Trimble Archives | SketchUp for Design

SketchUp 2023.1 is out!

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

As you may have seen on social media or the SketchUp Blog, this year's version of the desktop (Pro) version just got an update (2023.1). Here's what's new and noteworthy from my perspective: New icons. Given the use of new icons in the web and the iPad apps, this was definitely coming, so it should not be a surprise for anyone. While the old icons had a great run, this visual refresh was overdue. TIP: If you feel nostalgic for the old icons and want to keep them around (e.g. for a future craft project), go to the C:\Program Files\SketchUp\SketchUp 2023\Images folder and save all of the svg files somewhere before upgrading SketchUp to the latest version. Snaps. This is a very interesting feature because it allows you to set up snaps on objects (groups or components). Those then allow you to join those groups in an aligned fashion in one operation instead of copy-move-rotate placements. One example for where this is helpful...

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

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

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...

Using Imported Files in Trimble Creator

October 28, 2022March 2, 2023 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

https://youtu.be/pOpmThy1KA8 In this tutorial I am demonstrating how you can import geometry that was created in SketchUp (and an image) into Trimble Creator so that we can add parametric behavior to it. I cover the basic import workflow, model cleanup, texturing, and parametric sizing here. Trimble Creator is a tool/service that allows you to create parametric "Live Components" for SketchUp and lets you come up with some cool designs (or product configurators). You can try it for yourself at creator.trimble.com. If you like, you can modify and download the Live Component that I created in this tutorial here. Have you tried Trimble’s Creator yet? Let me know below in the comments what you think about it. ...

Parametric Highrise Models with Trimble Creator

October 23, 2022October 23, 2022 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciocDOO_ags In this tutorial I create a parametric massing component (as a Live Component) completely from scratch in Trimble Creator. This allows me to cover geometry, parameters, Boolean operations and various user interface details and general processes. Trimble Creator is a tool/service that allows you to create parametric "Live Components" for SketchUp and lets you come up with some cool designs (or product configurators). You can try it for yourself at creator.trimble.com. If you like, you can modify and download the Live Component that I created in this tutorial here. Have you tried Trimble’s Creator yet? Let me know below in the comments what you think about it. ...

Trimble Creator: Introduction to Parametric SketchUp

October 12, 2022October 23, 2022 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joc6ouRTaTg In this tutorial I show how the newly released Trimble Creator works. This tool/service allows you to create parametric "Live Components" for SketchUp and lets you come up with some cool designs (or product configurators). You can try all of this for yourself at https://creator.trimble.com/. If you want to experiment with my models, search for "alexschreyer" there. Also, all of my Trimble Creator videos are contained in this YouTube playlist. Have you tried Trimble's Creator yet? Let me know below in the comments what you think about it. ...