InstantWall - SketchUp Extension Review

InstantWall is an extension for the famous 3D computer aided design and modeling software, Trimble SketchUp. Today, we will talk about how InstantWall can help designers and modelers.

InstantWall is basically a wall creation tool for SketchUp. You can create various kinds of walls instantly, for example, site walls, columns, retaining walls, pilasters, curbs, etc.

Site walls, retaining walls, pilasters, curbs, you can build anything with InstaWall. Walls may be vertical, battered, sloped, stepped or rough stone. Many options exist for wall cap and pilaster cap profiles. There are also options for custom user defined wall cap profiles. Interestingly, when you build these, textures (or materials) will automatically align with the wall and wall cap.

But that's not all! Balustrades,railings and fencing may be added on top of walls or between pilasters. Many options for picket and baluster profiles including user defined shapes.

You can also build Colonnades with InstantWall. Several options are given for column types including custom user defined. Needless to mention, you have the option to to follow terrain elevation as well.

Whereas, you have the option to also make arcades. Arcades can be modeled as flat, pointed, segmented, round or elliptical. Optional voussoirs may be raised, flush, or recessed. Just as with walls, textures will automatically align with voussoirs.

The InstantWall plugin for SketchUp works with Metric or Feet / Inches systems, so you can work with it from any localization.

With 153 preset styles organized into libraries, you will never run out of ways to customize your model with InstantWall. Not only those, but you can also create custom styles as well!

The plugin features an interactive menu: you got icons, images, and text for your convenience.

Another salient point for this extension for SketchUp is that with InstantWall, all walls can be modeled as 3d, 2d face me or 2d hidden lines. That flexibility will surely help you achieve a new level of smooth workflow.

The developer of this SketchUp extension, Chuck Vali, keeps it regularly updated. The latest version of InstantWall is 3.2, which was released only last March. Chuck is a licensed architect in Hawaii and California. Most of his work experience is in the hospitality industry, resorts and hotels.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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All about 2020.1 SketchUp

Trimble SketchUp 2020 has already been a major hit among the users with its many capabilities. And now, based upon many user-requests, the dev team has rolled out the first update. Let’s go and have a look at what is new in SketchUp 2020.1!

The team has polished up some existing features and added a few as well. Those include:

1. Scenes Panel
2. Section Planes and Scenes
3. Editable hidden objects
4. Improved grips
5. Empty objects
6. LayOut Performance
7. Improved select tool

Now let us look at these features one by one.

Scenes Panel: Since you've had some opportunities to appreciate better flipping perceivability with concealed geometry and articles, we've chosen to make it stunningly better. We split up shrouded geometry and concealed items so you can choose and spare them independently on a Scene-by-Scene premise.

You will see another checkbox in the Scenes board that lets you spare the perceivability condition of concealed articles, not simply shrouded geometry. This gives you better perceivability control per Scene.

Area Planes and Scenes: Scenes are feeling so found in this discharge! In this new form of SketchUp, you would now be able to spare Section Plane perceivability per Scene. Since Section Planes are gathered with objects, we need to ensure they carry on like articles.

What's the incentive here? Prior to this change, just top-level perceivability could be spared per Scene. Once more, more control in your Scenes — and consistency across usefulness.

Editable Hidden Objects: Uplifting news... concealed articles are presently editable. Altering imperceptible things may seem like a superpower, yet it's extremely only an incredible new component. At the point when you select a concealed article in Outliner, it will presently show up as a work.

This implies you can make increasingly exact alters easily, rather than attempting to modify an item you can't see. So fight the good fight without thwarting your altering work process. It's not the covering that makes the legend, yet the modeler inside.

