Working with component libraries

Posted by Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist


Have you ever wondered how to add your own components to the libraries that appear in SketchUp's Component browser? I built a model of my sofa a while ago, and I wanted to add it to the Seating library (which I got by downloading the Architecture Bonus Pack) on my computer system. This is how to do it (click on the image above to make it bigger):

1. Open the SketchUp file with the component you want to copy into a library. In my case, this was the model of my house that includes my couch.
2. Choose Window > Components from the menu bar to open the Component browser.
3. In the Component browser, click the In Model button (it looks like a little house) to show the In Model library for the SketchUp file you have open. This library contains all the components in your model.
4. Click the Display Secondary Selection Pane button (in the upper-right corner of the Component browser) to show the Secondary Selection Pane.
5. In the Secondary Selection Pane, use the Library drop-down list to choose the library into which you want to copy your component.
6. Drag your component from the In Model library to the library in the Secondary Selection Pane. You've just made a copy.
7. Click the Display Secondary Selection Pane button again to close the Secondary Selection Pane.

Now your component is available for you to use in any SketchUp file you're working on. Neat, huh?

Permalink | Links to this post | 7 comments  

Nerds can be athletes, too

Posted by Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist


Remember a few weeks ago, when I wrote about our office's demoralizing last-place finish in the Boulder kickball league? It led me to wonder if there might be a connection between working on computers all day and not being good at sports. My experience in high school certainly supported this hypothesis.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I received news from our own Mike S. that he and Tyson K. had not only entered a doubles volleyball tournament, but had actually won the whole kit and caboodle. Not only that, but their four-player team won, too. Tyson's follow-up email was typically modest:

AND...we proudly wore our bright Google socks the whole season. People were asking for those socks, and we delivered...in the form of blistering hard spikes!

Though I am proud of their achievement, I can't say I'm altogether surprised. Mike and Tyson are each over six feet tall, and together weigh more than my car. On behalf of everyone at Google Boulder, I offer heartfelt congratulations to the conquering champions of amateur v-ball – your rippling muscles will live in office lore for ever and always.

One question for our heroes: Would you both please (pretty please) join our kickball team next spring? We're awfully tired of losing.

Permalink | Links to this post | 1 comments  

Coloring your edges

Posted by Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist


I received a great question about working with colored edges the other day. Most people don't even know it's possible to assign different colors to edges in a SketchUp model; I'll admit that I didn't until more than a year after I started working here. Coloring your edges is easy once you know the trick:

1. Choose Window > Styles from the menu bar to open the Styles dialog box.
2. Select the Edit tab in Styles.
3. Select the Edge panel in the Edit tab; it's the one on the far left that looks like a wireframe box.
4. In the Color drop-down menu, switch from All Same to By Material.
5. Use the Paint Bucket tool to paint your edges whatever color (or colors) you choose.

Keep in mind that because the By Material edge color setting is technically part of Styles, and most Styles use the All Same setting, your edges will usually go back to being all-black if you apply another Style. Don't despair – your edges appear black, but SketchUp remembers what color you chose to make them. All you have to do is follow the above steps to switch back to By Material and you'll be all set.

Update Added an image to make things clearer.

Permalink | Links to this post | 11 comments  

Go BIG or go home

Posted by Craig D'Andrea, SketchUp Quality Assurance Tester


I was hanging out on the SketchUcation Community Forums when I came across a post from a SketchUp user named Andrija Posarić from Zagreb, Croatia. He used it on a pretty amazing project, so I thought I'd pass it along to you too. In Andrija's own words (his English is terrific, despite what he thinks):

"A couple of weeks ago I got a pretty interesting challenge in my firm. An historic building in the strict center of Zagreb was renovating, and when they put (that big thing around the building, to prevent bricks falling on the pedestrians;-) (excuse my bad English;-) around the building, it becomes most expensive place for putting the commercial ;-)

Ok, since I work in the biggest corporation in Eastern Europe, we had to put some kind of a commercial up there. The idea was to take a high-resolution picture of the building, and implement our logo on it. The problem was there was no such picture, and work on the building already started, so we couldn't go there and take the new photo.

Ok. "Can you make a photo-real rendering of this building, based on the partially-accurate blueprints?" my boss asked? I said, "No, I cannot ;-)". "What is the time note (deadline)?" 3 days.

Ok, It would not be the problem to do the photo-real rendering of a normal resolution, but, maaaan, this is a 30 x 10 meters + 20 x 10 meters rendering. I did some calculation, and I came up with 12,000 x 4,500 pixel resolution. It took me 10 hours of modeling, 2 hours of texturing, and 20 hours of rendering to complete this giant job. The size of the TIFF was 390 MB, the size of the JPEG was 39 MB... yeah, huge pics ;-)"

Andrija ended up exporting his SketchUp model into 3ds Max to do the final rendering. Amazing.

