Alex Schreyer's Blog, Projects, Books, and More
News, tips and tricks and everything else related to Trimble SketchUp. Don’t forget to also check out my book: Architectural Design with SketchUp.
I just released Version 3.2 of my AI Explorer SketchUp Extension. The main change in this version is that I added the reasoning_effort parameter that can be used with thinking models like OpenAI’s gpt-5. As you can see in the changelog below, there are also some smaller cleanup items and functionality enhancements. I included the […] Read more..
I just released new versions of my Scale By Tools and Random Tools SketchUp extensions. As always, you can simply install the new version from within SketchUp via the Extension Warehouse or the SketchUcation PluginStore. You can also download the installer files from this website at the links shown below. Scale By Tools Extension 1.2 […] Read more..
I just released version 3.0 of my AI Explorer (Experimental) SketchUp extension. The main change in this version is that I broke out the API endpoint URL as an editable field in the settings. Since several AI services now offer OpenAI-compatible API endpoints, this opens up the extension to other services like Google’s Gemini. All […] Read more..
These two releases mainly fix smaller issues in the respective extensions. See below for specifics. SketchUp OpenAI Explorer Extension 2.5 This version updates a bunch of smaller things in the extension, mainly regarding how the results are being displayed in the dialog. You can, for example, now resize the chat dialog and any uploaded thumbnails […] Read more..
I have just released version 2.4 of my OpenAI Explorer (Experimental) SketchUp extension. This version features some smaller fixes of which the thumbnail that gets shown with the prompt (see image above) may be the most apparent one. Here is the complete list of changes: As before, you can download the extension from my site […] Read more..
OpenAI’s latest model “gpt-4o” is an “omni” AI model that adds vision capabilities. This means that it can analyze images as part of the request. In the context of 3D modeling in e.g. SketchUp, this capability gives us an additional set of eyes that can help us fix errors or analyze feasibility. I have now […] Read more..
Structural engineering classes need beam/frame analysis software to simplify complex calculations. I am discussing one that I have used: VisualAnalysis, which offers an accessible student version, ideal for non-engineering fields.