Alex' collection of SketchUp tutorials and news posts that talk about all SketchUp topics: modeling, rendering, scripting, extensions, fabrication, etc. The five most recent tutorials and news posts are listed below. You can find everything else in the topic category archives:
News Blog,
SketchUp Tutorials,
3D Modeling,
Extensions,
Making,
Rendering,
Scripting,
SketchUp Basics
AI can create a box from a text prompt and even show a completion message
Just like everyone else these days I have been trying out OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing (which now also uses the same AI engine). One of my lines of exploration (beyond "what does this thing know about me?") was the question whether it can auto-generate SketchUp Ruby code. And - as it turns out - it can do that. Albeit with some caveats.
As a start, you can go to ChatGPT and (after signing up) ask a reasonably specific question like "Which Ruby code would draw a box in SketchUp?". That would spit out somewhat appropriate code that you can just paste into e.g. the Ruby Code Editor. Apparently the SketchUp API is part of its knowledge base and generating SketchUp-specific Ruby code is thus well within its grasp. You could even refine the query with a comment like "Isn't there a simpler way to do this?"...
The Trimble folks have just released the 2023 version of SketchUp. As always, you can learn more about new and improved functionality in their blog posts and the YouTube channel.
I am quite excited about the new Revit importer (see image above for an example) because it allows for improved coordination and rendering workflows with Revit. It loads and converts models reasonably fast and even inserts various plan sections. Now if we could also have a way to easily export from SketchUp to Revit that includes creating native system families (walls, floors,...) where appropriate. IFC only goes so far...
Another great new tool is the Flip functionality, which lets you mirror objects in any orientation. This was of course already possible with extensions and via the "-1" scale-factor trick, but it is now implemented in a more comfortable way that also makes this functionality usable on the iPad and web versions.
This version also includes some future-focused core program improvements like a new...
You can interact with the 3D model here.
To my readers, friends and colleagues:
I wish you and your loved ones a peaceful and joyous holiday season, a Merry Christmas (to those that celebrate it), and a healthy, happy, and successful new year 2023! A little bit more peace on earth would also go a long way!
Cheers,Alex
P.S.: As usual, I modeled everything in SketchUp. This is indeed my (messy) handwriting that I captured on an iPad, then vectorized it, and then pulled into SketchUp via DXF. Want to see how I did this? I'll post a video soon to sketchupfordesign.com and my YouTube channel.
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https://youtu.be/pOpmThy1KA8
In this tutorial I am demonstrating how you can import geometry that was created in SketchUp (and an image) into Trimble Creator so that we can add parametric behavior to it. I cover the basic import workflow, model cleanup, texturing, and parametric sizing here.
Trimble Creator is a tool/service that allows you to create parametric "Live Components" for SketchUp and lets you come up with some cool designs (or product configurators). You can try it for yourself at creator.trimble.com. If you like, you can modify and download the Live Component that I created in this tutorial here.
Have you tried Trimble’s Creator yet? Let me know below in the comments what you think about it.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciocDOO_ags
In this tutorial I create a parametric massing component (as a Live Component) completely from scratch in Trimble Creator. This allows me to cover geometry, parameters, Boolean operations and various user interface details and general processes.
Trimble Creator is a tool/service that allows you to create parametric "Live Components" for SketchUp and lets you come up with some cool designs (or product configurators). You can try it for yourself at creator.trimble.com. If you like, you can modify and download the Live Component that I created in this tutorial here.
Have you tried Trimble’s Creator yet? Let me know below in the comments what you think about it.
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