3D Basecamp: Submission deadline extended

It would appear that giving folks only the weekend to submit their requests for 3D Basecamp 2010 invitations was a not-so-good idea -- my sincere apologies (and thanks) to all those who rushed. Most of the image links we've received so far are both beautiful and inspiring. This is going to be one heck of an event.

We've still got lots of space available, so please keep those submissions coming. We plan to keep the form online an extra two days -- until 09:00 MDT (15:00 GMT) Wednesday, July 29th.

Critical links:

• Original 3D Basecamp blog post | FAQ
• Invitation Request Form

Update: If you're invited to attend, you'll still receive an email from us by Friday, July 30th, 2010.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Apply for an invitation to 3D Basecamp 2010

A couple days ago, I blogged about our upcoming get-together; SketchUp 3D Basecamp 2010 is set to take place during the first three days of September in Boulder, Colorado.


The form for requesting an invitation to 3D Basecamp is now live, and will be through 09:00 MDT (15:00 GMT) July 26th, 2010. If you’d like to join us, please fill out the form and submit it as soon as possible -- we plan to invite the first 150 (or so) people on the list who meet our requirement (see below).

SketchUp aficionados only, please

As I mentioned earlier this week, 3D Basecamp 2010 is for accomplished SketchUp modelers. As part of the invitation-requesting process, we’d like you to submit a link to a single image that demonstrates your SketchUp modeling prowess. Model anything and render it -- or don’t render it -- however you like. The important thing is to show us you know your way around the app.

Please take a look at the previous post and the FAQ for more info, but don’t delay; these invitations are going to go quickly. Good luck!

Go to the Invitation Request Form »

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Announcing the Google Model Your Town Competition winner

On April 1st, we announced the five finalist towns for the Google Model Your Town Competition and asked the public to help pick the winning town. For the past month, participants reviewed the 3D models, explored the buildings in Google Earth and watched videos of the 3D towns.

Well, we’ve tallied the votes and we’d like to congratulate our 2010 winning town: Barranco - Lima, Peru!

Jorge De Albertis Bettocchi, a 38 year-old corporate business attorney, modeled the Barranco District of Lima. He entered the competition to generate pride among his fellow citizens and created his 3D models to serve as a tool for tourism, promotion, investment and preservation of Barranco’s historic architecture. Jorge also created a blog, Barranco 3D Project, that includes descriptions of his models, his modeling process, community involvement and press videos.



Jorge is also a musician who plays the keyboard, has a small recording studio, and has participated in the production of concerts in Peru. “I started creating SketchUp models in 2007 when I was asked to design a stage for a rock concert, and a concert-production partner recommended using SketchUp. Since then I have not stopped using it and it is the only 3D design program I have ever used.”

Jorge, you have impressed people all over the world with your SketchUp models. Congratulations to the Barranco community!

We’ll be awarding the local school district with US$10,000 and the SketchUp team is planning a visit to Barranco later this summer to recognize their efforts. Visit the Google Earth Gallery to download a 3D tour of Barranco, Peru and visit our winners page for more details.

Thanks to all those who voted to help us find the winning town. And thanks to all the modelers out there who submitted entries — we hope you'll continue to add 3D buildings to Google Earth!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp Team

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Take part in the SketchUp to Piranesi Competition

Our friends over at SketchUcation are hosting a nifty challenge: The SketchUp to Piranesi Competition is meant to celebrate the features of the SketchUp to Piranesi Plugin, as well as the “Design to Art” abilities of Piranesi 2010.

Piranesi is a whiz-bang app that lets you turn your model views into beautiful NPR (non-photorealistic) renderings. My favorite part about it is that it’s far from an automated process; using Piranesi is more like painting and drawing with natural media than using clunky software. You need to try it to see what I mean.

You can download a fully-functional demo version of Piranesi in order to participate in this competition. Use either SketchUp Pro or the free version of SketchUp to participate. This workflow page should help you get started.

Check out the official competition announcement on the Daily CatchUp (SketchUcation’s blog) for more information about prizes, rules and more. John Bacus (the SketchUp Product Manager) and I are two of the judges -- we can’t wait to see what you create.

Sir Elder / Larice's Living

Susan Sorger / Entourage Arts

David A. Walker / Modern Infill

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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3D printing from SketchUp just got a little easier

i.materialise is a web-based 3D printing service provider. You give them a computer model and some money, and they send you a physical model in return. Pretty simple, really.

