I am not a destructive person by nature... But the other day I was getting frustrated because I just couldn't get this design I was working on right. I was about to get up from the computer and go do something different when I thought of something that would be a great stress reliever: Destroy my new design right in the computer!

In Sketchup, there is this wonderful physics simulator plugin called "SketchyPhysics". It's now in its third iteration.

SketchyPhysics is based on a video game physics engine. It can simulate a lot of real world variables like gravity, magnetism, buoyancy, and others. It allows you to make things called "Motors" and "Servo's". I'll let YouTube do some talking here. The following is the video I made after installing SketchyPhysics.

This isn't exactly the most useful application for kitchen designers, but it certainly put a smile on my face after working on this design for hours and not really getting anywhere. It took me only a few minutes to setup this scene. First, you flag all the components as something you want to be able to take part in the "Physics" of your model. Next, I made an invisible ramp, and set the giant boulder on top of it. When I click start, the boulder rolls down the ramp, and smashes into the cabinets.

I have also used this plugin to simulate the workings of a hobby CNC machine that I built. If you open that model in Sketchup, and have SketchyPhysics installed, you can move the machine about on all three of its axes. I used this to check for clearance before I built the machine.

Now, to see some real examples of what SketchyPhysics can do, check out these videos:

So, if you ever need to take out some frustrations, simulate a robot, or an assembly line, this plugin can help you out!