sketchUcation

We have seen how to build the "base" of our dome in this previous tutorial. There we got to the point where we established a so called "hanging dome" by various means of intersecting geometry.

In this current tutorial, we shall add different, further elements that have made great domes of architecture history what they are now although each has its functional role, too.

In this tutorial, we are going to use the very basic SketchUp tools like the Arc, Circle, Selection and PushPull tools only. 

There are a wealth of different dome structures built during history. In this SketchUp tutorial, we shall examine the different steps towards developing a dome with (eventually) pndentives, a drum and a cuplola (in Part #2) as we can see them starting from Ancient and Medieval times up to the Classic revival (or Classicism) of the late 17th to the 19th centuries.

During the process, we'll use quite basic tools to build simple, basic shapes these magnificent structures are built up from.

In this SketchUp tutorial, we shall demonstrate the work-flow on how to model a cross-vault (in this case with semicircular vaults) or "groin vault" in an efficient way, avoiding problems that can occur as well as providing tips for more logical and efficient organization of the model.

Here the Solid tools cannot be used for boolean operation so all these things will be accomplished by the "traditional" Intersect tools, namely the "Intersect selected" operation only (as we are modelling with vault thickness).

In our latest tutorial, we showed how to use boolean operations when having to cut holes into curved surfaces. Back there, it was a simple, rectangular window - and also small enough not to cause problems with its parallel sides in a cylindrical wall.

In this tutorial, we shall demonstrate, how to add larger windows that "respect" the radial nature of a cylindrical wall in SketchUp - i.e. their sides and even the top will have a certain, widening shape. To make it more interesting, we'll add three windows at a time and they are arched.

In SketchUp, components can only automatically cut holes on single faces as demonstrated in this tutorial. Even when it comes for openings to cut holes on both outer and inner faces of a thick wall, we need to use workarounds as described in this tutorial.

Now as components cannot even cut holes in round surfaces, we need to truly intersect our openings into these objects. In this tutorial, we'll show two ways (one for users of the Pro version and one for those of the Free version) how to cut a simple window into a curved (cylindrical) wall.

In SketchUp, there are a few little tips and often "hidden gems" (even bugs or "nicer to say" unfavourable features) that we can exploit to our advantages. This is also the case with different shadow settings, SketchUp's incapability to display png transparency in shadows and a few others.

In this SketchUp tutorial, we are trying to demonstrate a few solutions with the Shadow tools and settings that are not as common as others and show a "fix" for an often misunderstood problem.

In an earlier tutorial this week, we demonstrated how to create a basic window (or in fact any component) that can cut a hole on a face. The drawback of a single component is that it can only cut a hole on a single face and walls for instance modelled with real world thickness, have two faces.

In this tutorial, we demonstrate how to create a component (more exactly a complex component) that can cut the holes on both the outer and inner faces of such a wall.

In this tutorial, we are going to explore how to create a Face-me Component in SketchUp. In other applications, these are often called "billboard" components. Their main feature is that they consist of a single face (although they can be more complex, too) but they always face the camera so we can use them as backdrops in our scenes without having to load high-poly 3D models. Usually they are used in the background however as from closer look, they may not look too convincing and it is often hard to take birds-eye-view shots where they reveal their thin appearance.

In SketchUp, a component (or as a matter of fact, a group too) can be "glued" to a face and also cut an opening on it. This feature allows modellers to quickly place windows, doors etc. on the faces of a building and immediately make a virtual opening on it without having to physically "cut" that hole on the face. These components can be moved on this face without their cutting feature lost.

Unfortunately, a component can only have one gluing (cutting) plane so a simple component cannot cut only one face which means we need to apply workarounds for thick walls (described in another tutorial).

In SketchUp, we always have to balance between performance and quality. We try to keep poly-count, image sizes low, use styles that are faster while modelling etc. This is also the case with image transparency. While modelling, try to use a style that is fast enough but when we want to export our final 2D output, of course, we want to have the nicest images possible. In SketchUp, you can notice that sometimes - when images with transparent areas are "stacked" in front of each other - there is a rather "ugly" halo around the images. This is due to some style setting however and can be overcome when we export images.

In SketchUp, when one does not model with accurate thickness of geometry, it is natural that edges touching faces will be visible "outside", too. But edges may "bleed through" even geometry modelled with proper thickness. Unfortunately, the reason is the underlying OpenGL rendering engine and apart from some workarounds, we cannot do too much about it.

If we understand the whole phenomenon, however, our workarounds can be tailored to our needs and the result can be as pleasing as anything else in ASketchUp.