Except that 3D printing is usually anything but simple. Printing SketchUp models involves file conversion, scale conversion and quite a bit of checking for mysterious things like "watertightness". With demand for rapid prototyping on the rise, companies like Materialise (and a few others) are doing their best to make the SketchUp-to-object printing process easier than ever.

How it works

The new SketchUp plugin from i.materialise is essentially a wizard: After installing it, you open a model, launch the plugin and go through the steps. You scale your model to make it fit on the printing "plate", indicate areas of glazing (transparency), and even add ready-made elements (like trees) from a collection of "guaranteed-to-print" objects supplied by i.materialise. When you're ready, the plugin lets you one-click-upload your prepared model for printing.

A model printed from a SketchUp file using the i.materialise plugin

Here are some more facts:

• The i.materialise SketchUp plugin is free to download and use
• Printed models can be either monochrome or full-color; fixed prices start around €300/$350
• Models can be as big as 150 mm by 230 mm by 140 mm high (about 6 x 9 x 5.5 inches high)
• For now, the i.materialise SketchUp plugin is Windows-only
• There’s a terrific PDF Manual that you can download -- it answered all my questions

Enter the Design Challenge

To kick things off, the folks at i.materialise have even sponsored a little competition. The World of Houses SketchUp Design Challenge invites anyone to submit a SketchUp model for consideration. A jury (of which I am a part) will pick their three favorite models; the winners will receive a printed model as a prize. Take a look at the challenge website for all the details, but do it soon -- the deadline for submissions is May 24, 2010.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Last call to cast your vote!

April is coming to a close, and you can still add your vote (if you haven’t already done so) for the best town in the Google Model Your Town Competition. On May 1, 2010 at midnight PST the voting page will be closed. We'll announce the winner on May 14th. The winner will be one of the following five finalists:

• Barranco (Lima, Peru)
• Braunschweig (Niedersachsen, Germany)
• Donostia - San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa, Spain)
• Dursley (Gloucestershire, United Kingdom)
• West Palm Beach (Florida, United States)

Voice your opinion. Vote now!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp Team

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Announcing the Sketch-a-Space design competition

We've collaborated with our friends at Easter Seals on a unique design competition that launched yesterday: Sketch-a-Space invites both pros and amateurs to use Google SketchUp to design spaces for people with autism. Our own Project Spectrum was started specifically with this community of people in mind.

Qualities of light, color, pattern, sound and other factors are critical to all good design; when it comes to design for people on the autism spectrum, this is doubly true. Some folks who are on the autism spectrum have environmental sensitivities that can have a profound effect on their ability to make use of a space. Understanding these sensitivities and creating spaces that accommodate them is what Sketch-a-Space is all about.

The design competition is open to people in the United States; you can enter in any one of four categories:

• Youth with Autism: individuals with autism age 13-17
• Adult with Autism: individuals with autism age 18 and over
• Youth: individuals without autism age 13-17
• Adult: individuals without autism age 18 and over

For complete details, including information about entering the competition, prizes, deadlines, judging (hint: I'm one of them) and official rules, visit the Sketch-a-Space website.

Good luck!

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Model Your Town finalists announced: Cast your vote!

OK folks -- it’s time to vote for your favorite 3D town. The submission phase of the Google Model Your Town Competition is over and the five finalists have been selected. Without further ado, they are (in alphabetical order):

Barranco, Lima, Peru
Modeler: Jorge De Albertis
Barranco’s collection of models

Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany
Modeler: Leonhard Pröttel
Braunschweig’s collection of models

Donostia - San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain
Modelers: Pedro Domecq Aguirre, Eneka Mujica, Gabriel Garcia, Jan Wesbuer, Fermin Saraseta
Donostia - San Sebastián’s collection of models

Dursley, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
Modeler: John Wilkes
Dursley’s collection of models

West Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Modeler: Chris Sardinas
West Palm Beach’s collection of models

This overview video flies to each of the finalist towns:



On the voting page, you’ll find a separate one-minute video tour for each town, as well as a link to a KML file that you can use to see the models in Google Earth. Take a look at everything, decide which you think is best, then weigh in -- you have until May 1st, 2010 to cast your vote.

Congratulations to the finalists and to all of the teams who submitted entries. Choosing the top five certainly wasn’t an easy task. As you can see from this collection of the teams who entered, the competition was tough. Good luck!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie and Aidan Chopra, Google SketchUp Team

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Towns galore!

