Some new functionalities of FredoPortrait sketchup plugin

In this sketchup video tutorial, you will be familiar with some new features of FredoPortrait sketchup plugin to transform a complex 3D model into 2D FaceMe geometry.

FredoPortrait is a useful sketchup extension that can be used to generate custom camera views and export custom images from inside of sketchup.

The plugin comprises of a custom camera tool that saves and loads cameras captured from the viewport. Custom Cameras are preserved within the model or at Sketchup level, which create a way to move cameras across models.

Portrait Studio contains a wide array of tools which are used to identify a camera precisely and clarify the view depending on the selection. It then facilitates to create or update scenes, images in different formats, and more commonly render or export the selection with the native Sketchup exporters or 3rd party exporters. It also facilitates to create 2D Components out of selected 3D objects (for SU2018 and higher versions).

FredoPortrait is applied for the following purposes :

1. Move cameras inside a model and across models.
2. Create images and exports of the selection only
3. Create 2D components from selected 3D objects (for SU2018 and higher version)
4. Modify the camera positions and save them as scenes.

Most features are available in the FredoPortrait Studio dialog box.

To get online demonstration of this sketchup extension, go through the following video tutorial.

Read Continue



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

"Using 3D Printer with SketchUp"

SketchUp users can create wonderful 3D models with the help of SketchUp and can print them in 3D way through the help of 3D printers; it is a way better combination.

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 and 3D printer are a perfect match; every new 3D printer’s manufacturer will come with documentation to help users in learning the way of using printers and the related software. The following information will focus on a few basic concepts of 3D printing that are often not explained well and users get confused about them.

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. 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.

Print often with SketchUp: We often assume that Desktop 3D printing is too much costly, but it is really, unbelievably and remarkably cheap. Let it make clear, look the cost for running a general desktop 3D printer is about 38.56 Rs/- an hour; after starting printer once it will continue working on design on its own. SketchUp models can be printed over and over and it will give perfect print every single time.

Like Test Printers which are great in catching errors and mistakes; they are also a great way to document the evolution of a design. So always save a version of every SketchUp 3D model to print later and to find out the errors. Though there are some lacks also: these printers though use 3D printer’s Low Quality setting to print faster but come with a rougher surface, they can’t be edited after printing one time so it is better to keep copies.

Inside a SketchUp model: After creating the outer part of a model, it is way better to check out the inside part of a model as usually users let the 3D printer automatically do the inside part, filling it with automatically generated structure. But users can also make changes in them.

Source: wwww.dummies.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

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

Point Gadget 2 (2016+) – The newest sketchup extension

Point Gadget 2 (2016+) is the newest sketchup plugin available in extension warehouse. It is an upgraded version of point gadget.

The newest version is compatible with SketchUp 2016, SketchUp 2017, SketchUp 2018, SketchUp 2019.

Point Gadget 2 (2016+) comprises of several tools like Point Creation Tools, Line Creation Tool, Modification Tools, Importer & Exporter tools etc.

Point Creation Tools:

Set Location – This tool can be utilized to set the xyz of the station location or model origin.

Trick: With the help of the SketchUp model axis, precisely align imported data (images, cad info, etc) prior to shooting points. The green axis is taken as the North / backsight

Shoot Tool – This tool can be applied to set point markers with the mouse. The markers, and the points to be demonstrated, will be attributed ID numbers automatically.

Tip: While applying the Shoot tool, it is a good idea shoot onto an actual surface.

Tip: The point markers applied via this plugin are components. If the users are reluctant to apply the Point Gadget tools to set a point marker and as an alternative apply the Component Browser to set your point, ensure to employ the Point Gadget UPDATE tool to register them with the plugin.

XYZ Tool – This tool can be used to arrange point markers simultaneously with specific XYZ coordinates.

To get the details about other tools, click on the following link extensions.sketchup.com

Watch online demonstration of Point Gadget 2 (2016+)



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

"Eight new components to Rock the School Year: SketchUp for Schools”

SketchUp for Schools has started a year ago where the creators have started to put some information to manage SketchUp tools for students and teachers they are adding features now.

