SketchUp gets extreme with skatepark designer Dug Ketterman

Dug Ketterman is a world renowned skatepark designer with an impressive resume of projects under his belt, including multiple X Games courses. Dug is an active member of the SketchUp community, and we spoke with him recently to learn more about his insane collection of skatepark and ramp designs. He also shared some modeling advice, so even if skateparks aren’t your thing, we still think you’ll take away some rad SketchUp tips.

The 2012 X Games Street Course designed in SketchUp Pro

How long have you been using SketchUp?
Before SketchUp, I had spent years and countless hours drafting skateparks and ramps by hand. My dad uses SketchUp for woodworking and suggested I give it a try. This was back in 2006 and I’ve been using it ever since. The speed and no-nonsense way of modeling had me hooked. I’m attending the Art Institute of Portland for my bachelor’s in Industrial Design and have tried several big name 3D modeling softwares, but SketchUp seems to be the only one that works with my brain.

What is important in skatepark design?
There are many things that go into a good design, all of which cater to different types of skaters. Some enjoy transitions like pools and halfpipes, while others skate on flat-ground and never touch transition. However, the one thing that all skaters can agree on is flow. You need to be able to generate enough speed to take you from one feature to the next with a minimal amount of pushing and without running into other obstacles. As I am creating parks, I am constantly thinking about distances, heights, gaps, angles and materials to determine proper spacing within a given boundary. I refer to this process as 'Flow Analysis': the study of spatial relationships between skatepark elements.

The 2013 Global X Games Street Course held in Munich, Germany is one of the riders’ favorite courses to date. They all thought it had great flow. Co-designers: Brian Harper & Ryan Johnson

How does being a skateboarder and an architect influence your park design in comparison to an architect who doesn’t skateboard?
There is something commonly referred to as ‘the contractor's kink.’ This refers to the worst placement of seams and uneven skating surfaces that general contractors and architects unknowingly design into skateparks. There are many nuances to creating a well-skating park. This knowledge can only be gained through experience skating a wide variety of terrain. Rail heights, ledge angles, grind edge materials, seam and joint placement: these are just a few of the things that can make or break a perfect skate spot.

A perfect example of ‘contractor’s kink.’ No space for speed, a large seam in the concrete, and a handrail that’s too high. Photo courtesy of thrashermagazine.com

Out of all of 'em, what has been your favorite project?
It has to be the 2011 X Games Street Course held in Los Angeles, CA. I had free reign not only to design the park, but also to be on site to finalize every exacting detail, right down to the grass coming out of the faux cracks and the authentic graffiti tags decorating the brick walls. It was exhilarating working as an art director with a crew of 20+ talented concrete, wood, and steel workers to help realize a 10,000 square-foot sculpture that was about to be skated by the world’s best athletes on live television in front of millions of viewers.

The 2011 X Games Street Course designed in SketchUp Pro

Photograph of the nearly completed 2011 X Games Street Course

What are your go-to SketchUp extensions?
The Super Section plug-in has saved me tons of steps when creating construction documents. It's a genius extension for creating layers and scenes in LayOut. Also, Bitmap to Mesh and Sandbox Tools are great extensions for creating mesh surfaces.

How do you organize your models?
Groups and components are king. I treat every element in my model as if it were a separate material in the real world: plywood, 2x4's, scaffolding, etc. Grouping each piece separately allows you to quickly scale and resize as you draw and make modifications. Components are great for updating multiples of the same object in your model all at once. And nesting of groups and components allows you to create layers and scenes with quickness and ease. This, in combination with layers, helps hide parts of the design to keep things lightweight while modeling, and make it easy to view specific elements.

What advice would you give to new and aspiring SketchUp users?
Groups, Groups, Groups. This simple habit will save you from having sticky blob models that are filled with line fragments and impossible-to-edit geometry. I would also suggest starting with basic objects around the house and drawing them with as much detail as possible. This will bring about new challenges and force you outside of your comfort zone.

Posted by Stephen Grant, SketchUp team

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Taking a ride with Connor Wood Bicycles

Yup, you read it correct: Chris Connor makes bicycles out of wood. We did a double-take too when we met Chris at the 2013 AIA National Convention in Denver. At first, we weren’t sure why a bicycle builder was exhibiting at an architecture trade show, but without a doubt Chris’s ridable wooden bikes share the functional beauty of a well-designed building.

After having logged many hours designing the base geometry of his custom bikes with paper and pencil, Chris turned to SketchUp to streamline his design process. We visited his workshop in Denver to learn more about how he creates these timber two-wheelers.

Posted by Matt Robison, SketchUp team

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Reimagining the Veterans Memorial Tunnels

Jon Altschuld is a landscape designer for THK Associates in Aurora, Colorado. THK developed the aesthetic design for the Veterans Memorial Tunnels, a major highway infrastructure project currently being constructed along Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs, CO. (If you’ve skied in Colorado, you’ve probably driven through this stretch of highway). We talked with Jon about how SketchUp was used in this project.

One of the final renderings of the proposed tunnel design – SketchUp model rendered with Vue.

Tell us a little more about this project.

These tunnels (formally known as the Twin Tunnels) were originally built in 1961. This project focused on improving mobility within the I-70 corridor by widening both tunnels to three lanes with wider shoulders. The project also focused on addressing safety and creating unique features to serve as gateways for the area.

