for architects, advertising agencies, builders and developers for the past10 years, and we still do.

Our new division, HDI is simply another service that we now offer to allow those clients with in-house capabilities to artistically enhance client presentations quickly, easily and efficiently.

The Collections and Series of hand drawn landscape textures are high resolution 300 dpi image textures that work seamlessly with current architectural software programs. These are comprehensive working libraries of hand drawn and digitally colored backgrounds, foregrounds, trees, shrubs, flowers and more, provided in PSD, TIF, PNG and IRF formats, including precise alpha channels.

HDI currently has 4 landscape collections for sale on their site, as well as 8 high-quality sample images for you to try out.

Waybe: 3D Unfolding Plug-in Now Available for Mac and PC

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts., September 14, 2008 – Waybe has released both a PC and Mac version of its unfolding plug-in for Google SketchUp 6 and Google SketchUp Pro 6. Waybe unfolds 3D models within Google SketchUp so that they can be printed, cut, and re-assembled in the physical world.

"Waybe complements SketchUp in that it gives users an easy and inexpensive way to actually bring their creations into the real world," said Justin Anderson, Waybe founder.

Waybe is a plug-in for Google SketchUp that provides a simple toolbar to aid both automatic and manual unfolding of 3D models created within SketchUp. The ability to test unfolds directly within SketchUp allows for faster design cycles, and an interactive print window can fit all unfolded components onto a minimum number of printed pages. Custom page sizes make it possible to scale folded models to any desired size from desktop printers to large plotters.

Waybe is appropriate for hobbyists creating vehicle and character papercraft as well as architects and engineers seeking a faster method of creating 3D objects for prototyping and modeling.

Availability and Pricing

Waybe 1.0 is being sold online for $49.95 in both PC and Mac versions. Visit http://www.waybe.ca for additional product information.

About Waybe

Waybe is a software company started by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company develops software products that bring 3D digital objects into the physical world.

WalkAbout3d: Real-Time SketchUp Walk-Through

WalkAbout3d has just started an open beta test and is welcoming SketchUp users to try it out. WalkABout3d is a real-time walkthrough application aimed at SketchUp users.

Check out this website for more details: www.walkabout3d.com

silvershadows eyecandy2: Blackhawk Helicopter

silvershadow doesn't post often, but it's worth the wait. Some may remember the first "eyecandy" post of a highly detailed water-front village. Now he's pushing the limits of SketchUp once again with this model of a Blackhawk helicopter posted at SCF.

SketchUp Timber Framing Plugins

Professional timber framer and former programmer Clark Bremer has written "an extensive set of ruby plugins for SU specific to the mortise and tenon work we do", and has generously shared his work on his site: Northern Lights Timber Framing.

See Timber Frame Design using Google Sketchup for information.

SketchUp FlightGear Exporter

james, on his blog, has volunteered to write a SketchUp exporter for FlightGear, an open-source flight simulator. The exporter is still in the planning stage, but it's always good to see more people using SketchUp.

MNPCTech Case Design Competition

bit-tech.net forum is hosting a case-modding competition. The task is to take an ordinary computer case (modeled in SketchUp) and customize it using the free version of SketchUp.

There are some nice prizes, too (Mmmmm, cheesecake.)

Read the post for more details and rules.

Creating a Model from Views

An SCF user had a request about creating a 3d model from the standard views: top, front, and right.

I thought it could be done, and came up with a this partial solution.

The Phlatprinter CNC Foam Cutter

The Phlatprinter is a home-built CNC cutter designed and built by Mark and Trish Carew. It is designed to cut flat media (think foam) to be folded into 3d models. Foam radio-controlled airplanes are just one example from the gallery, but I imagine it could be very useful in Architecture as well.

The cutting of the foam is done with a Dremel tool which is mounted in a "printer" box. The foam (up to 1.5 inches thick) is driven back and forth through the machine with a drive roller and the Dremel is moved side-to-side and up and down to make the cuts. You can watch the videos of how it works. The Phlatprinter can handle material up to 22" wide and unlimited length.

The CNC control software is PC based, so you can design your parts and send them to the phlatprinter using the same computer. The software is called Mach3 and is available on this site.

