Engineering Archives | SketchUp for Design

Getting the Calculations Right for a Perfectly-Balanced Mobile

September 19, 2023September 13, 2023 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

As I discuss in Chapter 6, you can create a mobile in SketchUp and design it in the software so that - when 3D printed or otherwise fabricated - this mobile hangs perfectly in the balance. This process works for all planar designs, independent of how many levels such a mobile may have. Example mobile with highlighted free-body diagram levels Step 1: Break the mobile down into individual Free-Body Diagrams (FBDs) The previous image shows one of my recent students' mobiles. It has a great theme and while it doesn't push this method enough (it is very symmetrical), it helps me explain this step. From a structural perspective, you need to break down the entire mobile into its sub-structures and their respective free-body diagrams (FBDs). You basically need to separate each of its individual levels in this step. The image shows how this looks for my student's mobile. Once broken down this way, you would analyze this mobile from the bottom to the top, following...

Placing Wind Turbines with my Random Tools Extension

September 23, 2020September 22, 2020 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

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...

Just Published: Two New SketchUp Extensions (Random Tools & Scale By Tools)

July 8, 2020July 5, 2020 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

I just published two new SketchUp extensions that were both based on Ruby code that was either previously posted on this site or in my book, Architectural Design with SketchUp". Random Tools Ever wanted to place large swaths of randomly-arranged grass in SketchUp as shown in the image above? Have you been frustrated by textures that repeat a bit too much on copied wood boards? Do I have an extension for you... Read the announcement Scale By Tools Using the provided tools, you can scale, move or rotate objects based on an image or a mathematical equation. For the equation, you can choose between a trigonometric function or a power function. It is also possible to use image data to push/pull faces or move vertices, which can be useful to create ripples on water or a heightfield topography. Read the announcement...

Analyze This! Creating Geometry for Structural Analysis in SketchUp

November 4, 2012June 11, 2020 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

SketchUp is a great software for creating 3D or 2D geometry that can then be imported into analysis software (or used for analysis right in SketchUp). You already saw a few examples for this in my book: One is the building energy analysis setup with the OpenStudio plugin that I describe in chapter 4 in the book. Another one is the lighting analysis that you can do with some rendering software (LightUp is shown as one example in Chapter 5). What I want to go over here is how you can create a structural geometry model in SketchUp that you can then export to a structural analysis application. In my case, I am using VisualAnalysis because I use it for my teaching as well. This software is available for students as a free version and allows for importing DXF models. Of course, you can use the same method with other analysis software packages as well, just make sure you are able...