SketchUp Extension Review : Solid Inspector 2

One of the best things about Trimble SketchUp is that it can extend its abilities by adding plugins or extensions to it. Today, we will talk about Solid Inspector 2, one such extension that helps in preparing your 3D model for 3D printing and other volumetric operations.

What is Solid Inspector 2

Solid Inspector 2 for SketchUp 2014 or later is a plugin or extension that you can use with a registered SketchUp Pro software. It finds and highlights the issues that are preventing your model from being a complete solid.

There are three main kinds of discrepancies that Solid Inspector 2 can detect in a given object: Model not solid, Useless face in model, Inverted face, Hidden lines.

The SI2 will highlight errors in a model and jump from one error to the next, repairing as you go. This gives the extension tremendous usability in confirming and repairing a model's solid shell. For anyone making solid models or 3D printing, this is an indispensable plugin.

Technical Details

The Solid Inspector 2 (SI2) extension can be found in the Extension Warehouse. The plugin is so popular, that chances are you will see it in the very first screen in the featured or most popular sections; if not, here is the link for the plugin page. The extension is also available in the GitHub repository, you can find it here.

Being an open-source development, you can download and use it for free. The RBZ is fairly small and installs fast. You would have to have Trimble SketchUp 2014 or newer in order to use the plugin. If you are using an older version of SketchUp, you can consider downloading the first version of the tool instead.

Read more

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"CLEANUP3 TOOL FROM SKETCHUP EXTENSION WAREHOUSE"

SketchUp is an essential tool in 3D printing and SketchUp Extension warehouse is full of tools that are essential in the 3D printing and creating 3D printed models, such as CleanUp3.

About CleanUp3:

CleanUp3 is an essential tool for 3D printing which is created by Thomas Thomassen, who is a Modelmaker with a large desire for physical, digital and traditional design in most genres of the trade. He has focused on webdesign/programming and 3d visualizations and he has specialized in 3D modeling, SketchUp, webdesign, graphic design and web programming. This tool checks and simplifies the geometry of every SketchUp model and it combines multiple faces, eliminates extraneous data and erases any lines that don’t make a face.

CleanUp3 options:

Two of the most useful CleanUp3 options are Erase Duplicate Faces and Repair Split Edges, which can be enabled in the CleanUp3 menu. Usually Duplicate faces and split edges are errors that necessarily appear in the SketchUp 3D model while working in SketchUp and they drive 3D printer nuts. But both these two errors are difficult to recognize and repair manually. Besides that, it is also a great tool at simplifying STL files or 3D-printable files that need to import into SketchUp.

Features of CleanUp3

• It fixes duplicate component definition names in model scope
• Also clears unused items
• It can erase hidden geometry
• Also erases duplicate files
• Erases lovely edges except edges on cut plane
• Can remove edge material
• Repairs split edges
• Creates smooth and soft edges
• Then put edges and faces to Layer0
• Can merge identical materials
• Also merge connected co-planer faces

Menus & Toolbars: Plugins>CleanUp

About SketchUp:

SketchUp or Google SketchUp is mainly a3D modeling computer program that is used for a broad range of drawing applications used by architects, interior designer, landscape architects, civil and mechanical engineers, film and video game designers also. SketchUp can be getting as a freeware version named SketchUp Make and a paid version with many more extra benefits called SketchUp Pro. SketchUp is software from Trimble Company and there is an online library of free model congregations and 3D Warehouse to which users can add other models; besides that, the program has drawing layout functionality with variable ‘styles’, supports third-party ‘plug-in’ programs hosted on the Extension Warehouse to supply other abilities and enables placement of its models in Google Earth.

About Extension Warehouse:

It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more. So basically in this Extension Warehouse people can do the following things:

• Users can search extensions by name or as per the functionality.
• They can also install various extensions with a single click of a button.
• Or users can also control all the extensions from easy-to-use location in the My Extension page.