The previous design of the tunnel portals created a feeling of driving into a headwall, which caused motorists to brake and slow down when approaching the tunnels. The new design resolves this problem by integrating a spiraling tunnel portal that welcomes motorists into the tunnel gradually. These spiraling tunnel portals are the result of evaluating multiple design options on a variety of criteria.

Did you work with any data that was imported into SketchUp? 

Yes, most of this 3D model was based on imported data. The existing terrain information was collected in the field with LiDAR, and the LiDAR data was converted into a TIN (Triangulated Irregular Network) mesh in Microstation. Microstation was used because that’s the main software the transportation engineers use. The Microstation mesh was then exported to AutoCAD .dwg files as both a mesh and as contour lines. We were able to import the mesh file directly into SketchUp, and the contour file was used to create proposed grading files in AutoCAD. The proposed grading files, as well as the plan view geometry (road layout, tunnel layout, retaining walls, etc.) were all created in AutoCAD and the .dwg files were imported into SketchUp. Once in SketchUp, the proposed contours became meshes via the From Contours Sandbox tool, and they were then combined with the existing grade meshes.

How did SketchUp help in the decision-making process? 

This project used a Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) approach, which involves creating and evaluating a number of options based on a variety of criteria. SketchUp was used to arrive at the final options that were evaluated in the CSS process, and for evaluation during the actual CSS process. Leading up to CSS, over a dozen different design options were created and explored in meetings. For these meetings, SketchUp was more useful than final renderings because we were able to look at any view in real time, as well as make design changes to explore additional options. During the CSS evaluation, SketchUp was used to compare four options side-by-side.

One of the west portal options in SketchUp. The pinkish area is existing terrain, and the purplish area is proposed (the big wall of purple is a large cut where rock was blasted away to create enough space for the wider tunnels).

How did you communicate or collaborate with other colleagues and consultants? 

We used one main SketchUp model with multiple groups and layers. I’m a bit of a grouping (and components) fanatic; it keeps models organized and the file size down. I mainly use layers for separating visual options, which was perfect for this project. One little trick was to place 3D text with the name of the design option in a visible place in the model (as seen in the image above) and put it on the same layer as the geometry for that layer. Whenever Option B was being shown, “Option B” text was visible; this helped reduce confusion.

I think the SketchUp images do a pretty good job of showing how we used SketchUp as a design tool, but what isn’t shown is how interactive it was for meetings. Being able to analyze and compare over a dozen options from any view, modify those options on the fly, and create new options while in meetings was invaluable. To work efficiently on the fly, the model needs to be created with that objective in mind. For example, having the different options on appropriately named layers allows you to quickly compare the options at the request of meeting attendees. Having the model neatly grouped allows you to easily modify pieces without affecting the whole model (be sure to know which pieces are groups and which are components). These in-meeting modifications to the model often are not as clean as the overall model and may require some clean up back at the office. Typically, I will save the ‘meeting’ version of the model, but only use it as a reference to make the refined edits to the final model.

Were there any SketchUp extensions that helped with this project? 

I use extensions every time I open SketchUp. Some that I use on almost every project – including this one – are Weld, Tools On Surface, Joint Push/Pull Interactive, Selection Toys, Bezier Spline, and PathCopy. 

The most challenging piece of the model to create was the spiraling tunnel extensions. I went through a number of trials to get the geometry correct; some of these trials used extensions such as Extrude Tools, Artisan, Curviloft, and Follow Me & Rotate. ThomThom recently released an extension called Bezier Surface that would have been really helpful had it been available when I was working on this model! 

Also, the ivy that is seen in the final Vue renderings was created in SketchUp using the SketchUp Ivy extension – this wasn’t added to the design until I was already working in Vue; that’s why the ivy doesn’t show up in the SketchUp images.

SketchUp view of the east portal exploring the spiraling hood extension at the tunnel entrance.

Tell us about the transition from SketchUp model to the final Vue renderings.

The transition from SketchUp to Vue is fairly simple. I typically change the SketchUp materials to bright solid colors so that I can easily differentiate them in Vue (unless there’s a SketchUp image texture I want to use in Vue). After cleaning up any unnecessary pieces of the model (such as unused options), I export the model to an .obj file and import that into Vue. All of the vegetation (except the ivy) is added in Vue. The boulders and talus slopes were also created in Vue. Vue recognizes objects based on material, so it is fairly easy to create and assign materials one-by-one for the model. The process typically involves a lot of quick, low quality test renders to fine tune the materials, lighting, camera, and atmospheric settings. Once these are all finalized, the high quality final renderings can be created – which can take a while. Some of the renderings for this project took 16+ hours to render! All that remains after that is post-processing work in Photoshop.

Final rendering of the east portal.

How do you go from SketchUp model to tunnel construction? 

For this project, much of the “base pieces” were already engineered and into construction documents when the SketchUp modeling began. For example, the core tunnel structure/bore, the roadway alignment, and the utilities were all pretty much set. The configuration of the tunnel extension walls, retaining walls, and proposed grading were all items that became defined by decisions from the SketchUp model. For these items, the beginnings of the construction documents were already in place from creating the linework in AutoCAD. From there, we simply had to bring these drawings to 100% construction documents and the General Contractor installed them. The General Contractor was involved in many meetings leading up to construction where we used the SketchUp model to better explain details of the design. 