SketchUp for Schools: It is a free 3D modeling browser application which is available to any primary or secondary school that has signed up with G-suite for Education. This is the first time SketchUp ever offered an education-specific product and SketchUp team has taken the view of users and their EDU community about the classes. SketchUp management are bringing SketchUp for Schools out of beta just in time for the school year and after an wonderful Summer of sifting through many positive feedback the team has brought the two most needed features: STL exploring for 3D printing and SketchUp curriculum. So SKetchUp for Schools also offering age-definite curriculum attached to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards and also the curriculum is made by Teachers like Mike and Mike.

Last year, the SketchUp for Schools had started various classes to teach the students about SketchUp and people gave feedback which helped them to make improvements so that students and educators can use it more smoothly in 3D. So, this year they are again bringing SketchUp for Schools with new improvements, let’s check them out.

Better 3D printing functionality: After SketchUp for Schools launched, SketchUp has come in now Chromebooks and then they have added a couple more features to make the 3D printing experience better. The features are:

Solid Inspector:

It is the web-child of Solid Inpector2 and is ranked number 1 extension to prepare models for 3D printing on SketchUp’s Extension Warehouse. It is located on the right side of the new 3D printing panel.

3D Printing Guide:

3D printing guide is a complete guidance package consisting with three new lesson plans and these plans are now delivered in Google Slides. They all can be found either on the Web or directly in the SketchUp for Schools application.

Solid Tools:

Solid tools have different kind of tools which are Outer Shell, Union, Subtract, Trim, Intersect and Split. All these features are very useful to create cool geometry and can also help in preparing any model for 3D printing.

STL import:

There are many exciting Thingiverse models in the SketchUp for Schools application which students will love to play around with and it is as easier as exporting to STL.

Better 3D printing functionality: The team also added more of SketchUp’s desktop functionality to SketchUp for schools and here are those new features:

Style Editor:

It allows users to create own custom styles or to edit one of SketchUp’s many default styles.

Downsave .skp files to 2016 or 2017:

SketchUp team has added the ability to downsave the files of users’ while working on any earlier version of SketchUp Pro in Desktop so that they can work between SketchUp for Schools on the Chromebook and SketchUp Pro on the desktop.

Importers & Exporters:

Last year, the most popular exporters were used in primary and secondary schools: in both STL and PNG. So, this year they have added a lot more exporters so that students can flex their creative skills on the last cutter, image editing software and other 3D modeling tools.

Material Editor:

Users can give their own unique touch in the SketchUp’s material library by editing material fuzziness.

Source:www.blog.sketchup.com/article/sketchup

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

Bending Objects in SketchUp with Truebend by Thom Thom

SketchUp Warehouse is full of various wonderful and useful extensions and tools that make the design thing a lot easier, TrueBend is the extension that helps to bend the designs.

Aaron Dietzen this time comes with his new useful creation of importing and exporting via SketchUp Shop which is the newest thing for SketchUp users. This article will describe the whole process according to Aaron and his video tutorial where the new tool TrueBend is introduced which is discovered another SketchUp experienced person, Thomas Tomassen.

About Aaron Dietzen: Aaron Dietzen is mainly seen in various SketchUp Live or any of the Skill Builder videos or been on the SketchUp forum, that means Aaron is fond of SketchUp and serving as a SketchUp employee for two years with more than ten years in the software. He is more than just a simple Trimble employee; he is a true SketchUp fan. He spends his free time in designing things in SketchUp and loves adventurous works.

 About SketchUp: SketchUp or Google SketchUp is mainly a 3D 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.

 As SketchUp users are most of architects, designers, builders, makers and engineers etc. who works hard to give a nice shape to our physical world, they need great tools to do the work. SketchUp is in mission to bring their best to produce some great tools for drawing as drawing is the key thing of the SketchUp users. They draw to search ideas, to identify the things and to show other people their work that they do with love and love to build; SketchUp understands it truly and trying to improve their software day by day.

SketchUp Warehouse has various extensions and plugins that allow the users to design quickly and accurately and like all other extensions, True Bend is also helpful in bending objects within SketchUp and this extension has found by Thom Thom. Here is some information about Thom Thom and his extension True Bend.

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.

