A new way to great 3D textures!

PixPlant 2 is a smart 3D texturing tool that creates high quality normal, displacement, specular maps and seamless textures from plain photos.

Based on photos, PixPlant adds an unlimited choice of realistic materials for your projects: pick an interesting photo, run PixPlant and get a perfect seamless 3D texture.

Reinventing the wheel

Measuring a wheel as a starting point, in this case a wheel from a radio controlled model Tamiya Madcap.
Basic measurements such as diameter and central hex size were taken, as were wall thicknesses to use as a rough guide to start the modelling.

I began working in a CAD drawing programme, to set out the wheel section, and tyre diameters.
I chose not to model this wheel in Vectorworks as it was a programme I was comfortable working in 2D in, but I just couldn’t get the hang of 3D in this release of Vectorworks.

Creating a Night Scene from a Daytime Drawing

This is a simple method of taking a hand drawing and turning it into a night scene using Photoshop and a couple of very quick digital modifications. I’ve always struggled to simulate a night time scene with traditional hand drawings. I found it nearly impossible to render the evening illumination from storefronts and the dramatic contrast between dark shadows and lighted spaces....until now!
A quick and effective way of creating the wonderful quality of evening light is to layer over your hand drawing with a transparent black overlay in Photoshop, then erase portions of it where the light occurs. I created this sketch for a recent studioINSITE project and turned my original hand drawing of a daytime scene into the night scene for the title slide in a PowerPoint presentation. My step-by-step process is explained below:

Initial Overlay and Trace Drawing

Read more

Free Google Sketchup Tutorials Full 2013

Three-dimensional models are constituent if you're in the pattern tract. Google SketchUp gives you the noesis to easily make your own 3D models. With an easy-to-use program and a beamy path of Ameliorate features, it's the perfect agency for tyro and middle designers like.

Thea for SketchUp

Thea for SketchUp

Thea for SketchUp is a combination of powerful rendering engines of Thea with the simplicity of SketchUp. Having biased, unbiased and interactive render modes (GPU support soon-to-be-available as well) at your fingertips, inside SketchUp, is an joyful experience. The plugin lets you enrich your models with highly detailed three dimensional content, breaking old limitations related to handled model complexity.

Thea for SketchUp Main Features:

• Instancing of External Models (as Proxies)
  
• Point (Omni/Spot/IES), Area & Environmental Lighting
  
  

Want to get into 3D printing

A DECENT COMPUTER Even though software programs like Blender, Google SketchUp, TinkerCAD, and the like are free, they still utilize 3D graphics, for obvious reasons, and unless you have a decent processor and graphics card, you're going to get frustrated in a hurry.

Luckily, most of the programs now make it pretty easy to export a 3D design as a .obj or .stl file, which most printers will accept and print out.

ABOUT $1500 Yes, you can get DIY 3D printer kits for cheaper, but this seems to be about the baseline for printers that come pre-assembled and are accessible to the average person who didn't spend their entire childhood putting together Lego sets.

3D Systems and MakerBot are the two biggest brands in consumer 3D printers. Start there.

How to utilize Google SketchUp for 3D Printing

With the fast growing popularity of 3D Prototyping, a lot of 3D modeling tools and software have been developed in recent years. 3D modeling software plays a crucial role in creating 3D prototypes, as it is only with the use of the right 3D modeling tool that someone can design a perfect prototype.

Over the years, one of the many challenges faced by the general technology of 3D prototyping has been the inability of many people to comfortably create 3D models that can be turned into actual objects through 3D printing. However, since 3D modeling tools came into the picture, even people without extensive product design skill can still create intricate three-dimensional prototypes. By eliminating the ‘lack of skill’ barrier, 3D modeling tools have made it possible for virtually anyone to create 3D models.

Advantages of Google SketchUp over Other Modeling Software
Regardless of the fact that there are many 3D modeling tools and software on the market, Google SketchUp is second to none. The following are the main reasons that have contributed towards the rising prominence of Google SketchUp:

• Ease of Use – it is extremely easy to learn and use Google SketchUp. The software is simple and beginner friendly, thus anyone can manage to create 3D models after just a few hours of practicing. The process gets even simpler when you get used to the software.
• Accessibility – Google SketchUp is widely available online. Anybody who wants to use it can quickly download it over the internet for free, although there is a ‘Pro’ version for those looking for more functionality. This means you don’t have to shell out a penny to obtain and get to use Google SketchUp.
• Fast and Efficient – Google SketchUp has very simple tools. As a result you can create the 3D prototype you want in a matter of minutes, depending on its complexity and size. In addition, it has excellent drawing effects that give you an exact image of the model you had visualized.

Read more : http://sketchup-ur-space.com/2013/jan/how-to-utilize-google-sketchup-for-3D-printing.html

The creation of an Innovative Didactic resource with SketchUp

Hi, I am Belen Fernandez Franca from Barcelona Spain. I have studied here in my country Technical Architecture and followed that up with a masters degree in Pedagogical Training, I am Trimble SketchUp Authorized Trainer for Spain at the same time as I’m the Community Manager of SketchUp here in my home town of Barcelona. I have worked many years together with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia collaborating on things related to the world of the Education and Architecture. It is for this reason that I have decided to give a little insight into you one of my Pedagogical Projects that was made with SketchUp. This project was made in collaboration with Cristina Venturi and under the supervision of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Thank you very much to you both!

The project that is described within this article consists of the creation of an Innovative Didactic Resource for students of Professional Training and students of the first year of Higher Education of Construction and Civil Work. This didactic resource is principally targeted to generate a data base that includes technical information of particular constructive elements, as well as having an attractive and dynamic interface for the student.

Read more

How colourize materials in SketchUp : Step by Step Tutorial

Interior designer / 3d visualizer

Read the full tutorial here

SketchUp Plug-in for 4D scheduling

In recent years 3D modeling and 4D scheduling & visualization play an important role to facilitate the complex phase of the construction project. SketchUp is a useful tool that can be applied to visualize any construction process efficiently. It facilitates the project managers to detect the delays and inaccuracies earlier. 4D modeling merges 3D drawings with a construction schedule and presents the sequence of construction over time.

17 Fantastic Sketchup Plugins, Bundled into one for your easy use

We have been using sketchup more and more often, we we always feel there is a lack of proper tools, especially where freeform design is concerned. This is true even for the pro version. Luckily, Sketchup is open source in that in allows ruby script by unapproved 3rd parties to be added onto the software.