Posted by Josh Reilly, SketchUp Team

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The Value of "Clean Modeling"

David Heim is a veteran book and magazine editor specializing in woodworking. After a 28-year career at Consumer Reports, he moved to Fine Woodworking magazine. David has been writing about and teaching SketchUp for over four years, and says he never begins any project until he has previewed it in SketchUp first. This is one of several upcoming SketchUpdate guest posts from David on modeling principles for woodworkers.

I first heard the phrase clean modeling from Dave Richards at 3D Basecamp 2014. As Dave explained it to me later, clean modeling is a simple concept that basically means, “learn to sweat the small stuff.” If the model isn’t “clean,” small flaws could interfere with the changes you or someone else may want to make in the future. Let’s take a closer look at clean modeling principles via a Shaker trestle table I did a few years back. It looks pretty good, right? Actually, it’s a good example of why clean modeling is important.

Although this model of a Shaker table looks pretty good, it actually contains a number of flaws; finding and fixing them is what clean modeling is all about.

Missing Faces. I thought enough of the trestle table model to share it on the SketchUcation woodworking forum. Someone quickly cut me down to size, pointing out that my turned legs were missing faces. It’s a good thing no one looked closer. In fact, there were several problems with the model. Let’s begin with the missing faces. It happened because I was working with small geometry at a 1:1 scale. I could have saved face, so to speak, if I had scaled up the leg profile before extruding it.

The blue areas (left side) show where faces were not created properly. The right side shows the successful result of the scaled up Follow Me technique.

You can heal these faces by tracing over some of the edges with the Line tool, but it’s better to scale up certain components before using Follow Me or running Intersect Faces. Dave Richards typically copies a component to be extruded or intersected, scales it up 100x or even 1000x, and then edits the copy. After that, he deletes the copy; the original will show the edits properly. Generally, I’ve found this scaling method ensures a model won’t wind up with small missing faces.

A closer look. Inspecting the bottom of the arched feet reveals more small problems. If I run ThomThom's Solid Inspector extension, it shows me a stray line at one corner. It’s only about 1/64” long, but it shouldn’t be there. The same goes for a sliver of a stray face on the opposite corner. Extraneous lines and faces like these can pop up sometimes when performing certain tasks — like Intersect Faces mentioned above. These little lines are hard to see, of course. I could say, “So what? No one will ever see them.” Maybe, but I need to get rid of them if I want a clean model.
Ed. Note: ThomThom recently released Solid Inspector². Also, try “StrayLines.rb” from www.smustard.com.

The Solid Inspector extension reveals a minuscule stray line at the base of the foot. This extension is a useful tool for identifying extraneous geometry that could be erased.

Orient faces. Obviously, visible faces must be oriented properly. But the same goes for faces that aren’t meant to be seen: the sides of holes, recesses, mortises, and the like. As you create those elements, take the time to be sure the correct face is showing. If a surface is facing the wrong way, you can right-click on it and choose Reverse Faces.

Soften/Smooth curved faces. Often, when you Push/Pull a shape that results in a curved face, you’ll also create edges separating the facets of the curve. You can hide those edges, but the face will still look faceted. It’s better to eliminate the edges with the Soften/Smooth Edges technique.

Hiding the edges on a curved face leaves the surface looking faceted (middle object). For a truly smooth face, use Soften/Smooth Edges.

Set component axes. If a component doesn't perfectly align to the axes, be sure to set the axes when you create the component. This is especially important if you’re planning to use the CutList extension. It relies on the size of the bounding box to reckon the size of the component. An oversized bounding box will lead to inaccuracies in the cutlist.

Clean-up. Finally, reduce the file size: purge unused components, use multiple copies of components instead of numerous groups, and compress textures. ThomThom's CleanUp³ extension helps expedite this process. If my advice strikes you as too obvious, that probably means your models are pretty clean already.

Guest authored by David Heim

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Who is Steve Oles?

Whenever I teach someone SketchUp, the first thing I like to do is introduce our scale figure. Functionally, these 2D face-me components help orient you to a model's scale and perspective. More personally, the scale figures we’ve chosen for our default templates have always been members of the SketchUp team. For us, it’s a fun way to recognize someone who’s helped make SketchUp what it is.

In SketchUp 2015, our default scale figure isn’t one of our great colleagues, but one of our great friends: Steve Oles.

SketchUp 2015’s default scale figure “Steve” rendered in the PSO Vignette style that he helped create.

If you’ve come to a 3D Basecamp, you may have met Steve or even sat in on one of his unconference sessions about hybrid drawing for architectural illustration. The name might also be familiar if you’ve ever used one of the PSO styles in SketchUp (Steve is short for Paul Stevenson).

And if the PSO styles are familiar, we’re guessing you may have come across Steve’s book at some point in your architectural studies. Steve has been a source of inspiration for our team for some time now, and as we’ve gotten to know him, we’ve really enjoyed learning about his career too. So, in our 2015 update for SketchUp, we decided it was about time to introduce you all to our friend, Steve Oles…

Posted by Mark Harrison, on behalf of the SketchUp team

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Sharpening SketchUp for 2015

We have some news to share today -- SketchUp 2015 is available for download now -- but first we’d like to share something that’s a few weeks old.

