Lumion LiveSync for SketchUp – The newest sketchup plugin

Act-3D B.V. is the developer of Lumion LiveSync for SketchUp. This newest sketchup plugin supports sketchup 2017 and sketchup 2018.

With this plugin, it is possible to create real-time, photorealistic rendering of your sketchup model.

The users can model their sketchup design in a wonderful and realistic surroundings.

Lumion LiveSync for SketchUp also comprises of:

- Camera synchronization among SketchUp and Lumion
- It has the ability to add and save Lumion’s stunning materials to your LiveSync project
- Real-time materials synchronization and visualization
- Automatic model importing into Lumion (there is no requirment to import a model individually)

To get live demonstration, watch the following video tutorial.

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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MODELUR for parametric urban design v2018.1_RC2

The modelur team has launched MODELUR for parametric urban design v2018.1_RC2. This plugin is compatible with v2014, v2015, v2016, v2017.

Modelur belongs to a parametric urban design tool that is flawlessly incorporated into SketchUp. It facilitates the users to instantly generate and check various urban design alternatives.

Besides, making real-time calculation of major urban parameters (eg. FAR, number of apartments, required parking spaces, etc.) it also provides interactive 3D zoning, along with warnings when the design is not similar to zoning regulations (eg. buildings are too high or if they are arranged too close together, etc.).

Major advantages:

a. Accelerate your productivity (work 3 times swifter, 5 times more precisely)
b. Work directly within zoning
c. Instantly evaluate design alternatives
d. Produce intelligent decisions
e. Highlight design, not numbers

Prime FEATURES:

a. Flawlessly incorporated into SketchUp (making it as simple and intuitive to use)
b. Interactive 3D zoning
c. Parametric buildings (simple and mixed-use)
d. Parametric land uses
e. Real-time calculation of key urban parameters (eg. FAR, site coverage, num. of apartments, required parking spaces, etc.)
f. Export of key urban parameters to CSV (which can be imported in any spread sheet software, eg. Excel)
g. Warnings when certain zoning constraints are not satisfied (eg. FAR is surpassed or buildings are too close together, etc.)
h. Accessible in different languages

A free 21-day trial version is available as soon as Modelur is started in SketchUp sketchucation.com

Watch online demonstration of the plugin.

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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CAALA – The newest energy analysis plugin for sketchup

CAALA for SketchUp is the newest sketchup extension that is used to perform Energetic pre-dimensioning (life cycle analysis and EnEV calculation) in real time. This sketchup plugin is compatible with SketchUp 2016, SketchUp 2017, SketchUp 2018. The plugin is only available in German language.

CAALA stands for a software for holistic energetic-ecological pre-dimensioning. CAALA facilitates to analyze the complete lifecycle of a building design in real time (LCA / Life Cycle Assessment).

In this way, buildings are optimized sustainably in the initial planning phase. Besides, it can be measure at an initial phase whether guidelines like EnEV or KfW 55 are achieved or not.

With CAALA, it is possible to measure the energy requirements throughout operation and the gray energy required to manufacture, substitute and eliminate them simultaneously. All applicable parameters like geometry, alignment, materiality and building technology are considered. No training is required due to the impulsive user interface. There are diverse design variants which can be easily analyzed and compared rapidly.

CAALA allows the users to directly calculate how ecological a design is throughout the design process and whether guidelines like the EnEV can be achieved. Numerous variations can be tallied instantly which facilitate superior optimization.

If the decisions are taken in the initial phase of performance, it provides significant effect on both the cost and the energy and environmental performance of a building. CAALA is applied from performance phase 1 and support planning decisions with quantitative results.

As the only SketchUp plug-in for energy analysis, CAALA applies calculation algorithms on the basis of German standards. The energy assessment is accomplished as per DIN V 18599 and the gray energy and other ecological effects are set as per DIN EN 15978. So, the results are utilized for pre-dimensioning regarding EnEV or KfW Effizenzhaus or pre-certification as per BNB or DGNB.

To download the plugin, go to extension warehouse extensions.sketchup.com

Watch the following video tutorial for getting online demonstration of the plugin.

