Plugin: Manifold 2.2 for SketchUp

TIG continues to release great plug-ins at an amazing rate. Manifold is a SketchUp plug-in which...

looks at the contents of a selected group and tries to fix it so it is 'manifold' for 3D-printing etc.

The group needs to be a 3D shape which is fully surfaced without internal divisions or intraneous/extraneous geometry/entities...

When run...

It removes 'non-face/non-edge' entities.
It removes 'disconnected geometry'.
It removes 'unfaced-edges'.
It runs an initial 'health-check' and reports.
It removes face 'flaps'.
It heals 'holes'.
It removes 'internal faces'.
It orients all faces consistently to face 'outwards'.
It erases 'coplanar edges' [optional].
It 'triangulates' all of the faces [optional].
It highlights major errors.

Manifold is available via SketchUcation Forums

WWX Dovetails for Sketchup (wudworx)

Here's a new commercial ($18) plugin for creating dovetails in Sketchup.

The plugin does flat dovetail arrays, and also half blind and through dovetails for instant joinery. It uses a configurable set of parameters that keep their values between operations and also after SketchUp has been restarted.

WWX Dovetails for Sketchup (wudworx)

Modelur hotfix - 0.2.3

the Official Modelur blog: Modelur hotfix - 0.2.3: "We have just released a hotfix for Modelur. Due to a bug it was impossible to set plot area size and some of the normatives, which prevented Modelur to calculate all urban control values. This is fixed in newly released version of Modelur."

Video Made with Sketchup: James Bond Lego

Fun and expertly-produced video made using SketchUp and SketchyPhysics.

SU Podium V2 beta 2

Paraphrasing the information from multiple sources:

This is an interim release with another beta coming after in about 2 weeks. This beta is Windows only.

The V2 engine is multi-threaded. You also need a reasonable amount of RAM to hold 3d scene data. The more RAM you have, the more complex models you can render.

This build represents a stable code base where as far as we are aware, all features are working, although some may need some modification before final release. There will be additional features as well. V2 uses a new, higher-quality render engine. As a result, scenes set up in V1.x will not look the same in V2.


What's New

• In beta2 there is an options dialog box which allows you to choose presets, resolution size for the rendered image, image file format (JPG/PNG/HDR) and Physical Sky vs SketchUp Sky. Point light soft shadows have also been added. Sun turbidity and exposure are controlled in the presets.
• There are several pre made presets that have been crafted for certain rendering environments
• With Beta_34you have the choice of resolutions size or matching the resolution size to the your SketchUp's viewport. You also have the option to choose PNG/JPG/HDR as image formats. We will be adding a option to allow you to save your images to a folder of your choice. Currently the images are saved to where the SketchUp model being rendered is located.
• The Environment option allows you to choose between SketchUp background which could be plain background style or SketchUp Sky color or Podium's Physical Sky. When your SketchUp shadows are on, Podium Sun is on regardless of what background option has been chosen. Clay mode is currently not implemented. Sky turbidity (haziness caused by particles suspended in the atmosphere) and exposure are configured in the presets you choose. The preset files are plain text files which are editable. We will release a preset configuration guide.

Download and more @ su-podium.com

Sketchup Virtual Builder by Dstudio out of Beta

This page is reporting that beta testing is closed, and the plugin will be released soon.

Sketchup Virtual Builder Light plugin makes it possible to add Planning-Scheduling information to any Sketchup model and see the model being constructed in time, in Sketchup.

Sketchup Virtual Builder Light plugin can be used in any project as a way to determine and analyze an initial scheduling in an early phase.

Sketchup Virtual Builder by Dstudio: "Sketchup Virtual Builder Lightbeta"

Plugin: Ruby Code Editor

Alex Schreyer released this Ruby Code Editor plugin.

This editor is an extension of Jim Foltz’s excellent Web Console plugin. Jim’s plugin opens within SketchUp, allows for code execution and captures compiler output. It also allows for opening and saving of code snippets.

At this point, this editor has the following features:

* Execute multiline Ruby code directly in SketchUp (from Web Console)
* Open and save files (from Web Console)
* Clean jQuery UI interface
* Line indentations are now preserved when opening files
* Tab inserts 2 spaces in editor
* Dropdown with code snippets inserts snippets at cursor
* On save, a backup file is always created
* Text size dropdown for editor font
* Line highlighting in editor
* Undo button next to run button
* Reliable page sizing
* Tab and acceskey navigation
* Reference web browser for common reference sites
* Browser zoom (not 100% reliable)

Alex Schreyer

Ken Macleod: SketchUp Use In TV Commercial Production

Designer Ken Macleod recently put up a page to show his work as a production designer on a few Geico commercials. Ken says "I use SU all the time and swear by it. Hope you find some of this stuff interesting."

View the site: kenmacleod

[ via scf ]

Modelur 0.2.2 Released

Modelur version 0.2.2 is out! New version brings some serious performance optimizations (i.e. 10-50 times faster opening of large models) and fixes some minor issues. And, of course, Modelur now speaks Chinese, too.

http://modelur.com/home

The ASGVIS: ICE Render-Off Contest

To go along with their new release of V-Ray for SketchUp, ASGVIS is sponsoring an ice rendering contest.

Render ice using either V-Ray for Rhino or V-Ray for SketchUp. Be creative with the type of ice you choose to include in your scene (icicles, snowflakes, glaciers, ice sculptures, ice rink, etc.). Ice does not have to be the main focus of the render, however it must be a prominent element in the scene. Judging will be based on technical merit, artistic interpretation, and photorealism.

