Posted by Tom Stamm, 3D Warehouse Engineer
Ever wonder what you might be missing out on in the 3D Warehouse? Now there's a new feature that can help you out: Most models in the Warehouse now come with a list of "related items" that might include just what you're looking for. These models are listed on the right side of each model's "details" page, along with other models by the same author and 3D Collections to which that model belongs, if there are any.
A couple of notes about how this feature works: It takes about a day for related models to be found, so brand new models won't have them. And if you make changes to the information about your model, those changes won't be reflected in the list of related models right away.
We'll be working to make the list of recommendations even better in the future, but you can help by making your models' metadata (tags, description and 3D Collections) as descriptive as possible. Remember that when it comes to adding information, you can never be too exhaustive—the more you write, the easier your models will be to find.
Would you like fries with that?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:30 PM
Greener homes for all
Monday, March 24, 2008 12:50 PM
Posted by Chris Cronin, Account Manager, SketchUp
At the International Builder's Show in Orlando this year, green building was an important theme, and it was great to see an architecture firm there lending a helping hand. Alan Mascord Design Associates, a leading home plan design company in Portland, Oregon was at IBS announcing the release of Mascord Efficient Living, a book containing a collection of more than 50 sustainable home plans for builders.
The book's stated goal is to help consumers understand that "efficient living" does not mean radically changing your lifestyle. It's more about seriously considering all of the aspects involved in how your house is built. The book presents the designs (all of which were designed to meet the LEED, Energy Star and NAHB National Green Building Standard certification programs) in a clear and engaging manner with a list of "Home Facts" for each. Many of the illustrations in the book were done with SketchUp; the actual construction plans can be purchased directly from the folks at Alan Mascord Design Associates.
Style Builder competition: one week left
Thursday, March 20, 2008 2:16 PM
Just a reminder that the Style Builder competition is closing next Friday, March 28th. If you haven't submitted your Style (or Styles) yet, now would be a great time to do so. Creators of the best Styles will win cool prizes and everlasting fame, and their work will be included in future versions of SketchUp. We can't wait to see what you come up with!
Throwing things out of focus
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 11:26 AM
Posted by Tyson Kartchner, Training Guru
SketchUp has some pretty cool display settings, but when you combine some of visual settings from SketchUp with the image editing power of Photoshop, the results can be fantastic. I created a video to show one of the effects you might try: simulating depth of field.
Jennifer rearranges her living room
Monday, March 17, 2008 1:40 PM
Posted by Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist
Not long ago, Bryce was hard at work surfing the net when he came across a cool little blog called Jennyology. It's written by a woman named Jennifer who is a pianist and a graphic designer. And a fan of SketchUp, apparently.
Bryce and I think Jennifer's post of February 27th, entitled Arranging the living room, is neat because of its simplicity. What we love is that the post isn't about the software at all -- it's about where the heck she's going to put her enormous piano. She's just going about her business, solving a 3D problem with SketchUp.
Incidentally, an excellent way to spend a couple of hours would be to peruse Jennifer's formidable "Blogs I Read" list (on the left side of her site). I have a feeling that's what Bryce is doing right now.
Expert modelers from Down Under
Thursday, March 13, 2008 12:30 AM
Posted by Matt Simpson, User Interface Designer
The other week I was in our Sydney office to meet the winners of the Build Your Campus in 3D Competition for Australia and New Zealand. I'm happy to report that the three winning teams were:
- The University of Western Australia: Schools of Computer Science & Physics | models
- The University of Melbourne: Department of Geomatics | models
- The University of Melbourne: IT (Faculty of Engineering) and Software Engineering, and Faculty of Architecture | models
You can check out all the competition entries in this collection in the 3D Warehouse.
As part of the prizewinners' event, each of the teams showed the great work they put into the modeling process. I gave them a rundown of what the Google SketchUp team does, what I do for the team, and the role of the User Experience group at Google in general. The winners also (hopefully) got some insight into what happens in our Sydney office. There was some time for play as well: we toured North Sydney, Manly and the rest of the city before we dined at The Rocks on Circular Quay to celebrate the winners' achievements.
Interested in modeling your own campus? This year's Model Your Campus Competition is international -- teams from 37 countries have already registered! Check out the competition website for all the details.
Put your city on the (3D) map.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 2:48 PM
Posted by Bruce Polderman, Product Manager
With our new Google Cities in 3D Program, we've made it easier for communities to "get themselves on the map". The program provides a way for local governments to share whatever 3D data they have, allowing them to appear in the 3D Buildings layer of Google Earth. Sound interesting? This post on the Google LatLong blog has all the juicy details.
