Point Cloud Modeling in SketchUp with Scan Essentials – a Thorough Introduction

Point Cloud Modeling in SketchUp with Scan Essentials – a Thorough Introduction

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
Although I had recorded some introductory videos about point cloud modeling with Scan Essentials in SketchUp that are included at the end of this playlist, those didn't go into sufficient detail on a bunch of the features. Based on my presentation "From Points to Polygons" at the recent 2024 3D Basecamp, I decided to rectify that shortcoming and produce a set of videos that introduce Trimble's Scan Essentials extension and present various workflows that can be used with this tool. Those videos are included below and in the aforementioned playlist. As I mention in the videos, you can download a sample point cloud from this site if you want to try this out for yourself. Let me know in the comments if this is helpful for you and if there are any other topics that you would like covered. What are Point Clouds? Point clouds are created using either laser/LIDAR scanners like Trimble's X9 or photogrammetry. If you use a laser scanner, then you...
Read More
Never miss SketchUp News, Videos, and Articles with this Extension and (New!) Web App

Never miss SketchUp News, Videos, and Articles with this Extension and (New!) Web App

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
I recently refreshed my SketchUp News extension. You can now stay on top of SketchUp News (from blogs, videos, forum discussions, and social media) in three ways: As before, with the SketchUp extension (download from the Extension Warehouse or here). On this website on the SketchUp News Viewer page. As an installed (Progressive) Web App. You can install it on your computer or phone/tablet with the instructions on the bottom of the SketchUp News Viewer page. This news dashboard updates every hour and features many of the sources that you are all following already - albeit in a convenient format and in a single place. Video https://youtu.be/Lwri-QGoRMw...
Read More
Printing To-Scale in SketchUp (My 2024 Update)

Printing To-Scale in SketchUp (My 2024 Update)

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
In this tutorial video I describe various ways how you can print scaled, parallel-projection views from SketchUp for Web as well as SketchUp Pro/Desktop (where I will be using the LayOut software). I cover all the relevant aspects and then show how you can use the PDF file format as an intermediate print file format. This video is an update to my older one on this topic. Since that video was posted, SketchUp for Web has been introduced and printing in SketchUp Pro/Desktop has changed. Hence the need for an update. As I describe in Chapter 6 of my book, printing to scale is very useful for a variety of fabrication tasks, including paper-folding or sheet metal fabrication. You can even combine this very well with my Unwrap and Flatten Faces extension. Tutorial Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPzmSw_tlg...
Read More
Save a SketchUp File as an Older Version (Ruby Snippet)

Save a SketchUp File as an Older Version (Ruby Snippet)

by Alex Schreyer9 Comments
With the recent introduction of SketchUp 2024 came one change in functionality that has the community talking here and here. In 2023, when you went to the File > Save As... dialog, you had all of the SketchUp versions available all the way back to version 3 (Why not version 2? That's when I got into SketchUp!) as a file format option (see image below). With 2024, this has now gone away and files can "only" be saved in the version-less SketchUp file format that was introduced with SketchUp 2022. SketchUp Desktop 2023 SketchUp Desktop 2024 In principle, the version-less format (which, by the way, has with the 2024 version also been introduced for LayOut) is a very convenient thing: You can open a newer file in an older version (albeit with a warning that some functionality may be lost). That makes working in computer labs (which are notoriously slow to update) and other environments much easier. It is also VERY MUCH better...
Read More
SketchUp 2024 is Out!

SketchUp 2024 is Out!

by Alex SchreyerNo Comments
A New Graphics Engine, Ambient Occlusion, Improved Trimble Connect Integration, Modeling and File Format Improvements, and Better Error Handling What's New in SketchUp? Introducing a cleaner UI, and Teddy! As of yesterday, the latest version of SketchUp (2024) is available. And as it turns out, this one has several nice & visible new features and others that are more "under the hood". On the first impression side (see image above) there is a cleaner UI: Look at the panels in the default tray and their headings and you can see how the flat graphics now look much cleaner and modern (and more consistent with the web and iPad versions). Now if we could only also have dark mode... There is also a new scale figure, Teddy! Hi There! New Graphics Engine & Ambient Occlusion SketchUp's new graphics engine The new graphics engine is one of these features that - I am guessing - takes a lot of work to implement and then when everything goes right, things...
Read More