Here at SketchUp HQ in Boulder, we have a team dedicated to answering the phone and email questions that customers send us every day. Recently, we received these two emails on the same day:

Thank you for replying to my mum. I'm Marius and I'm 8 years old. I really like SketchUp and we have it in school. In art school, I made a factory with my best friend. 

-- Love, Marius XXX

And then, just a few hours later:

I'm a detective for the Ottawa Police Service. I specialize in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis and was introduced to your software while collaborating with university students. Using online tutorials I was able to quickly create 3D plan drawings for our crime scenes. The quality of the visual evidence produced was above and beyond what our court system was used to.

-- Det. Ugo Garneau, Ottawa Police Service

We get emails like these all the time, and we always think it’s incredible that so many different kinds of people can learn and be productive with SketchUp almost right away. On the other side of the spectrum, we regularly hear from seasoned modelers who have mastered SketchUp to make building things more efficient.

We’re incredibly proud that SketchUp helps all of these people be successful -- and have some fun while they’re at it. So when we plan updates, our team feels a big responsibility to preserve the reliability and flexibility that makes SketchUp... well, SketchUp.

In this release, we turned our focus to upgrading SketchUp’s performance infrastructure. In particular, we’ve updated SketchUp, LayOut, and our Ruby API to run as 64-bit applications. The least nerdy way to explain this change is that 64-bit architecture allows SketchUp to take advantage of more of your computer’s active memory. We’ve moved to 64-bit both to improve performance, but also to set up SketchUp to work better with the operating systems and extensions that people will be using over the next few years. So while this is a big modification to SketchUp’s technical backbone, we kind of hope you won’t notice it at all.

Similarly, SketchUp 2015 includes new modeling and documentation tools that we designed to feel like you’ve been using them for years. Probably our favorite of these is the Rotated Rectangle tool, a way draw to axis-independent rectangles that’s both incredibly useful and surprisingly intuitive. Give it a try: we think it will remind you of the first time you used SketchUp.

SketchUp 2015's official Rotated Rectangle Tool draws rectangles that don’t have to be perpendicular or parallel to an axes. It’s a simple idea that saves you about a dozen clicks to draw shapes like the cube on the right.

There’s a lot more to explore in SketchUp 2015: fast styles... LayOut smart labels... a 3 Point Arc tool... simpler Pro licensing… full IFC compatibility to get more and more folks participating in information modeling… we’ve even linked SketchUp to Trimble Connect, a new collaboration platform for sharing, reviewing, and commenting on any kind of project file.

You can download our latest version here, and if you have SketchUp Pro License, go ahead and use our license wizard to upgrade. If you work in SketchUp every day, we think you’ll really love this release -- after all, all we’ve done is make SketchUp work more like… well, SketchUp.

Posted by Mark Harrison, on behalf of the SketchUp team

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SketchUp Pro for set design: A conversation with Andy Walmsley

Andy Walmsley (AndyWalmsley.com) is an Emmy award-winning set and production designer whose work has appeared in television, Broadway, Las Vegas, and beyond. Andy uses SketchUp Pro extensively in his design work, and, in this post, shares how he came to production design as a career and how 3D has changed his work.

Walmsley’s set model for America’s Got Talent, designed in SketchUp Pro

What kind of sets do you work on?

I’m very diverse, especially for someone in my field. I am essentially a set designer although there are many fancier names for my job: art director, production designer, scenic designer, scenographer. Most people in my line of work tend to specialize in one genre. For example, the guys who do Broadway theater set design rarely (if ever) work on TV sets. Television designers who do ‘drama’ don’t do entertainment shows (like award or game shows). And the designers who do opera and ballet don’t do musical theater. Movie designers just do movies. Rock n’ roll touring designers also specialize. I am very unique in that I design for major TV entertainment shows, Broadway musicals, Las Vegas spectaculars, museum projects, ice shows, cruise ship performances, theme parks, circuses, corporate events: essentially, I’ll design a set for any genre as long as it’s entertainment.

The production design for the Tennis Channel's Wimbledon Primetime

How did you get into set and production design as a career?

I come from a family of performers. My great grandfather was a very famous British comedian; my grandmother was a silent movie piano player; my grandfather a big band bass player; my dad was a famous comedian; and my mom a fire eater (yes, a fire eater). So I grew up backstage in Vaudeville theaters, TV studios and the circus. For a while I wanted to be a TV cameraman, so my mom bought me a little Lego TV camera crew and I built Lego TV sets and had my little plastic crew shoot my masterpieces. The models got more and more elaborate, and one day a family friend, magician Paul Daniels (the UK’s David Copperfield) saw my models and said, “You know, people actually do this for a living.“ I owe a lot to Paul and even more to Lego.

Have you worked on any projects that folks might have heard about?

Just a few. Most famously, I designed Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (before I started using SketchUp). My original design for that show is the most duplicated scenic design in history, as the set has been built to every identical detail in 108 countries around the world. That set was also used in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. I designed for American Idol which is often considered the most successful show in the history of American television. I was nominated for three Emmys for that show and won the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Art Direction.’ I’ve worked on America’s Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, and a bunch of other well-known TV projects.