Upgrades to Grips: A little, yet ground-breaking highlight: you would now be able to go through ALL Grips when utilizing the Rotate device — simply like the Move apparatus! This gives more consistency between the apparatuses so you can remain concentrated on your task.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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SimLab Composer Integration Plugin for SketchUp

Simlab Composer is a complete, easy, affordable and feature-rich solution enabling you to communicate your 3D ideas with ease.SimLab Composer has all the tools you need for importing your models, creating dynamic visualization, rendering, building Simple VR Scenes, all into creating fully interactive VR training sessions.

SimLab Soft is a 3D software development company, founded in 2007, with its mission clearly defined to develop state-of-the-art 3D software products that are both powerful and easy to use.

SimLab Soft creates and markets SimLab Composer and other exciting software and plugins.

SimLab Composer is the complete visualization solution for SketchUp users. SimLab Composer Integration for SketchUp creates a dynamic connection between SketchUp and SimLab Composer.

By using this connection the user can render, texture bake, animate, generate advanced 3D PDF files, and create interactive VR for SketchUp experiences.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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Best 3D Rendering Programs We use

Often, we’re asked constantly what 3d rendering program we use and why. Once in a while a guest to this site is hoping to attempt photoreal rendering just because, perhaps they are hoping to take their abilities to the following level, or possibly they are searching for a post-buy legitimization... or then again some other number of reasons.

So this article is originating from our specific perspective and what we played with and have given me a chance to learn.

There are bunches of different choices out there relying upon your financial plan, time accessible to learn, wanted style of renderings created, range of abilities and that's only the tip of the iceberg.

We need something simple to arrange and use when we are feeling the squeeze. we additionally prefer to stand apart from the group.

In contrast to most engineers, it appears, we like learning new apparatuses and procedures since we have a talent for it and it makes me increasingly significant.

We think a great many people simply stay with the pictures SketchUp lets out in light of the fact that they are either languid or their needs are unique in relation to mine. We likewise need something that is craftsman neighborly. A jumbled Uwe will send me running, and we have a profound regard for programmers that make applications that are both instinctive and incredible in the engine.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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Demo of transmutr, a brand new sketchup extension

Justin Geis, the renowned sketchup instructor, has presented this useful sketchup video tutorial that focuses on the demonstration of Transmutr, a brand new sketchup extension from the developer of skatter to instantly import and export external models with several formats into sketchup.

It will allow sketchup to read along with the capability to generate proxies for your rendering programs.

This sketchup extension contains some unique features like automated render-ready materials and proxies, geometry simplification. Besides, there are some useful options like scaling, unit conversion, axes/origin transformations and lots other.

Details of the features are given below :-

Automated render-ready materials: Automatically transform render-ready materials or fine-tune them with some simple mouse clicks.

Automated proxies: With a single click, Transmutr can create proxies for V-Ray, Thea and Enscape.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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Some useful sketchup tips for improving your model renderings

This article is extracted from an exclusive sketchup article written by Michael LaValley, a renowned architect. The article focuses on some useful tips for making your model rendering process superior.

Sketchup is basically a model maker not a perfect software for rendering. Natively, SketchUp doesn?t ?render? the images out of your model. Relatively, it acquires what seem to be effectively ?screenshots? of your model and then exports them with very restricted control over what you?ll achieve.

To find solution for the issue, one can choose three basic levels of intervention like full separation, partial integration or full integration.

1: Full Separation - The most convenient method to enhance your model as well as your output rendering, is to completely export the model to another program. This efficiently facilitates you to cut knots from SketchUp as soon as the most part of your model is developed there with the purpose of controlling the horsepower of another program?s rendering platform.

But the process is complicated to handle the model as it needs the most substantial level of completion before the transition.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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How to use Enscape 3D to create real time visualization in sketchup

This sketchup video provides brief demonstration on Enscape 3D, a powerful rendering plug in for sketchup that can make your visualization process smarter. This plugin is still in beta testing phase.

The users don?t require any additional plugin for their project. Just install the Enscape plugin and walk through your projects with simple mouse click.

