Flickr: chrstphre's stuff tagged with sketchup

Just a link to some fascinating art made (in part at least) using SU.


Flickr: chrstphre's stuff tagged with sketchup

TF Rubies Version 2.0

Timber Framer Clark Bremer has released version 2.0 of his Timber Frame (TF) Rubies.

New features include:

• Peg Hole Tool. To use it, edit a timber, and select the joint component (note that this is exactly where you'll be right after you "TF Create Joint"). Select the peg tool from the plugins menu under TF Rubies. Click once on the corner of a face that should receive a peg hole. Then click again at the approximate location of the peg. Now read the VCB, and type in the exact distances you want (in x,y format). It should place a peg hole on both sides of the tenon, and mark them as pegs. Watch the youtube video for a demonstration.
• Degree of Difficulty (DoD) for each timber. This allows for more accurate estimating. Just right click on a timber and choose "TF Set DoD", and type in a number (perhaps the number of hours it should take to create this timber). Do this for all the timbers, or use the "assign DoD tool" from the plugins menu (works just like the "rename component instance" tool). The DoDs will appear as a new column in the timber list. There's also a "DoD Report" option on the plugins menu under TF Rubies, that will tell you about missing DoD information. If you save a timber with a DoD to your library, the DoD will be saved along with it.
• Better Metric Support. With a Big Thanks to Jonas Ekefjord for his contribution!
• A “Contribution” item on the TF Rubies Menu.

TF Rubies can be found at Northern Lights Timber Framing's SketchUp page along with documentation, mailing list, and instructional videos.

PlayUp - SketchUp to Unity 3D Now Available

This version supports the ability to export levels from SketchUp into Unity. Since the scene files in Unity are kept in binary format, exporting to Unity requires the additional installation of the bundled Unity package in this zip file.

PlayUp

i.materialize Plugin and Design Challenge

To promote the release of their new 3D printing plug-in for SketchUp, i.materialize is sponsoring a design challenge for SketchUp users.

You can submit any kind of house or building design, as long as you use Google SketchUp to create your 3D model. There are no limitations on your design ideas.

The winners will win a full color 3D printed scale model of their design - normally a $400 service.


[ Official Rules: Design Challenge ]

Update Protrude Plugin (now works on Mac)

My brother kindly gave me not one, but a pair of Mac G4 Cubes. They are a little aged, but work just fine and can run SketchUp 7, so are perfect for what I need them for - testing plug-ins. Thanks bro!

This update is re-written to work on both Windows and Mac operating systems, although nothing has changed for Windows users of the plugin so there's no need to re-install if you are using SketchUp on Windows.

I have tested this on 10.4, which I hope is "close enough" to the latest version.

See the protrude post for the download and information.

This plugin requires offset and progressbar from smuatard.com (both are free.)

Hobby Vacuum Forming

Phlayboyz has come out with an inexpensive vacuum forming system starting at $99.

I've mentioned the phlatboyz cnc foam cutter (called the phlatprinter) in the past. It is made specifically for designing in SketchUp - there is a SketchUp plugin that exports a flattened (2d) model and outputs g-code for the phlatprinter.

The phlatformer is a great compliment to the type of modeling possible using the phlatprinter. This video shows Mark making a airplane fairing for strength and support. I imagine the former would work well for creating door and window elements to add detail to a building model, or for curved glass, or anywhere where you need a skin structure.



Information about the phlatboys machines can be found on their forum.

[ phlatboyz machine forum ]

Flattery Papercraft Tools for SketchUp

Flattery is a new, free SketchUp plug-in that can unfold models, adds tabs, and then export the pattern to a .svg file.

One interesting feature is called Reunite Edges. It lets you reposition surfaces after unfolding without having to start over.

Flattery is available here: Flattery Papercraft Tools

Voodoo Camera Tracker SketchUp Importer

Chris Fullmer has written a cool SketchUp plugin that imports data from the VooDoo Camera Tracker, and allows you to integrate a SketchUp model into a video, or create a camera path based on a video.

SketchUp reads the data from VCT and creates a series of Scenes in SketchUp. Then you position your model, export the Scene animation, and finally combine the exported images with the video. Some third-party software will be required.

Have a look at the results:



[ SketchUp VooDoo Camera Tracker importer ]

Octane Render Commercial v1.02 beta2 Released

- New Platforms:
- x64 version for MS Windows
- Apple Mac OS X Native 32bit version
(x64 is not possible due to cuda toolkit constraints at this time)

- Daylight system with sunlight and physically based sky

- Material Channels:
- bump maps (also read from OBJ MTL file)
- normal maps
- opacity (alpha) maps (also read from OBJ MTL file)
- thin film coating maps

- OBJ and Mesh import:
- Option on mesh node to relink/reload a modified OBJ mesh, keeping materials by name.
- Use of smooth groups (option in OBJ prefs panel)
- Loading/Saving of OBJ import preferences

- Universal executable for all Geforce 8000 and up,
no more separate 8000 and 9000+ executables.

- Improved User Interface scheme

- Uses new Cuda 3.0 toolkit - with new drivers
- Better UI response while rendering on single GPU systems
- Linear and Logarithmic toggle buttons for easier control of many parameters
- HDR Images (OpenEXR and HDR) now take 50% space of video memory.
- Can Zoom the render viewport using CTRL + mousewheel.
- No more need for Visual Studio redistributable package installation.

Octane Render Commercial v1.02 beta2 Released

SketchUp Plugin: Sine Wave

Just a quick little plugin to draw a sine curve in SketchUp.

Draws a sine curve at the Origin and in a Group. User is asked for amplitude, length, and number of segments.

sine_wave.rb