20 Reasons for SketchUp artists to consider Blender

[Glenn at home]

Sorry but my impression is that this stage architectural modelling in Blender is a refined torture. The more Blender promos I see , the more I appreciate SU existance (with all its bottle necks).

I really have to agree with this statement in regards to architectural modeling. The archimesh tool set video seemed very cumbersome and laborious. Now for general 3d modeling Blender is a GREAT option. Still loving these videos.

[rv1974]

I thought I'll be the one screaming the king is naked

[chippwalters]

New tutorial on Smoothing meshes in Blender. Compares with how SketchUp does it.

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[chippwalters]

A primary reason for switching from SketchUp to Blender is that SketchUp (in 2018) ***still cannot do bevels!***

Even with Fredo's amazing plugin, it still doesn't work-- and it's not Fredo's fault as he's told me it's about how the engine architecture in SketchUp works. UGH!

Blender does magnificent bevels and the bevel modifier is ***just fabulous!!!*** Watch to see!

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[chippwalters]

HDRI lighting is incredibly easy to do in Blender with the free HDRI Lighting Setup addon. Check it out:

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[chippwalters]

All about how to use materials in your Blender scene. In many ways, Blender is similar to SketchUp with regard to how it handles materials.

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[CarolineJ]

Thanks for the video tutorials, helpful

[chippwalters]

The case for modifiers in SketchUp.

Now that Fredo has teased us with an amazing partial-modifier version of FredoBevel,

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--I'd like to make a case for modifiers in SketchUp. I've been using them for awhile in Blender and they allow one to create amazing geometry fast, PLUS they also allow for design decisions to be made and fine-tuned later, which is always good.

In SketchUp terms, a modifier is something that happens at a group or component level. Adding color to a group or component could be seen as a modifier. You can change a groups color at anytime without regard to the changes in the underlying geometry.

Let's take a look at an example:

Consider this corridor

Here is the geometry without all the reflections (and no handrails either, they were added later-- using modifiers of course...one polyline for all the handrails on the bottom and one polyline for all the handrails on the ceiling.)

Now here's the geometry that created the corridor:

1. Opened ended cube
2. Same cube, just a tad larger as a boolean cutter for the wall
3. Overhead polygon for lighting
4. Rectangle polygon for floor
5. Wall and bottom

Only 12 polygons, and 2 polylines for the handrails!

So, how to get to here from there?
These are the modifiers being used:

1. **SOLIDIFY** This modifier takes polygons and extrudes them making them thicker or thinner. It was used on ALL of the objects above (other than #2, the Boolean Difference) to give them thickness.
2. **BEVEL** This modifier was used on #1 to create the camfers, then again on #1 to add more fillets to the chamfre corners. It was also used on #5 to create the round interior and exterior. Because it was applied *before* the Solidify on #5 both the inside and outside were automatically bevelled.
3. **MIRROR** Selective mirroring and grouping was used on virtually all the objects in order to create symmetrical versions of everything.
4. **ARRAY** The Array modifier was also used to create multiple corridors and stack them together end to end (not shown in picture).

The advantage of doing all of this, is I only need to edit the 5 items shown in Green to adjust the sizes, dimensions and design of this corridor.

While this is an extreme example, it does demonstrate the power of modifiers.

It would be great if SU would add a modifier stack and let plugin developers create modifiers for objects.

[chippwalters]

For those interested in how to model in Blender, I've created some very short tutes on Intagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnnsDb0HODL ... _copy_link

There's also a copy over on ba Tips and Tricks:
https://blenderartists.org/t/big-little-tips/1126276

[pilou]

Personnal BirthDay's Card designed & handcrafted by Syd M itself that is so chic!

This page is a pleasure for the eyes!

[chippwalters]

Personnal BirthDay's Card designed & handcrafted by Syd M itself that is so chic!

This page is a pleasure for the eyes!

Yes, Syd is a special guy. We've known each other over 40 years now and have worked on a number of projects together. He is such an incredible talent and an even nicer guy in person!

[chippwalters]

New video on using the GroupsPro addon to help work on different workplanes.

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[chippwalters]

masterxeon1001 showed me some very interesting ways to create dynamic objects in Blender today and I just had to try it out. Cool beans!

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[Bryan K]

Excellent posts.

[chippwalters]

Quiet lately as I've taken on an interesting plugin project for Blender.

As many of you may know, Blender doesn't really have a component system like SketchUp. That said, Blender's booleans are much more robust and combined with it's modifiers, it can create a pretty solid kitbashing system. In fact, boolean modeling which heretofore has only been seen in NURBS, is possible (with caveats) in Blender.