In conjunction with the Oculus Rift, it is possible to virtually walk trough your project in Enscape. Experience your work as it was developed previously.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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BoolTools2 - SketchUp Extension Review

Another blockbuster SketchUp extension from MindSight Studios is here! BoolTools2, a professional plugin for Trimble SketchUp versions Make or Pro is an awesome tool that magics you to replace the Solid Tools in SketchUp entirely. You can make effortless solid operations in your model with just one or two clicks. This super-easy and perfect plugin comes at a cost affordable to most players.

Features of BoolTools2:

1. You can perform multiple solid operations easily like Union, Difference, Intersect, Trim, Split, and so many more!
2. Designed with 3D printing as a goal.
3. Can easily work with small, complex objects, like nuts and bolts!
4. Can handle nested solids effortlessly.
5. Unlike some other solid tools plugins, BoolTools2 does not create a new object. It only modifies the original one.
6. BoolTools2 does not change the Layer and the Names of the object it works on.
7. New feature: single-click Object Union tool - you can click a single group of objects to merge / union all the solids in it. Works with nested solids as well!
8. Almost all operations (except the obvious ones) produce 3D printable solids.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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Download a trial verison of ConDoc Tools for Sketchup Pro

Generate construction documents automatically with ConDoc Tools for Sketchup Pro.
ConDoc refers to a plugin that accelerates the process for producing construction documents as well as automates design packets, and radically advances your project organization by applying SketchUp Pro and LayOut. ConDoc is developed to facilitate architects and designers to enjoy a continuous workflow process, simplify all of the complicated phases associated with document formation. Besides, it allows you to get total control in all phases of your project devoid of applying other software programs.

 

ConDoc includes the following features :-
1. Arrange your model with the ConDoc system
2. Wide array of line weights, 2d dynamic hatches
3. Capability for drafting 2D details
4. Avail 2D Cad within sketchup
5. Distribute work among team members easily
6. Generate lightweight editable models
7. Automate the process for managing layers, styles, mixing shadows, camera setting, section planes etc.
8. Generate illustrative design packets and transparent sets of construction documents with a slew of line weights & dynamic hatches


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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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Enhance your mesh modeling skill with SubD version 2.0

Evil Software Empire has launched SubD 2.0 with some new and advanced features. It now applies industry standard OpenSubdiv to work out subdivisions.

It is compatible with SketchUp 2017 and newer version. In older versions, it is required to facilitate High DPI under preferences.

This newest versions offers the following exclusive features :-

Superior control over your mesh smoothing.
Adjust the UV mapping.
will apply and restore your WrapR UV seams.

Meshes can now include internal faces.
Quad triangulation is now maintained for planar quads.
Modify subdivision of several selected instances.
High DPI support for dialogs, icons, cursors and tools.
performance of crease tool is enhanced significantly.
Obtain diverse different results if there are faces in mesh which are not oriented constantly.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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3skeng 2019 Mount 3D: SketchUp Extension Review

SHK, an engineering and consulting firm working for the high-tech Semiconductor industry has been developing extensions for SketchUp for a while now. Their engineering and software team work hand in hand to develop powerful extensions for professionals using SketchUp for designing engineering plans, named under ‘3skeng’.

The latest from the 3skeng group is the 3skeng Mount. It is a plugin for SketchUp 2017 and above, helping users design and document MEP and 3D support and secondary framework including ducts and pipes. It is actually a part of the 3skeng Engineering package which also contains 3skeng Pipe, 3skeng Steelwork and 3skeng Channel.

Features: 3skeng Mount is your go-to tool for drawing secondary and support steelwork models. This may or may not include proper fittings, supports, and so much more. The libraries available will let you choose from different channel types, while a memory function comes invaluable in doing repetitive work.

One of the best options available in this extension is called the “Mount Tool”. It will recognize 3skeng pipe elements by a presection method, in which you can input your choice of pipes and duct definitions. Moreover, it can automatically align rotations, positions and elevations. You can do this just by a double click - how cool is that?

