SketchUp for Design

SketchUp for Architectural Design

Create geometry, work with components, use SketchUp's many extensions, or script your design with Ruby.
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SketchUp for Rendering

Create polished visualizations in SketchUp with the rendering software of your choice. Combine materials and beautiful lighting in efficient setups.
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SketchUp for Making Things

Go from digital to physical with SketchUp. Use 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC, and learn to prepare your models for fabrication.
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Tutorials and News

Alex' collection of tutorials and news posts about all SketchUp topics: 3D modeling, design, rendering, extensions/plugins, scripting, fabrication, LayOut, and more.

‘Architectural Design with SketchUp’ Book

The book “Architectural Design with SketchUp” is the most complete reference for anyone using SketchUp. These pages provide updated links, free resources, downloadable SketchUp files, videos, corrections, and more.

SketchUp News Viewer

Keep up with SketchUp news, videos, tutorials, and forum discussions from all over the web right here in one place.

Latest Posts

Having Some Fun with AI: The Snarky Architecture Critic

In case you are in need of an opinionated architectural critique, look no further. You can now employ AI for that! With the recently introduced vision capabilities in OpenAI’s services and therefore my OpenAI Explorer SketchUp extension, you can now ask questions about what is in your SketchUp model. But that’s not all: For a […]

Never miss SketchUp News, Videos, and Articles with this Extension and (New!) Web App

I recently refreshed my SketchUp News extension, making it easier than ever to stay updated with the latest in the SketchUp community. Now, you can access SketchUp news from blogs, videos, forum discussions, and social media in three convenient ways.

News Blog

Now You Can Have an AI ‘Copilot’ (Assistant) for Ruby Coding in SketchUp

In this tutorial I cover one specific use case for my OpenAI Explorer SketchUp extension: A coding ‘copilot’ (assistant) for Ruby code. This is one of several use cases for this extension and it has the potential to at least save you from a ton of web browsing. When I write SketchUp Ruby code, I […]

Random Tutorial Selection

Making a 3D-Printable Patterned Panel (with Scale By Tools)

This tutorial revisits a parametric 3D printable panel that I created a while ago using plain Ruby code. You can explore the original 3D model with the viewer below. Just click the image to start it.

Set Up a Turntable Animation Video in SketchUp with Ruby (Snippet)

Every once in a while it’s very useful to be able to precisely control the view in SketchUp. One of those cases is when you are creating a turntable animation video of an object (like the one shown above). The snippet below allows you to set that up by creating pages with defined view parameters.

Point Clouds in SketchUp – Much Improved!

A few days ago, the Trimble folks announced the release of a new point cloud extension for SketchUp, Trimble Scan Essentials For SketchUp. This came on the heels of their release of version 2020.1 of SketchUp Pro. And if you asked me, being able to easily work with point clouds in SketchUp is absolutely the […]