The camera adds ten pounds

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

As people who already know what SketchUp is, I doubt anything in the video we made recently will be groundbreaking news. Nonetheless, we're proud of it, and we thought you might be interested.

Some notes before you watch it: This was my first time "acting" in a non-training video – I know I won't be winning an Oscar anytime soon. Also (in the interest of full disclosure), I did design the DVD coffee table in real life, but my good buddy and coworker Tyson Kartchner built it in his garage. This is a good thing, as power tools and I don't always get along.

The table will soon be residing in a member of the SketchUp team's dwelling, but if you'd like to build something like it, I've posted the model to the 3D Warehouse.



I used SketchUp to design the "set" for the video, and LayOut to create the storyboard we used to plan it out and shoot it. As you can see, we stuck to it pretty closely:

(click the image to see it bigger)

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"Sportables" design challenge winners announced

Posted by John Bacus, SketchUp Product Manager

As many of you may remember, we kicked off a design challenge with Architecture for Humanity at SketchUp 3D Basecamp several weeks ago. The challenge was to design a "Sportable": a portable sports product library, product development studio, and futsal (soccer) play area. This Sportable is for deployment into the community of Capao Redondo in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Once deployed, it uses sports to inspire change for youth of both genders, and to provide income generation opportunities for others.

We had a great crowd of folks at the 3D Basecamp charrette, and some of them went back home and kept right on working. After Basecamp, AfH opened up the challenge to their entire Open Architecture Network, and a bunch more folks joined in from there. Last Friday, we called a collective "pencils down!" and took a look at what people had been able to do in the short time available. After long deliberation, the "Sportables" jury is pleased to announce the following winners:

First Place
Futebol em toda parte! Mobile Sports Unit – Toby R. Keeton
This brilliant and carefully thought-out compact module is easy to transport and deploy, but also provides incentives for the participants to take ownership in this great community resource, and utilizes simple, available materials. -AfH

Second Place
Glowing Linesmen – Joseph Ng Tino Chow
A compact cart creatively organizes, dispenses and collects supplies and but also harnesses solar power to define the field through a series of sensors -AfH

Third Place
Flex Modular Kiosk – ChunSheh Teo
The flexible, adaptable system provides many configurations for various retail, educational and community events, and closes down to a lantern. - AfH

An additional special mention from AfH goes out to:

AfH Founders' Award
[s]table - Jonathan Stahl
We commend this for strong income generation strategies, and creative canopies, but not the shipping containers which are difficult to transport! -AfH

Thanks to everyone who entered, your projects were all great. I've always known that the SketchUp user community includes some of the best and most inventive designers around, and you guys proved it. Please add a comment to this post if you think we should do a competition like this again.

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Announcing the winners of the 2008 Model Your Campus Competition

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education Program Manager

We're happy to announce the winners for the Google 2008 International Model Your Campus Competition! Congratulations to the talented students who took on such a challenging project. The winning schools are (in no particular order):

Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
China

Nicolas Copernicus University

Department of Biology and Earth Sciences
Poland

Johns Hopkins University
Student Technology Services & Digital Media Center
USA

Stockholm University and KTH
Department of Computer and Systems Sciences
Sweden

Missouri University of Science and Technology
Department of Physical Facilities
USA

Cardiff University
Department of Information Services
UK

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Department of Engineering
USA

Bournemouth University
The Business School
UK

Peking University
School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science
China

See their amazing models in Google Earth or check out their individual collections in the 3D Warehouse. Check out the competition website for more details about the judges, the rules, the winners and what they won. Congratulations to the winning teams, and a big thank you to everyone who participated.

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Shining a spotlight

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

We here at World Headquarters think it's high time that we did a better job of highlighting some of the terrific work that folks are doing with SketchUp. Plenty of people post the fruits of their 3D labors all over the Internet, and starting today, we're going to be linking to some of them. If there's something you think this blog's readers should see, please use this form to let us know about it.

Chris Picciano built a nifty website to showcase some of the models he's made, as well as a number of useful resources and other information pertaining to SketchUp. Nice job Chris!

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3D Basecamp videos now available

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

Google SketchUp 3D Basecamp 2008 was a blast, but only a little over 300 people were able to attend in person. Luckily, we recorded almost all of the sessions, so now anyone with a computer and an internet connection can partake in the joy of learning a little more about SketchUp. We built a special site to host the session videos and handouts:

Check out the 3D Basecamp 2008 Session Videos Site

Here's a sampling of some of the sessions from the event:



Modeling Smart
An introduction to techniques you can use to create well-organized, low-poly and otherwise-efficient SketchUp files. You'll end up with models that are easier to work with and perform better on your computer, no matter how powerful your hardware is (or isn't). Presented by Aidan Chopra.



Working with Large Models
Expands on the techniques demonstrated in the "Modeling Smart" session, with an emphasis on using SketchUp's extensive organizational tools to manage very large models. Learn how to use Layers, Groups, Components and the Outliner together to maintain your sanity. Presented by Mitchel Stangl.



Follow Me: Adding Details with Ease
Follow along as we explore the ins, outs, and all-abouts of the Follow Me tool. We cover the basics of what you can do with the tool, then show you how to work quickly and share some tips to produce the best results. Presented by Tyson Kartchner.

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Building spiral stairs

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist


The key to modeling spiral stairs, I've found, is to think in terms of components. If each stair tread is an instance of the same component (a single stair tread), you can build relatively complex—and flexible—spiral stairs fairly easily. As with most things, it just takes a little bit of planning. Click on the image below to download a SketchUp model that takes you through my favorite method for constructing spiral stairs (explaining it here would be exhausting for both of us).

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Elbows and Channels and Flanges! Oh, my!

Posted by Chris Dizon, SketchUp Guru

If you happen to fall under the Engineering, Construction or Facilities category, then please read on. We just found a new website that could be useful to you. Engineering Toolbox is a website dedicated to providing relevant basic information and data to the engineering and designing community. The best part about this discovery is the ruby plug-in for Google SketchUp; you can download standard and customized components like pipes, elbows, tee sections, lumber and beams. Download the Engineering Toolbox plug-in and use that welding neck flange you've always wanted.

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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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