Source: wwww.extensions.sketchup.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How to handle Extension License Issues"

The SketchUp Extension Warehouse has uncounted kinds of extensions which come with their own licenses and if the license expired then problems occurred while working.

About Extension Warehouse:

It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more. So basically in this Extension Warehouse people can do the following things:

• Users can search extensions by name or as per the functionality.
• They can also install various extensions with a single click of a button.
• Or users can also control all the extensions from easy-to-use location in the My Extension page.

Extensions come with their connected licenses that enable users to use the extension. If an extension has a licensing problem, SketchUp won’t load the extension and an error message will be shown. The status column on this error will help users to diagnose the actual problem.

Here is a list that will help users to outline the types of license errors and the way of resolving them:

Expired Trial:

When an extension trial gets expired, users just need to buy the extension to continue using it. Users can buy the extension from the extension details page or from the My extension page. While downloading an extension from the Extension Warehouse through a web browser or from a developer’s website it will come as an .rbz file that can be installed manually. Here are the steps to follow before installing: At first go to SketchUp and select the Extension Manager Option form Window menu, after clicking on it the Extension Manager window appears. Now click on the Install Extension button. The Open Dialog box will appear where users can find the .rbz file, just save it to the computer, select the file and click OK in Microsoft Windows or Open in Mac OS X.SketchUp will warn the users about installing only extensions from trusted sources just click OK option for further procedure and the extension will be installed. Purchasing Extensions in the 3D Warehouse: Anyone can purchase an extension through signing in to the Extension Warehouse or through any browser or SketchUp; but it is essential to sign in to the Extension Warehouse through SketchUp before installing a trial version or buying an extension. Here are some needed steps that need to follow before a purchase:

1. Go to the extension detail page and click the Purchase button.
2. In the prompted option, users have to enter their billing and payment information, billing information will verify the credit card, the receipt is emailed to the email address that user uses to sign in to Extension Warehouse.

The following steps is needed to install a trial or purchased extension:

1. Go to the SketchUp and select the Extension Warehouse from Windows and sign in to the Extension Warehouse.
2. Now search for the extension that is needed or go to the extensions details page and click Install Trial option.
3. Then go to the user menu and select the My Extensions option.
4. The My Extension tab will open scroll down to the trial extension or the purchased extension to install and click on either the Install Trial or Install link. Click yes to install.

• Not Licensed: This message indicates that SketchUp is not able to locate a license for the extension and if users installed the extension from the Extension Warehouse, then uninstall the extension, again restart SketchUp and again re-install the extension in some other way, next need to remove the extension manually and reinstall it form the Extension Warehouse.
• License Limit Exceeded: Users can install a purchased extension on two different computers but it is installed in more than two, then this error will come.

Source: wwww.help.sketchup.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Breaking SketchUp model into Parts for 3D Printing"

SketchUp specialists Aidan Chopra has discussed a process which is simple enough for users who want to break their SketchUp models into parts for 3D printing.

While doing 3D printing in SktechUp, users need to run into the need to spilt the model into parts. There are though some ideas are big to fit into the 3D printer’s build volume but other ideas want to be 3D printed in a rainbow of colored plastic or sometimes needs to be split to make it easy to print.

Almost everything can designed in 3D with SketchUp and who have splattered in 3D drawing or are interested to learn the basics of design, SketchUp for Dummies has made it faster and easier to learn the ropes of a powerful, user-friendly tool that bring life into the design ideas. Users can get guidance here from creating a basic 3D model to showcase their work through 3D print or animation, literally everything in SketchUp that can help in anywhere like from redesigning the house to mocking up the future great invention. More than that, SketchUp’s vast usability has gotten very wide success as a tool that even non-designers can also make basic drawings; there are also many expert tips from former SketchUp product director Aidan Chopra and co-author Rebecca Huehls that help to draw and access SketchUp.

Aidan has described a process which will help users to cut the SketchUp model in the right time and right way.