The best part is that you can use SketchUp to create models. You create your model in 3D using SketchUp, unfold your design to 2d in SketchUp, and then send it to the phlatprinter to be cut out. The phlatprinter comes with a SketchUp plugin to export the flattened model to a format which the CNC software can understand.

You can purchase plans to build your own phlatprinter; or better yet, you can purchase a kit from the store to build your own which includes everything you need to build a fully-functional phlatprinter. The cost seems very reasonable - well within the hobbyists budget.

Plugin: Grey Scale

This requested plugin switches the in-model material colors to grey scale, and back again. The grey color is calculated as an average of the RGB values.

The model can be saved in Grey mode, and the original colors will be preserved upon opening the model again. Color changes made in Grey mode will not be kept.

While in Grey mode, right-clicking a face will revert the face's material back to its original color.

Download here.

SketchUp Model: long meeting table

When Alam says long table, he means it. Beautiful design.

Sketch Stuff: long meeting table

Be sure to see Alam's other models on the 3D Warehouse.

Are Your SketchUp Dimensions Lying To You?

Here is an article on flightsofideas about why you need to know your model's Units Precision setting before trusting your on-screen dimensions.

Read article.

Just another Kerky render.

Link to model used for second image.

Tutorial: Getting Started With SketchUp Plugins

I have made a short, inter-active tutorial demonstrating some basic techniques for writing SketchUp plugins in Ruby. It covers the workflow of editing, saving and loading a script using a simple example.

The tutorial does not cover learning the Ruby language, nor the SketchUp-Ruby API.

View the Tutorial and let me know what you think.

Tutorial Resources:

Ruby Language (Download Ruby)
Ruby Documentation
Ruby Editors
SketchUp-Ruby API Blog
SketchUp-Ruby API Class Reference
Tutorial created with Wink

SketchUp to Valve Hammer Exporter Video

Here's a video demoing a SketchUp -> Hammer exporter. There's no links or other information given. Video by yas1945

Popular Woodworking Bench in SketchUp

Popular Woodworking Magazine Senior Editor Robert W. Lang has written an article, posted a SketchUp model, and a video about what he's calling a "21st Century Workbench" for the upcoming issue of Popular Woodworking.

Read the article.

Free Version of IDX Renditioner Express is now available

The free version of IDX Renditoner Express includes all the same features as IDX Renditioner but differs in render size and possibly speed.

IDX Renditioner Express (Free) supports a maximum render size of 640 x 480 pixels.

IDX Renditioner Express (Free) includes a smaller number of light components, but more will be available on the forums at http://forums.idx-design.com. Lights are easy to create and we encourage you to share.

At this time the PC version is available, but a free Mac version is expected soon.

(http://www.idx-design.com/)

SketchUpVideo Adds Non-English Subtitles to SketchUp Videos

Some of the videos from the Official Google SketchUp video channel on YouTube have started showing up with foreign language subtitles. So far, I have found the following languages:

SketchUpVideoFrench (4 videos)
SketchUpVideoItalian (4 videos)
SketchUpVideoGerman (4) videos)
SketchUpVideoSpanish (4 videos)
SketchUpVideoJapan (3 videos)

Are the others?

Podium Greeble Render

I like how this one turned out. It's an attempt to copy a simple rendered image from the Greeblelicious gallery.

SketchUp 80/20 Aluminum Extrusion Library by FloMoCo

FloMoCo has made available a library of extruded aluminum profiles and connectors. Deatils here.

Podium1.5 Renderer for Mac OS X Released

Read about it here.

Google Sketchup T3D Exporter for UT3

Here's a terse post by user HardPCM on the Epic Games Forums announcing a SketchUp exporter for UT3. There's really not much more information given.

link

Sketchup Ruby API Class Diagrams

Inspired by a thread on Google Groups[1], I decided to make my own class diagrams of the SketchUp Ruby API classes and modules. These were made using a script running in SketchUp which output a file for GraphViz[2].

I decided to create separate graphs for the Observers, the UI, and Geom classes/modules in order to keep the main SketchUp diagram readable when printed on a singe sheet of paper.

Sketchup

Geom

Observers

Mixins

[1] Incomplete API Class Diagram (author: RLC)
[2] GraphViz

Podium Blue Render

This render was made using Podium while playing with the face divider plugin and Protrude plugins.

Construction Detail Render

I have been playing with Podium since it first came out, and finally purchased a license. Here's the first decent render I was able to get.

