Art Archives | SketchUp for Design

Making SketchUp Objects 3D Printable (Video)

November 15, 2023November 15, 2023 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

In this tutorial I show my basic approach for making SketchUp objects (like the revolved vase from my last tutorial) 3D printable. This video just covers only some of the techniques - I explain the process in much more detail in Chapter 6 of my book "Architectural Design with SketchUp." https://youtu.be/UXFUrHTZ-k8 In the video I mention these extensions: ThomThom's Solid Inspector I hope you find this useful and create some cool items. Feel free to post those in the discussion area below. ...

Turn yourself (or a loved one) into a vase (Video)

November 6, 2023November 15, 2023 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

In this video tutorial I show how you can take a portrait of a loved one (or yourself) and - using SketchUp - turn it into a revolved object that you can then use as a vase, cup, candle holder etc. This technique is simple and makes for a great gift (e.g. by 3D printing). As a bonus, I show how you can create a face-morphing shape from two portraits. https://youtu.be/d5y5f965YAs Keen readers of this blog may know that I covered this technique in one of my earliest posts. I had never done a video tutorial on this technique, however, which is now remedied. While the basic technique uses only SketchUp's built-in tools, I also demonstrate some of Fredo6's extensions here: Joint PushPull FredoSpline Curviloft I hope you find this useful and create some cool items. Feel free to post those in the discussion area below. ...

Designing a T-Shirt with SketchUp

October 16, 2023October 16, 2023 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

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...

Patterned Panels from Images and Formulas

October 16, 2022October 16, 2022 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu-8x8Y1dnw In this tutorial I show how you can use my Scale By Tools SketchUp extension to create various designs for patterned panels. We start with sine and power equations and then use images to form intricate screen designs. This video extends what I had covered in an earlier video, included here for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvTROcPETY I hope you are enjoying this tool. Let me know in the comments how you are using it. ...

Designing 3D-Printable Pendants with SketchUp

March 9, 2022March 9, 2022 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2W0bKW8guM In this tutorial I cover several approaches and techniques for creating 3D-printable pendants from SketchUp. This includes designs that need to be hanging in the balance (for pendants, earrings, mobile elements, etc.) as well as those with multiple support points (e.g. for name necklaces). The extensions and websites that I mention in the video are: Shapeways 3D printingFace Centroid and Area Properties ExtensionSolid Inspector extension Did you design anything with this approach? Share it below in the comments. ...