This post is adapted from an exercise that appeared in the first edition of Architectural Design with SketchUp (Chapter 5) but that I have since removed from the book. I hope you find it useful.
For this (clearly non-architectural) example, let's assume you want to preview a T-shirt design that you created in SketchUp using an image of a T-shirt model. This example uses SketchUp's styles and especially the watermarking feature and can be adapted for many other (non-clothing) uses, too. It even works with the web version of the program. So, without further ado, here are the steps you can take to create and preview a T-shirt design in SketchUp:
Let’s start with a simple SketchUp model—a sphere within a rectangular box. Of course, you may pick whatever design you like. Let’s just assume that we wanted to make a sketchy-looking T-shirt with this design, and that we needed to preview how it will look.
The original design idea
Open the Styles panel...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHuqTEaOtI0
In this tutorial I use the example of a large wind turbine array to show how useful my Random Tools extension for SketchUp can be in making things look more realistic - by rotating turbine blades in this case.
Steps
The three main steps to prepare a component for use with SketchUp's Random Tools extension are also illustrated below. For this example it is best to use a component, not a group. As I show in the video, grouping the rotor blades will not allow the extension to properly place its center at the rotation axis. Therefore, start by selecting the rotor blades and the axle and using the "Make Component" tool. In the Make Component tool, we then need to place its axis at the center of rotation. Click the "Set Component Axis" button and then place the axis as shown below. Now you can use the "Randomize Objects" tool from the Random Tools extension to rotate the blades...
https://youtu.be/f8QSU63o5zE?list=PL9BB9780934A68B41
This video tutorial shows how the Random Tools SketchUp Extension makes it easy to improve renderings, especially when vegetation is involved. I am showing how the tools work in the context of the real-time Enscape rendering software, however the principles apply to any renderer.
With this extension, you can place objects randomly, rearrange them randomly (including size, position, and rotation). and adjust their textures randomly.
Links
Random Tools for Rendering in SketchUp (with Enscape) on YouTubeRandom Tools Extension
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https://youtu.be/YWPuAkCxJSk
This video covers several basic workflows that are common to all rendering software (materials, lighting, environment) using the excellent Twilight rendering software as an example. Use it as an introduction to rendering in SketchUp and feel free to explore the many options that are available to you these days.
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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.
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).
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 code snippet shown below. Select...
