After 3D Basecamp 2008

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

It's been five days since 3D Basecamp ended on Friday the 13th (inauspicious as that may have been), and most of us SketchUppers are still catching up on our rest. The event was better than any of us could have dreamed it would be. It was awesome.

If you're wondering what went down, take a look at the Event Program on the 3D Basecamp website. Basically, Basecamp started on Wednesday the 11th with SketchUp Basic Training for beginners in the morning, followed by lunch at Charlie's Cafe and sessions all afternoon. In the evening, we witnessed an inspiring presentation by Cameron Sinclair of Architecture For Humanity, then enjoyed a BBQ dinner, live music and plenty of libations until about ten o'clock. Not bad for the first day.

Thursday debuted with breakfast (food is never very far away at the Googleplex), then followed more sessions, lunch, and yet more sessions until early evening. Folks were left to their own devices for dinner; we figured most would go back to their hotel rooms and pass out.

After breakfast on Friday, some people attended sessions, some hung out in the SketchUp Lab, and the rest took part in a design challenge we concocted with the folks from AFH (you can participate too!) After lunch, everyone convened in a single room to see the challenge participants' presentations and the subsequent handing-out of awards to the winners. By two-thirty, everyone was gone.

If you're interested in seeing pictures and reading stories from folks who attended the event, you've got a few options:

Search for "3d basecamp" on Picasa Web Albums
Search for "3d basecamp" on FlickR
Search for "3d basecamp" on Google Blog Search

Incidentally, we recorded almost all of the goings-on at the event, so stayed tuned for information about where you can go to access videos, session handouts and other information from Basecamp. We're not sure when it will be ready, but we'll be sure to announce its availability on this blog and in the SketchUpdate newsletter.

To everyone who took part: Thanks for helping to make this event one of my happiest memories (so far) of being part of the SketchUp team.

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Sportables: a Design Challenge!

Posted by John Bacus, Google SketchUp Product Manager

Last Wednesday's keynote at our 3D Basecamp by Cameron Sinclair (Co-founder, Executive Director and "Eternal Optimist" of Architecture for Humanity) was a real highlight for me. I've been talking to AFH for a long time now, especially about the talented SketchUp folks we have in our user community. We've been trying to come up with something that we can all do together – something that shows how great design work can make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people around the world. To that end, we decided to kick off a new Design Challenge with Architecture for Humanity.


The Challenge (should you choose to accept it) is to design a "Sportable". Sportables are highly-transportable and deployable play spaces that can double as a sustainable infrastructure nodes for the community in which they operate. We're looking particularly at the game of Futsal (like soccer, but played in the streets with a heavier ball and fewer rules) for a site in Capao Redondo, Sao Paolo, Brazil. As AFH says, "Nothing connects kids like the power of play. In areas of great need there is an opportunity to use sports as a catalyst for social change. Where these resources are scarce, we can create community access points to deliver vital services." For those of you who were with us at 3D Basecamp last week, we've already run a one-day charrette on this Challenge. Fifteen teams entered, and by the end of a lightning round of presentations only three teams were left standing. We awarded prizes for these three excellent proposals:

1st Place - "Team Futsal Cart": Meda Ling, Ann Wright, Alan Nevling, Mitchel Stangl, Gary Whyte
2nd Place - "Billboard": Lorin Crandall, Greg Braun, Matthew Ritzman, Kim Fair, Kevin Pierce
3rd Place - "Futsal Unit": Josh Lowe, Lukas Lagerweij, Roberto Ramirez, Cody Meeks, Rich McPherson

But that was just the beginning! The Sportables Challenge is still open to anyone with an idea and a desire to participate, this time with more attractive prizes awarded to the winners. Register for the Open Architecture Network and then enter the competition, but don't wait too long. The Sportables Challenge closes at the end of this month, and I happen to know that there are already fifteen teams working...

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Dispatches from 3D Basecamp, No. 1

Posted by Beth Callas, SketchUp 3D Basecamp Team

Coming to you live from the Google SketchUp 3D Basecamp 2008! Nearly 400 SketchUp enthusiasts have descended on our Mountain View campus for two-and-a-half days of 3D modeling abandon. With plenty of SPF on hand, we’re enjoying the 85 degree weather with folks from all over the world. While some attendees breezed in by way of the light rail from San Francisco, others made the trek from as far away as Western Australia. It warms our hearts to be surrounded by users who have been with us since version one, as well as newbies who caught the Push/Pull bug only 6 months ago.

We have an action-packed lineup of sessions ranging from Ruby Scripting to Green Design, led by enthusiastic experts in their fields. Stay tuned, as we’ll continue posting throughout the event.

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