The Mount Tool does more than that. It will pick up 3skeng Steelwork elements to attach supports to them. You can direct it to attach the supports to top of the beam flanges and clamps, or to the side of the flanges.


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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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Brighter3D: SketchUp Extension Review

Brighter3D version 3.1.2 is released! It is one of the best progressive rendering extensions for Trimble SketchUp. Let us see today what it has to say for itself in this article.

Brighter3D offers you a clean, user-friendly interface that hides the rendering powerhouse that it is. You get to see a preview of how the model might get rendered in seconds.

Following, the render gets ready in mere minutes. And oh boy, it does look really really real!

Features of Brighter3D:

Super-realistic lighting: The extension can work with normal daylight and also with HDR lighting.

What’s more, it can combine these to make your model look that much more awesome. Realism is the target for the developers and they didn’t hold back, it seems.

Unbiased rendering: The plugin features a Unbiased Progressive Rendering Mode (UPRM) which gives you a preview of the render in seconds and the full picture in minutes. Even in low-end processors, Brighter3D seems to work well. This blazing fast performance is unparalleled.

Noiseless rendering: It gets very irritating when your fresh render has noise or grains, doesn’t it? No fear, Brighter3D takes care of noise with a special algorithm. The renders with this extension come as crisp as a picture from your phone. Better, actually.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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V-Ray 4 for SketchUp Released

Rejoice, ye SketchUp folk, for the new V-Ray has come!

Version 4.20 for V-Ray has been released this February. It features some significant improvement over the previous version. Primary of which is new compression used to decrease installer archive size.

For those who are not familiar, here is a short description of V-Ray.

It is a professional lighting and rendering tool for architects and designers. It is created by Chaos Group and comes as an extension of SketchUp.

With an incredible set of creation tools, V-Ray lets you render anything and everything. You can create some quick models, or pull out all brakes and render a whole scene in realistic detail.

You get around 600 realistic new materials to adorn your model using V-Ray in SketchUp, too. This lets you create photorealistic images of your model. You can make 3D models exquisite in detail using this plugin as well.

Features of the new V-Ray 4.20:

1. You can use it to automatically remove noise in scenes. The render time is cut in half. Now you can denoise after rendering as well.

2. Now you can use global illumination in stunningly realistic scenes indoors and outdoors. There are plenty of in-built lighting styles to choose from. Make it look real!

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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SketchOSM by PlaceMaker - New Horizons in Parametric World Modeling

Have you ever wondered, why not put your neighborhood on the map? The SketchOSM plugin for SketchUp, by PlaceMaker, lets you do just that! You can create parametric buildings in a few quick clicks and share them with the world in a jiffy.

Trimble SketchUp is famous for its flexibility, which comes from its ability to integrate many extensions or plugins from various sources. Though only SketchUp Pro and above can do this, it is still an awesome way to customize and empower this lovely modeling and rendering software.

One such great extension is SketchOSM by PlaceMaker.

What is SketchOSM by PlaceMaker?

The main functionality of the extension is two-fold. First, it lets you create 3D buildings that add site context to your model. You can do it by establishing a constant, which, in the equation of a curve or surface, can be varied to represent a family of curves or surfaces.

Secondly, you can share these buildings with the world by directly uploading them to OpenStreetMap. Yes, you guessed right, this is how the plugin gets its name, by combining the software and service names.

If you don’t know, OpenStreetMap is an enormous database of geoinformation, available to everybody on earth. It is accessible and editable by anyone.

It’s a completely free service, with no hidden charges or advertisements. Many devices and services already use them like car or phone GPS, websites, apps, and of course, millions of people.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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What’s New in SketchUp Pro 2020

The new SketchUp Pro 2020 is out! You can grab the latest with the updates, if you already have the subscription. Or you can download a fresh copy off Trimble’s site. Either way, you get to enjoy the cool new additions to this hot design and modeling software. Today, let us see what are these new additions in SketchUp Pro 2020.

