Would you like fries with that?

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.

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Greener homes for all

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.

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Style Builder competition: one week left

Posted by Bryce Stout, Product Manager

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!

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Throwing things out of focus

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.

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Jennifer rearranges her living room

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.

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Expert modelers from Down Under

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.

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Put your city on the (3D) map.

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.

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