The deadline for entries to the Google Model Your Town Competition has passed and we’ve received some stunning town models. Over 160 teams entered and we’ve gathered many of the collections in an official Competition Collection you can peruse now. The five finalists have been notified and they will be publicly announced on April 1st. Cast your vote for your favorite town between April 1st and May 1st on the voting page that will be live on the competition site. We’ll announce the winning town on or around May 15th. Stay tuned!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Google Model Your Town Competition Team

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Model Your Town: One week left to enter

Big, Flashing Reminder: There's one week left to get your entries in for the 2010 Google Model Your Town Competition. We've got some really beautiful towns so far, but it's likely that most folks are waiting until the very last minute to fill out the official entry form. The very last minute, in this case, is 11:59 PM PST on March 1, 2010.

Good luck!

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Enter the CustomMade furniture design competition

CustomMade is a community of artisans who build (you guessed it) custom furniture and other items. It serves as a meeting place for people who make things and the people who want things made. I've always thought buildings should be site-specific -- this website made me realize that maybe furniture should be, too.

The folks at CustomMade.com are hosting a custom furniture design competition, and they've specifically suggested that participants use Google SketchUp to design their entries. The winner will have his or her piece made by one of CM's woodworkers using Rockler tools and supplies.

The deadline for entries is February 12, 2010, so get cracking. You'll be competing against me -- there's a minimalist half-cantilevered slab desk with a cable trough that I've been imagining for my den.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Look who's modeling!

The Google Model Your Town Competition is running full-steam ahead with over 400 pins in the world map representing teams from six continents. From places like Cauquenes, Chile to Cape Town, South Africa to Suva City, Fiji to Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh, India to Aberdeen, Scotland to Tallin, Estonia and Burlington, Iowa people have taken on the challenge of representing their communities.


Folks in Iowa, Colorado, and British Columbia are motivating community members by building their own websites, garnering local press, tweeting, and soliciting help in online forums. Some are offering training on how to model to anyone interested. Iowa is asking middle and high school educators to form and advise teams of students.

There are still many people looking for team members. Visit the official group to meet folks in your area, or to post your own questions, ideas, or comments about the competition. The deadline for entering is March 1st of this year. Start the entry process by adding a pin to the map on our Get Started page and follow us on Twitter @modelyourtown.

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Model Your Town Competition Team

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Competition winners visit NYC

Just before Christmas, Tasha and I had the pleasure of meeting the winners of the Design It: Shelter Competition: David Mares of Setúbal, Portugal and David Eltang of Aarhus, Denmark. (We swear being called “David” wasn’t a requirement for winning.) We talked about their designs, among other things; check out the Guggenheim website for a great account of how the day went (including more about the winners and their stories).

We met both Davids and their significant others at Google’s New York office, ate a spectactular amount of food, then went on a tour. Between the giant freight elevators (the building used to house buses and trains for the city), the well-stocked microkitchens (another handful of mixed nuts, anyone?) and the Lego playroom (everyone knows that geeks love Lego), I think everyone came away with a good idea of what it’s like to work there. Danish David mentioned that it aligned well with his expectations. We’re glad : )

From left: David Eltang, Ulla Sylvestersen, Sara Caria and David Mares in front of the Guggenheim

After Google, everyone jumped into a few cabs and we traveled uptown to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. David van der Leer (the Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design) took us around the building. As one of the people most responsible for last summer’s Frank Lloyd Wright show, we couldn’t have asked for a better tourguide. Better yet, the museum was closed on the day we were there – we had the place mostly to ourselves.

An interesting fact we learned on the Guggenheim tour: Near the top of the ramp that spirals up through the building, the pattern of the travertine floor abruptly changes from circles to rectangles. This marks the precise point in the construction when FLW passed away. It seems that without him around to supervise, the builders switched to an easier method. Keep an eye out for it if you get the chance to visit.

Congratulations again to both Davids, and thanks to everyone who participated. The results far exceeded our expectations.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Product Evangelist

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A very SketchUppy holiday

For the last couple of years, we’ve uploaded some holiday-themed SketchUp models to the Google 3D Warehouse. I thought it might be handy (for those of you who’ve found this blog only recently) to provide a recap of what’s available – you never know when you’re going to need some component-sized holiday cheer.