Preview: Face Division

Hi all,

Just a video of some work in progress. With this one, you select a face and then run the plugin. In this video, I have it assigned to a shortcut key.

The plugin draws a single line to divide a face, and works on all selected faces. The location of the line is determined by a random number in a user-specified range. A range of 20-80 means the line will be drawn at least 20% from the edge, but not more than 80% from the same edge. A range of 50-50 always divides the rectangle in half. The line is always drawn parallel to the short side of the rectangle - and it does only work on rectangles (and squares, of course.)

I think eventually this will be incorporated into Protrude, and both will be mashed into a Greeble suite. I need a few days to work on the User Interface.

Daniel asked about what happens on curved surfaces. Since curves are really just softened rectangles, the plugin happily divides them using the same algorithm.

And Daniel's reply was to download the above model and produce this..

SketchUp-Ruby Architectural Form Generation

Note: This article was originally posted in 6/2007. I am trying to get a status update in this project.

Update: Rafael has provided this reply:

While I initially used Sketchup for very-fast prototyping, I have since that last Sketchup post, ported most of my work to Autodesk's ObjectARX, and am currently working with AutoCAD and Dassault System's CATIA. There's a very high probability of a Sketchup port in the mid-term future as it's a very good platform, I will definitely keep you posted about that.

Rafael, a student of computer science and artificial intelligence at the University of Sussex, posted a series of images from his research project about form-generation and genetic algorithms.

The interesting thing is that he is porting his code to use SketchUp and Ruby. Unfortunately, there is no mention of any code to download, nor is there any mention of the terms of availability.

Links:

Blog Post
Research Project

Caligari trueSpace 7.6 released free

Perhaps a little off-topic, but interesting nonetheless, Caligari (which was recently acquired by Microsoft) has released today version 7.6 of it's 3d modeling application named trueSpace.

trueSpace is clearly an attempt by Microsoft to catch up to the Google SketchUp/Google Earth combination.

SketchUp .X Exporter

Just a link to another .X exporter. ZbylsXExporter

The first .x exporter I was aware of is Erwan's, and 3DRad exporter also has an option to export to .x.

The signifigance? It allows you to create models in SketchUp for use in Microsoft's DirectX-based XNA game development resources.

SketchUp Namesets

Chris Glasier is developing a new kind of navigation interface for SketchUp which he calls "namesets."

There is a discussion here, and Namesets has a site here (with videos.)

Beginners SketchUp Woodworking Series

LumberJocks member Betsy is learning to use SketchUp and sharing the experience via a series of blog articles.

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Betsy/blog/series/925

Design Your Dwelling Competition

I'm a little late in posting this, but the contest is still open.

Dwell & Google SketchUp challenge you to explore what this means to you in the "Design Your Dwelling" design competition featuring Google SketchUp software.

http://www.dwell.com/services/contests/design_your_dwelling.html

SketchUp to Ogre Exporter

This is a Ruby based script for SketchUp which can export 3D scenes to the Ogre 3D rendering engine. It is released under the LGPL.

via: http://www.di.unito.it/~nunnarif/sketchup_ogre_export/

myVR Software AS Announces SketchUp Pro Support

The new and free myVR export plug-in for Google SketchUp Professional provides SketchUp
designers with a new and extremely efficient way of sharing their 3D models, while maintaining
their intellectual property.

http://www.myvr-software.com/main

PSA: YouTube Videos

I changed my YouTube account, so a few of the video I have posted may not work until I get everything updated.

LightUp Retail Version Available.

v1.2a of LightUp is now available for download as a time-limited free demo and also as full version.

LightUp

Export models to 3DS Max ASCII format

I found this at an Atari forum.

There's not much information about it, but you can download it here.

The plugin notes :

This script is written to export ASE for importing custom scenery into Atari's RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, so there are lots of features missing. (And other seemingly strange ones present :p)

Photomatch Videos Part 1 and 2

Here's a couple official videos from the "Techniques" series.

See all videos by SketchUpVideo (currentlty 72 videos)

Updated Construction Line Tool

Hitting the Ctrl key will toggle the creation of Construction Points at the line's end points.
Added ability to change length of the last drawn CLine using VCB.

Visit the CLineTool page for the latest download.