About TrueBend: This extension can be found in SketchUp’s Extension Warehouse and it bends instances for a given degree, saving the original length of the reference segment and in recent this reference segment is the bottom front of the boundingbox. As this works at the bottom front bounding box edge so it is recommended that the instance axis line up with the bend.

Menus & Toolbars:

• Tools- TrueBend
• Right Click- TrueBend
• Toolbars- TrueBend

 Related Links: GltHub Repository

Tool Functions: This tool or extension is totally designed to help users for bending objects within SketchUp for a given degree or radius and it also allows users to bend an object while keeping the length of the object intact. An example will definitely make this matter clear: suppose a user wants to bend a shape which is 60 inches long along a 180° bend then he/she will click and drag the red bar on the SketchUp design page for bending the object. Or the person can just click and drag to enter a value in the VCB to manually set the number of degrees in the bend; here the magic happens, this particular cool extension allows bending object sup to 360° where other extensions such as radial bend in FredoScale, only really allow users to go up to 180°. Moreover that, users can also adjust the number of segments created by typing an “s” behind any entered value and it is useful for things like spiral staircases or many other things where users need to bend as per on a set number of segments. Besides that, users can also adjust their created segments which has become softened or smoothed or may an unhidden geometry is created.



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

Modeling SketchUp Frame and Skin Structure

SketchUp Tools are making things easier and creating a Ribbon shaped Spiral structure becomes easier by using the simple tools of SketchUp; it’s just the game of mind.

Aaron Dietzen takes about Modeling the SketchUp Frame and Skin Structure which is called Spiral Ribbon Structure through his video tutorial and this article focuses on that tutorial describing the process in details.

About Aaron Dietzen: Aaron Dietzen is mainly seen in various SketchUp Live or any of the Skill Builder videos or been on the SketchUp forum, that means Aaron is fond of SketchUp and serving as a SketchUp employee for two years with more than ten years in the software. He is more than just a simple Trimble employee; he is a true SketchUp fan. He spends his free time in designing things in SketchUp and loves adventurous works.

About SketchUp: SketchUp or Google SketchUp is mainly a 3D 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.

As SketchUp users are most of architects, designers, builders, makers and engineers etc. who works hard to give a nice shape to our physical world, they need great tools to do the work. SketchUp is in mission to bring their best to produce some great tools for drawing as drawing is the key thing of the SketchUp users. They draw to search ideas, to identify the things and to show other people their work that they do with love and love to build; SketchUp understands it truly and trying to improve their software day by day.

SketchUp is used to create different designs and models using some awesome featured tools like line tool, shape tool, curve tool etc. This time Aaron has shown us of the way to create the Spiral Ribbons those are basically curved and shaped from a single long line; at first he started from his original point in the SketchUp main page to create a Spiraling Shape or can basically named as Ribbon. This Ribbon is originally helix and rotated in a way that it came into a shape of Ribbon, so he drew a line as per the length and line such as he drew a 150 ft line using ‘Line Tool’ from the origin point. To create a helix over this line the line need to simply select and used Extension Helix along Curve to helix it that would be around this line.

After clicking the Extension Helix along Curve to helix option, a pop-up appears showing the measures where some important things need to put like start and end Radius, the laps, the section for every lap etc. These particular numbers are really essential to remember as these exact numbers have to put for the circles to make it a ribbon shape, after finishing the numbers to put and clicking Ok

option a single helix will be created on the line. A copy of the helix is made next by exploded it and moving it through the ‘Move Tool’ and through connecting and shifting the helixes a complete hymen will be created. The Extension Curviloft is used then, in this extension the last option is used upon the created design which will make scan like designs on it with some dotted lines to figure out the exact points get connected or not. It also counts the segments and after clicking the final face will be created; if one offs the curviloft effect the image will appear as a group, then he created a frame along with the helix. For making a frame, at first he has made tubes along the helix to give it a tougher look and in this tube the segments are remained same as in helix.