Place to cut the SketchUp model:

while subdividing a SketchUp model into printable parts, always users need to find the right place to start and to think what to do with the seams. Like if users want to go to sand, paint and finish the model then can do it and cut at any place but sanding and finishing is a huge work to do while it will become much easier if anyone make cuts and seams look like they are international parts of model. Another good place to hide a cut is at a change in elevation, curvature or color; if users place a seam where the surface of a part is interrupted already, it will not be noticeable enough.

It is a good idea to pick something around us that is made of plastic and find the seams where the parts can combine together, and if that type of seam can be imitated people will notice and accept it faster. It will be seen as a realistic one and people will think that the 3D printed part came from a factory. If the constructions are large, then the only option may be to establish a grid and cut into build-volume-size blocks.

Process to cut the SketchUp model:

• elect the group and make a new group around it where the original one will become a subgroup.
• Then work inside the new group, create geometry in the shape of the cut.
• After that, make new geometry into its own group.
• Select Cutter Object> choose Edit> Intersect Faces with Context.
• Inside each group, use Explode to stick the intersection lines, cutting object and base object.
• Move back out to the master group and make copies.
• In each copy, open the group for editing and erase unnecessary parts.
• Run CleanUp3 on the new parts and use Solid Inspector2 to check accidental holes.
• Place the parts back together as lines should be

Source: wwww.dummies.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It is easier to discover New Favorite models in SketchUp"

Google SketchUp team has been improving their tools and models continuously, at first they have released the new updated SketchUp Pro 2019 and then they released new 3D Warehouse.

The whole SketchUp team has been discussing to bring SketchUp lovers the newest development in the life of their products; they proudly announced a brand new way to purchase all the SketchUp products which is the SketchUp Subscription. They have offered the best value so that users and SketchUp lovers can easily choose the perfect combination of SketchUp for every project, workflow or creative concept.

About Extension Warehouse: It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more. So basically in this Extension Warehouse people can do the following things:

• Users can search extensions by name or as per the functionality.
• They can also install various extensions with a single click of a button.
• Or users can also control all the extensions from easy-to-use location in the My Extension page.

But there are millions of models and 17 languages in the 3D warehouse of SketchUp Pro 2019 tht makes it difficult to find the right one that can be used on the tools. SketchUp users have been facing this difficulty from a very long time so the SketchUp team has done something to fix this problem as they don’t want that their customers may miss their perfect model and they want to help in discovering som hidden gems in SketchUp 3D Warehouse. SketchUp team proudly announced the release of Categories on 3D Warehouse; these categories will help the users to easily search and browse in the world’s largest 3D model library. Here are the most improved features and the categories discussed that will help to figure the things out:

• Better browsing: The new updated 3D Warehouse has come with better browsing experience to do the heavy lifting through the following steps- 1. At first users need to start with an “empty search”, 2. Then they have to select a Category, 3. There, they can watch the search results update and 4. Can get inspired.
• Refining the search: The quality of search based as per the text of the author that uses to describe their model and if description doesn’t match with model the Selecting a Category will help to filter out the models that aren’t relate to the description.
• Sorting by Subcategory: There will be millions of categories from which users can get their own models but if they want any specific one the Subcategory option will help to select the exact model.
• Filtering by real-world products: Users can now search their needed buyable 3D models from the Manufacturer Model filter option where they can easily find and buy models.
• Categorizing the models: Categorization option in SketchUp 3D Warehouse has just begun which can be made better with the help of users like users can themselves categorize models as their own need. Actually categories make it easier to find right great content on 3D Warehouse, even there is no title or description or it can be in different language

Source: www.blog.sketchup.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Creating Own SketchUp Material Libraries”

SketchUp Material Libraries contain a huge number of textures and materials; this Libraries can be created by user following some easy steps.

3D printing or additive manufacturing is way of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital life. The creation or making of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes and in this process, an object is made by laying down successive layers of material till the object is created. Each of these layers can be visible as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object. So basically 3D printing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing which is cutting out a piece of metal or plastic with for specimen a milling machine.