Got style? Prove it.
Friday, February 29, 2008 12:08 PM
Posted by Bryce Stout, Product Manager
I am delighted to announce the (deep breath) 2008 SketchUp Sketchy-Edge Style Building Competition. We thought that challenging you to produce your own unique sketchy-edge Styles would be the best way to really push the limits of Style Builder (beta). In case you missed it, Style Builder is the newest addition to the SketchUp Pro family. You can read all about it (and about how to get it) in this post.
We'll choose ten winners to receive prizes, including a 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator and a bag of SketchUp goodies. The authors of the winning Styles will also be given the option to have their creations included in the next version of SketchUp -- with full attribution, of course. Check out the competition website for all the details.
All about EAST
Thursday, February 28, 2008 4:55 PM
Posted by Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist
Last week, I spent three days in Hot Springs, Arkansas, attending the annual conference of the EAST Initiative. EAST (Environment and Spatial Technology) is a non-profit organization that works with schools around the US. It helps them implement programs that bring access to technology education to students who might not otherwise have it. EAST students have been using SketchUp for four years.
Most projects undertaken by EAST students are service-based, meaning that they benefit the student's communities. These projects might include modeling the county courthouse in SketchUp for the sake of historic preservation, using GIS software to create maps for local emergency services, or creating videos that raise awareness of important issues like teenage drunk driving. The work that EAST students do is impressive because it's important, and because it's almost always very well done.
The most interesting thing about EAST is that the curriculum is self-driven; students create their own lesson plans, decide which projects they'll tackle, and learn the necessary tools on their own. They're assisted by a teacher trained in the EAST process (called a facilitator), but otherwise, it's largely a student-led endeavor. Fans of project-based learning should be very happy about the work that these folks are doing.
Anyhow, we sponsor a SketchUp and Google Earth competition for EAST students who are using our tools. This year, there were no fewer than 38 entries, and virtually all of them were terrific. Here's a list of the winning students and their schools:
- James S. - Pottsville High School | Project in the 3D Warehouse
- Carlyn N., Brandon M., and Darnesha S. - Henderson Health Sciences Magnet Middle School
- Josh G. and Mitchell R. - Nettleton High School
- Rick M. and Zach B. - DeWitt High School
- Christian K. - Magnolia High School | Project in the 3D Warehouse
- Travis R. - Kihei Public Charter School
I'd like to thank and congratulate all of the students who participated in this year's competition. Take a look at these images of their projects. I'd say the future looks bright for the next generation of SketchUp users.
Permalink | Links to this post |A time for reflection
Saturday, February 23, 2008 1:18 PM
Posted by Tyson Kartchner, Learning Guru
No, not the "deep meaning of life" kind of reflections -- I'm talking about the kind of reflection you'd see in a mirror. More specifically, the kind you might see when looking across a pool or lake. Here's a quick and easy way to simulate reflections in SketchUp:
You'll need a few things to create this illusion, starting with a body of water. In SketchUp terms, that means a surface you can paint with a transparent material. Make sure that you also have a ground surface for your objects to sit on.
- Take the objects in your scene that need reflections and copy them straight up in the blue direction:
- Select the objects with the Select tool.
- Press M to switch to the Move tool, start moving them, then press the Up or Down Arrow key on your keyboard to lock yourself in the up/down direction.
- While still moving your objects, press the Ctrl key (Option on a Mac) to make a copy of the objects you're moving.
- Drop the copies in space somewhere above the originals.
- With the objects still selected, press S to switch to the Scale tool.
- Drag the top, center scaling grip down (see the image, above), "squashing" the objects until they are "inside out". Continue scaling until you see -1 in the Value Control Box (in the lower-left corner of your modeling window). Now the copies are mirrored.
- Select the copies and move them straight down so they are directly under their original counterparts.
Finally, paint the water surface with a transparent material. You mirrored the objects below the ground plane to create the illusion of a reflection. Orbit around to get the full effect.
Extra credit: If you want to take this technique even farther, try this:
Create a large surface (larger than your water surface), and paint it with the same transparent material you used for the water. Create several copies of the new, larger surface below the original water surface to create the illusion of depth. By doing this, your reflections will appear to fade away.
Hint #1: Play with the distance and number of copies of the water surface to get more or less of this effect and adjust the opacity of your materials as well. Below, you can see the effect of simulating water depth in the image on the right.
Hint #2: Remember that if your ground plane is sloping, you may need to mirror it as well. You can see in the example below that I mirrored the entire hill and trees to get good reflections. Turning on fog resulted in a pretty nice scene.