Next he hid the tubes, makes the helix a group and clicked inside it to create a circle from the origin with the Circle Tool through the same radius at the front of the object. Now the circle is set into same segment, then the whole object is selected and using Copy tool the circle is copied in the same segment; this copied circle is set using the ‘Move Tool’ and putting the exact amount of circle the object will come to end. After adding the hidden tubes and adjusting the circles as rotate lines the last object will appear as a ribbon shape and this whole object is grouped and copied and them using move tool is placed to give the final spring shape.

Source: www.thesketchupessentials.com



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

How to generate a floor plan with sketchup in just 10 minutes

Anita Brown, the renowned 3d visualizer, presents a useful video for the sketchup lovers. This sketchup video will teach you how to use sketchup for generating the floor plans rapidly maintaining 100% accuracy. If you have good knowledge with interface and different types of drawing tools of sketchup, you will be able to draw a floor plan easily.

Sketchup is very useful to measure the area of the floor. But prior to start with sketchup, initially, you have to measure the room. Gather as many measurements as possible.

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

Artisan Organic Toolset For Sketchup

Whaat develops Artisan Organic Toolset for sketchup. These toolset include powerful subdivision, sculpting, and soft selection tools which are specifically designed for artists, designers and landscape architects. Artisan Organic Toolset is compatible with SketchUp 2016, SketchUp 2017.

Artisan can be used for generating the following :-

• Terrain and landscapes

• Furniture

• Characters

• Abstract sculptures and decorative objects

• Fabric, curtains, and pillows

• Rocks, Trees, and Plants

Artisan can optimize the mesh creation process by minimizing the number of polygons in a mesh with a specified percentage.

One can access a free 15-days trial version for generating organic free-form models in sketchup.

To get more information, visit artisan4sketchup.com

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

How use sketchup for joinery modeling of a table made with wood

This sketchup youtube video tutorial will introduce you to some useful sketchup tips and techniques for working out the design, details and joinery for a table.

Sketchup is a handy tool to generate models of any woodworking plans.

There are various sketchup extensions which can be used to automatically generate mortise and tenon joints, shop drawings, timber material lists, as well as presentation drawings.

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

How to measure your model in Sketchup Mobile Viewer

New in SketchUp Mobile Viewer 3.0 you can pick points within a model and display measurements simply, by clicking a start point and end point as displayed below.

With the new feature in sketchup mobile viewer 3.0, it is possible to choose points inside a model and show measurements without any difficulty with the selection of a start point and end point as exemplified below :-

If you press and hold, a magnifying loop will be visible to facilitate selecting the exact point.

The tape measure tool is situated in Tools Menu

To start operation, tap the screen or press & hold to select point 1

To finish the process, tap the screen or press and hold to select point 2

help.sketchup.com

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

Lighting of an interior scene with V-ray Sketchup

This sketchup v-ray tutorial is based on v-ray sketchup lighting of an interior scene.

With V-Ray for SketchUp, the users now access one of the most dominant rendering tools to visualize any model maintaining the supreme quality and pragmatism.

V-Ray performs inside the SketchUp environment and allows the users to professionally integrate the task of rendering inside their existing workflows.

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

SketchUp 2016 for Planners: Site Planning – An exclusive sketchup course by Jaymes Dunsmore

Jaymes Dunsmore, a renowned a planner and urban designer, is conducting a training program on site planning with sketchup 2016. In this course, you will learn how to design the model of a project site as well as develop a massing model and produce simple 3D visualizations of planning projects. The course offers intermediary SketchUp skills which include the geo location functions of sketchup. Besides, one will come to know how to generate more complicated models of planned projects or developments. The course also explains how to make and export video walk-throughs of SketchUp models.

This sketchup course covers the following topics :-

Geolocation: Be familiar with geolocating your model with Google Earth as well as importing terrain and aerial imagery of your project site.

Modeling Terrain: Gather knowledge on how to produce and rectify terrain and organic shapes in SketchUp with the Sandbox tools.

Generating Massing Models: Learn developing a massing model of a proposed development instantly.

Site Analysis: Learn applying SketchUp's geolocation functions to evaluate any model as well as how to implement shade and shadow analysis.

Viewing Your Model: Learn to import trees, furniture, and other elements into the model and view your model in Google Earth.

Animation: Learn to produce video animations of the model.