There are more than 5000 materials in the nXt Material Library from where any user can select any material and place it on a SketchUp face to create a similar SketchUp material. In many cases the SketchUp material is like an estimate of the full fractal material which will be created when users render the model.

The way of downloading the nXt Libraries:

Here are the steps to download and install the latest libraries:

• Click on the Downloads Page.
• After that users have to enter their name and email address and proceed to the download page.
• Next they need to select IRender nXt Libraries from the right of the first row of downloads.

The download contains:

• New nXt Materials.
• Older AccuRender Materials converted to nXt format
• New nXt Plants and Trees
• Older AR4 Plant and Tree Library
• HDRi Skies for the second and additional tabs on the HDRi Setup dialog

The IRender nXt Libraries of plans and materials are only available for the clients who purchase IRender nXt. The Libraries have the things like:

• AR3 materials converted to nXT .ArMaterial file format.
• New .ArMaterial files created for nXt.
• AR3 Trees and Plants.
• New nXt Trees.
• Additional HDRi skies for use with IRender nXt.

Among many materials of nXt Libarries SketchUp Materials Palette is one which is used to create some different patterns and colors in SketchUp model. To open the SKetchUp Materials Palette here are the steps to follow

• Click the ‘Paint Bucket Tool’ in the toolbar or use Windows > Materials menu entry.
• This will launch the palette from the toolbar button.
• Now click the ‘Create Material’ icon which will open a separate window that will allow the users to input some color values or to add textures and set opacity levels for the material.
• If users want to load their own texture in the Palette simply click the ‘Browse’ icon in the texture section of the Create Material Palette which will launch the ‘Open File’ dialog and then can navigate to the location of the texture image in the hard drive.
• After getting the texture just click open to load it into SketchUp’s ‘Create Material Palette’. Then users can give a name and dimensions to the texture and click ‘OK’ to create the new material.
• To locate texture in SketchUp, users can pick ‘In Model’ option from the dropdown list; this option will display all the textures currently in the model.
• Then save this new created texture into a new library Right click it and choose ‘Save As’ from the context menu.
• .skm is the default file type in it; to save materials to already existing libraries click the ‘Display secondary selection pane’ button.

Source

www.sketchucation.com/resources/tutorials

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Vertex Tools Extension in SketchUp”

About Extension Warehouse:

It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more. So basically in this Extension Warehouse people can do the following things:

• Users can search extensions by name or as per the functionality.
• They can also install various extensions with a single click of a button.
• Or users can also control all the extensions from easy-to-use location in the My Extension page

About Thom Thom:

Thomas Tomassen is actually known as Thom Thom, he is a modelmaker with a large desire for physical, digital and traditional design in most kinds of the trade. He is also focused on webdesign or programming and 3D visualizations but he is specialist in 3D modeling, SketchUp, Webdesign, graphic design and web programming.

Vertex Tools

This extension can take control over each vertex editor for SketchUp; its soft sections are a must needed thing for organic modeling and the manipulator gizmo will allow users to take great control while modeling. On the Vertex tolls website, users will find a list of all features along with a comprehensive manual and videos. This vertex tools can be tried for 30 days with proper registration where after the trail period, users have to buy a license to continue the use of it by paying $20.
But recently Thom Thom has updated the Vertex Tools and made a fully functional Trial version that anyone can test for 30 days. But if anyone get hooked and is a Premium Member at SketchUcation, will be enough to get lucky to have a 20% discount in the SketchUcation shop. The Trial Version of Vertex Tools is now can be found form the SketchUcation Plugin Store or the Extension Warehouse.