The winning entry will receive an Apple iPod touch (Digital player, Flash 32 GB, AAC, MP3). Runners up will each receive Sony NC60 Noise Canceling Headphones.

Deadline is March 10th.

Offical rules: The ASGVIS: ICE Render-Off Contest

Video: Drawing Jefferson's Bookstand

On the Fine Woodworking blog "Design. Click Build." Dave Richards posted another great SketchUp work-flow video showing his approach to using SketchUp for woodworking.

In the 35 minute video, Dave's mastery of SketchUp is clear as he models Thomas Jefferson's Bookstand from start to finish.

Jefferson's Bookstand - Another Workflow Example - Fine Woodworking

Plugin - RepeatCopy

RepeatCopy is a new commercial SketchUp plugin by Chris Fullmer which:

Quickly adds copies of selected components by pointing and clicking in the model.

This script allows you to quickly add copies of components to your model by just clicking where the copy should be added. Its a great way to quickly add component copies to a model.

RepeatCopy is available here: RepeatCopy

Made With SketchUp: Pixar Video

Here's a cool video made in SketchUp and SU Podium.



Read about the process

LightUp 1.8 Released

There is a new version of LightUp available (v1.8) that introduces the first in a series of GPU-based features.

Specifically, once the render is complete you can adjust Exposure, Contrast, Saturation and Temperature all inside SketchUp during realtime navigation. It works really well for tweaking images without having to redo the rendering.

Also realtime Bloom can be adjusted to control the softness of the image.

Website: http://www.light-up.co.uk

The State of SketchUp Plugins

SketchUp guide Jody is asking - unofficially - for your thoughts on the current state of SketchUp plugins. Should Google be creating, or adopting, the most useful plugins?

Please take a minute to give your thoughts.

Render Plus Systems - IRender nXt Rendering Contest

IRender nXt Rendering Contest

Open to All! - you do not need to own IRender nXt, we will provide a free copy during the contest.

This years contest is designed to highlight the features of our new Version 3.0 of IRender nXt. In particular:

1. The new Materials libraries of over 6,000 materials for you to use.
2. The low res Arroway texture library of 100 textures
3. The new library of 49 RpTreeMaker Plants
4. RpTreeMaker to create your own plants
5. ArchVision RPC Objects

Each entry will make use of at least 4 of these features.

Visit Render Plus for a list of prizes and rules:
IRender_nXt_Rendering_Contest - Render Plus Systems

Software: 11D Sculptor

11D Sculptor is full-3D freehand sculpting software. Its intuitive and powerful modeling tools change what is possible in digital sculpting. Using 11D Firefly - an innovative 3D 6DOF input device for real 3D space navigation gives the artists all the natural sculpting touches in the virtual world.

Apply for beta testing: 11D Sculptor

New V-Ray for SketchUp Released

And is now available for Mac and Windows.

New features include the following:

* NEW! Ward Reflection Shader Type
* NEW! More than 10 new Procedural Textures, including Dirt (to create ambient occlusion per material)
* NEW! Ambient Occlusion
* NEW! IES Lights and Spotlights
* NEW! Material Layer Arrangement
* NEW! Faster Parsing Times
* NEW! Support for SketchUp Transparency and Alpha Transparency

SketchUp is one of the most widely used and easy to learn 3D Modeling software on the market today. With V-Ray for SketchUp, users now have one of the most powerful rendering tools available to visualize their models with the upmost quality and realism. V-Ray works within the SketchUp environment allowing users to be able to efficiently incorporate the task of rendering within their current workflows.

[ VRay for SU ]

Smustard - FixAspectRatio updated - 2010-02-09

Smustard: "The previous version, while successfully removing the gray bars, did not always retain the focal length, resulting in a 'jump' in perceived camera location. The current version will remove the gray bars and retain the visible geometry."

Khamsin: Sketchup Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Modeling

the short term goal of Khamsin is to highlight my capabilities in CFD, while trying to create something useful for the community.

In the long term I hope that Khamsin may become a complete CFD package tailored for the building environment (wind studies, indoor air quality, thermal comfort) using a 3D environment already in use by many architectural practices.

Khamsin (J. de Charentenay):

AutoDesSys Releases Bonzai3d 2.0

The similarities that the Bonzia3d work-flow seems to have to a SketchUp work-flow makes this something to consider; and that's not even considering Bonzia3d's rich set of tools.

View these videos for a complete coverage of its features.

AutoDesSys | News

Thea Render nearing Open Beta Testing

We have now entered our final phase before open beta, since we are left mostly with 'packaging' work and a rebuilt of our web site. Closed beta has proved a very successful one, where we were able to tune further the render engine and optimize workflow. During our web site building and testing, it may occasionally become unavailable (for very few moments). Meantime, our forum will be always active. We really want to thank you for your patience and support all the months that have passed and even more the trust in us, delivering a high-standards product. We are sure you won't get disappointed.

Working on the Final "Details":

SketchUp Exporter for LuxRender

It's development version. Tested on Sketchup 7.1 Free Windows XP 64-bit
I've included test scene to play with.

Features
- export meshes
- export materials: matte and light.
- setting editor (not completed)
- material editor (only select material type)

SU2LUX Exporter for Sketchup 0.1-dev


About LuxRender

LuxRender is a physically based and unbiased rendering engine. Based on state of the art algorithms, LuxRender simulates the flow of light according to physical equations, thus producing realistic images of photographic quality.

LuxRender is free software - both for personal and commercial use - and is licensed under the GPL. The program runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Fully functional exporters are available for Blender and Maya, while exporters for a growing number of 3d applications are under development.

LuxRender