CutList v4.0 Released

CutList 4.0 was released "exclusively" over at the Lumberjocks site, but you can still download it.

Construction Line Tool Update

The tool now adds Construction points to the ends of the line for snapping.

See the Construction Line Tool page for information and downloads.

Show a Weld Using Textures

Here's a video from youtube user eGtry for using a sketchy texture to show a weld.

video

Face Flasher

Just another experiment - in-model, timer-controlled material cycling. It seems UI.start_timer has a 1 second minimum. i.e. I couldn't get a 0.5 second timer working.

Download flasher.rb

Plugins for Ornamental Ironwork

DrawMetal.com has developed some SketchUp plugins...

targeted for artist blacksmiths, metalsmiths, jewelers, metal sculptors and metal fabricators, the plugins may also be used by architects and landscape architects to design architectural elements such as tapered ramps, walkways and walls.

The plugins are available free of charge - there are no license or usage fees.

link

SketchUp -> 3D Rad Exporter

3D Rad is a program for creating interactive 3d environments. It has a fairly impressive list of features like physics capable objects, shader-based rendering, skeletal animation blending, car-physics, A.I. driving, flight-simulation, and scripting.

They recently released a free exporter for Google SketchUp, so you can import your models for use in animations, walk-thu's, physics-based games, and lighting simulations to name a few.Here's a shot of the exporter menu options:

The 3D Rad homepage has a couple SketchUp tutorials; which I was able to follow, and re-create the simulations for myself. There is a 30-day, full-featured trial version available, and the cost for the pro version is $159. The exporter is free.They also have a number of tutorial videos on YouTube.

LightUp v1.1c Available

Adam Billyard has release an update to LightUp - a plugin that adds realistic, realtime lighting to a SketchUp model.

New features list at the LightUp homepage.

Here's a video showing the new version in action:

See all of Adam's videos, including tutorials.

SketchUp Basecamp Videos Available

The presentation videos from Google SketchUp Basecamp 2008 are now available on youtube.

(videos)

Kohler Bath Components

Kohler has a large collection of its bath products uploaded to the 3D Warehouse. The collection currently has about 360 models, so you're sure to find what you need. The models in the collection appear to be imported from another CAD software, and are fairly large both in file size and poly count. For example, this sink weighs in at 787 KB

(via 3D Warehouse)

Article: Materials In SketchUp

Dave Richards talks about applying Materials in SketchUp in his latest article on Design. Click. Build.

SketchUp Video: Breaking Apart A Frame

This is a video aimed at woodworkers who need to create miter joints in SketchUp, and also discusses techniques on how to separate and component-ize the parts of a picture frame.

Be sure to check out Time Killen's related article on Design. Click. Build. Blog.

APU Armored Personnel Unit by Xayzer

Following his fantasic Terminator model, 3D Warehouse member Xayzer has outdone himself again.

Here is the frightening APU Armored Personnel Unit.

SketchUp "Eye Candy"

SCF member silver_shadow has posted some images of what he modestly called "eye candy." The water scene was created over 4 days, and was made using only SketchUp and a handful of SketchUp plugins.

There is a series of 12 images showing a litte of the process, and some good discussion of techniques used, also.

Read the Thread.

Links to scripts used in the process:

Round Edges - Bezier
SketchyFFD
Extrude Along Path
bezier curve
Joint PushPull
Subdivide & Smooth

Video: SketchUp Inference Locking Example

Video: SketchUp Inferece Locking

Modeling Aquariums

Shane Graber has written a 2-part article on using SkethcUp for aquarium design. The articles are available at Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine.

Part 1
Part 2

More Basecamp News

Here's a few more write-ups of Google's 3D Basecamp Event.

Google Sketchup for Civil Engineers

Andrew's Experience: 3D Basecamp SCF - 3D BaseCamp

Tim Killen has posted a summary of his experience.

...Raiding Windmills (photos)

3D Basecamp News

There's hasn't been a lot of coverage of Google's 3D Basecamp, but http://aecnews.com/ has the most comprehensive so far. I expect more reviews of the event will be popping up as the attendees return home and settle in.

Video: Google I/O 2008 - Advanced Ruby Scripting for Sketchup

This video covers some basics of the SketchUp RUby API, talks about WebDialogs, and gives some cool demos of some of the API's capabilities.

