Sketchup 8 M1 Released!

Google is releasing an update to Sketchup 8 today.  They've creatively named it "Sketchup 8 M1"

I would't be doing my due diligence as a blogger if I didn't tell you about this update.  With every update Google pushes out for Sketchup, there are are always lots of little fixes.  Things that you may not even realized they fixed have been fixed.

This update includes a big one however... the shadow bug has been fixed!

For those of you that aren't aware, the shadow bug can cause your models to sometimes look like this if you have shadows turned on:

Basically what happens is sometimes when you are "inside" a shadow you can see this effect that make your shadows look "shattered".

This bug has been around since Sketchup version 1.1 and its wonderful to see it finally fixed!

Google put together this great little video to show you the difference.

The best part about this is that its a free upgrade!  To get it, go the following menus in Sketchup.

Windows: Choose Help > Check for Update
Mac: Choose SketchUp > Check Web for Update

I'd like to also thank the SketchThis.NET art department for taking the time to edit the Sketchup 8 logo.

UPDATE:  You can see the full release notes here.

Apps for Sketchup? Steve Jobs is not amused

Sketchup is as useful in the 3D world as a Swiss Army knife, but sometimes it just doesn't do exactly what you want it to do.

Just like you can put an app on your smartphone, you can add a plugin for Sketchup.  There is a great developer community out there, and just like the smartphone apps, a lot of the Sketchup plugins are free.

Plugins solve problems.  One problem that I have is that clients always love to change colors.  When you've got a Sketchup model full of materials it can be time consuming to swap them all out.

Thanks to a plugin by Thomas Thomassen I can now do this with just a couple of clicks.  Check out the video of his "Material Replacer" plugin below:

This fabulous plugin can be had for free by downloading it right here.  Thomas, or "ThomThom" on the forums works for cookies.  So please, if you like this plugin send him a cookie.

Shaderlight Contest

So if you've followed my Twitter, or my Facebook page you may have heard of me talking a little about Shaderlight, a rendering software for Sketchup.

Well, I have been having a great time using it, and have been producing some great results.

Shaderlight is having a rendering contest which ends January 5th.  They want you to create the best looking "winter wonderland" with it.

I have created these two images:

So perhaps after you've stayed up all night on December 31st drafting your new years resolution you can try out Shaderlight.  It's free to try and cheap to own.  The learning curve is short too!

Design Within Reach

The other day I had to do a quick office design in Sketchup.  Its not the most exciting design, but I had to put it together to decide where blocking and electrical were going to go.  After I put the design together, I realized that with the wood floors, and the spartan walls the office would probably have a significant echo to it.  I decided to quell potential echo, I could put some interesting looking carpet on the wall, and on the floor.

You could fairly easily make your own carpet in Sketchup, either using built in textures, or your nearest digital camera to create a new one.  But what's easier then just typing in "Carpet" into your 3D warehouse search and downloading one?

Oh, and don't worry, I was thinking a cool looking carpet, not some crazy shag carpet like this one:

Below is the carpet I selected.  I was able to find this in Sketchup, right in the 3D Warehouse.  Design Within Reach has a lot of carpets on the 3D warehouse already.  Its easy to browse through them, select the one you want based on size and pattern, and then place it right in your model.  The nice part is that these models are made properly, so they automatically "stick" to the floor so that you don't have to mess about with rotating them and placing them in place.

So in a few clicks, I was able to find my carpet.  Not only did I find one, this one actually exists.  The model is the correct dimensions so I can see if it fits.  If my customer wants to purchase this carpet because they saw it in my design, I can simply right click on it, and browse its options to see a link to the products website. This particular model actually has pricing right in it!

So there you go, just another reason that Sketchup can not only save you time on the design end, but also on your research as well.  

The greatest plugin I never new I needed!

As you may already know, I draw a lot of kitchens in Sketchup.  But that's not all I draw, I sub contract myself out to a lot of different professions.  Recently, I have been converting 2D house plans into 3D models.

If you've ever drawn an exterior of a house in 3D, you probably already know that one of the most difficult parts to draw is the roof.

Sketchup's rich and open API allow the open source community to create just about any plugin they want for Sketchup.  With this, you get some great plugins, and some not so great ones.  The other day, I came across one of the best plugins I have ever seen for Sketchup.

Its called "Instant Roof" by Vali Architects in Hawaii.  This jaw droopingly awesome caused me to curse out load when I first tried it.  To quote myself after I first used it:

"Holy ****!  That is ******* *** **** amazing!"

Now, before you start think I was rated R, it was a "for tv edit" outburst, see this example:

Now, for the serious stuff.  If you are drawing roofs on houses, then you NEED to get this plugin.  I'll let the creator explain it to you better then I can:

This plugin is immensely useful.  It is so well written.  I highly recommend that you go download it today.  There is a free version, and a pro version.  This is going save me loads of work.  If you draw houses for a living, this is sure to be one of the best tools you'll add to Sketchup.