AEC CAD/BIM, SketchUp, Timber Engineering, Web Design 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.
Since my main interests at the moment are CAD/BIM on one side and structural wood design on the other, it might make sense to talk a bit more on this site about the combination of these two. To start this off, here’s a quick intro on using SketchUp for woodworking. Designing larger objects (i.e. structures) […] Read more..
Over the past while I haven’t gotten around to posting as much as I would have liked to. As a result, here are some SketchUp-related items that landed in my inbox and caught my eye. Create your own Augmented Reality with Google Sketchup (via PSFK). This looks very interesting and when I get some time […] Read more..
This looks like a great idea. I was wondering how to work easily in SketchUp on a Tablet PC. The main drawback was always the lack of a wheel-mouse. This might be great for community charrettes where the actual model gets modified during discussions. Get the how-to on this forum page: Sketchup & tablet pc: […] Read more..
I just saw on a forum post that SketchUp 7 is out! Although the Google website still only shows SU6 for download, its shop now offers the new version for purchase, too. Until the new (free) version is available on their site, do this: To already download a copy, remember the old SU download link […] Read more..
This video is actually a bit older but it illustrates a great way to visualize data in 3D – using SketchUp. Data is loaded into SketchUp from an Excel file using a Ruby plugin and then plotted in 3D. In this case, geological data is presented for a geothermal drilling operation. Links: More videos at […] Read more..
Since SketchUp is a free program, it is easy to share files. Just tell the other party to download the software and let them view your 3D model on their computer. That’s it. But what if you don’t want to share the entire file (and give your work away) or if you just want to […] Read more..
Based on a recent need, I finally gave plugin-writing for SketchUp a try. The result is a plugin that calculates the centroid and area properties of a shape drawn in SketchUp. You can find more information and download it on its project page.