Last month, we released SketchUp 7.1. We added dimensioning in LayOut, faster rendering for large models, COLLADA file compatibility, Street View imagery and a whole lot more. If you haven't already, please take a few minutes to download and install the latest version - you'll be glad you did. And if you're still using SketchUp Pro 6, now's a great time to upgrade.
Happy sketching,
Aidan
Bright idea: a LayOut case study
Clear communication of ideas and plans is an important part of the design and/or building process, regardless of the scope of the project. Mike Brightman, of See Before Building and Bright Ideas Consulting, has provided a few examples of how he used the presentation and documentation capabilities of Google SketchUp Pro to communicate with contractors, design with a client, and submit permit drawings for approval. See his case study for more information on the problems he was trying to solve, and what he did to solve them. Keep reading...
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Introducing Google Building Maker
Hot on the heels of the SketchUp 7.1 launch a couple of weeks ago, we're pleased to announce the release of the latest addition to our 3D family: Google Building Maker is a super-specialized, online tool for creating buildings specifically for Google Earth. Building Maker lets you choose a building to model by looking at aerial imagery. After you've told it what you'd like to model, Building Maker loads up several different aerial views of that building taken from different directions. You then align simple 3D shapes - boxes, prisms, pyramids and others - to the different views. Building Maker takes care of all the photo-texturing for you; it uses the aerial photos to "paint" your building when you save it. Models you create with Building Maker are stored in the Google 3D Warehouse, and are automatically considered for inclusion on the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. Keep reading...
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Design It Shelter Competition: The Winners
Earlier this year, we teamed up with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to launch the Design It: Shelter Competition. People all over the world were invited to use Google SketchUp to design small buildings and submit them for consideration. We received over 600 entries from 68 countries - the level of participation was astounding. You can check out all the entries on the Guggenheim website. Two prizes were offered: the People's Prize and the Juried Prize. To determine the winner of the People's Prize, students from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture winnowed down the entries to a list of ten finalists. Keep reading...
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SketchUp Pro in construction - video case study
The development of virtual construction models is a great way to communicate more effectively, resolve issues before they happen, and save time, resources, and money on construction projects. Our friends at Mortenson Construction have helped us with this video case study that shows how, using Google SketchUp Pro, they were able to develop virtual construction models that helped them communicate more effectively and become more innovative builders. Watch video...
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New book: Google SketchUp for Site Design
Our friend Daniel Tal's new book about SketchUp is getting terrific reviews, and we couldn't be prouder of him. Google SketchUp for Site Design: A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture is a rollicking thrill ride of 1970's murder and intrigue on the high seas. Think it's not? You'll have to get a copy to see. Truthfully, this book covers SketchUp topics that no one's even come close to explaining in previous volumes: terrain modeling with the Sandbox tools, techniques for working with huge models, how to wrestle CAD files and using Ruby scripts, just to name a few. Keep reading...
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Featured 3D Warehouse Product: KraftMaid by Masco
Many products have an aesthetic value on their own, but only really come to life when you see them placed in context. The folks over at KraftMaid Cabinetry have done an extraordinary job of not only uploading individual cabinets into the Google 3D Warehouse, but also providing complete kitchen designs meant to inspire designers. KraftMaid's models are Dynamic Components, meaning they're extra-easy to use: Each component is configurable by means of SketchUp's Component Options dialog box. Keep reading...
Introducing a new Help Forum
As you may know, we've recently launched the Google SketchUp Help Forum alongside the launch of Google SketchUp 7.1. While our previous Help Group was a great resource for answering your questions - helping you find answers, and sharing your expertise with other users - it's our hope that the new forum will be all of that and more. We've developed many new and exciting features which we think will make it easier and quicker for you to find the answers that you're looking for and chat with others in the SketchUp community. Keep reading...
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Document this!
Scanning the Internet over the weekend, I came across a great LayOut 2.1 blog post by a friend of the SketchUp team, Eric Schimelpfenig. Eric is a kitchen designer and the author of Sketch This!, a blog dedicated to helping design professionals use Google SketchUp Pro and LayOut for kitchen design. If you have SketchUp Pro installed, you can download his LayOut file to check it out for yourself. Keep reading...
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Let's talk SketchUp ideas
As some of you've seen, we recently launched a Product Ideas series for Google SketchUp and Google SketchUp Pro. If you aren't familiar with Product Ideas, then you'll definitely want to check it out. You can post thoughts on how to make SketchUp better as well as vote on suggestions from other users. The more you vote, the better we can tell which new features are important to you. In the past three weeks, we've seen some amazing responses. SketchUp users from around the world submitted over 300 ideas to our series. Keep reading...
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