sketchUcation

We spent some time this week liberally applying some love to our YouTube channel. You will find tons of videos that show you how to use some of your favourite plugins. Each video is informative, detailed and easy to follow.

If you haven't already subscribed then there is no better time than now! With weekly uploads planned for the new year we will show you some top tips from expert users that will help you raise skills to the next level.

SketchUcation Community Forums regular Alex Schreyer has just released his brand new book on “Architectural Design with SketchUp - The one-stop guide to SketchUp for architects, designers, builders and other construction professionals”.

"While it is easy to pick up the basic techniques of SketchUp, going beyond these essentials requires in-depth, step-by-step instruction and practice. Architectural Design with SketchUp provides the knowledge needed to move past the basics and take full advantage of SketchUp as a powerful 3D modeling tool.

Limitless Computing Inc.®, a leading provider of 3D mobile Augmented Reality, today announced that a free version of its groundbreaking SightSpace 3D model viewer with Augmented Reality capabilities is now available. Plus, SightSpace 3D and SightSpace Free-D can now be accessed in English, Spanish, French and Chinese.

Unity 4.0 is now available for download. Unity 4, announced in June, will consist of a series of updates designed to improve the product through an extensive improvement of existing tech and the rollout of new features.

Read on for more details on additions and improvements to the engine.

Glare Technologies just announced the release of Indigo Renderer 3.4!

As part of the new update they will be running a 25% to 33% off sale until the 23rd of November.

In the market for a powerful unbiased render engine? Want to render SketchUp Section Planes?

LightUp for SketchUp is a SketchUp plugin that adds realistic, realtime lighting to your sketchup models. Add lights, add windows, and watch your SketchUp scenes glow with gorgeous reflected light, soft shadows, subtle shading. Gone are the flat, boring surfaces of old. When you're ready, you can export your lit model to a compressed file containing your Model, textures and Scenes and share it with others using the free LightUp Player or LightUp Web Player.

Version 2.6h has just been released with new features and bug-fixes.

Shaderlight makes it simple to create amazing images from your SketchUp model, however we all know that sometimes it's useful to get some tips from an expert. Starting next month, the guys at Shaderlight will hosting a series of live online training sessions hosted by their resident rendering guru, Martin Cox.

Register before November 16th you'll pay just $25.

Trimble has acquired the 'assets of Vico Software', a company that offers consulting services and has developed a suite of 5D virtual construction software. The following image explains at a glance what Vico does.

This shows that Trimble is very serious about becoming a big player in the Construction Industry and this can only mean that SketchUp will be further developed with a strong emphasis on AEC.

Spread3D creator Laurent Diaz recently released an update to his popular realtime 3D viewer which allows users to securely share SketchUp models. Spread3D generates a Flash based web page compatible with modern Mac and Windows browsers. Spread3D can also export standalone files which can be opened with Spread3D Player or integrated in PowerPoint.

uFormia's simple, always watertight, 3D modeling mashup tool for meshes, designed for painless and direct 3D printing is now looking for backers on Kickstarter.

Create new objects by remixing any number of meshes and parts of meshes, or combining meshes where, without effort, a creator can be sure that their models are always ready for 3D printing.