AI Rendering with SketchUp’s Built-In (v. 2026.1) AI Render Tool

AI Rendering with SketchUp’s Built-In (v. 2026.1) AI Render Tool

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
Now that version 2026.1 of SketchUp is rolling out, we are getting a clearer picture of where SketchUp's AI implementation is heading. As you likely know, the SketchUp folks had previously released SketchUp Diffusion, a rendering and visualization solution. At the last Basecamp, they then also teased their AI Assistant, which was implemented as a chatbot that could show help topics, write Ruby code, and do various other things that are implemented within an extensible dialog. As of the latest version, there is now a single toolbar button (yes, it's YAMDB = yet another magic dust button) that brings up the SketchUp AI interface, which now looks like this: There are two tools listed in there: AI Assistant and AI Render (the new iteration of SketchUp Diffusion). In addition, they introduced a credit system for the various AI tools where users get some credits as part of their subscription plans, but can also buy additional ones, as needed. This floating toolbar now...
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Having Some Fun with AI: The Snarky Architecture Critic

Having Some Fun with AI: The Snarky Architecture Critic

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
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 little bit more bite in that critique, you can even give the AI response a specific personality, e.g. the snarky critic in my video below. You can do that via the System Message option in its settings. Just add a line like the one shown in the image below and then that instruction will apply to the entire conversation between you and the AI. As you likely know by now, you can download the OpenAI Explorer SketchUp extension and learn more about how it works here. Got any other fun and/or useful ways to employ this new tool in SketchUp? Let me know in the comments below. Video https://youtu.be/Nv4jzMoY7y4...
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Now You Can Have an AI ‘Copilot’ (Assistant) for Ruby Coding in SketchUp

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

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
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 frequently need to look up code snippets. With the approach presented here, I can use AI to provide such snippets for me instead. This works well with my Ruby Code Editor extension where you can then past, edit, and run that code. But it will also work with the built-in Ruby Console. Tutorial Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwhD5reOkoo Links OpenAI Explorer SketchUp extension Ruby Code Editor extension...
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Adding AI Vision to SketchUp with OpenAI’s gpt-4o Model (Ruby Snippet)

Adding AI Vision to SketchUp with OpenAI’s gpt-4o Model (Ruby Snippet)

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
Response to the prompt: "Is there anything wrong with this building?" Earlier this week, OpenAI released its new gpt-4o model. This model not only improves and updates its current AI models, but it also adds vision ability. As a result, a user can upload images and then the AI can identify things in the image based on a user prompt. There are some great examples of the new capability on OpenAI's website. Since I previously implemented the OpenAI connection with SketchUp using both plain Ruby code and a handy extension, I had to try out whether we can connect the two using these new capabilities, too. One use case for this could then be the ability to ask questions like "What may be missing in my model?" or "Is there a cat in the model?" (Not sure why you would ask the latter but it leads to a correct answer!) As it turns out, giving SketchUp this AI capability is not too hard...
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The Cube – A Fun SketchUp Diffusion AI Experiment

The Cube – A Fun SketchUp Diffusion AI Experiment

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
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...
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