Permalink | Links to this post | 6 comments  

Putting a frame around your model

Posted by Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist


I was fiddling around with a SketchUp model the other day, and the need arose to give it a graphic frame. I wanted to be able to apply a colored border, a logo, a title and some instructions that would be visible to people who view my model in SketchUp. It turned out that the easiest way to do this was with Watermarks, a new feature we introduced in SketchUp 6. Here's one of the models I created with my newfound technique.

A little background: Watermarks are basically graphic layers that you can apply to your model view. They can be underlays, meaning they appear behind your model, or overlays, meaning they show up in front. You control Watermarks by using the Styles dialog box, which lives in the Window menu.

First, I created the image for my Watermark. I used Photoshop because that's what I know, but any software that lets you export a PNG with an alpha channel will work. An alpha channel is a special layer of information that describes which parts of an image are transparent. Because I wanted my graphic frame for SketchUp to have a hole in it (so I could see my model through it), I needed to create an image with a transparent area in the middle – kind of like a doughnut. Here's a simple way to create the right kind of image:

1. Open (or create) your image file in an image editor (like Photoshop).
2. If your image contains multiple layers, flatten it (make a single layer).
3. Duplicate that layer.
4. Delete the original layer (the one on the bottom).
5. Select the area that should be transparent in your PNG (the doughnut-hole, if you will).
6. Press Delete to get rid of the pixels you selected in Step 5.
7. Choose Save As from the File menu, and save your image as a PNG file.

After I created my image, the next step was to use it to create a Style with a Watermark in SketchUp. Here's how to do that:

1. In SketchUp, open the model file to which you want to add a Watermark.
2. Choose Window > Styles from the menu bar to open the Styles dialog box.
3. In the Styles dialog box, click the Edit tab.
4. Choose the Watermark Settings panel (the fourth button from the right in the Edit tab).
5. Click the Add Watermark button (it looks like a plus sign).
6. In the dialog box that appears, choose the PNG you created earlier and click Open.
7. In the next dialog box, choose Overlay and click Next.
8. In the next dialog box, click Next again.
9. In the next dialog box, choose Stretched to fit the entire window, make sure Lock Aspect Ratio is selected, and click Finish.
10. Click the Create New Style button (in the upper-right corner of the Styles dialog box) to create a new Style with the Watermark you just created.

Now, any time you want to see your model with your Watermark, all you have to do is select the Style you just created. To save a view of your model with the Watermark applied, create a Scene that you can return to anytime. To see how this works, feel free to check out the model of Sushi with a frame in the 3D Warehouse.

Permalink | Links to this post | 8 comments  

Green looks good on us

Posted by Chris Cronin, Account Manager, SketchUp


Green is a popular color these days, and for good reason: Designers, builders and homeowners around the world are working to create and maintain sustainable buildings. One area of the U.S. where green design has really taken a strong foothold is San Francisco, and one of the best examples is Michelle Kaufmann Designs. I met Michelle and her team about a year ago, through an effort to highlight green design on our 3D Warehouse. Since then the folks at MKD have done some pretty amazing things with SketchUp. Check out this Dwell video where Michelle describes her work and how her firm uses SketchUp and Google Earth on their projects.

If you're in the San Francisco area and you want to see an example of MKD's amazing prefab designs, stop by the West Coast Green Expo, September 20th to the 22nd. There will be a full-size mkLotus design outside of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Members of the SketchUp team will also be there to teach attendees how they can use SketchUp, Google Earth and Google Maps to create, visualize and communicate their green projects. Also, Saturday is Homeowner Day, so come and learn how to "green up" your home!

Update Added image of mkLotus house, by Michelle Kaufmann Designs

Permalink | Links to this post | 1 comments  

Now even better

Posted by Bryce Stout, Product Manager


The third maintenance release of SketchUp 6 and SketchUp Pro 6 (including LayOut) is now here. We've been working long and hard to fix bugs and improve general stability. For SketchUp Pro users, we've also made many improvements to LayOut (which is still in beta). If you're interested, you can take a look at the release notes for Windows and Mac.

The next time you open SketchUp, you should see a message prompting you to get the latest version; just follow the directions in the prompt to do so. If you don't see the prompt, choose Check for Update from the Help menu. If you're on a Mac, choose Check Web for Update from the SketchUp menu. Staying up-to-date is as simple as that.

The biggest news for this release is that we have done a lot of work which will allow us to begin localizing SketchUp into many more languages. For those you who have been patiently anticipating a release in French, Italian, German, Spanish, or Japanese, your wait is almost over. Look for the official announcement of these releases in the coming weeks.

Other fixes and improvements include:

• We fixed several crashing bugs in Sketchup
• Numerous upgrades to the Sketchup Ruby API.
• Over a dozen upgrades and fixes for LayOut.

