Just Released: Third Edition of “Architectural Design with SketchUp”

Just Released: Third Edition of “Architectural Design with SketchUp”

I am very excited to be announcing the release of the third edition of my book “Architectural Design with SketchUp”! You can as of now find this new edition on Amazon, Wiley and everywhere else where books are sold. It is available as full-color paperback and e-book editions. Since the publication of the second edition in 2015, many changes have happened to SketchUp and in the larger realm of architectural software: Trimble introduced a web version of SketchUp as well as an iPad version that has proven very popular. Real-time rendering options have increased in availability, and point cloud modeling is now often used on renovation projects. Beyond that, many new extensions have been published, others have gone away or have been replaced with built-in functionality, and their underlying Ruby engine has received new and updated capabilities. All of these changes made an update to the second edition necessary, which led to me thoroughly editing and rewriting the entire text. I updated screenshots...
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Random Tools for Rendering in SketchUp (with Enscape)

Random Tools for Rendering in SketchUp (with Enscape)

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. Tutorial Video https://youtu.be/f8QSU63o5zE?list=PL9BB9780934A68B41 Links Random Tools for Rendering in SketchUp (with Enscape) on YouTube Random Tools Extension...
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Just Published: Two New SketchUp Extensions (Random Tools & Scale By Tools)

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

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...
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Intro to Rendering (with Twilight)

Intro to Rendering (with Twilight)

This video tutorial 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. Tutorial Video https://youtu.be/YWPuAkCxJSk...
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Creating Variation in Textures for Rendering (Ruby Snippet)

Creating Variation in Textures for Rendering (Ruby Snippet)

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. Textures before (left) and after (right) 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). TIP: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...
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