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Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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How to create new design scopes in sketchup with v-ray 3.6 and VR Scans

This sketchup video tutorial sheds light on the new design scopes by combining v-ray 3.6 and VR scans in sketchup. The tutorial is derived from a study of architecture interior and exterior project. The tutorial is conducted by Vessel Mikhaylov, a master degree holder from Technical University of Denmark.

Vessel highlights some of the new and exciting features in v-ray 3.6 for sketchup.

V-ray 3.6 for sketchup facilitates the users to render anything from rapid design model to most complicated 3d scenes. Rendering speed is very fast and one can design rapidly with the interactive rendering mode. Given below, some of the new features in v-ray 3.6 for sketchup.

a. Enhancements with UI and workflow
b. Greater speed
c. Enhancements with materials and textures
d. GPU rendering enhancements

V-ray 3.6 contains a new lighting algorithm known as adaptive lights to accelerate the rendering process considerably particularly in scenes where there are lots of light sources.

Lots of new materials and textures are included in this new version. The VR scan material is now supported and it allows to apply the curves groups scanned material technology in your project.

Besides, there are various types of GPU rendering enhancements like the hybrid rendering system. Displacement in aerial perspective is also now supported on the GPU.

Watch the following video tutorial to get more detail information.

Read more

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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Message in a bottle: A search in truss automation

A truss is presented as a framework for designing and construction field like a structure of elements which act as a single component though in combined situation and provide the support for the bigger structures. Naturally the design of an architectural truss is dependent on various calculations counting the effects of physical forces like weight, compression, material limitation etc. and the calculations are till now alarming and time consuming.

Robert Kovacs and his research team at Hasso Plattner Institute has been inventing to find a process of automating those calculations and there search and efforts have ended after creating TrussFab; it is a SketchUp Extension that make the 3D printable truss elements popular for the SketchUp users. This TrussFab helps users for rotating SketchUp geometry into a truss network which can smoothly be put together in real life with the recycled materials. This truss network with the recycled materials provides the users the ability for gathering trusses to their own projects easily, faster and reliably.

About the project: It is a unique project and thinking that has started two years ago at Hasso Plattner Institute and has attracted many undergrad and grad students to work here, the main team consist the following members: Robert Kovacs, Anna Seufert, Ludwig Wall, Hsiang-Ting Chen, Florian Meniel, Willi Muller, Sijing You, Maximilian Brehm, Jonathan Striebel, Yannis Kommana, Alexander Popiak, Thomas Blasius and Patrick Baudish.

Robert and the Truss Fab Team have highlighted some points on their works and they have started working on the plastic bottles and have created so far some amazing projects.

Idea of TrussFab: Robert‘s first project was the Protopiper at the Hasso Platter that focused on prototyping room-sized objects at perfect scale. After that the team has planned to take forward the idea of large-scale personal fiction for more functional objects and the result was complementing small 3D printed parts with ready-made objects that became plastic bottles. They also realized the need of the key design principle is always fro closed triangular contours, trusses or otherwise the connectors or the bottle will break.

The underlying physics of the forces: Truss structures are containing of triangles arrangements; that’s why the structures block deformation than only the individual object. The main strength of trusses is that they turn side forces or bending forces into tension and compression forces with the length of the edges or members.

3D printed hubs in the extension: Robert and the Truss Hub team has rated many hub designs proficient to hold the bottles or any objects together and they also used a threaded-snap connector pair for each edge. After that they settled on a design which can adjust various kind of objects (here bottles) and easily apply the 3D print; initially this design has the connector with only a simple projection.

Incorporating engineering functions into the application: TrussFab and Robert have the main goal to give a chance to the beginner users for building structurally firm large-scale things in just some minutes. The fundamental design principle behind TrussFab is well known in architecture that is less understandable in everyday life and the 3D printers can manufacture more objects with a better quality. The observation of materials and the wall thickness of the designs often fail as the forces grow numerically with the size of the object; it can overcome by implementing truss-specific functions to help users to create sturdy structures. In addition the editor of TussFab offers primary shape fundamentals as the elementary formed trusses, tools that can create large beams in the form of trusses and tools to tweak the shape of structure in the time of maintaining inflexibility.