SketchUp Web Exporter Beta (Windows)

Last updated: May 9, 2008
The Google SketchUp Web Exporter (Beta) allows you to enable a simple interactive view of your model for any web page without a browser plugin. This is an early release intended for web developers who are interested in adding dynamic 3D content to their website, or are interested in an example from which to start writing their own interaction for the browser. Learn more about how to use the Google SketchUp Web Exporter.
Requirements: The plugin works only on the PC, but the results are cross-platform and cross-browser. Access to web hosting services (e.g., pages.google.com) are needed to publish your results.

Link to Installer.

There doesn't appear to be a homepage for this plugin.

Back After Computer Malfunction

Sorry folks - I had my monitor go out on me on the 10th of June, and have been unable to get online until today. What did I miss?

New Plugin: Round Corners

fredo6 has released his latest plugin called Round Corners.

Here is a script that typically would round the edges and corners of a cube. As I still don't get the subtle differences between Bevel and Chamfer, I simply called it RoundEdge. The picture below gives some idea of what it intends to do.

(via SketchUcation Community Forums)

Cool #4: Scratch Build Foam RC Airplanes

Foam Casualty is a blog "Dedicated to building your own foam RC aircraft from scratch." The author is a builder of radio controlled planes made from foam. He uses SketchUp to draw the plans, unfold, and print them to paper. Once printed, the plans are used as templates for cutting the foam.

Here's a flight video of a P51D designed using SketchUp.

Foam Casualty

Irrasshaimase

Welcome all SketchUp users from Japan.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I hope you find it useful.
Konnichiwa.

YouTube Plugin for SketchUp

Moris Dov has written a plugin that allows you to associate a video with an entity, and integrates the video in SketchUp.

All you do in paste the Embed: text provided by YouTube into the dialog. Then, right-click the entity to view the video.

Download it here.

Cool #3 - Open Source Stirling Engine

Tom Belpasso is using SketchUp to visualize the configurations of his open-source stirling engine, and blogging about it here.

SketchUp SVG Exporter & Tutorial

Flights of Flights of Ideas has posted a new SVG exporter for SketchUp. (Tutorial)

This plug-in should allow users to export selected faces from SketchUp as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). This is of particular use for aiding in the design of laser cut products (especially using Inkscape and Ponoko).

The First "I Finally Tried SketchUp Today" Courtesy of...

Let's Make Robots!

jklug80 says:

I realize it SUCKS, but I can't figure out that dang rotate tool.

SketchUp Custom Toolbars

2010-09

* Updated for small bug in placement in SketchUp 8.

toolbars-2010-09.zip

This is an update to Custom Toolbars plugin with the missing icons replaced. I must thank Nathan Cheever for his hard work on these icons.

This Plugin allows you to build your own customized Toolbars. Creating a Toolbar is easy; Custom Toolbars creates a "Toolbars" folder in your SketchUp Plugins folder. Create a .txt file in this Toolbars folder and give it the same name as you want the name of the Toolbar. Then, edit the .txt file and simply list the name of the tool you would like to appear in the Toolbar.

See the examples .txt file in the Toolbars folder.

This plugins needs to be enabled from the Preferences > Extensions Dialog. Toolbars are available in the View > Toolbars menu.

Example Toolbars

There 3 example toolbars available when you install the plugin:

The following image shows the buttons available for use in your own toolbars.

Plugin: Custom Toolbars Beta 1

This is a beta release. This means it may not be stable and could cause problems. As always, do test this on an unimportant model first.

Download and extract the files keeping the folder structure.

In Plugins/Toolbars see the Commands.html file for a list of supported commands (image).

Some of the icons are not ready yet, and will display a "no icon" icon. A special thanks goes out to Nathan Cheever for his fantastic icons, thanks Nathan!

Toolbar files are simple text files with a list of commands and separators. See one of the included toolbar .txt files as an example.

To enable the toolbars, go to the Extensions tab in the Window > Preferences menu; select Custom Toolbars. The toolbars will appear in the View > Toolbars menu.

Download toolbars_beta01.zip

City Planning With SketchUp: Santa Rosa, CA

The city is creating the virtual world on the cheap, using free software provided by Google.

3-D Visions | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA

Click and Drag Unfolding

This is just a demo video showing a new interface for my Unfold Tool. Instead of needing to click every segment of a curve, you can click and drag to select them.

