Since I’ve had a good amount of prior experience with 3D drafting in high school, so this assignment weren’t particularly difficult…Though afterward I did remember why we migrated to a new software. Since SketchUp has a very gentle learning curve, it was a little bit too cumbersome since a lot of the actions can’t be automated ( it’s totally possible that I simply didn’t know the techniques for these! ). Also, I had forgotten a lot of the keyboard shortcut to use the tool, thus switching between pencil and eraser was quite a hassle too.
Regarding SketchUp Web though, this is definitely a step-down from their downloaded version (the one I actually used prior). I couldn’t, for the love of me, figure out how to alter the texture -switching colors, opacity, etc… – which was a bummer since I really enjoyed editing those roofings back in the day. Also, I noticed that the 3D Warehouse is considerably smaller than what it used to be way back when, so that’s a little annoying to work with.
All in all, I thought this was a pretty neat exercise and one that I REALLY enjoyed working on. Though SketchUp is still the good ol pain-in-the-ass that it always was, it was a nice trip down memory lane to when I first started computer drafting. It’s still a handy tool for those without prior CAD experience, and could be used to quickly teach people about this field. I could totally see a complete beginner throwing together a good rendition of their surrounding with a couple days of practice!
Renderings
7 replies on “SketchUp Again!”
It’s really cool what you were able to create with all your experience and the 3d workshop! Since you have experience in other programs like these, what would you recommend for people who are ready to go beyond sketchup?
Beyond Sketchup, there’s a variety of software that’s more powerful when it comes to editting, though Sketchup is probably the best one available for free. Here’s a link to Rhino 6, the software I’m most familiar with!
Kevin, what a wonderful model.
I admit, it made me feel a little mollified to hear you already had some experience with SketchUp and modeling – and also that I wasn’t the only one to struggle with the textures, eg. I thought there would be some way to edit them, like you mentioned. I wanted to use the ‘siding’ texture, for example, but also be able to tint it yellow – but it seems you could only pick one or the other.
I’m also fascinated by your rendering of the fences! How did you make them? Did you draw up rectangles and then just “paint” them with the fence texture? Or did you build all the components directly?
Great work!
Haha I wish I could take credits for those fences! But sadly, the back fences were simply imported from the 3D warehouse (which was why there was only a section of it since adding anymore would crash my file. However, if I were to do it by hand, that’s exactly how I’d have done it. Go in there with the pencil tool to make the 2d outline, extrude, then paint!
Great work on the fences Kevin! Though I was wondering if you’d mind sharing how you were able to change the orientation of the fences after it was retrieved from the warehouse. No matter what I attempted I wasn’t able to figure out how to accomplish it.
Ah. I just used the move and rotate tool (the same one you guys used to make the roof!). The trick is to left click on a corner of the fence and “snap” it to a corner of whatever surface you want to put it on. Afterward, simply use the rotate tool to match the orientation!
Great work Kevin, and I’m especially please to see your helpful responses to your classmates on how to get the software to behave — that’s the collaborative spirit of DH we really want to encourage here.
I agree completely that the web version of SketchUp is a step down. The Edit texture feature is one of many that used to be available in the free version but now require an upgrade. Still, you were able to make a very nice model in the free version — well done!