The most inspiring structure: The largest structure according to Robert and his team was a 5m high pavilion for the CHI’17 conference that was made more than 1500 bottles and 191 3D printed hubs and was designed by the architect Oanh Lisa Nguyen-Xuan with the help of TrussFab’s editor.

The process of extension self-validate larger structures: At first the effect of weight of any structure placed upon the Structure is computed by TrussFab and they use the software here. The software generally finds the flaws in the truss structure and searches the parts which are not locked properly in place by other members can be subjected to shear or bend forces. In case, if such kind of forces can be found then the software would place additional balancing member; then the software examines the capability of the structure. The software analyzes the applied forces through finite element analysis for every member of the structure and shades every member accordingly.

Digital tools used in TrussFab: SketchUp is the most used tool and far most the best software for designing and planning the models in TrussFab. According to Robert, SketchUp is a vast and available platform for 3D projects that help them to make their project easily in 3D editor. Besides SktechUp, they use some additional tools also like Karamba 3D to estimate the forces inside the structures and OpenSCAD for creating the precise hub geometries for 3D printing.

Use of bottles in structures: TrussFab uses the normal soda pop bottles as a recycled product to make structures of their models which they buy from the local stores of Germany. They used refillable bottles for higher structural stability that provides them strength and make strongest and on the other hand the softer bottles are inflated to get the same strength.

Article Source: blog.sketchup.com

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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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How Accurate Are SketchUp Shadows?

Shadows add a real essence to your design. The same is true for your 3D modeling also. SketchUp, being the most popular 3D modeling design application, has come up with different shadow effects required for creating the environment as per the sun movement. Now the question is – how accurate are SketchUp shadows? The application follows a general rule and helps you add shadows the way the sun casts naturally. Mimicking the real-world shadow is not easy. But, SketchUp allows you to observe how the real shadow enhances the visibility of an object.

With SketchUp, you can calculate the best angle for adding shadows to your design. Below are a few features that are commonly available in the application.

• The latitude and longitude of a model.
• Cardinal orientation (north, south, east or west) of a model.
• Time zone selection

The shadow feature of SketchUp only brings out the general rule of how the Sun casts a shadow as per the geo-location. Since you cannot adjust time in the application, getting the right show effect is a bit difficult.

To add shadow effects to your design, you must put your model in geo-location. In SketchUp Pro 2017, you can easily import terrain to your design with the Add Location Tool. The steps can be done manually, as well. Follow the steps below:

Window > Model Info > Geo-location > Set Manual Location > Latitude and Longitude

Once you make your model Geo-located, the sun creates shadow naturally on your model. It creates your design more realistic. How to turn on Shadow in SketchUp:

SketchUp turns off shadow feature by default because shadows are consuming more computer processing ability. You can turn on shadow manually by following the steps: View > Shadow

To get a complete control over the tool, open the shadow feature on a default tray and customize everything that is needed. To add the time of the day, you can either drag the time slide along the timeline or insert a time in the time box. Steps will be the same for adding a month and day – dragging the date slide or inserting the date in a date box.

Customize shadow:

Besides the above-mentioned tips, there are a few things that help you customize the shadow attributes the way you want. The tips are given below:

• In the upper left is a display shadow button for switching the shadow effect between on and off.
• The time-zone tab allows you to select a new time zone. If the design is geo-located, the time showing in the model is accurate.
• The light slider is for changing the intensity of the light. This way, you can lighten or darken your model.
• The Dark slider is controlling the intensity of the shadow.
• On Face slider helps you cast the shadow of the one face on the other face logically.
• On Ground slider is for casting a shadow on the plane ground.
• From edges denotes the edges of the face can cast a shadow.

The SketchUp Shadow tool is amazing to use as you can change the effect of shadow as per the movement of the sun. All advanced functions along with the basic ones will help your make your design as much real as required.