 

1. Meet Laura: Trimble has added a new and attractive personality in the SketchUp 2020. The latest scale figure in SketchUp is called Laura.

 

To clarify, a scale figure in SketchUp is the figure you see standing at the intersection of the red, blue and green lines, at the time when you start a new drawing. The figure is given there according to scale. This helps you to design your model and compare it to real life dimensions.

Laura, the latest addition to the line of scale figures in SketchUp, is a great fit to the modern designers empty workspace. She looks caucasian with her fair skin and dirty-blonde hair. Dressed in a simple crisp red-and-blue attire, she carries a bag and kinda brings up the working mom vibe. Mystery point: what does the pendant on her neck hold?

2. A New 3D Creative Space: To make sure the modeling space is more intuitive and the data structure more supportive to the users’ needs, Trimble has made some big changes in this year’s SketchUp. The first thing you will notice is in the Outliner, then it will go on to snapping objects, then we will move on to hiding stuff and changes in LayOut.

 

The Outliner: A great model organization change took place in this. Now, you won’t have to keep making layer upon layer. You can directly organize your model in the Outliner straight away. Create chunks of stuff in your model and hide/unhide them as you please in the Outliner. The friendly eyeball icon comes in very handy here. More on this is detailed in this video.



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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SketchUp to KeyShot 7 ? The newest sketchup extension

SketchUp to KeyShot 7 is newest sketchup extension that can be applied to export sketchup files to keyshot 7 and save out as .bip files.

This sketchup extension is compatible with SketchUp 7, SketchUp 8, SketchUp 2013, SketchUp 2014, SketchUp 2015, SketchUp 2016, SketchUp 2017, SketchUp 2018.

This extension combines SketchUp 3D modeling software and KeyShot 7 jointly on Windows or Mac OS X, in spite of arranging KeyShot inside the modeling application. This plugin attaches a menu button to your 3D software that transmits 3D data and other model information into KeyShot.

Given below, some useful features of it :-

Features:
? Retain colors and textures
? Supports SketchUp physics animations
? Recognize groups
? Export .bip

Requirements:
? SketchUp 2015 ? 2018
? KeyShot 7
? Windows 7,8,10 64-bit or Mac OS X 10.8 or later

Read more

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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SketchUp Extension Review: Eneroth Upright Extruder

Among the most used extensions for Trimble SketchUp, the Eneroth Upright Extruder stands out for its unique features and usability. Today we will talk about how we can use this powerful extension to easily modify and design complex models.

Designed by Eneroth3, the Eneroth Upright Extruder (EUE) is available for SketchUp 2013 and above. Of course, it requires the Pro version of SketchUp to install plugins into this awesome 3D modeling interface.

What is Eneroth Upright Extruder

The EUE is an extension for the SketchUp software which is used for 3D modeling and rendering. With this extension, you can project profiles while maintaining it upright.

In the default SketchUp tools pools, there is a similar tool available called "Follow Me". However, the Follow Me tool keeps the sides of the extrusion straight. This leads to not keeping the extrusion upright. The EUE extension remedies this issue by twisting the sides to make the project the extrusion upwards.

Read more

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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SketchUp Extension Review: TrueBend

Arguably the most popular 3D modeling and design software on earth, Trimble SketchUp gathers its immense following and customer base due to the user-friendliness and flexibility of the application. The flexibility comes from the enabling of adding external code, called “extensions” or “plugins”, into SketchUp. These extensions enhance the way SketchUp tools behave, add new tools or new content to enrich and ease your usage of the software.

One of the points to remember while intending to use SketchUp extensions is that only the SketchUp Pro version or above allows the users to import extensions within it. The Free, Make or Shop versions do not have this ability.

Most extensions for SketchUp are found in the Extension Warehouse from Trimble, which has released the 2.0 version of it recently with new and improved features. Other third-party web sites also host SketchUp extensions. One of these Extensions is called TrueBend, and it is that of which we will talk about today.