Santa Claus sitting down

(click the Google 3D Warehouse logo to link to the model)

Santa’s sitting (and wearing goggles) because I made him for a little sleigh-modeling competition we had in 2007. This version is "dynamic", meaning you can pose him. Click with the Interact tool to move his arms and head, and to change his belt buckle style.

We provided Santa and his reindeer (see below) and asked folks to send in designs for Santa’s sleigh. The results were inspiring.

Santa Claus standing up

(click the Google 3D Warehouse logo to link to the model)

This Santa's poseable, too. Just remember to download (or import) him directly into an existing model to maintain his "dynamic" functionality.

Reindeer in a variety of poses

(click the Google 3D Warehouse logo to link to the model)

Looking back, I’m not sure why I gave them dog’s heads. I probably should have looked at a photo of an actual reindeer while I was modeling. Live and learn. Incidentally, if you’re planning to line them up into sleigh-towing formation, this model might save you some time.

Menorah, unfinished and dynamic

(click the Google 3D Warehouse logo to link to the model)

The point of this model is that the candles are dynamic – they react when you click on them with the Interact tool. I created this last year as part of an invitation for folks to finish the menorah. This blog post tells the whole story.

Design-your-own gingerbread house

(click the Google 3D Warehouse logo to link to the model)

The above model is intentionally dull. It was meant to be a starting point for people who participated in last year’s Gingerbread House Competition (the winners were spectacular). It’s dynamic, you see – when you scale the house, the thickness and height of the walls stay constant. The instructions are watermarked into the model.

Most of the decorations below are dynamic, too; the best way to find them while you’re using SketchUp is to type gingerbread is:dynamic into the search box in your Components browser. These components need to download directly into your model to work properly.



Pinwheel Mint: Click with the Interact tool to change from green to red and back again.


Candy-Striped Pole: Use the Scale tool to adjust height and diameter. Use Interact to change color.


Wafers: Place on any surface, then use Scale to adjust length and width. Scaling adds or removes wafers as necessary. Use Interact to change colors.


Hooked Candy Cane: Nothing too exciting here. Just a plain ol’ candy cane.



Gumdrops: Use Scale to make rows longer or shorter, then use the Component Options dialog box (in the Window menu) to change colors, spacing and “Wobble” – choose “Robotic Precision”, “Close Enough” or “Too Much Eggnog”.

Happy holidays!

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Product Evangelist

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The making of a sweet physical model

Remember the Design Your Dwelling competition we ran with Dwell magazine last year? The winner (in case you missed it) was a gentleman named Drew Wilgus from North Carolina. His prize included a physical model from Sweet Onion Creations, a model shop that combines 3D printing with hand-construction techniques.


The model they constructed of Drew's design is nothing less than spectacular. Better yet, they documented the process of building it and turned the footage into a great video:



Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Product Evangelist

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Put your town on the 3D map: Google Model Your Town Competition

People use Google SketchUp for all sorts of things. One of them is geo-modeling – making photo-textured models of real-life buildings that appear in Google Earth. For some, geo-modeling is a hobby; they get a kick out of building something that provides a real benefit to the people in their community. Local geo-modelers are the unsung heroes of the virtual world – no longer.

Our first-ever Google Model Your Town Competition is by far the biggest 3D modeling challenge we've ever launched. It's open to just about everyone (not just students), just about everywhere in the world. Form a team, model buildings (using SketchUp or Building Maker) and upload them by the end of February 2010.



You can model as many structures as you like – which types of buildings you choose to include is entirely up to you. The important thing is that your choices say something about the character and history of your town. You can even include links to videos and photo albums in your entry; this is really more of a 3D portrait contest for communities.

If your town wins, a bunch of us from the SketchUp team will visit, throw you a party and do our best to make you look like the local hero that you are. There are other prizes, too – check out the competition website for details, and start rounding up teammates!

Here's some inspiration (just to get your creative juices flowing):



Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education Program Manager, and Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Winners announced for Monopoly's Design Your Own Building Competition

Since the launch of the MONOPOLY City Streets game in September, millions of buildings have been built in the game. Soon after the game launched, the Monopoly team hosted the Design Your Own Building Competition with the help of Google SketchUp to create three new MONOPOLY City Streets ‘must have’ properties. They received hundreds of 3D buildings ranging in design from towers to ice cream parlors. It was amazing to see the variety of buildings submitted to the competition.

The jury selected three buildings that are now incorporated into the game. The three winning entries have been selected for their beauty, originality and for capturing the fun spirit of MONOPOLY City Streets.

