In this video I am having a bit of fun with the new SketchUp Diffusion tool…
Give this a try: Add only a single cube to your modeling space and then try to create an interesting visualization from that using only the prompts and the styles in SketchUp Diffusion. This is actually a great way to explore prompt engineering. It is interesting how the AI is able to capture the general orientation of the scene from just the cube and the horizon line behind it.
You can find my original forum post about this on the SketchUp forums here. And admittedly I based this on a competition that the Blender community has been doing for a while. Check those out, too.
For more on what you can do with SketchUp and Diffusion, take a look at my initial post about this topic.
Video
https://youtu.be/dQmV58Jlq4c
Examples
Here are some of my own examples:
Prompt: "A treasure in a luxurious space."
Prompt: “A floating, death star spacecraft over a...
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...
In this video tutorial I give a first glance overview of the new SketchUp Diffusion tool. Throughout, I am combining a basic how-to tutorial for SketchUp Diffusion with my various thoughts on the tool (given several different use case scenarios) and the general usability of AI for visualization and ideation.
While it is indeed still early days for this technology, it is already quite impressive what it can do. Good looking first renderings can be done quickly, even from minimal geometry. However, there are some caveats and I am very curious how the next iterations of this and similar tools will impact the AEC industry.
Tutorial Video
https://youtu.be/CIzSw98WBaw
Examples
You can see some of my example images below. Original model views (as submitted) are on the left and the SketchUp Diffusion AI results are on the right. The respective prompt is in the image caption.
Prompt: "A rendering of campus buildings at sunset"
Prompt: "An exterior entrance to a campus dining hall"
Prompt: "A bench sculpture in a...
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:
Tutorial Steps
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...
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.
Tutorial Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHuqTEaOtI0
Tutorial Steps
Time needed: 10 minutes. 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...