The amazing thing about SketchUp is the fact that it is open to user generated code or 'ruby scripts' technically. There are tons of these in existence and more get created everyday. There are many great ones and then there are ok ones but here is a link to some of the better ones. They also have videos to show exactly what they do if you can't tell from the name.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=16909
You might have to be a member of the forum to view them but if you like sketchup, you'll love these new tools and these are not the best and brightest, only examples of some of the better ones. Check them out! Remember most of them are free! I consider myself to be an expert in SketchUp and what exists in terms of rubies so if you are looking for a needed tool in SketchUp I'll be able to tell you. All you need to do is ask.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Example of my work with SketchUp
Here is an example of the work I do with SketchUp. The model shown here would be used to create a Step-by-step construction practice for tradesmen. The top left is where the document would start, the middle is a glimpse at all the layers involved in the process and the bottom right is the final step.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sketchup and me, Part 1
5 years ago I started using a program called SketchUp. A when I first saw it, I found it to be really neat. After sometime I began to dislike it because I thought I was on the lower end of all the 3d modeling software. I could appreciate how easy it is to use but for presentation quality output, it failed miserably . I had a lot friends and peers using the program and for whatever stupid reason I always hassled them for it. Maybe it was the ego or elitism that an architectural student can develop during school but either way, we can be huge jerks sometimes and very judgmental. But, I guess that's what you get when your biggest class is based off working on something till you feel like death, then having people judge you on it! YAY studio!!!
Anyhow, it wasn't after I was done with school (thank god!) that I began to use SketchUp in a extremely useful and powerful way. I got a job out of school working for a residential building science company. The company I work for does a lot of consulting for mass production home builders on how to fix construction defects or how to pro-actively improve their current practices. One of the ways we do this is to create in depth step-by-step documents on the physical act of construction. You would be surprised how quickly construction practices can change and how well the industry accepts and adopts changes (not very quick to say the least). These 'step-by-steps' are created specifically for trades to be used in the field and are a lot easier to understand and follow than what would typically produced by an architectural firm in terms of drawings (At least for the mass production homebuilding industry). These step-by-steps or SBS for short can be anywhere from 5 steps to 30 steps depending on the complexity of the construction assembly. In the past the company I work for used autoCAD or adobe illustrator to create these documents. After some time creating these documents and the frustrations of using 2-d illustrative software I began to keep my I out for a better method of creating this type of document.
One day my boss asked me, for reasons I'm still not sure of, was to use sketchup to create a step-by-step document. It was kind of rough, a didn't really look as clean and crisp as it should but it took about the same amount of time to create as a the previous methods of SBS creation and after some thought then playing around with the program some more I came to some conclusions. One, SketchUp can model objects quickly, two, you can save objects to be reused quickly and efficiently, three, everything can be drawn to scale and the exact manner in which the construction assembly should exist in real life, and four, these objects can be toggled on or off using scenes which set up the basis for the steps in the document. This was enough to further look into sketchup as a document creating tool. From here I found out that the full version of the program (which does cost money, but not much, only $500) comes with a supplementary program called LayOut.
See part two of this post to see why LayOut helps to make SketchUp a powerful tool and some of the final products I have created with SketchUp and LayOut.
Anyhow, it wasn't after I was done with school (thank god!) that I began to use SketchUp in a extremely useful and powerful way. I got a job out of school working for a residential building science company. The company I work for does a lot of consulting for mass production home builders on how to fix construction defects or how to pro-actively improve their current practices. One of the ways we do this is to create in depth step-by-step documents on the physical act of construction. You would be surprised how quickly construction practices can change and how well the industry accepts and adopts changes (not very quick to say the least). These 'step-by-steps' are created specifically for trades to be used in the field and are a lot easier to understand and follow than what would typically produced by an architectural firm in terms of drawings (At least for the mass production homebuilding industry). These step-by-steps or SBS for short can be anywhere from 5 steps to 30 steps depending on the complexity of the construction assembly. In the past the company I work for used autoCAD or adobe illustrator to create these documents. After some time creating these documents and the frustrations of using 2-d illustrative software I began to keep my I out for a better method of creating this type of document.
One day my boss asked me, for reasons I'm still not sure of, was to use sketchup to create a step-by-step document. It was kind of rough, a didn't really look as clean and crisp as it should but it took about the same amount of time to create as a the previous methods of SBS creation and after some thought then playing around with the program some more I came to some conclusions. One, SketchUp can model objects quickly, two, you can save objects to be reused quickly and efficiently, three, everything can be drawn to scale and the exact manner in which the construction assembly should exist in real life, and four, these objects can be toggled on or off using scenes which set up the basis for the steps in the document. This was enough to further look into sketchup as a document creating tool. From here I found out that the full version of the program (which does cost money, but not much, only $500) comes with a supplementary program called LayOut.
See part two of this post to see why LayOut helps to make SketchUp a powerful tool and some of the final products I have created with SketchUp and LayOut.
First post! I have a blog!
Hey, this is my first blog ever so hopefully they will get better! I was always a little curious about blogs and finially with a little movtivation I decided to make one up for myself. I see my blog as a way to clear my head and finally write things down, much like a Journal....only public. I tend to have a lot of opinions, thoughts, rants and ideas. Hopfully the act of writting will allow me to focus and lead to productive and interesting paths. I can't image this blog will be very interesting to most but in my selfish defence this is more me than anyone else. If you like my blog, or something I post, great, I love constructive critisism and input. You will propably see posts varying from ideas, concepts, design developments (I'm great with sketchup and have a passion for architecture and home design) along with the occasional rant or two. Hopefully this will be the first of many posts and they will become more interesting as I go.
Cheers,
James
Cheers,
James
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