Article Source: blog.sketchup.com



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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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The boundary of architectural visualization at Gensler

It is literary a global architecture, design and planning firm that has near about 44 branches and more than 5000 professionals and spread their network across Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. The firm was founded by Mr. Arthur Gensler Jr. and Associates Inc., known as Gensler in 1965 at San Francisco and in recent they are been serving more than 3500 active clients in every industry. Gensler designers are aimed to renovate the places more inspiring, more consistent and more influenced where people live, work and play. Gensler is planned for supporting their clients all over the world at every step of design cycle from primary strategy and design planning through performance and management.

In this article we will come to know about the creative works and system and management about architectural visualization of Gensler from Scott DeWoody who is the creative media manager at Gensler and has the experience to work with countless clients such as NVIDIA Corporation, ExxonMobil, Shell Oil Company, BP, City Center Las Vegas and many more.

Scott’s Role at Gensler: As a creative media manager Scott has to manage the rendering workflows, supervise visualization technologies, give training to the newcomers, and work on documentation over several things and research and development into new technologies like VR/AR/MR etc. Lot of roles really for him, but this is not the last as he as to act as a consultant on a huge number of projects and find out the best solution for any problem that can appear.

As per the words of Scott, he and other employees can get really big possibilities of working with various kinds of clients and projects that provide them enough experience for being compatible in every field. Scott has been working in Gensler for 10 years and serving various kinds of clients everyday which give him lot of experience and knowledge and he enjoys his work a lot.

Design tools: As Gensler is an architectural, designing and planning firm so the employers have to work with various tools that can make their work better in the less time. Scott says that they use the tools like SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit and for a degree use 3ds Max, along this there main visualization tool is V-Ray. The detailed works are done using the Unity and Unreal gaming tools and create some mutual visualization. Without this I Ray and other apps are used and Deadline tool is used to produce a global render in the network resources.

Process of producing powerful and pleasing imagery: Though producing imagery is different for different project and different designers use different tools but in general V-Ray is used by all in every design as a baseline. This tool has been using by the designers from a long decade and with the newest versions they can create render while continuously working in a project without stopping anywhere. V-Ray is enough submissive for the artist to work on taking things in conceptual or diagrammatical way or working in the photo-realistic method to get a new view on rendering quality. The latest attempt they scaled into the designs is the materials with using a system named ‘Avail’. This is especially designed for the AEC industry and has over 1500 V-Ray materials and a shared library for the designers. Other Software named Substance Designer which is a mechanical material builder is used to make any kind of virtual thing like carpet, wood, stone or anything to give a real look. The whole library is connected with all the offices across the world where everyone uses the same palette to get their first renderings off the ground.

A ‘standard workflow’: A standard workflow means an upgraded and useful workflow that is common in every field and every office of Gensler; it is the SketchUp and Microsoft. SketchUp help to dive in and mass out their ideas quickly to a downloadable textures and speed up the work, on the other hand the retailer dept. use SketchUp with Microsoft to present their design in the app on-the-fly. After that they use a mixture of Fuzor and Enscape to utilize a real-time rendering, besides these they use 3ds Max Interactive, Revit etc. also. For the game engine they have different level of thinking, all the designers want to make the gaming engines quick for modeling and want different outputs and recently working on it.

Collaboration: Scott has a goal to make a firm platform of rendering across the board so for rendering he uses V-Ray’s upgrading version for all platforms. V-Ray gives him a firm platform for every design and solving problems, using materials or adding extra features.

Future of design visualization: Real-time rendering is becoming popular and accessible for all and people are crazy for it but in the other hand the ray-tracing is also gaining attentions. Though they are two separate worlds, but Scott has a gut feeling that in future they can make a combination that will change the future of design visualization.

Scott’s experience with Mixed Reality: Scott had some very good experience while working in this project as they worked with SketchUp viewer for HoloLens and experienced many things about proofing of concept, drooping the custom designed bridge etc. in the real-world environment etc.

The team is recently working on various projects and looking forward to enhance the IoT experience in designing and hoping to take the technology to the next level. Gensel is extremely happy with their employees and convinced also that tools like SketchUp, Rhino, and VR are helping them a lot to grab something big in future.

Article Source: blog.sketchup.com




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Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
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