Creating a Combined Texture in SketchUp (e.g. for a Cross-Laminated Timber)

Creating a Combined Texture in SketchUp (e.g. for a Cross-Laminated Timber)

In this video tutorial I illustrate a useful technique for cases where you need to combine several texture images into one material in SketchUp. I am using the example of a cross-laminated timber (CLT) here but you can employ this for many other applications. The beauty of using SketchUp for this (instead of Photoshop) is that you can apply textures to correctly-scaled objects (which you first create using SketchUp's modeling tools). Sidebar: What is a CLT? It is a large 8-foot wide structural wooden plate that can span in buildings approximately 25 feet. It is made from lumber strips that are glued in parallel layers, which alternate directions by 90 degrees. Several buildings have been constructed with these, including our Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst. How can you use this technique? Give rendering in SketchUp a try. I cover it in Chapter 5 of my book. Tutorial Video https://youtu.be/CEQU5DhdpZ4 Tutorial Steps This list shows the key steps for this technique. Watch the video for further...
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Just Published: Two New SketchUp Extensions (Random Tools & Scale By Tools)

Just Published: Two New SketchUp Extensions (Random Tools & Scale By Tools)

I just published two new SketchUp extensions that were both based on Ruby code that was either previously posted on this site or in my book, Architectural Design with SketchUp". Random Tools Ever wanted to place large swaths of randomly-arranged grass in SketchUp as shown in the image above? Have you been frustrated by textures that repeat a bit too much on copied wood boards? Do I have an extension for you... Read the announcement Scale By Tools Using the provided tools, you can scale, move or rotate objects based on an image or a mathematical equation. For the equation, you can choose between a trigonometric function or a power function. It is also possible to use image data to push/pull faces or move vertices, which can be useful to create ripples on water or a heightfield topography. Read the announcement...
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Creating Variation in Textures for Rendering (Ruby Snippet)

Creating Variation in Textures for Rendering (Ruby Snippet)

This post follows a theme that I explored in several other of my script examples as well: Copied objects in SketchUp don't appear overly realistic if they represent natural items; their geometry is simply too perfect. This is true for landscape items (trees, shrubs) but also for things like wooden boards (see left side in the image above): On a collection of real boards, the knots would be distributed somewhat randomly, not as shown here. Textures before (left) and after (right) Turns out, we can fix this easily with a few lines of code. Just select textured objects, run the code snippet below, and your textures are randomized enough to look realistic (as can be seen in the right side of the image above). TIP:Want to use this without coding? This script is also in one of the tools of my Random Tools extension. Drag the slider to see the result of this code Let's Explore the Code, Step by Step The following steps reference the...
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Merry Christmas, Joyful Holidays, and a Happy New Year 2020!

Merry Christmas, Joyful Holidays, and a Happy New Year 2020!

  Dear friends and colleagues, I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas, a peaceful and joyous holiday season and a healthy, happy, and successful new year 2020! Cheers, Alex P.S. Once again my card is a SketchUp model, this time with a wood-block print theme. Rendering was again accomplished in Sketchfab. In case you want to play with the original model, here it is: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/xmas2019-5385a758e8ab447bad301f7236c68ce5  ...
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Using Images for Scaling and Geometry Patterns in SketchUp (Ruby Snippet)

Using Images for Scaling and Geometry Patterns in SketchUp (Ruby Snippet)

See which image I used to scale these blocks? This post was actually inspired by a question in my 3D Basecamp presentation: Could we use images to create or modify geometry in SketchUp? As it turns out, this is actually quite easy since SketchUp version 2018. This year's version of SketchUp includes a new class in Ruby, the ImageRep. Contrary to the regular Image class (which you can use to work with images as entities in SketchUp), the ImageRep class goes further and allows you to look at images on a pixel by pixel basis. This is basically what we need to be able to read pixel color values and then use those to create or modify geometry. TIP:Want to use this without coding? This script is also in one of the tools of my Scale By Tools extension. Exploring the Code As you can see in the code snippet below, this is reasonably straightforward once one figures out the basic geometric behavior. The code...
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