sup wit it? I have been seeing this software listed as a requirement for many employers, I downloaded a free trial and it seems intuitive, but the output is pretty boring.
It is nice that you can get a hand-sketched looking image out of the computer though.
Is anybody out there familiar with the software and if so what do you like and dislike about the package, and would you recommend it as a design tool?
I like that it has virtually no tutorial. You just kind of start using it. Also the output is easy to read, whereas some Form Z and Viz models can get a little shiny and hard to figure out for a client.
it is basically fisher price my first 3d studio viz/form z/insert 3d modeling program here. I like the ease of use and the speed that a building can be produced. it serves its purpose of early 3d modeling very well, but beyond that it loses all value.
it is a good tool to have knowledge of, but it has limited real world value after conceptual design.
it IS easy to do simple things, but it can also be as sophisticated as you want to make it. if you visit the sketchup site, i think they still have a gallery of things people have done with it.
advantages: quick modeling studies, slideshow/walkthrough ability is easy to set up, lighting/shadows easy to set up, no cameras to set, direct printing without fuss to most printers, save as jpeg or bmp, export to autocad and back, section cutting through model, bring in pictures as background context, 'block'ing pieces that can be 'xref'ed and assembled but modified independently back in the original 'block' for updating.
disadvantages: sometimes the autocad export is quirky, program is not terribly accurate dimensionally, it's too easy to change something inadvertently, and it's hard to establish and manage the ground plane (things are constantly going underground by accident).
when i'm making a proposal for a project that i don't yet have and i want to make some studies to show the potential client without committing too many hours/$$, i use sketchup - looks like i did a lot, i.e. made a committment!
a great tool to use in conjunction with the other more common ones: autocad, photoshop, etc.
Steven makes a good point. I think that Sketchup is best viewed as a tool that has to be used along side others. It cannot stand alone as a production tool for the reasons he's mentioned above. But if you find a combination of programs (including sketchup) that you can use efficiently together, then you're golden...
For some good examples of what sketchup really can do, check out www.pushpullbar.com There are people in there producing fairly complex models and putting the results online for people to critique. I think the higher end examples blow anything at Sketchup's page out of the water.
Excellent for design and even design development because its so easy to use. Transfers easily via DXF/DWG to Cad for technical drawings. Can export to more sophisticated rendering programs for those who wish photorealism.
Just based on observation from a student I saw using the program. Although he wasn't an expert at the program he did have a firm grasp on how to use it. The UI looks very easy to use, granted, but the output looked horrible. It isn't something that you would not use for a final presentation. It needs a lot of work. The program seems out place and adds no real benefits compared to other high-end programs.
Maybe they are trying to carve out a niche, who knows.
I agree with mau1...I went to the aformentioned link..pushpullbar.com
Those renderings are sick...
They are comparable to anything that I have seen out of 3ds, viz, formz, or rhino.
PmisPnic:
The benifit is that it is totally easy to use, looks great, and is much, much faster than modeling and rendering in any of the other software listed above.
..sketchup is like the 'powerpoint' of design tools. easy, quick, mediocre output.
sketchup is still too simplistic and limited, which i guess, was their goal?
form-z is still the best modelling program, and the only one where you can actually learn and discover new relationships as you're working. UI is crappy, but still the best pure modeller.
maybe export finished formz into sketchup for the 'sketch look'?
Sketch Up is the business. We have had our Architects modelling in it for three years (it’s that simple even Architects can use it). We use one in each design team. Combined this program with Photoshop and Max /Rhino and it’s all the tools you need for top quality visualisations.
Admittedly the direct output is sketchy but there are ways to improve this by outputting form and lines as separate rasters for post production in Photoshop.
Those that can’t see the point of this program have missed the point.
“………but it has limited real world value after conceptual design.â€Â
Rubbish, SU all the way through design and CD if required. Section details look particularly good in SU.