One more important note: My reign as the Official SketchUp Scale Figure will continue for at least one more release! Now, I realize at this point you could be thinking: "Ugh. That scale figure guy annoys the crap out of me – I'm so sick of deleting him every time...." or, "Oh, no -- the day is coming when Bryce won't be the scale figure?" In either case, you really need to learn about SketchUp Templates so you can easily customize the setup of each new document you create.

Permalink | Links to this post | 279 comments  

Getting to know Google Apps

Posted By Pam Saenger, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Apps


When chatting with Aidan recently, I mentioned that I thought that a lot of SketchUp users, particularly those who use SketchUp professionally, could benefit from Google Apps. He suggested that I post something here to explain Google Apps and how to find out more about it. So here goes:

One of the projects I've been working on lately is managing our growing list of contented Google Apps users. Ever since we launched what was formerly called Google Apps for Your Domain, businesses and other organizations have signed up in droves to take advantage of these communication and collaboration tools. Think of it as a suite of applications that integrates with your custom domain; it currently includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk (instant messaging and voice over IP), Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator and more. It can feature your own company's branding and it's all hosted by Google.

If you've ever struggled to maintain your business's email servers, roll out software upgrades, or try to share documents, Google Apps might be able to help. We have different flavors, too, including a free Standard Edition and a Premier Edition for only $50 per user per year.

Right now we're seeing all kinds of businesses realize success with Google Apps -- from small start-ups to established design firms and large universities. If you're interested, take a look at some of their stories, and then visit our website to learn more about signing up. If you have questions about implementing Google Apps, how migration works or even just how it could benefit your organization, fill out this form to let us know you'd like someone to get in touch.

Permalink | Links to this post | 2 comments  

Welcome back to school!

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Education Goddess

As the new school year begins, we of the SketchUp for Education department are busy as bees answering questions and fulfilling SketchUp licensing needs for the educational community. Here are some handy tips and links for having a smooth transition, whether you're getting started with a new SketchUp license or renewing an old one.

For school networked labs:

1. Check now to see if the license you were using last year has expired. You can check on your license's expiration date by choosing License > Authorize from the Help menu while you're in SketchUp Pro. If you're on a Mac, choose License from the SketchUp menu.
2. Be sure to install and test your license early.
3. Don’t panic. If something goes awry, you can always use either the default free version (and worry about Pro features later), or use the 8 hour trial version of Pro until help arrives.
4. Pretty much every question you might have is answered in our 24/7 online help center; it’s like having one of our tech support guys with you day and night (only better).
5. This just in! Until September 21st, all schools that order a 25 seat (or more) Networked Lab License will automatically receive a copy of Google SketchUp For Dummies.

For students:

1. Be sure to check now to see if the license you were using last year has expired. Student Licenses expire one year from their original date of generation. You can check on your license's expiration date by choosing License > Authorize from the Help menu while you're in SketchUp Pro. If you're on a Mac, choose License from the SketchUp menu.
2. You can order a new Student License in two ways: If you have an email address ending in “.edu” you can order directly from our web site. If you DON'T have an ".edu" email address, fill out this form and send it to us via fax or email with proof of your student status and we’ll generate your license and email it to you in about four days.
3. If you're using your instructor’s Pro license on your home computer, please be aware that we can't offer tech support to you. Also note that Educator Licenses are single-user and network-aware, which means you probably won't be able to use your instructor's license while you're on your school network. If you need to use SketchUp Pro while you're on your school's network, you'll probably have to buy a Student License for yourself; the above paragraph describes how.

For educators:

1. All Educator Licenses generated before April 1, 2007 have now expired. To get a new one or to renew, you need to fill out this online form. An email will be sent instructing you to provide proof of educator status via email or fax. A new license will then be generated and sent via email within two weeks.

Permalink | Links to this post | 1 comments  

3D time warp in West Virginia

Posted by Chris Dizon, Account Manager, SketchUp

A few months ago while I was in San Diego for the ESRI International User Conference, I had the chance to sit down and talk with some very passionate GIS folks from the Laboratory for Geographic Information Science at West Virginia University. For the past few months, this team has been working on a project to re-create the city of Morgantown in a 3D GIS—not as it is today, but as it was at the turn of the 20th century. They've used both SketchUp and ArcGIS, and have just finished modeling the city and pushing it into ArcScene (which is part of ArcGIS 3D Analyst). Project manager Susan Bergeron had this to say:

"...it was a lot of fun to do, and everybody is so proud of the results, even though we keep tweaking the scene and the models when we find something we could do a little bit better. The best moment was when we previewed the finished product for everybody in the research lab, and flew through the scene with the theme from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood playing in the background."

Data attribution is the next phase of the project, which will involve embedding information about the model into ArcScene. I'm psyched to see how this project progresses. For information on how the team did it, including the workflow, a picture gallery, and other information, visit their project web site. And be sure to check out the growing Virtual Morgantown collection of models in the 3D Warehouse.

Permalink | Links to this post | 4 comments