The winners are:

Grand prize winner: Stairway to the Future Tower by Matthew




Second Place: Revolving Restaurant and Blimp by Zoungy




Third Place: Spiral Scraper Luxe by Brendo




If you’d like to see all of the entries, please visit the competition collection in the Google 3D Warehouse. Thank you for the entries and congratulations to the winners!

Posted by Tasha Danko, SketchUp Product Marketing Manager

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Design It Shelter Competition: The Winners

Earlier this year, we teamed up with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to launch the Design It: Shelter Competition. People all over the world were invited to use Google SketchUp to design small buildings and submit them for consideration. We received over 600 entries from 68 countries – the level of participation was astounding. You can check out all the entries on the Guggenheim website.

Two prizes were offered: the People's Prize and the Juried Prize. To determine the winner of the People's Prize, students from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture winnowed down the entries to a list of ten finalists. Visitors to the Guggenheim website could vote for their favorite; the shelter with the most votes won. A jury of seven experts selected the winner of the Juried Prize.

Here's a video that announces the winners and talks a little bit about them:

The People's Prize

The winner of the People's Prize is the CBS – Cork Block Shelter
by David Mares of Setúbal, Portugal

The Juried Prize

The winner of the Juried Prize is the SeaShelter
by David Eltang of Aarhus, Denmark.

Each of the winners will receive transportation to New York City for two people, accommodation for two nights, "backstage" tours of both the Guggenheim Museum and our New York Google office, and free admission to a number of other NYC museums. The Juried Prize winner will also receive a check for one thousand dollars.

Congratulations to the finalists and to the winners. Thank you to everyone who submitted a design, and thanks to everyone who voted.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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It's design competition season

If you're like me, you enter competitions to win cool stuff, to challenge your brain a little, or to try new tools. Well, some friends of SketchUp have told us about a few design competitions they're hosting this Fall to keep you busy (warning: these might have an impact on your day job). Have fun and good luck!

Pumpkin Carving Contest
Hosted by: SketchUp Island Blog
Deadline to enter: October 24, 2009
Website

Furniture Design Competition
Hosted by: Vaughan Benz
Deadline to enter: November 15, 2009
Website

Parkitecture: Designing the Garage of the Future
Hosted by: Dwell
Deadline to enter: November 20, 2009
Website

Putting Mexico on the Map
Hosted by: Google team in Mexico
Deadline to enter: November 30, 2009
Website (Spanish only)

Posted by Tasha Danko, SketchUp Product Marketing Team

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Hasbro, makers of 'Monopoly' game, launches the Design your own Building Competition

Hasbro, the makers of the Monopoly game, have officially announced a competition that gives Monopoly-lovers the chance to design a building that will be included in the new interactive game Monopoly City Streets.

To enter this competition, you need to design a 3D building using Google SketchUp and upload it to the Google 3D Warehouse. The deadline to submit entries is Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 11:59pm, EST. Visit the Monopoly City Streets blog for the Official Rules, prizes, and more information.

Here's how it works:

1. Download Google SketchUp for free.
2. Learn to build 3D models with SketchUp by watching video tutorials and related YouTube videos. Download and work through a few examples using these self-paced tutorials: Introduction to SketchUp, Starting a Drawing Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
3. From SketchUp, choose "Share Model" and upload your 3D building to the Google 3D Warehouse (you must have a Google account to sign in).
4. In the upload window, add the tag "monopolycompetition09" and make sure that you've checked "Allow 3D Warehouse users to contact me about this model" so we can contact you if you win!
5. Within 48 hours, your model/entry will appear in the Competition Collection in the Google 3D Warehouse.

Technical Guidelines:

• Buildings can be any size and any shape
• Buildings must not have photo-textures; they must be painted with solid colors
• The file size limit is 2 MB
• The file format should be .SKP

A few quick tips:

1. Keep it simple. Or not. The judges will be looking at all designs – simple and complex.
2. Go crazy. Remember, the MONOPOLY world is a fun place. Make your building the same! Go wild and have oodles of fun doing it.
3. Upload as many designs as you want. The more you submit, the greater the chance of your design winning!
4. For some inspiration, check out some sample creations already in the Google 3D Warehouse Competition Collection.

Check out the Monopoly City Streets blog for the Official Rules and more information. Good luck!

Posted by Tasha Danko, SketchUp Product Marketing Team

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