Google Sketchup is a 3d drawing and illustration program like none you’ve ever seen before. It’s about the fastest, easiest, most self-explanatory, simple 3D tools I’ve used before. That’s because Sketchup is designed and operated in a much different way that any other 3D program I’ve seen before. Most 3D design tools owe their lineage to CAD software, and for that reason they’re really designed for precise, step-by-step drawing of well scaled, detailed and precise figures for mechanical or architectural use. There’s often as much typing of commands as there is mouse-clicks. (Also, it’s FREE)

But Sketchup is much different. It is designed for freehanded drawing and creation of 3D objects and worlds. It has a “tape-measure” as a measuring tool, but by and large it’s click-drag-draw and eyeball the dimensions and layout. This is combined with some very useful geometric tools allow for easy scaling, dividing and aligning of components. It’s a ball to make simple and complex figures and the models are rendered in real time, even on a relatively lackluster computer, allowing you to pan, tilt, zoom and fly around the models. It has some very useful features including “push/pull” which is akin to extrude and “follow me” which allows for extrusions that create circles, spirals, shapes or follow almost any profile. You can create “components” which allows you to put a given figure in multiple places and have it change in all locations by just editing it once.

Importing and Exporting:

You can import any Jpeg or PNG image and attach it to a surface or use it as a texture in your model. The program also comes with a few premade textures, which you can edit if you like. You can also import numerous premade models of everything from spacecraft to lamps and windows from the 3D warehouse. It can export to Google Earth and to major file formats. It can import and export Autodesk DWG files, 3D studio files and other major 3D design file formats.

Google Sketchup is free, but it also comes in an optional pro version which throws in a few extra tools. It also has various plugin applications which extend it’s capabilities to import and export. Sketchup only does simple rendering, and while it will do shadows and basic fog effects, it can’t do reflections or refractive lighting or light from multiple sources. However with plugin applications, such as RPS Raytrace, it can do all this and more, resulting in some very smooth and well rendered images. Other plugins also allow for exporting of vector images or 3D PDF files.

What it’s good for and what it’s not good for:

As mentioned above, Sketchup is not really a CAD program, so it’s not so good for mechanical design, architectural plans or other tasks that require specialized technical diagrams. What it is excellent for is for 3D illustrations, such as 3d worlds, video games, concept drawings and such. It does have an important place in the serious world of design, because it’s about the best way I’ve seen to create the overall concept illustrations and show how a design will look in real life.

I’d say it makes me feel like a kid again, because as a kid, I loved making fantasy designs out of legos or building blocks. With Sketchup it’s a lot of fun to make such figures of imagination and fantasy. Worth checking out. It takes about five minutes to figure out the basics. Also, it’s free!

Here’s part of my design proposal for the Freedom Tower from a while back. Needless to say, it didn’t make it very far and I doubt the Lower Manhattan Commission even saw it:

(click to enlarge)

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Good Science, Links, Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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