What is TrueBend

TrueBend from Thom Thom is a quite popular Trimble SketchUp extension found in the Extension Warehouse. When integrated with SketchUp, it enables the user to bend a given object for a certain degree. It will retain the original length of the object instance. The plugin uses the bottom front of the bounding box edge, therefore the user needs to line up the instant axis line up with the bend.

How TrueBend Works

The TrueBend plugin helps the user in bending an object within SketchUp for a given radius. It will also help you to bend the instance while maintaining the length of the object. Let us take an example to understand this better. Consider that the user wishes to bow a shape 60 inches long and the curvature of the bend is 180 degrees. To do this, the user needs to select ‘TrueBend’ in the menus or toolbar, and then click and drag the red bar on the SketchUp design screen to bend the object. Alternatively, you can click the red bar and enter the curvature value in degrees in the VCB for a precise manual curving. After finishing the dragging, or hitting enter after giving the value, you will see that the object instance has bowed to form the expected shape yet it still retains the original length.
Read more



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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What’s New in Extension Warehouse 2.0

One of the most beloved and favored 3D modeling and designing software is Trimble SketchUp. It is immensely popular not only among professionals but also with amateurs as well, thanks to its simple interface, easy-to-learn tools, comparatively cheap pricing, and great performance. However, arguably the most effective reason for SketchUp’s popularity would be its awesome flexibility and adaptiveness.

Trimble SketchUp achieves this by enabling users to attach “extensions” or “plug-ins” with the mother software, which augment its functionality to no end. These extensions can be developed by professionals as well as amateurs and change or upgrade the way you can draw in SketchUp, or improve its performance, or provide new resources to play with, or even connect to external software for additional support.

Many developers choose to host these extensions on their own site. However, the most common location to find the best SketchUp extensions is at the Extension Warehouse. The Extension Warehouse is an online resource full of plug-ins developed especially for SketchUp. The extensions are neatly categorized and presented here. When you wish to install a given plugin, just download the corresponding RBZ file and use your SketchUp’s Extension Manager tool to assimilate it.

One word of note here that support for plugins is not enabled in the Free or Shop versions of SketchUp. Only SketchUp Pro and above supports plugins, opening up a whole new world of customization for you. Whether you are an artist or an architect, the Extension Warehouse will have the right plugins, often a whole bunch of them, to set up your SketchUp in the way that best fits you, offering you the tools that you really need above and beyond SketchUp’s default toolset.

In their neverending quest to bring you the features that you need most and tools that make your designing and rendering efforts much easier, the Trimble team has just launched a few awesome improvements and enhancements that are sure to bring you a bundle of joy into your workflow. Let us see what are the new stuff in the Extension Warehouse 2.0.

Read more

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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How to use CAD files in SketchUp

Trimble SketchUp is probably the most popular 3D modeling software among people who aren’t hardcore professionals. Its ease of use, easy-to-understand toolset and flexibility have fanned the fumes of popularity for SketchUp. Most of the time, we are happy to be working with the default SketchUp files (.skp). But sometimes we may need to use files from other applications into SketchUp.

For example, quite often architects, construction professionals or engineers need to use their professional CAD software flies inside Trimble SketchUp. Most commonly, we see the need for importing AutoCAD files, like DWG or DXF, for this purpose. Today we will see how to properly import and use CAD files into SketchUp.

Compatibility

Before you whisk your DWG into SketchUp, you will need to know if they are compatible or not. Only the SketchUp Pro version supports importing CAD files into it; any lesser versions like SketchUp Web/Free, Make or Shop will not let you do this. Since the Pro Bundle and Unity come with SketchUp Pro, they support importing as well. Files spawned by most versions of AutoCAD are supported by the latest version of SketchUp Pro. However, AutoCAD 2013-14 version files work best in SketchUp, so you might probably want to save your drawing to that version format if you were using a higher version of AutoCAD.

Read more

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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