Features

• Manipulator Gizmo: The Gizmo allows for quick operations without exchanging out of selection mode and all the actions can be adjusted by the VCB for final precision adjustments.
• Extrude Edges: Gizmo is used to quickly extrude edges from any selected geometry which can even takes into account the soft-selection.
• Soft-selection: It is set by taping in a length in the VCB while a selection toll is active. It vertices within this distance from the selected vertices are affected by tools that modify geometry.
• Auto-Smooth: When a face is deformed in a way that the vertices are not coplanar, SketchUp Autofolds the face by adding new edges which are normally not soft but create a faceted surface. After enabling Auto-Smooth, these new edges will be softened and smoothened to give a continuous surface.
• Lock UV Mapping: Vertex Tools preserve users UV mapping those will distort by SketchUp then it will manipulate the model’s geometry and the UV mapping is pinned to each vertex to keep continuity.

Menus & Toolbars:

• Tools >> Vertex tools
• Context Menu >> Vertex Tools
• Toolbars >> Vertex Tools

Menus & Toolbars:

• SketchUp 6* or never
• Windows XP or newer version (internet explorer 7 or newer)
• OSX 10.4 or newer in Intel or PPC

Source
www.extensions.sketchup.com/en/content



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Using SketchUp’s CleanUp3 and Solid Inspetcor2 tools”

SketchUp’s Extension Warehouse is full of useful and faster working tools or extensions which will make the 3D printing and working on it better than before.

3D printing or additive manufacturing is way of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital life. The creation or making of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes and in this process, an object is made by laying down successive layers of material till the object is created. Each of these layers can be visible as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object. So basically 3D printing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing which is cutting out a piece of metal or plastic with for specimen a milling machine.

SketchUp is just made for 3D printing and designing in SketchUp is cool as 3D printing is something that moves is cooler and unique than that. In this article we are going to discuss about a few features that can be include by the users to make their creations more than just interestingly shaped hunks of immobile plastic. Aidan Chopra and Rebecca Huehls this time comes up with new tricks about 3D printing in SketchUp.

Aidan Chopra was a beloved member of the SketchUp team for 10 years; he is the creator of SketchUp Blog where SketchUp members and professionals share their new designs and tells some tips and tricks to design various designs that help users a lot. This Blog has attracted huge number of people and helps them to know more about SketchUp tools and extensions, moreover that users can now easily use SketchUp in their everyday life. Aidan also taught countless classes on SketchUp, he authored the SketchUp for Dummies Book.

Two tools from the SktchUp Extension Warehouse are important for every 3D printing work and they are: CleanUp3 and Solid Inspector2; both of these are created by Thomas Thomassen. Here is a little information about both of them:

• CleanUp3: This extension checks and simplifies the geometry of every SketchUp model and combines multiple faces, deletes extraneous data any lines that don’t create a face. There are also two most useful CleanUp3 options in the Warehouse such as Erase Duplicate Faces and Repair Split Edges which can be enabled in the CleanUp3 menu. These two options are errors that surely appear in the model while working in SketchUp and they drive 3D printers nuts; moreover that these two are hard to identify and repair manually. This extension also simplify STL or 3D-printable files that are imported into many triangles and by removing that triangulation, CleanUp3 makes files downloaded from 3D printing communities easily edited in SketchUp.
• Solid Inspector2: This extension finds and highlights problems that are stopping SketchUp 3D models from being a solid shell and its usefulness cannot be exaggerated. It also highlights problem areas and helps users automatically from one error to another and does the repairs much faster. So it is must have tool in every SketchUp model.

While working with 3D modeling in SKetchUp, everyone should run CleanUp3 periodically and run Soli Inspector2 before exporting from SketchUp to 3D print is also necessary as they both will help to find errors that would cause the printing failure.

Source

www.dummies.com/programming/google-sketchup

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"An extension ecosystem with Christina Eneroth”

SketchUp is a most loved extension all over the world with lot of extensions of work on 3D models; Christina Eneroth has added some new extensions which are lacking in it.

The SketchUp extension is full of wonderful tools or commands that make the 3D modeling in SketchUp much easier; users can download all these tools or extensions and upload their models in the warehouse for others. It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more.

