sketchUcation

ThomThom updated his Vertex Tools and made a fully functional  Trial version that anyone can test for 30 days. Note that if you get hooked and  are a Premium Member at SketchUcation, you can get a 20% discount in the SketchUcation Shop.

Vertex Tools is a powerful vertex editor for SketchUp. With it, you can easily manipulate meshes using soft-select methods a handy gizmo, different selection methods etc.

Inglobe Technologies announced today that the new ARmedia 3D Tracker is finally available.

3D Tracking of real world objects is one of the most challenging tasks researchers in Computer Vision and Augmented Reality fields are currently facing and it is also one of the fundamental requirements for high-end applications in industrial sectors like AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and Systems Maintenance.

The International Association of Forensic and Security Metrology is continuing their series of Webinars on Tuesday, July 18, 2013 at 4:00 pm EST with the Webinar: "3D Crime Scene Models with SketchUp 8"

The webinar will be presented by Elissa St. Clair, Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Elissa is currently assigned to the NCIS Office of Forensic Support. Her duties include offering guidance on proper techniques for detection, documentation, collection, and transportation of evidence located at crime scenes.

It seems it's "BIM everywhere" in SketchUp nowadays. A new tool seems to be developed by Ruby Sketch, too. If you watch the video, it indeed looks promising for architects and building professionals.

PlusSpec software delivers tools that support architectural design, estimating, scheduling and product selection in commercial & residential projects. PlusSpec is built to simplify BIM to a way that just about anyone can use and understand. Comprehensive features make PlusSpec an ideal solution for the entire building project team.

Bloom Unit has joined forces with Evermotion to make their stunningly real 3D model libraries available directly in Bloom Unit. Initially to be run as a trial, the Evermotion Libraries will make it even easier to create your photorealistic renderings in SketchUp.

A selection of over 20 volumes (that's over 1,400 models) of the Evermotion Archmodels range are being converted during the following three months for use with Bloom Unit. Until 31st August 2013 we will be enabling all Bloom Unit customers to use this growing library free of charge!

Animatex allows you to animate multiple textured faces in SketchUp by assigning them to any three layers which have their own x,y,z parameters to set speed. Also you can set a global 'FPS' and Animatex now works while transitioning between scene camera animation without lag.

While the plugin is still in active development, we wanted to make sure those who are interested in new, exciting plugins but cannot regularly follow forum topics can get to know this excellent piece as well.

For this weekend’s Sketchfast, stay indoors no matter what the weather. Spend it all designing your ideal AR headset! You have untill Monday May 13th at noon (EST) to enter our 4th Sketchfast competition with $500 of cash prizes! To participate, just upload your entry on sketchfab.com with a sketchfast4 tag.

Augmented reality headsets and glasses are all the rage today, with the Google glasses starting to ship and new players entering the field every week. But what would your ideal AR headset look like? How would you design the ideal AR headset for you? For your life?

Browsing the different SketchUp Help Forums, it seems that SketchUp users nowadays often have the question whether "SketchUp supports Windows 8". Although the answer is not "official" by the SketchUp Team - as you can read in this Help Group post by Patrick: "SketchUp Pro 8 doesn't officially support Windows 8. However, we've been doing extensive tests and we haven't found any significant issues yet...", from my own experience, SketchUp (8 that I have installed here at least) supports Windows 8 (64 bit) perfectly. 

These days we are overwhelmed and spoilt with different parametric modelling tools for SketchUp. One of the pioneers of these plugins is Modelur which has been on the market for years now and seems to keep flourishing.

Modelur offers basic tools for quick and effective urban design. Nothing more, nothing less. Intuitive user interface offers a steep learning curve, especially if you are already familiar with Sketchup.

This latest and most excellent plugin, TopoShaper by Fredo6, generates Terrains from iso-contours, that is, contours which have a constant or quasi-constant altitude. Often, when generating terrain with the Sandbox > From contours tool, it has smaller of bigger faults, the generated terrain is not even and smooth and can look (let's face it) "ugly". TopoShaper generates beautifully even terrains based on quads which will look excellent in any application you may wish to render them.

Please, read the forum topic on how to install and what other requirements are carefully.