The Follow me tool is one of the most powerful, native tools in SketchUp. There are some little tricks that can make life much easier. Making an inner bevel on a cabinet door's face may seem to be problematic first. Where to place the profile? How to avoid problems, like having to temporarily hide faces?

This tutorial shows an easy "trick" we can use and, despite the warning of possible errors, everything works out just perfect!

We can certainly read a lot about what the basic difference between texturing a component or group "from outside" (its editing context) or by editing it and applying the materials directly to the faces. Here is a basic intro about the differences in the SketchUp Help Center.

This tutorial is not about these trivia but about a common mistake when sometimes even experienced users are stumped (especially with models made by others). The "symptom" usually is that people are trying to pull their hair because they simply cannot position the material and do not know why.

For new users, it is often extremely frustrating that they cannot seem to align the Rotate or Protractor tools in any, arbitrary direction / angle. Below are some basic tips on how to do this easily. Some of what is written here can be applied for the Circle, Polygon or Rectangle tools as well.

To practice any of the methods below, best is to create a simple model which has some edges/faces that are not aligned to any of the world axes and major planes defined by them. Group your geometry first and pre-select it before starting the Rotate (or in other cases the Move) operation. Of course, for the Protractor tool, you need not pre-select anything.

It is a very often overlooked fact that in SketchUp, the program makes dif­fer­ence between internal components (that you create "on the fly" while making a model) and external components (that you import either from the 3D Warehouse or your hard drive or internal components that you reload with any other component on your hard drive).

True that during a "normal" (or rather "average") workflow, most users do not realize these differences but sometimes they can either cause surpris­es and serious issues or - if you are aware of them - you can turn these differences to your advantage.

In this tutorial, we shall go through setp-by-step, how to distort a material to follow a curve. The example will be an arch but it can of course be anything. In this tutorial, we use two plugins (note that both need some additional plugin libraries installed):

ThomThom's UV Toolkit 2

and Freo6's FredoScale.

Ruby, the scripting language that is built into SketchUp is a bit of a mystery for many SketchUp users. They know it is there and that plugins wouldn’t work without it but they don’t know what else they could do with it. As it turns out, Ruby can not only be used to write plugins but also to make beautiful designs – especially those types of designs that can’t be modeled using any other tool in SketchUp. A good example is geometry that is created using a mathematical formula.

Now for the fun part! Modeling leaves in SketchUp is a straightforward task but when you add some plugins into the mix it is a very simple and quick process.

In this tutorial you will use transparent .png images to reduce modeling time.

This is the second part to the Modeling a Palm Tree tutorial

If you followed the tutorial published in the latest CatchUp edition, here is part 2: how to model the legs of the Hans Wegner Chair in SketchUp.

Beside the basic SketchUp tools like PushPull, Intersect, Mirror or Paint, you will need Fredo's Joint PushPull plugin for this tutorial to follow. Download it from here and make special care to follow the installation instructions as this plugin consists of several files and subfolders.

When it comes to creating furniture, products or architectural designs etc. I think modeling with real world standard heights and dimensions or popular city design from around the world helps the integrity of the realism of the image. Knowing these things can save much time on making some decisions because the standards of say the "risers of stairs" are for good scientific reason so the dimensions to model by already exist; it's a matter of engineering to serve its purpose if realism is what you're after. Of coarse different cities have different codes but I find some standards to be pretty universal.

Ever need to add foreground trees to your rendered SketchUp scene? This quick tip is all you need.

Creating realistic foreground trees in SketchUp is difficult to achieve but using an image editor like PhotoShop makes the process much quicker and easier.

Here we will use simple cloning and erasing to transform your scene.

In this tutorial you will add a dirt maps to your rendered SketchUp scene.

Adding dirt maps in an image editor is relatively simple. It also allows you to save on render time and texturing.

Here we will use masks and gradients to transform your scene.

In this tutorial you will add a quick wet grass type effect to your rendered SketchUp scene.

Creating realistic grass in SketchUp is difficult to achieve but using an image editor like PhotoShop makes the process much quicker and easier.

Here we will use simple cloning and erasing to transform your scene.

Here is a quick and effective method of creating an artistic image from your SketchUp model. It was originally posted way back in 2005 on the original SketchUp forum.

In short, you will export 2 images from your SketchUp Scene: a) Hidden Line Black/White image and b) textured one with shadows. Bring them together in Photoshop and then erase a hole in the Hidden Line layer with the colored textures showing through.
The whole procedure can take as little as 5 minutes.