But there are some tools which are still not found in SketchUp Extension there Julia Christina Eneroth starts here work. She builds those tools or commands for users and she has been doing it since a long time. She is a designer and developer in SketchUp and till now has published about 66 extensions and plugins to Extension Warehouse; she also has created virtually her very own 3D modeling ecosystem.

First experience with SketchUp: Julia Christina Eneroth was first introduced to SketchUp while working on shadowing an architect in elementary school; she downloaded the free version and worked at home. In those earlier days, SketchUp download took a very long time and 3D Warehouse had a 10 MB file size limit so there wasn’t much space to publish models.

First extensions in SketchUp: Her first script was for assigning layers to geometry called Scholss Eneburg, a castle with many levels with different ceiling heights and floors. It became impossible to look inside the model with SketchUp’s native section cut tool so she thought to write her first ever SketchUp Ruby script. But as the quality of the code was not that strong so she abandoned some projects, made some small changes and there she learned about code readability, decoupling and organization the hard way. According to here, while developing an extension anyone must think about its intended scope; as adding an extra feature in extension is easy but adding it without a scope will make it messy.

The Castle Project: Julia is always been fascinated by castles and once she started a high school project on castle which took a long time, her lots of hard work and skills on SketchUp. Though it was a single project, but actually it was a combination of all her previous works and made her learn about SketchUp.

Her new ideas about new extensions: All of her new extensions are created as her own need of modeling workflow and these extensions at first start as a few lines of code or a single line which she writes in the Ruby console to make it easier. After that, she builds a proper UI, designs the icons, writes documentation and creates images to describe it.

Julia’s five favorite extensions:

• Swift Layer Visibility Control: It makes layer visibility control more flowing; she created it as a shortcut for hiding the selected layers. Another shortcut shows all layers and another one re-hides all layers that were last shown and created by Eneroth herself.
• Selection Toys: It is made by Thom Thom and a must-have product that allows users to select existence by a certain criteria often based on the previous selected to make modeling more efficient.
• Tool Memory: Designed by Eneroth, it helps to swap back and forth between tools without having to move fingers to the different shortcuts.
• Solid Tools
• Solid Inspector

Native extensions to SketchUp: Though according to her, very few extensions are native to SktechUp, but Weld should be a native command.

Read more

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Classical Architectural Modelers talked about nine Workflow tips”

Classical Architectural modelers of Holygon have been working on 3D models since a long time and they apply some kind of tips for perfect models.

Holygon is a Swedish Company that specializes in making historically-precise digital models for visual and 3D printing applications. At 3D Basecamp 2018, Founders Andres Lyhagen and Felix Heuman have presented how to accurately model urban spaces for 3D printing; they also shared their top workflow tips with the whole SketchUp community.

It combines deep knowledge of traditional design principles with command of recent digital technology to create state-of-art digital and physical 3D models of cities, architecture and other bespoke forms. They specialized in accuracy-modeling large urban cityscapes and individual buildings ready for true-to-life full-color 3D printing. Besides, they also program custom 3D tools, teach the art of 3D and visualize 3D models.

3D Basecamp 2018: 3D Basecamp is a much awaited place for all types of SketchUppers where they meet to teach, learn and inspire each other and this time 3D basecamp is going to held in Palm Springs at California from September 24th to 28th 2018. It is the program of a full week which most probably will be the best week for all the SketchUp lovers as they can develop their 3D modeling skills, increase the social circle by connecting with more people and can view the beauty of California.

The first two days will only be focused on SketchUp Bootcamp training track where the bootcamp meetings will be hands-on workshops that are exact for learning SketchUp or just simple upgrading the industrial workflows. After that there will be a 3 day conference which is the most popular 3D basecamp ticket which includes the main Basecamp conference track with a set of bootcamp training workshops for both novice and medium SketchUp users. The total 5 days conference and training both can be attained by the specified ticket. By signing up for the 3D basecamp Conference and Essential Training ticket, SketchUppers can get the chance to take SketchUp 102 and 201 courses, a basic training for architectural design, design/build and interior design. Besides that, there is an important agenda of presentations like details and estimates, drones and scanning, VR and Visualization, 3D printing and CNC, concept art and prop making, low-poly and many more.