Walmsley's 2009 Emmy-winning production design for American Idol

I’ve designed about 14 Las Vegas shows now, which is more than anyone else I know. In theater my most famous show was Buddy — The Buddy Holly Story. That production was duplicated in 13 countries. My other big theater gig is Blood Brothers, a fantastic musical which is still running in the UK nearly 20 years after I first designed it.

What is your favorite part about your job?

The ultimate satisfaction for me is to spend a few days creating a model, virtually walking around every inch of it, then only a couple of months later find myself walking around the real set. Most of my sets are huge; they usually occupy sound stages that are 100 feet by 200 feet in size. To be walking around something that you visualized and that came out of your head (via SketchUp) 10 weeks previously is an amazing feeling of power. I think a lot of designers are megalomaniacs, and I think I can see why.

A concept design for an "extreme musical chairs" variety show

How long have you worked with 3D modeling software?

I initially invested in a full Mac set up in the 90’s. As if by destiny, the week my hardware and software arrive in the mail, I also landed a huge job and didn’t have the time to learn how to make the leap from a drafting table and pencil to digital tools. Then another job came in, and another, and from that moment I have never been out of work, but also couldn’t find the time to learn to work with the new tools.

Fast forward ten years. I had moved to The States to work on American Idol. Shortly after arriving, I purchased a bells-and-whistle drafting table and rented some office space at Henson Studios so that I could set up a model-making office. Pretty soon, I was being mocked by colleagues for still drafting on paper. I signed up for a Vectorworks course that the Art Directors Guild was offering and struggled for the first month. The instructor, Don Jordan, had the patience of a saint, and during one of the class breaks he showed me a new program that he thought I might find easier to grasp — and that was SketchUp. I remember staring at the screen like a caveman looking at the first wheel: I was in love immediately.

I’m musically inclined so I often relate my experience with 3D modeling to this metaphor: musicians can pick up some instruments and just instinctively be able to play them. I can grab almost any instrument that you blow into and get a tune out of it in seconds. But string instruments, I am hopeless with. SketchUp is just one of those instruments that I could play instantly.

Why is 3D important in set design?

Let me describe the process as it was prior to SketchUp Pro. I would go to a meeting about a new show and get briefed, go back to the office and start drafting roughly in pencil, then take those drawings to my two or three model makers (who I had to pay every Friday). They would then spend a week or longer building the models. I would take the model (often on a crowded London train) to show to the producer, he would inevitably want to make changes, I’d take the model back and the assistants would break the model apart to rebuild it with the adaptations. All of this was extremely time consuming, very expensive. Model materials aren’t cheap, and model-making employees (and their models) take up a lot of space. I also don’t miss constantly breathing in toxic glue and paint fumes.

One of Walmsley's older, physical production models for American Idol

Now with SketchUp Pro, I don’t even need an office. I go for the initial briefing and can usually turn around a very complex SketchUp model in one (or max) two days with no office, no employees, no equipment, no fumes. The best part: I can now email designs to my producer without travel and I can make changes by quickly editing the SKP file, often in a hotel, an airport or a Starbucks. Now, that is Freedom. I have said it many times, and it sounds a bit overdramatic, but SketchUp literally changed my life.

Tell us about a particular design problem that you’ve been able to address in SketchUp.

Glossy floors. So much of entertainment involves GLOSS. We love glossy floors and reflective surfaces: it’s all glitzy showbiz stuff. It’s also a curious modeling problem to solve. Sometimes I will assign the stage floor a smoky, transparent surface and then copy the entire model above and scale it inside out underneath my transparent floor. It will really look like the above scenery is reflected in the floor but really you are looking at a complete copy of the model under the floor.

Do you have any advice for other SketchUp users?

My problem is that I have gotten super fast on SketchUp, but done so using my own little tricks and not really utilizing the software properly. Have you ever seen a bad driver in a car? They can drive well enough but they are using the wrong hand on the wrong side of the steering wheel. Doesn’t seem so safe, right? That is me with SketchUp: I make it do great things, but I always think there may be a better way to save time beyond just working quickly. One of my resolutions this year is to get some one-on-one training from a real expert to help me master some of the fundamentals. That should help me get up to super, scary modeling speed but with my hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel.

Posted by Mark Harrison, SketchUp team

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SketchUp for crime scene reconstruction

We’re never surprised to hear that SketchUp is being used in ways we didn’t expect, but we were particularly impressed when we came across this article about SketchUp’s knack for reconstructing crime scenes. We wanted to learn a bit more about how 3D plays into crime scene reconstruction (and yes, some of us are Dexter fan boys), so we tracked down Detective Albert Schade, the article’s co-author and the mind behind Crime Scene Interactive, a website that details workflows for modeling crime scenes in 3D.

A SketchUp model used as the basis for crime scene reconstruction

How long have you worked with 3D modeling software?
I’ve been 3D modeling since the mid 90’s; I got my feet wet with Animation Master and Milkshape: those really broadened my use of computer generated animation and modeling. Since then I’ve toyed with 3D Studio Max, Maya, Blender and SketchUp.