To get more updates, visit courses.planetizen.com

Image Courtesy: courses.planetizen.com

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

How to develop a painted panel dome structure with Sketchup Pro 2016

Egypt Sketchup Community has published this awesome sketchup tutorial that is created with Sketchup Pro 2016. The sketchup tutorial will provide you the different steps to develop a painted panel dome structure with sketchup.

During the design process, some basis sketchup tools like pencil, rotate, move, orbit etc. Besides, Fredo 6 tools are used in this tutorial. This toolset is useful for scale, taper, shear on a plane, stretch, twist, radial bend and rotate in various ways.

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

How to create 3d modeling of a house with Sketchup 2016

The youtuber Mufasu CAD offers an exclusive online sketchup tutorial on Sketchup 2016. This sketchup tutorial is specifically designed for beginner’s sketchup users.

The tutorial focuses on how to use Sketchup 2016 for creating a complete 3d house modeling. By undergoing this tutorial, the beginner’s sketchu users can become expert with sketchup 2016 in just 5 hours.

The sketchup users will learn the functionality of various sketchup tools like push pull, tape measure tool, eraser tool, offset tool, line tool, move tool, rotate tool as well as how to create and edit group etc.

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

How to use Sketchup for creating snow flakes

This sketchup video will help the sketchup users to learn how to produce snowflakes instantly through various sketchup components.

Some useful sketchup tools like move, rotate, eraser, line tool etc. are used here to make the scene. This video is a part of sketchup skill builder series.

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

How to create 3D textures using Sketchup

The SketchUp plug-in for Maxwell Render offers a whole host of functions that enable the user to create a wide range of textured materials. If you're specifically interested in creating a densely textured rug then Maxwell Grass is your friend.

This feature (known as a Maxwell Render extension) can be accessed directly within the SketchUp interface via the SketchUp plug-in for Maxwell Render.

Officially it's called Maxwell Grass but don't let the name throw you: this extension has such a high number of unique parameters that it's possible to create textures that are ideal not only for grass textures, but also carpet and rugs.

Maxwell Grass basically generates geometry for selected groups in SketchUp once the scene has been exported to Maxwell Render.

It's all about the RAM: Pro tip: If only a small portion of the rug will be visible in the final render, use the Level of Detail parameter to render more blades near the camera and gradually less blades as the distance from the camera increases, thereby saving that precious RAM.

A densely textured rug created using Maxwell Grass

How to get started: To get started, select the group and then click on the Maxwell Grass icon in the SketchUp toolbar. A new window will open with a range of settings. Here you have the ability to specify the parameters of how you'd like the grass (or in this instance fur) to appear.

The Primitive setting is the first step in specifying the colour, shape and thickness of the blades, including the number of points (segments).

In my scene I chose the Cylinder setting and opted for quite thick individual strands. Just remember that RAM usage will increase depending on which type of Primitive you choose and the associated number of points.

Maxwell Green is ideal for carpets and fur - click on the image to see a larger version

The density and length of the blades can be specified according to preference and a very useful randomiser can be used to vary the length according to the percentage input.

The Maxwell Grass extension also includes Bend parameters. These control the bending of each strand of blade, at what length it starts bending, the angle it bends, and the bending radius (with randomisers for each).

The Bend parameters are invaluable when trying to recreate the behaviour of densely textured fur rugs and provide a high level of accuracy and realism.

Explore additional functionality of Maxwell Grass by using Maxwell Studio to add gradient and texture maps to further refine and enhance.

Source: www.creativebloq.com

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup-ur-space.com

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

How to design a luxurious villa having epic infinity pool with sketchup – A speed build video by DutchSims4Master

This is an exclusive speed build sketchup videoAnd here's a short tutorial video presented by YouTuber DutchSims4Master. This sketchup video will show you how to use sketchup for creating the design of a modern house (a elegant villa having an grand infinity pool).

Some useful sketchup tools like line tool, rectangle tool, push pull tool are used in this sketchup tutorial. This sketchup video is designed for beginner as well as advanced sketchup users.