• Here are workflow tips to follow while modeling in SketchUp:
• Control the expression: Their initial drafts are fully hand-drawn as they follow traditional principles and use traditional elements like pedestals, columns, entablature etc.
• Quality references: They always search the highest quality measured drawings of a certain order; with quality they never take a risk.
• Know your form: Seeing a thing in a way matters while working on it.
• Know the tools: SketchUp has always multiple solutions for every challenge, like there are lots of tools to work. Before working on any design, it is important to know the exact tools to use as it will add perfection.
• Draw contours: Drawing in 2D may take longer than finishing 3D volumes but using shortcuts will help to make the exact layers.
• Solid: modeling in all solids needs discipline and solid modeling principle is a fierce teacher but also a better option.
• Components: It helps both performance and model management as it applies at multiple abstraction levels.
• Combining independent parts: Always make separate parts of a design and then combine them it will give the sharp edged model.
• Finalizing model: They finalize models after completing all other parts.

Sourcewww.blog.sketchup.com/article

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Print a Thing extension made 3D printing easier

SketchUp is an essential tool in 3D printing and SketchUp Extension warehouse is full of tools; among them, the Print a Thing extension made the 3D printing techniques easier.

SketchUp or Google SketchUp is mainly a3D modeling computer program that is used for a broad range of drawing applications used by architects, interior designer, landscape architects, civil and mechanical engineers, film and video game designers also. The Extension Warehouse of SketchUp is full of useful tools which are used in various 3D models to make the work attractive.

Extension Warehouse: It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more. So basically in this Extension Warehouse people can do the following things:

• Users can search extensions by name or as per the functionality.
• They can also install various extensions with a single click of a button.
• Or users can also control all the extensions from easy-to-use location in the My Extension page.

About Print a Thing: Print a Thing extension helps users to get an instant quote and 3D Print of the models with just a few clicks. This extension allows users to easily upload their works into the Print a Thing 3D Printing service for an instant quote, faster turn around and high quality prints. This extension also allows them to utilize a distributed network of quality 3D printers across the United States. SketchUp designers want to change the world for better through their technology and 3D printing is a way to see the world; that’s why they are trying to keep the 3D printing reasonable, simple, easier and communicable so that anyone can use it anywhere for any purpose. Print a Thing is released in a hope that it would be a positive force for startups, beginners and professionals both can do it themselves

Process of using: After installing the extension, users can find a new option in the menu bar called “3D Print with Print a Thing”; if users draw a shape and click on the menu a bar will come. From the bar they can choose their desired model and select it and add it in their cart; this extension allows creating models in a new way.



Read more
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Surface Imperfection Maps in VRay to create Realistic materials in SketchUp ”

This article is about the using method of surface imperfection maps to add realism on the rendered materials within VRay for SketchUp which Justin Geis has shown through a tutorial video. Here are some details about this Surface Imperfection and its use in SketchUp.

Surface Imperfection maps are very high quality textures which are scanned from real surfaces. These maps are not like traditional scatter textures but are scans of the delicate imperfections that are shared by most materials. The resulting grayscale maps can be used as glossiness, bump, anisotropy and reflective maps for adding those imperfections back into any 3D material.

Justin Geis: Justin Geis is the founder of The SketchUp Essentials and started using SketchUp while he was working as a general contractor in 2008 and after using it he found that SketchUp is extremely powerful that he just started to use it in his personal works also. Then he started The SketchUp Essentials as a place where he could share his ideas of using SketchUp easily through some tutorials and tips to help other users controlling the power of 3D Modeling in everyday lives.

About Extension Warehouse: It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more. So basically in this Extension Warehouse people can do the following things:

• Users can search extensions by name or as per the functionality.
• They can also install various extensions with a single click of a button.
• Or users can also control all the extensions from easy-to-use location in the My Extension page.