So what is "Crime Scene Interactive?" Who is it for?
Crime Scene Interactive has gotten a lot of attention since the publication of our article in the Association of Crime Scene Reconstruction Journal. Crime Scene Interactive is a workflow that allows you to make interactive courtroom exhibits through the use of SketchUp, Blender, Gimp or Photoshop, Ultimate Unwrap3d and the Unity 3D game engine.

SketchUp, in particular, is a huge part of that workflow thanks to its ease of use and the ability to quickly model in real world measurements. SketchUp also happens to be very expandable with the ability to add features via Ruby and its nice assortment of import/export options.

What role does 3D modeling play in your detective work?
I’m a Detective in the Forensic Services Unit for the Berks County District Attorney’s Office. I investigate homicides, serious bodily injury cases and fatal crashes. I also instruct police officers in fingerprint comparison, blood spatter, evidence processing, and 3D crime scene creation. 3D modeling is a great way to make exhibits for all of these disciplines.

In law enforcement, we face several hurdles when bringing cases to court. During evidence collection and processing we obtain a large amount of information. When we testify in trial, we need to relate that information to juries -- groups of people with very diverse educational backgrounds -- in a very short period of time. Demonstrative exhibits help visually display that information. So 3D models and walkthroughs are incredibly useful for taking the vast data we’ve collected at a crime scene and relaying it in court so that a jury panel can make an informed decision.

Depending on the victim condition or amount of blood in a scene, judges will sometimes not allow actual crime scene photos in a courtroom. SketchUp models afford a neat and clean depiction that still articulates the positioning of the victim.

3D is also important for investigations. Most people don’t realize that police departments spend a lot of resources not only proving what did happen, but what didn’t happen. In pursuit of the truth, rapid availability of reconstruction information helps us decipher witness or suspect statements. We can focus on the right people and not waste time on bad leads.

How did you first come across SketchUp?
I first used SketchUp for personal projects. I like woodworking, so I used SketchUp with the Cutlist plugin to help organize my project and develop a shopping list. Learning how engineers and various other artists and professionals around the world were using SketchUp is what led me to start using it for crime scene work.

Now, SketchUp fits perfectly in my workflow. With a large caseload, I need to keep investigations moving. With SketchUp, I can mock crime scenes very quickly, and then communicate the spatial relationship of items in the scene to other investigators in a clean, concise fashion. From there, we can start the process of testing theories and corroborating witness accounts to physical evidence.

Small apartments often make photography and camera views difficult to share. SketchUp's X-Ray mode provides a good overview of a room and makes it easier to navigate the 3D space.

Are there specific tools in SketchUp that are particularly helpful for your work?
LayOut is a great tool for turning sections of scenes into illustrated visuals for a presentation slide. SketchUp Pro’s reporting function is also very useful, because I often have to provide defense attorneys with data that shows my scene model is accurate. The report option lays out this data in a spreadsheet, saving me a lot of time.

The ability to export models to .FBX format is also important because I currently use the Unity game engine to animate interactive walkthroughs of a scene. The DXF import option also helps because some of our measuring equipment saves to DXF; that import ability makes it easy to load control points directly into SketchUp Pro.

It sounds like you use several 3D tools in cooperation with SketchUp; what else is in the quiver?
I use Blender to make human models animate and any organic models that would otherwise be difficult to create in SketchUp. HemoSpat is a blood spatter analysis suite that allows me to create a 3D model of a bloodletting event’s area of origin. It can then be imported into SketchUp for placement in the crime scene model.

A SketchUp model (running in Unity 3D) with the blood spatter model accurately position. The lines show the trajectory of the blood, and where they intersect shows the area of origin in 3D space.

I also use Unity, a game engine that brings crime scenes to life in an interactive animation. This lets you walk through the crime scene in a courtroom just like a video game. You can interact with items of evidence, and display images from the crime scene in relation to the model.

Posted by Mark Harrison, SketchUp team

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SketchUp Pro Case Study: Environmental Air Systems

Environmental Air Systems (EAS) is a full service mechanical contractor based in North Carolina specializing in mechanical systems for health care, pharmaceutical, and data centers. EAS also has unique capabilities for Off-Site Construction (OSC), which allows for the manufacture of a wide range of products from mechanical skids and air handling units, to full central utility plants and large scale modular data centers.

With SketchUp Pro, Environmental Air Systems has been able to improve communication with their clients as well as increase their Off-Site Construction productivity. Carroll Shephard is the Production Design Coordinator for EAS, and also one of their SketchUp champions. He spoke with us about how EAS uses SketchUp.

SketchUp at EAS
Back in 2007, EAS was working on two data center projects. In an effort to create a more accurate and visual as-built of the product, we switched to SketchUp. We provided our client with an AutoCAD version along with the SketchUp as-built model. The client really liked that we gave them something more visually rich through SketchUp. Since then, we have transitioned all of our production drawings to SketchUp. Now, we are adding SketchUp to more processes than ever.

With SketchUp, we don’t spend a lot of time learning the software, and because it’s so intuitive, we’ve reached a point where we can rapidly turn detailed models into coordinated production drawings for our manufacturing facilities. Then, we generate material lists with an extension plugin.

