Shaderlight: Now available on fruity computers!

Shaderlight: Its a rendering plugin for Sketchup that's fast like a cheetah with a jetpack, and about as easy to use as a can opener. Don't let its simple toolset lead you to believe this is a toy, this renderer is a serious piece of kit.  Its been out for the PC since last year, and its now coming to the Mac on March 1st.  Head over to www.Shaderlight.com to reserve your copy! I've had a chance to see it in action and it offers the same great renders that you get on the PC.  My seat-of-the-pants speed tests indicate that it renders even faster on the Mac.  Read on to hear about my experience with Shaderlight...

In the past if you remember I have been anti rendering for a variety of reasons that I laid out in this article I published.  There are no shortage of rendering plugins for Sketchup.  I have tried out many of them. Some can produce phenomenal results, but I have always found the learning curve to be way to steep, and the render times to long to make it worth it.

At Google's 3D Basecamp I had the pleasure of meeting some of the team from Shaderlight.  These folks are no strangers rendering.  They were there to unveil their version 1.0 rendering technology for Sketchup. I met them in the lobby and got to talking to them about rendering.  As you know I was a skeptic but still curious.  Martin showed me some rather impressive renders with some rather speedy render times.  He also showed me how easy it was to use.  I still wasn't convinced because he was using all stuff from his hard drive.  I issued a challenge:  Render one of my drawings and see how it comes out.  He accepted, and I loaded a drawing onto his laptop right there.  How you may ask?  Its a Google gathering, of course I had my flash drive with me!

He loaded my kitchen in, set up a few materials, put in a light and fired up the rendering engine.  Within minutes I started to see my kitchen come to life!  I was hooked.  Since then, I have totally changed my view on rendering.  I have turned into quite the rendering geek.  Check out some of these renders that I have done:

If you can use Sketchup, you can use Shaderlight with a very short learning curve.  The renderings are really impressive, and happen quickly.  On March first, it will also be available for the Mac.

I suggest you head on over to www.Shaderlight.com and download a trial today!  Its free to try, and cheap to own and I highly recommend it!

(I'd also like to thank the team for featuring my renderings on their home page!)

3DConnexion SpaceExplorer

There isn't a lot of hardware out there for 3D programs.  Really it comes down to having a good wheel mouse, keyboard, and a few monitors.  A few years ago I heard about a device called a 3D mouse.  My geek sense kicked into high gear and I started searching around for one.  I stumbled upon the 3D Connexion Space Navigator.  This amazing little device allowed me to "grab onto" my 3D models and work with them almost as if I was holding them.  Recently, the folks over at 3D Connexion were kind enough to send over a SpaceExplorer for me to try out.  Read on to find out how I liked it:

The 3D Connexion line of 3D mice all have one thing in common: the "cap" in the middle.  This cap is what you grab onto to move about in 3D space.  You can move the cap in six directions.  This allows incredibly fluid and intuitive control of where you are in 3D.  Within minutes of using this thing you will be flying around your models just like Superman, no phone booth or cape needed.

After using it for a while, you will notice that you hardly need to pick your hand up off of it when you are modeling.  Your motion throughout your model is so much smoother.  The way this thing gets you around really allows you to access places and get views that would normally be far more challenging.  If you've ever modeled in the interior of something in Sketchup, you know that when something gets in front of your view, it's frustrating to get away from it.  Usually you have to bail and do "Zoom Extents".  Not with this gadget!

Check out this video I made of me using it:

The 3D Connexion mice also offer fine grained tuning of just about every function imaginable.  From motion speed, to macros, you can control it all.  It even automatically switches presets for each application you are in.  For those of you that don't think glowing blue lights are cool, you can even turn that off. (Lets be honest, you aren't going to do that, are you?)

I love this thing.  It has made me faster and more efficient.  It's also an excellent presentation tool because it allows you to make presentations less "herky jerky" and more smooth and immersive.  Just don't try to re-create the Star Wars trench run scene unless your viewers have strong stomachs!

Plugin Review: Fredo6 Round Corners

Ahh, laziness, slacking off, and procrastination...  You wouldn't think these words would be associated with the innovators and "movers and shakers" of our world, but I disagree.

Without the aforementioned qualities how would we have gotten the Moo Mixer, the Segway, the spaghetti twirler, or the great Nugget Cup?

Well, there's another innovator in the Sketchup world: Fredo6, he is a regular poster and plugin creator who is on the SketchuCation forums.  He is the creator of several brilliant Sketchup plugins.  Ones that are even more useful then the "Moo Mixer".  One that I use on almost a daily basis is called "Round Corners".  In Sketchup, its rather difficult and time consuming to make rounded corners on things.  Using his plugin makes doing this easy, and fast.  Read on to see a video of the plugin in action!

I have talked about plugins before for Sketchup.  Google's open API for Sketchup makes it easy for creators to write these plugins.  Just like Apps can make your smartphone do amazing things, plugins can make you even more fast and productive with Sketchup.

Check out this link on SketchUCation to get this plugin, and instructions on how to install it.  Its free of charge, so go check it out!

I'd be remissed if I also didn't mention the "Hawaii Chair" in my sarcastic list of inventions!

3DVia on the iPad

As a recent new owner of an iPad, I have been discovering so many new apps that are useful in my daily life at work.  I am a former iPhone owner, so I am no stranger to iOS, or the App store.

I had no idea that the larger form factor of the iPhone would make such a huge difference in the "app experience"

I have been looking for a way to put Sketchup models on the iPad in 3D, so I can present them to clients without having to drag out the laptop.

There is a company called 3Dvia.  They have a 3D iPad browser that can do just that.  They also have an online 3D repository that their 200,000 members can upload 3D models from a variety of 3D design softwares.

All of these models can be browsed with just a few touches right on your iPhone or iPad, check out the video below:

So now I can take all of my 3D models with me on my iPad!  I use this to show clients current projects, and as a portfolio for my previous work.  Head on over to 3Dvia and check out their mobile apps, pretty cool stuff!

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, how much is a 3D model worth?

Sketchup goes "Minority Report" with Multitouch

If you've been a Sketchup user for any length of time at all, you'll know that you NEED to have a mouse with a wheel to navigate a Sketchup model.  Check out this older, but completely relevant video that Google has done on the subject.

When I am out on the road, I always have my MacBook Pro with me.  I use this for modeling in Sketchup on the go.  I always bring with me a three button mouse.  This can sometimes be a pain if I am in a place where there isn't adequate room for a mouse.  Sometimes I simply forget the mouse.  Its really time consuming to model without it though.  With the wheel mouse you can orbit, pan, and zoom while you are in the middle of a drawing operation.  This is essential to fast modeling.  If you don't have a wheel mouse, you have to stop every time you want to orbit, pan or zoom and click a command from the toolbar if you are using the trackpad.

Well just the other day I discovered that there is a better, multitouch way.  Its not as slick as this types of gestures you'd find on an iPad, but it certainly makes modeling faster.  Check out this video I did demonstrating the process.  Note that this method works only for MacBooks.

I am so happy I discovered this method.  Try it out for yourself, you can pretend that you are ">Tom Cruise from "Minority Report"