To that end, I've partnered with some interesting folks and spearheaded a design for a pretty cool kitbashing tool called KIT OPS. KIT OPS could be used to create doors, windows and all sorts of boolean modifier geometry, but right now we're just doing tech INSERTS (KIT OPS INSERTS = SU COMPONENTS).

One particular neat thing about KIT OPS, is it cuts through an entire object. So, if you're inserting a window or door through a wall, it cuts completely through, unlike SketchUp which only cuts through the first surface, requiring you to manually cut the rest. This also results in KIT OPS having a non-destructive workflow, which makes for a tremendous amount of iterative designs.

Anyway, if you're interested, here's a video explaining it. BTW, the renders in the video were done at 15 sec/frame in Blender 2.8 EEVEE at 4K resolution! FWIW, KIT OPS works in 2.79 not 2.8, but once the plugin API is locked down, we'll do the port. This product should be out this week. I'll post here when it's released, just in case anyone is interested.

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[pilou]

A cool one! Bravo!

[chippwalters]

# *KIT OPS finally released!*

Hey everyone, we just released KIT OPS and if you're interested in ***non-destructive, hyperdetailed*** Kitbashing you should check it out at https://kit-ops.com

[rv1974]

What Ops stands for?

[pilou]

A French challenger to make Blender more easy and friendly (if possible)!
This one is not so bad!
Very Speedy indeed! (you can put the speed of vidéo to 2

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[rv1974]

UI. The main Reason for SketchUp artists NOT to consider Blender

[Pixero]

[pilou]

Will become viral!
Who is the author? (Tarantino disappointed ? or...

[pilou]

Effectively, it's a another world!

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[chippwalters]

Sorry but my impression is that this stage architectural modelling in Blender is a refined torture. The more Blender promos I see , the more I appreciate SU existance (with all its bottle necks).

I really have to agree with this statement in regards to architectural modeling. The archimesh tool set video seemed very cumbersome and laborious. Now for general 3d modeling Blender is a GREAT option. Still loving these videos.

UI. The main Reason for SketchUp artists NOT to consider Blender

I'd have to say, with emphasis, I agree. Blender 2.79 had this weird right-button mouse click, strange selection methods and overall ***REQUIRED*** you to learn literally a hundred keystrokes (no kidding!).

B-U-T.... Blender 2.8 is really nothing like 2.79. They added professional UI designers, who went against all the Blender die hards and created a very simple- likable interface, that works how you would expect. Left click selects. You can drag select objects and polys and edges and verts. Even the navigation model (orbit, pan, zoom) is ***EXACTLY*** like SketchUp!

After working with Blender, and modeling in SketchUp, it came to me there's a perfect fit here. Continue to model in SketchUp-- export with textures intact to the new Blender and do crazy fast photoreal renders and animations. I needed to create a course which helped SU users to do ONLY that-- and learn it quickly.

As I said previously, I was **BLOWN AWAY** by the new Blender 2.8 EEVEE renderer where I can do an 8K render in 15 seconds (yes, you read that right, but it will take about 4 minutes to "bake" the lighting-- but you do that ONLY once). 3 minute animations are done, and color toned, with depth of field, light bloom, full reflections and photoreal in a couple hours. And of course it's all free.

Not to mention you can export your models directly from SketchUp to Blender with the textures and mapping intact. And in Blender you can ADD new materials and textures WITHOUT having to go through the tedious process of UV mapping.

And over the years, I've created over 60 free SketchUp tutorials, but I wanted to make sure this **course** would be special. I invited some top 3D artists, including the best here on Sketchucation to help test and give advice. The goal is to give you just what you need to import your models, texture them, light them, render them and animate them.

Take this image for example. On the left is the original photo. On the right the one created in Blender (I also used fSpy to match the camera angle-- I have a FREE tutorial on how to do that at https://gumroad.com/chippwalters ).

So, if you're interested, check the course out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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[Glenn at home]

Hey Chipp, I am starting to play a bit with SU2Blender. I brought in a model I did for a builder many years ago and just hit render to see what I get. I am seeing some "artifacts" in the basic render. Any ideas?
TIA

Glenn

[chippwalters]

Without seeing the .blend file, it's hard to say...

[pilou]

That is some amazing!

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[pilou]

Totally convincing!

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[pilou]

Speed Flow + Companion ready for the 2.80

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[pilou]

For the 2.80 the French Touch!

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