On the basis of the renderings from SketchUp's site and pushpullbar.com, I really can't see why you would want to use this for visualization purposes. The lighting is mediocre, the shadows too sharp and gray, the materials very basic, which gives all the images a very dull character. And it seems like the software has some limitations in visualizations, since all the presented images are very similar. I understand that you can acquire some nice effects by brushing up the renderings in Photoshop, but I'd rather use mentalRay from the beginning.
"If SkecthUp is so easy for modelling, and easy to export to a high end rendering program, why is everybody still using those programs for modelling? "
Like everything in the construction industry, innovation moves at a snails pace compared to other industries.
First of all a comparison of a program that cost 500 to one that cost 2000 or more seems ridiciulous. I like the fact that it was cheap. I can produce stuff quick for my residential work. Sometimes I working with complex roof lines and it helps me solve them in a few minutes. Beyond that I have used it to show how a client how the addition will intergrate with their existing house. If they reject it I haven't invested alot of time. A more costly program would be overkill for me.
@last seems to take a strong intrest in what their software users say and do. They respond quickly to your questions
From what I can see Sketchup combined with other programs can produce some outstanding stuff.
Yeah it ain't able to produce CDs as well as Archicad but thats not what it was designed to do
I’m in alignment with those who feel Sketchup is a tool that does what is was designed to do very well: create fast schematic models, the kind that you would have been sketching by hand several years ago.
It is not a peer to Max, Viz, Rhino, Form-Z… but the geometry you create in Sketchup can be exported to formats that can be imported to these programs as well as high-end rendering engines.
Take a look at what Form:uLA is doing with it. Like most other tools out there, you are limited only by your own creativity.
As a non-SketchUp user, it seems that SketchUp would only be effecient if you use it as a modelling tool and use the high end programs to render. However, some of you guys only use it for simple geometry. Everything esle is done in Max, Viz, Maya........What are the benefits? In that case you might as well use the high ends for everything.
The project I am currently designing at the office requires a lot of integrated furniture and interior details.
Instead of doing the traditionnal Plan,Section,Elevations for all these pieces, I was thinking to use sketchup to create the technical drawings.
I hope that one Isometry with dimensions and notes ( tools available in SketchUp) would do the trick? And I would use the Hidden Line output to create a CAD-like drawing...
The main thing about Sketchup is the fast, easy modeling, not the rendering. Just export the model to another program if you want for rendering. If you think it's only good for schematic design you haven't even used it. It can do anything FormZ can do, except for curved things like NURBS. If you are just doing normal architecture modeling with planes, it can't be beat.
on some larger schemes we have used Sketch Up to export flat elevations of the model to use as elevation drawings. Works well with colour and shadow as well as showing context. Good for a planning submission.
I've been using it at school as a crutch when crunch time comes because it's so damned fast to get decent output. I'm still learning FormZ, and it's easily the most user-unfriendly software I've ever used, so when it gets rough, I swap out to Sketchup.
I've been getting very good reviews on work I've pulled through there, but I'm always outputting plans, sections, etc to dxf and then cleaning everything up and prettyifying in Vectorworks or Illustrator or whatever is necessary at the time.
The ease of quick sectional perspectives/isometrics and light studies/massing models make it indispensable for me.
I have trouble exporting model to FormZ. I export it as dwg. CAD 2000.
I bring it into FormZ. There are diagonal lines on every face of the model.
Any Idea? I don't know what I missed. I only used the program for few days.
When you import a drawing into Form Z, the things you want to extrude have to be polylines. I think this may alleviate your problem. You can turn your lines to polylines by using the PEDIT (PE) tool in AutoCAD.
I suggest taht you do your technical drawings in Auto CAD, and then the rest in sketchup, because it can easily create 3d from your drawings.
All you have to do is import the ad drawing in sketchup, and rotate the 2d draings then build your 3d model from there. then you can add dimentiuons. Its very easy, I have done it before.
i apologize if my question wasn't clear. I did 3d model in Sketch up and I want to do rendering in FormZ. So I export the sketch up model to CAD 2000 (I assume that it is the only choice to bring it to FormZ). When I open it in FormZ, all the face have diagonal line. the model are solid shape, but they have diagonal lines all over.