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

What are the best things to do with Sketchup

Apply keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are very useful to save significant time while creating complex models with sketchup. Sketchup includes a wide array of shortcut keys which can enhance your drawing process. You can also customize and create your own shortcut keys by selecting Layers, Standard and Tool Set according to your choice. There are also predefined set of shortcuts inside sketchup. The quick reference card consists of various keyboard shortcut lists. Every version of sketchup contains its own reference card. One can export keyboard shortcuts for allocating amid other copies of sketchup. One can go through the window menu, select preference and then shortcut menu. In order to load it, just press the import button (available in shortcut window) and choose “preferences.dat.

Watch tutorials. There are also several useful video tutorials on sketchup which help to learn how to use sketchup for 3d modeling, visualization, rendering, animation, wood working projects etc. These videos will help you to learn the basic and advanced features of sketchup. Besides, one can also learn the application of various tools inside sketchup. Google provides a series of sketchup video tutorial ontheir site. These short videos focuses on all ranging from the SketchUp tools, to advanced SketchUp uses, LayOut, Style Builder, as well as using SketchUp with Google Earth. You also visit some goodthird-party sites.

Download pre-defined objects. While designing objects with sketchup, you can save significant time through Googles Bonus Packs or getting materials from the world's largest repository of free, high-quality, 3D content which can be utilized in your models.

Edit pre-made objects. Any items of these pre-made objects can also be customized. You can use or remove components stairs, counters and bathtubs. Press edit/component/explode and you can maneuver all the individual parts.

Apply layers. One can take help from layers in SketchUp to perform specific tasks smoothly as well as create your models neatly and make them workable. Gather your knowledge on how to apply layers and utilize them mostly in your designs. Here are some good tips.

http://help.sketchup.com
www.sites.google.com/site/sketchupsage/faster/layers

Be trained at moving objects in sketchup. Sketchup can be a handy tool for moving objects. If you face any problem in manipulating objects, just get help from keyboard shortcuts. The arrow keys demonstrate the direction, and shift will be applied to lock in movement along a specific plane.

Explore innovations. Discover the new features of SketchUp and apply them for diversified applications. Test new things ranging from scaling the drawings from a photo or designing crafts or other fun projects.

Ref.: www.sketchupfans.com

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

Published By

Rajib Dey

www.sketchup4architect.com

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

Some useful tips for sketchup modelers while creating a sketchup model

Tip 1: While creating models for a small detailed object as for instance a light bulb filament or zipper pull, it becomes very difficult for sketchup users to find the perfect geometry or it becomes very complicated to maneuver the object inside the larger model.

To get rid of such issues, just follow these steps - Initially model the object at a bigger range like fifteen times the real scale. After completing it, create a group of the object and reduce it 15 times to the actual scale.

Tip 2: While dealing with an outsized site plan, the sketchup users often face problem to control sketchup models on screen as the models become unmanageable. There are several methods to cope up with the situation - keep away from multifaceted visual styles, turning off shadows as well as concealing groups and components on layers at the time of working. But if the sketchup users hide particular objects from view, they may not be able to complete the model successfully. So the users should follow some useful tips to maintain the objects to be detectable on screen and at the same time navigate the model as actively as per their requirements.

As for example the sketchup user deals with a site model and it necessitates that the users can view the exact location of numerous trees while starting the modeling process. If the user applies even fairly comprehensive 3d trees, the modeling process becomes very slower. Model an uncomplicated, low-polygon “popsicle" tree component and utilize that like a placeholder for the trees. Apply this low-poly model as a proxy and position it toward the exact location of the trees.

Once all the modeling process will be completed and scenes are placed, just right click on one of the popsicle tree components and opt for “reload” to explore more detailed 3d tree that fits in the final view. And if the detailed tree is already positioned on the site plan someplace in the file, click on the Components dialogue and select the home icon for viewing the list of components available in the existing file. With any "popsicle” tree Component selected, get the list within the detailed tree model, right-click over it and choose “Replace Selected”. In this case, just ensure that the component axis is identical for both proxy and detailed model.

The sketchup users can apply these tips for any kind of circumstances.

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

Published by Tuhin Maity

Sketchup Designer

http://www.sketchup4architect.com/

(Most efficient CAD Drafting Services (raster to vector) using CAD, MicroStation, VectorWorks, etc)