The use of 3rd party plugins, like Space Design by RenderPlus, allows  for custom report generation directly out of SketchUp

SketchUp has changed the way we design as it enables us to transition from 2D to 3D. The advantage of working in 3D is that our product is “virtually built” before materials are ever ordered. Previously, we coordinated parts by calculating the clearances needed using a calculator or spreadsheet. Now, all the drawings (previously made using AutoCAD) are produced in SketchUp. From there, we have been able to coordinate our products using Navisworks (and we’re now experimenting with Tekla BIMSight).

SketchUp Pro & Client Communication
While communicating with clients, SketchUp most often plays the role of a visual aid. For example, we recently worked on the preliminary design of a pipe rack system to be installed in a pharmaceutical facility. With SketchUp, we were able to model the pipe rack exactly as it would be installed (a retrofit situation). The SketchUp model helped the marketing group clearly communicate the scope of work and make sure that our design was meeting or exceeding client expectations.

Rendered models help clients visualize how projects will look after completion

We also generate concept renderings for potential clients. These allow our clients to see what their project will look like once completed. So to a real extent, we also use SketchUp as both a sales and design-build tool: it enables us to show potential clients our solution for their specific application and then it helps us produce accurate, detailed drawings quickly. Both of these advantages enable us to be more successful and it has been a driving force on many projects.

Guest authored by Carroll Shephard, Environmental Air Systems, LLC

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SketchUp gets a warm welcome in China

In mid-July of this year, intrepid world travelers John, Shara and Steve headed east to join Sophie Feng (one of our newest SketchUp team members) on a mission to learn more about folks in China are using our software. Here's a travelogue that Sophie put together to describe the trip.

When a journey begins, you generally have no idea how it’s going to end. The small talk that seems insignificant turns into a great inspiration. The strangers from another country you only knew by name become your friends, while the colleagues you just met become your family.

In June, we talked by Skype about a trip to visit SketchUp users in China, planned it, then worked toward making it happen. Despite that, I doubt my dear colleagues knew how long it was going to be until we were sitting in a prestigious architectural firm the first day they arrived in Shanghai.

July 9th: Shanghai EC Architectural Design & Planning Co. Ltd.

Users presented to us how they use SketchUp in their workflow. They showed off their design skills by making a beautiful SketchUp animation for us. A local government official also was invited to join the "SketchUp Dialogue".

John really enjoys drawing on the wall.

July 10th: Better SketchUp, Better Design at the Shanghai Salon

Many designers, mostly young, came to the event filled with hope. They were enthusiastic, intelligent, idealistic, and joined us from all over China (Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, etc.) One interior designer even came all the way from Taiwan to share his SketchUp ideas with us.

Our users tell their stories one by one.

We were curious as to how these young designers use SketchUp for such large projects, which are actually fairly common in China. One thing that was very important to all those at the salon: They really want to make sure that SketchUp would not change too much after the transition from Google to Trimble. One of the most impressive presentations of the day was a local developer's "BIM for SU”. One of our users developed a series of plugins for SketchUp that completed a specific BIM workflow.

On a yacht in Huangpu River, Shanghai. From left: 王韶宁 wang shaoning, developer (Beijing); Steve Dapkus; 潘毅 Panyi, Landscape Architect; 钟凡 Zhongfan, SketchUp-BIM user (Guangzhou); John Bacus; 陈建良 Chen jianliang, interior designer; 刘新雨 Liu xingyu, Urban Planner (Beijing).

July 10th & 11th: Wuhan

This was our first visit to a famous Chinese university: HUST (Huazhong University of Science & Technology) is the only institution to offer a Masters degree for BIM qualification in China. Professor Luo (the College President) told us that there were 8,000 construction sites in Wuhan last year. There's no doubt that BIM has a great opportunity in China, as does SketchUp’s role in a BIM workflow. My colleagues John, Steve and Shara found themselves feeling hopeful at this leg of the trip, against all odds due to jet lag, 43 degree Celcius heat and 90% humidity.

As the first national research Lab in China, HUST is glad to get new ideas from SketchUp as a BIM tool. In the afternoon, another interesting salon was waiting for us.

Our new friends shared lots of interesting thoughts with us. Shara looks better after she's had some coffee.

July 13th: Guangzhou

On our way to Guangzhou University, The U-BIM Company prepared a BIM and SketchUp conference for end users in Guangzhou. John added that “Maybe SketchUp is BIM for everyone” in his slides, and added that “SketchUp can do more than just visual representations." digitalarch, a SketchUp user in Taiwan, had explained this notion for us at the Shanghai salon.

We look fresh today. We are standing at the entrance of Guangzhou University.

SketchUp users always have a way of expressing their thoughts; a designer who is also a professional rapper told us he would write a Chinese rap for SketchUp. What a brilliant idea! I know it's been a long trip—10 days, 3 different cities, and my American colleagues were all anxious to get back to their sweet families. Let’s end our long trip with a poem written by Chen ling 陈玲, a young Shanghai landscape designer. When he told us that he believes that SketchUp changed his life and career, I saw his eyes light up.

Chen ling is a very talented designer. Look at the scale of these models!