Special thanks to alz for the suggestion.

Video: Character Posing in SketchUp

Justin Chin posted a short article and video on his blog showing how he does character "rigging" and posing in SketchUp.

It's not the first rigging video Justin has published:

Of course, all of Justin's videos are well worth viewing, as are his other articles on... well everything. Just read it all.

Video: Intersect With Model

Here's a new SketchUp video demonstrating SketchUp's "Intersect With" features.

Polygon Reducer 0.1 Released

Dale Martens (Whaat) has release his Polyreducer plugin in a SketchUcation Community Forums article.

Hi all,

I want to release this script so I can get on to other things. It's not perfect but it works pretty well. I don't know if I will work on this script any more. Anyone is free to take over where I left off.

Dale is also the author of Skindigo and Subdivide and Smooth plugins. For more about Dale, read an interview in the latest CatchUp newsletter.

(via SketchUcation)

SU2KT 3.1 Beta

ToMasz has announce a new beta for SketchUp-to-Kerkythea.

Most important new features are:

- instanced export (default option) - hi poly models exported in minutes!

- proxy objects (select hi-poly component , right click - 'SU2KT:Replace by proxy object', original component will be hidden and proxy will occur - copy proxy object as you wish - or use Didier's component Spray!)

- TEXTURES (not pictures) with transparency channel (alpha) will use transparency in KT automatically

- Multiple Import\Attach WebDialog

(link)

Modelling The Pink Panther by Solo

SCF forum moderator solo has posted a few work-flow screen shots of what he does when he's "between assignments." Simply remarkable.

view thread

solo's place (blog)

SkIndigo 1.0.9 Released

SkIndigo is an Indigo exporter for SketchUp.

(Announcement on SCF)

Surface Tools Plugins

Fredo6 is at it again with more surface tools. This time he adds a Line on Surface tool, and an improved Offset on Surface tool. And if that is not enough, he's working on an entire suite of tools that mimic the native tools, only operate on non-planar surfaces.

Read the thread here, with download.

SketchUp Web Exporter

watkins was first to post about this SketchUp training video. It appears to be a web exporter in development by Google.

The video itself demonstrates using the web exporter plugin. How it works is by exporting a series of images; each pointed at the model from a different angle. Javascript is then used to animate the images in a web browser to give the illusion of rotating in 3d.

There advantages and disadvantages to using this method. The main advantage is it is supported by all browsers on all operating systems. The main disadvantage is that if there are a lot of large images, it could slow your system down.

The readers of the SketchUcation Ruby Forum actually proposed this same idea back in March, but we never followed through with it. You can still read the thread, and see some demos of SketchUp models exported using this technique.

Plugin: Random Rays

Another early plugin of randomness. It creates a number of rays extending outward from a single point. Rays are created as a Group, and are constrained by a sphere.

Get it here.

Plugin: Random Background Color Cycle

This plugin randomly and slowly (almost imperceptibly) cycles the background color while you work. It has no other purpose - it's just an interesting experience to suddenly notice your background has changed colors.

Download it.

Plugin: Random Lines

Here's an old experiment. Lines are created in a Group.

Download random_lines.rb

Plugin: Auto CenterPoint

Auto Centerpoint automatically adds a centerpoint to circles, arcs, and polygons.

Update Sep 2011 - This is an older plugin and not well implemented. I am not recommending to install this plugin in its current state.

Requires SketchUp Version 6 (since it uses observers.)

05/04/2008 - New Version

No longer uses the Extension dialog - use the toolbar button to enable/disabled centerpoint creation as needed.
Point not created until a new tool is selected. (Allows changing the diameter using the VCB.)
Adds CP to circles, arcs, and polygons.
CP's are added to CenterPoint layer.
Works with Push/Pull, but only when creating new geometry.
Works within the current context. Need to toggle the button if you want to work inside of a Group.
Need to toggle the button when starting a New Model.

To install, extract the files keeping the folder structure, and move to your Plugins folder. Overwrite the files if they already exists.

Later that day... John Clements was kind enough to create this icon. If your version does not use it, you can right-click and save it in the auto_centerpoint folder in Sketchup/Plugins. Thanks John. The following download also uses this icon.

auto_centerpoint.zip

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