This time Justin Geis has used maps from the website called Poliigon.com; the textures in this tutorial are all free textures which can be used in the renderings; Poliigon also has a paid option with access for many materials. One of the other map types has Poliigon is the surface imperfection map which is designed to apply with the other materials from poliigon to use them. In real life, materials are rarely perfect as in the renderings so in maps they can be used to add a little realistic feel to the renders. Justin has downloaded and used the free Smudged Large texture; he also created a material for the texture and applied surface imperfection map to the opacity section under color correction. This option allowed them to drive the opacity of the material as it is basically see-through material except for the Smudged areas. The power of the brightness can be adjusted later to change the power of effect; next they created a 3D material and the type of this one allows to blend multiple materials together. While creating a 3D material blend there will be an option to add a base material to create a wonderful texture.

Source:www.thesketchupessentials.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Medeek Electrical (1.0.6) – The updated version is available in extension warehouse

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson has developed Medeek Electrical for sketchup. It is the newest sketchup extension with user-friendly interface for producing perfect 2D and 3D electrical geometry inside SketchUp.

This sketchup plugin is compatible with SketchUp 2015, SketchUp 2016, SketchUp 2017, SketchUp 2018, SketchUp 2019.

This extension applies the SketchUp Ruby API programming interface.

All electrical types can be drawn/designed with industry standard practice. The extension facilitates the user to generate electrical components and fixtures as well as edit (presently applicable for switches only) each component in future releases.

Electrical geometry is implanted inside an accessible wall panel (developed with the Medeek Wall extension) or a wall "group". The Medeek Electrical extension is well suited with any wall, roof, floor or ceiling geometry.

The extension can now also be applied with John Brock's Framer plugin.

Custom materials can be implanted in the global settings to facilitate customization of material/color of wall plates and different electrical components.

Download a free trial version https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/medeek-wall-plugin



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Published By
Rajib Dey
www.sketchup4architect.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Browsing for Extension in SketchUp”

SketchUp Extension Warehouse has a huge amount of tools or extensions under it and these are very useful for the users, there is a right way to browse extension for SketchUp.

About Extension Warehouse: It is an online resource with various plug-ins developed made especially for SketchUp and these extensions help to add some special tools and features to SketchUp. These extensions can be found for any particular application like drawing or 3D printing and some industry specified tools for architecture, interior design, construction and many more. So basically in this Extension Warehouse people can do the following things:

• Users can search extensions by name or as per the functionality.
• They can also install various extensions with a single click of a button.
• Or users can also control all the extensions from easy-to-use location in the My Extension page.The SketchUp Extension Warehouse has many tools to search and browse extensions to find SketchUp extensions:
• There is the Search Box at the top of every page where tools are mentioned.
• There are many Highlighted groups on the Extension Warehouse home page.
• Users can filter the extension in the list as per the search results
• The category, industry and author tags on the extension details page

Here are some steps explained that will describe how the users can use the extensions or tools on their hunt for the perfect extension for the model:

• At first users have to go to the Extension Warehouse, then they have to type the name of an extension or graphic search terms in the Search box and click the Search button. Or, users can go to the Categories or Industries area to click an option; a page of search results will appear.
• If users want to refine the search results more, they need to select one or more filters in the sidebar on the left; the Extension Warehouse will filter the search results after selecting the checkbox. After applying a filter it will appear at the top of the sidebar where users can see quickly before applying other filters to the search results.
• For changing the sorted search results, users can select an option from the drop-down list in the upper right of the search results page. By default, the results will get sorted by application which users can change as per creation date or popularity or alphabetically by title or author.
• Clicking an extension’s title will help to open its extension details page and if users can find the right extension and want to install it, they can do it by Adding Extensions to SketchUp option. To browse more, there are two more options left which are: 1) Starting a new search in the Search box and 2) In the sidebar of statistics on the right, click any category, industry, SketchUp version, operating system or language to see any other search results related to that item.

Source:help.sketchup.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~