Tutorials about using SketchUp extensions: New extensions, applied workflows, tips and tricks, etc. Learn more about this topic in Chapter 4 of my book
Did you see my 2015 Christmas card tree image on this site? In case you were wondering how I modeled and rendered it, here is a video that explains that process. It's a bit of a minimalistic design, but as you can see in the video, I used a bunch of SketchUp extensions and the Twilight Renderer to make it happen. I hope you find the tips and tricks useful for your own projects.
Covered topics: studio setup, materials, Erode extension, components, scale tool, Fredoscale extension, Selection Toys extension, Profile Builder extension, Twilight extension, Twilight materials, Twilight lights, Twilight rendering options.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBhhXavm48&feature=youtu.be...
So now that you have upgraded to SketchUp 2013 you should be facing the question: What to do with SketchUp's plugins in this release. After all, when you started the new software for the first time, it likely only had the default plugins installed that Trimble released with it. But there was also a new toolbar button for the Extension Warehouse! At this time, you have a few options. Let's look at them:
A) You are upgrading and you had plugins installed in the earlier version
With the new Extension Warehouse and the SketchUcation Plugin Store now available, which both include one-click install and easy updating, it makes most sense to get plugins that are hosted in these places through the respective installers. So even if you had installed specific plugins in a previous version of SketchUp, I would recommend to go to these tools first to find them (instead of simply copying the Plugins folder). So here's my suggested order of...
The folks over at SketchUcation recently released a plugin that allows you to a) browse their extensive collection of plugins and b) directly install them. Very nifty! The image above shows the search function (you can also browse by author or category) and the image below shows the install button.
Go ahead and try it out:
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=467479#p467479...
I just posted a quick description of Sketchfab's new interactive WebGL material editor on my personal blog. You can find the post here:
http://www.alexschreyer.net/cad/improve-your-webgl-models-on-sketchfab-with-the-new-material-editor/
Even if you don't use Sketchfab to publish your 3D models, it is actually quite useful to just upload a generic model and experiment with the material editor's parameters. These are the same parameters that come up when you work in a rendering software's material editor. Using Sketchfab's editor, you can interactively change them and see what happens....
You likely have seen the effect before: An image like the one above shows some shapes that look like vases. After a little while, however, you notice that the curved shapes that define the vases are actually faces - or more specific: the negative silhouette of the faces.
As it turns out, this can easily be accomplished in SketchUp. Turning these shapes into real objects is also pretty simple these days as long as you have access to a 3D printer, a CNC lathe or can browse the web, where you can order 3D printed objects from any of the vendors that I list on this page.
Follow these steps to turn yourself (or a loved one) into a vase:
1. Take a good silhouette picture. Then import it into SketchUp. For this first step, we will be using a technique similar to the one that I employed for the tree cutout component in Chapter 5.
2. On the exploded picture, trace the...
