Spatial analysis is not my strong suit, but I am grateful for my experience
with SketchUp. The challenge of building a house was a simple task that was a great introduction to the digital spatial analysis in the digital humanities field. I had issues with the dimensions and visual maneuvers, but the experience was meaningful and got me out of my academic comfort zone, something Carleton prides itself on. My first main issue was that I had a hard time getting the dimensions correct to make the house look even on the roof. I could not get the dimensions correct on either side of the roof to make the proper apex.
My next hurdle was dealing with the angle visualizations of the house. Doing this project on a Mac computer without a mouse made it difficult to maneuver the different visual angles of the house. For instance, I had to start over on a project because I accidentally micro-zoomed into the house and I did not know how to zoom back out. I can imagine how my issues with getting the correction dimensions on my roof link to my issues with the camera angles.
I made compromises with these three main issues, but it took me several
attempts to make sure I would be happy with my house. Regarding the roof
dimension issue, I made the roofs 2-D instead of 3-D so I could manipulate them easier. The camera angle issue just took practice to master which angle I need at that time. Trial and error methods were my process for a solution, and it worked out for me.
SketchUp can be very useful for humanistic tools in areas of research and
teaching. In a classics field, I can imagine a SketchUp program to display the spatial models of infrastructure and terrain in ancient Greek society. This could help researchers and students picture ancient Greek society in a way that lifts 2-D descriptions to livelier 3-D models.
My tip for the SketchUp is simple, patience. It takes patience to master
this useful program. If you need to work your spatial analysis skills as I do,
SketchUp is a great place to start. Along the same thought as patience, new
users need to allow themselves to be frustrated and channel that frustration into further exploration of the program.
Kwaku – Great reminder on staying calm and patient as a new SketchUp user! I also became very frustrated while creating this project, as SketchUp did not always create objects in the way that I had envisioned; nice to hear that others had similar experiences.
Kwaku, love your can do attitude! Your sage advice that “new users need to allow themselves to be frustrated and channel that frustration into further exploration of the program” is spot on for SketchUp and will also apply to many other tools we tackle this term.