Poem: Gratitude for SketchUp by Chen ling 陈玲

Translation:

Have been working in designing after leaving school
So lucky I met you—SketchUp in October 2004
You change my career
Because of you, I seize more opportunities.
Because of you, I am one of the youngest writers who can publish the book about you.
You give me so much, so much wonderfulness
You bring me so much, so much glory
Thanks a lot

Posted by Sophie Feng, SketchUp China Team

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SketchUp Pro Case Study: 10K Design

10K Design is a UK-based design firm led by James Horner. The firm does a bit of everything -- even web design and backend web development -- but they specialize in building design and 3D modeling.  Recently, we recently spoke with James about his firm and its work with SketchUp Pro. Here’s what he had to say:

At 10K Design, we offer high quality design services to both the public and professionals. We have architects who design bespoke building projects, produce drawing packages for Planning & Building Regs approval, and help with every stage of development across all sorts of building projects. Our portfolio even includes design work for a house that featured on an episode of Channel Four's Grand Designs.

Draft model of the Sugar Cube House

We also offer general 3D modelling for producing renderings, animations and fully interactive models both as part of our architectural projects and also as a separate service. SketchUp Pro is a major part of how we design and it often empowers our clients to get their hands dirty by downloading models, exploring, and trying out layouts or different types of furniture.

Detail of One Mayfair produced for Partytecture

Perspective view of orangery model

10K Design uses SketchUp Pro on nearly all of our projects, particularly in the early stages. We also use it to work out details at the construction stage, both as a design and communication tool. Our workflow normally involves obtaining an Ordnance Survey or site survey plans in DWG or DXF format; we use these as the basis for trying out some ideas within CAD. We try to boil these ideas into a series of polylines that can be easily transformed into faces with the minimum number of edges when imported into SketchUp Pro. Once imported, we push/pull objects and we develop or download required components, building the model into a complex and highly accurate representation of the space.

Ground floor layout of 10K Design Ecohouse

Aerial perspective shots of 10K Design Ecohouse

We then let our architectural clients download a copy of the model so that they can play around with our ideas on their own copy of SketchUp - we actively want their participation so that they have real ownership over the project. After client collaboration, the model is then used for developing elevations and sections, and we often use it as the basis for working up construction plans in other CAD or BIM software.

Sections cut through the 10K Design Ecohouse

Rendered elevations of the 10K Design Ecohouse

Viewport stills from Ecohouse animation

Some of our clients, such as product manufacturers or land developers are looking for a model that can be used in presentations to secure funding for a project. Impressive visual information is usually paramount to making a good presentation, so it’s important that we can also prepare our models for quoting, funding rounds, and competitions. SketchUp Pro is the only software we have found that offers a cost-effective solution for doing this. It allows us to quickly produce an interactive 3D model with a high level of interactivity via scenes, clever layering, or components. The beauty of being able to create a quick model is that it can have endless uses: animations, still renderings, or orthographic drawings such as elevations and sections.

Rendering of the Sesame Access retractable stair platform lift

Time and time again, our clients have found that our SketchUp modelling service is a great, cost-effective way of getting exactly what they need. From manufacturing companies looking for a new method of selling their product to self-builders looking to visualise their design, SketchUp Pro is key to our service.


Posted by James Horner, 10K Design

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Telling the full story with SketchUp Pro and LayOut

We often describe SketchUp as both design and communication software. Some folks don’t get the communication element, but for anyone who needs to share and collaborate with clients or partners, the fluid nature of SketchUp Pro and LayOut is essential.

Recently Nick Sonder, who runs a one-man shop for architectural design, sat down with us to talk about how he uses SketchUp Pro through the entire design process: using one 3D model as the basis for interior and exterior detailing, as well as for robust, unified, and precise construction documents used by contractors.

Posted by Mark Harrison, SketchUp Marketing

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Office SketchUppification proceeding nicely

The good news is we're working really, really hard on the next version of SketchUp. The bad news is that doesn't leave a lot of time for decorating our temporary office space. I'm afraid we're only about half done printing out and pinning up all the beautiful work you sent in response to our appeal from last month. All the same, here are some shots of the office as it looked today. It's getting there, I think. (I took these photos on Saturday, which is why the place looks so empty.)

I thought it would be nice to share a gallery of the images you submitted, too. THANK YOU to everyone—almost a hundred people so far—who sent us something. Your pictures (and kind words) keep us focused on what matters.

The SketchUppers whose images appear above told us it was okay to share their work on our blog.

The temporary office pictured above is actually only three buildings away from our permanent location on the east side of Boulder. In the new space, we'll have the whole second floor to ourselves; our downstairs neighbors are the Garmin-Sharp pro cycling team.

Our current office and the one we'll be moving into in a few months are only a short distance apart.

A gradient filter makes the sky over our office park seem more ominous than it really is.

Most of the windows in our future office look west at the Flatirons, Boulder's most recognizable natural landmark.

Remember how I was bragging about our fancy new espresso machine a few weeks ago? Andrew and John managed to get it working for a couple of days, but then something happened, and now it's hors service. It turns out that a professional coffee behemoth like ours is only slightly easier to operate than an intergalactic starship. Here's hoping that the Caffeination Fairy grants our collective wish—and soon. I saw Jody asleep in the stairwell on Thursday.

So close, and yet so far.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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