After quite a long hiatus, I was recently asked by my brother to develop some pilot 3D visuals for a kitchen design job. This was more to exhibit the strengths of visuals with regards to time, level of detail and (most importantly) its ability to sell their kitchens. I started, as usual, with importing the JPG schematics directly into SketchUp and beginning my model.

These were the first direct exports from SketchUp.

To add further depth to these ‘flat’ images, I then used the Worncall Technique to generate these;

And then for the final presentation style, I exported my model to a 3DS format. Which I used to import into 3D Studio Max, assigned materials, lights and added some ‘props’ to liven up the scene. Final renders using VRay and post-render edits using Photoshop.

As always crits and comments are more than welcome. M8 signing out!

Google released the next version of its incredibly popular and 3D modelling software, SketchUp. Its an application that lets you draw 3D models of anything that catches your fancy… objects, furniture, your room, your house, your school or university. Absolutely anything. And ever since it first came in, the most appealing aspect of the software has been the sheer ease with which users could approach, the previously scary world of 3D modelling. Heck, I’ve seen clients from my office come back with quick proposals for their offices and residences!

As always, there is a free version available for download, and the neat professional version. It also comes bundled together with an application called Layout. Layout is more the presentation package, that allows you to compose the generated 3D models’ various views (plans, elevations, sections, etc), add text and various other graphics to generate either “working” or presentation drawings. The new version comes bundled with another application called the Style Builder. Its a unique addition to the SketchUp Pro package that lets you add your own custom ‘styles’ to the way the software renders the 3D model. You can add in an immense amount of linetypes; whether they be charcoal, pens, pencils, markers, literally anything to truly personalize the final output.

Ok! So thats the overall package. The things that have got me pumped to take this one out for a spin are the following:

1. Dynamic Components: Yep! Thats right… For the people who’ve used a CAD application like AutoCAD are familiar with the Dynamic Block that lets you scale, stretch blocks, that intelligently add certain elements to the block, rather than just a literal stretch. For instance, if you dragged a set of stairs vertically, you’d get more steps for the new height. If you pulled a conference table out, you’d get more chairs, even spaced out to accomodate for the new length. You get the picture. Wow! Now, thats possible with SketchUp!

2. Interact Tool: Now with a single click you can ‘interact’ with you model. Discussing options with your client? Click, click, click to go through various colour schemes. Or through varying widths for window openings etc. Nice!

3. 3D Warehouse Search: Now you access the millions of models on the 3D warehouse from right within the component window in SketchUp. Accessing fabulous components couldn’t have been easier.

4. Crossing Lines break a Line: Another small but very neat improvement over the previous versions. Boy the number of times you’d have to go over the models to split faces! The little addition makes the line (and further on, the face) break into segments, when you cross over with another line.

Now these are just the tip of the iceberg. My two cents, from what I’ve seen over the past couple of days mucking around on the application. I haven’t spent much time on the Layout and Style Builder apps to comment, but shall surely get around to that in the future. I leave you with a video of the programmers introducing the new features of Google SketchUp 7.

Related official blurbs at:

The Official SketchUp Blog

The Official Google Blog

I just feel a desperate need to recommend an excellent Google SketchUp tutorial resource site called Go-2-School. A series of beautifully done podcasts, that you could subscribe to using iTunes, or watch online. The videos are in Quicktime format on their website. But you could also watch them on their YouTube channel as well. The tutes are perfect for beginners or advanced users alike. I personally love the way Mike presents the episodes. Its lucid, personable and very effective. And I almost always pick up little pearls that better help me streamline my current workflow.

Have a dekko guys. And while you’re on a resource hunting spree, drop by SketchUcation for tutorials, components and much, much more. If its ruby scripts you’re after, this site has about every thing you could ever want.

Generating quick proposals for architectural or interior projects from contextual photographs have almost always been a very intricate and challenging aspect of the 3D modelling realm. The prevalent tools currently for this are ImageModeller by Realviz and PhotoModeller by Eos Systems. And more often than not the emphasis is on reference point matching and calibrating the camera lens. And this makes it a very tedious and time consuming job.

With Google SketchUp Pro 6 (or even the free version), photomodelling is now so accessible for everyone. I’ve been mucking around with a few tutorials from go-2-school for a while now, and finally got an opportunity to put it to good use at work. This was a proposal for a DFO outlet at Avalon. All I had to work on were a few site photographs and some typical DFO design ‘element’ pictures. Oh to make it more interesting just about an hour too!

The ‘Photo Match’ feature works by first setting up perspective lines (two axes and a base/reference point) to match the photo and the scene. And once that is set up, you can simply start tracing over the base photo (whatever it is, furniture, interior or architectural reference) and create its geometry. Post modelling, the faces can be instantly mapped by ‘projecting’ the photo texture onto the model.

This isn’t an accurate photogrammetric solution, but its just great for what I generally need to do. Give it a whirl guys… And tell me how you went.

… these days. Now that the initial oohs and aahs have set in, I’m now getting some done on the MBP. No dramas at all with the upgrade from Tiger to Leopard. And what an awesome experience, with all the bell & whistles! Now that I’ve got the native OS is all set up, I’m now setting up the Windows part of my workflow. I am a bit skeptical about rebooting to Windows XP using Bootcamp for my CAD & rendering needs. Although I have ArchiCAD on my current mac setup, I’m just way too blown to go through figuring out a whole new BIM application. Google Sketchup is a breeze on the MBP, so thats no problem. Vray for Sketchup is a while away I guess. So it’ll have to be renders on XP with Parallels for me for the moment. Although I’m not too sure whether I’ll have the full roar of the big cat behind me. But anyways Bootcamp would probably have to wait till it becomes absolutely essential.

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