Trimble Archives | Page 3 of 7 | SketchUp for Design

AI Rendering with SketchUp Diffusion – First Impressions

December 13, 2023February 23, 2024 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

In this video tutorial I give a first glance overview of the new SketchUp Diffusion tool. Throughout, I am combining a basic how-to tutorial for SketchUp Diffusion with my various thoughts on the tool (given several different use case scenarios) and the general usability of AI for visualization and ideation. While it is indeed still early days for this technology, it is already quite impressive what it can do. Good looking first renderings can be done quickly, even from minimal geometry. However, there are some caveats and I am very curious how the next iterations of this and similar tools will impact the AEC industry. Tutorial Video https://youtu.be/CIzSw98WBaw Examples You can see some of my example images below. Original model views (as submitted) are on the left and the SketchUp Diffusion AI results are on the right. The respective prompt is in the image caption. Prompt: "A rendering of campus buildings at sunset" Prompt: "An exterior entrance to a campus dining hall" Prompt: "A bench sculpture in a...

SketchUp 2023.1 is out!

September 13, 2023February 24, 2024 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, 2022February 23, 2024 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

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. Tutorial Video https://youtu.be/pOpmThy1KA8 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, 2022February 23, 2024 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

In this video 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. Tutorial Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciocDOO_ags Have you tried Trimble’s Creator yet? Let me know below in the comments what you think about it....