KBIS 2010

Well folks KBIS 2010 is over...

What a great show this year.  Chicago is such a great city, other then the fact that it can be brutally cold and windy, its a really nice place to hold a convention.  There is lots to see in the city, whether its great architecture, art, shopping, or most importantly for Chicago, MUSIC!

We all had the privilege of seeing these guys live one night when we were out there. (Check out the triple necked guitar!)

We also had the chance to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  They were incredible!

Let's cut to the chase:  SketchThis, along with Igloo Studios, Kraftmaid, and Paul Anater were all there presenting Sketchup in Kraftmaid's technology booth.

We did presentations all day, every day of the show.  Presentations ranged from Bart's 2020 imrovements, to Mark Johnson's Google Apps, Alex Oliver, Paul and I on Sketchup.  The presentations went great all weekend.  Our little booth was overstuffed most of the time with eager learners.  We were surrounded by celebrities and shiny objects on all sides, so at first we were a little worried that we weren't going to draw much of a crowd.  We started off by giving the best presentations that we could, and then we introduced the cheer.  At the beginning and end of each presentation we got the ever growing crowd to cheer as loudly as they could!  It was epic!  I feel like every person in that show had some pent up energy they needed to release some way, and the cheer seemed to do the trick.  This had a great effect on our attendance, word seemed to spread on the show floor that we were having a great time, and teaching a lot of great stuff.  Soon, we realized that our little corner was filled to the brim, and the celebrities were not doing as well as us!

Even after the presentations, the buzz was positive and great.  Sketchup is pretty new to the kitchen and bath industry.  Kraftmaid has really stepped up and given us some great stuff to design with while using Sketchup, and the fact that they are on the forefront of this new technology really legitimizes it for our industry.

I talked for hours with many different designers from many different fields that were really amazed at what this program could do.  I think a lot of people went home and checked it out.

If you saw us there, post a comment below, we'd love to hear what you thought of everything.  If Sketchup caught your interest, there are a lot of learning opportunities coming up, all of which I will be blogging about soon!

Here is one of the kitchens I used in my presentations.  I built this kitchen step by step, in about 22 minutes to show how easy it is to use Sketchup.  Feel free to explore this model.  If you want to see it in Sketchup, go to www.Sketchup.com and download it, its free, and you'll be able to play around with this model all you want.  Its made with Kraftmaid cabinets!

Layers!

People love choices these days!  Us kitchen designers see that all the time.  With so many choices, how do you show all the options in Sketchup without doing multiple drawings?


Its easy really, you use layers.  Layers are collections of Sketchup geometry.  The beauty of layers is that they can be hidden and shown at anytime.


Basically what this means is that you can show any number of options in a kitchen, whether that be different appliances, cabinets, colors, or walls.  All you have to do is draw each option, and put it on a layer.  To show that option, simply enable that layer, and disable the others.


If you are using groups, which you should be, you can easily put groups on layers, this creating options...  I tell you what, just watch the video!

Move over Sang!

Sketchup can be configured so many different ways. You can add your own plugins, styles, components, and templates to name a few.

One of the most important things to set in Sketchup is your default workspace. When you start Sketchup for the first time, you get a choice of several different templates. Most of the templates are aimed at architects and engineers.

To make life easier for us designers, I have created a custom template that you can download and install into your Sketchup. Why do all the work when I have already done it for you! This template includes the corect drawing units (inches) and some custom styles for your designs.

Check out this video on how my template works:

To download this template for yourself, head on over to the download section of SketchThis.NET

We've gone social!

Even though in terms of technology, the internet is rather young, I think its here to stay! Since the internet became really popular, it has changed so much. I remember when it was a real novelty to see a picture on a website! Nowadays, if there isn't an "App for that" or a video on your site, you just aren't cool. Don't forget about "being social" as well!

It seems that internet users, rather then dealing with "real" social situations, have decided that socializing over the internet is much better. At first, I was a little skeptical of this whole social networking phenomenon. Now that the Whitehouse has a Facebook page, and we are Tweeting to space, I am convinced that social networking is here to stay.

So, throw my hat in and fill out my social networking portfolio with the following social networks!

Twitter - Here you will find our random thoughts and links as they relate to Sketchup (You can also pick up our Twitter feed to the left side of this blog.)

Facebook - You can "Become a fan" of SketchThis here. We try to keep this page very relevant to Sketchthis.

Email - If you are old school, and still using that ancient technology called email, you can sign up for our monthly newsletter.

So there you have it! SketchThis has social skills now!

KBIS!

I am proud to announce that SketchThis.NET has been invited to KBIS this year to present with Igloo Studios and Kraftmaid Cabinetry in their "technology" booth at the show! We will be giving presentations during the show. Stop by and see all of us. This would be great chance to see Sketchup in action live, and get any of your questions answered! As we get closer, I will post more details.

But before the show, you can still get a lot of your Sketchup questions answered right here. In every blog post, I try to offer some tips and insight into using Sketchup in kitchen design. Often when people are faced with the prospect of using a new piece of software it really helps to see what its capable of from start to finish. I find it easier to start with the big picture, to make sure it can do what I want, and then work my way down to the details.

To help folks really see what Sketchup can do for them in kitchen design, I have put together this three minute video montage of a kitchen being designed in Sketchup. After seeing this you will have a really good idea of what Sketchup can do for you! Share it with your friends, and as always, please visit our website to ask any questions you may have.