I think that is a comon problem with interfacing in all 3d modeling programs. I did a model in sketchup, but when I brought it to Rhino, it did the same thing.
The problem I had with sketch up is the lighting. There is no light source, or fixture your create. The day light and shadow is nice, but take forever to generate. Anyone knows best way to add light? What program will be good to transfer to to add light?
sketchup 3d
sup wit it? I have been seeing this software listed as a requirement for many employers, I downloaded a free trial and it seems intuitive, but the output is pretty boring.
It is nice that you can get a hand-sketched looking image out of the computer though.
Is anybody out there familiar with the software and if so what do you like and dislike about the package, and would you recommend it as a design tool?
I like that it has virtually no tutorial. You just kind of start using it. Also the output is easy to read, whereas some Form Z and Viz models can get a little shiny and hard to figure out for a client.
it is basically fisher price my first 3d studio viz/form z/insert 3d modeling program here. I like the ease of use and the speed that a building can be produced. it serves its purpose of early 3d modeling very well, but beyond that it loses all value.
it is a good tool to have knowledge of, but it has limited real world value after conceptual design.
i use it for modeling then import that into MAX. very simple and a ton faster for modeling than MAX.
it IS easy to do simple things, but it can also be as sophisticated as you want to make it. if you visit the sketchup site, i think they still have a gallery of things people have done with it.
advantages: quick modeling studies, slideshow/walkthrough ability is easy to set up, lighting/shadows easy to set up, no cameras to set, direct printing without fuss to most printers, save as jpeg or bmp, export to autocad and back, section cutting through model, bring in pictures as background context, 'block'ing pieces that can be 'xref'ed and assembled but modified independently back in the original 'block' for updating.
disadvantages: sometimes the autocad export is quirky, program is not terribly accurate dimensionally, it's too easy to change something inadvertently, and it's hard to establish and manage the ground plane (things are constantly going underground by accident).
when i'm making a proposal for a project that i don't yet have and i want to make some studies to show the potential client without committing too many hours/$$, i use sketchup - looks like i did a lot, i.e. made a committment!
a great tool to use in conjunction with the other more common ones: autocad, photoshop, etc.
Steven makes a good point. I think that Sketchup is best viewed as a tool that has to be used along side others. It cannot stand alone as a production tool for the reasons he's mentioned above. But if you find a combination of programs (including sketchup) that you can use efficiently together, then you're golden...
For some good examples of what sketchup really can do, check out www.pushpullbar.com There are people in there producing fairly complex models and putting the results online for people to critique. I think the higher end examples blow anything at Sketchup's page out of the water.
The developers should be shot
Excellent for design and even design development because its so easy to use. Transfers easily via DXF/DWG to Cad for technical drawings. Can export to more sophisticated rendering programs for those who wish photorealism.
Pimp, why should they be shot?
Just based on observation from a student I saw using the program. Although he wasn't an expert at the program he did have a firm grasp on how to use it. The UI looks very easy to use, granted, but the output looked horrible. It isn't something that you would not use for a final presentation. It needs a lot of work. The program seems out place and adds no real benefits compared to other high-end programs.
Maybe they are trying to carve out a niche, who knows.
i dont agree with PMPN, the output is as good as the talent put into any software.
i've seen coolest things with sketchup, chek out their forums.
I agree with mau1...I went to the aformentioned link..pushpullbar.com
Those renderings are sick...
They are comparable to anything that I have seen out of 3ds, viz, formz, or rhino.
PmisPnic:
The benifit is that it is totally easy to use, looks great, and is much, much faster than modeling and rendering in any of the other software listed above.
..sketchup is like the 'powerpoint' of design tools. easy, quick, mediocre output.
sketchup is still too simplistic and limited, which i guess, was their goal?
form-z is still the best modelling program, and the only one where you can actually learn and discover new relationships as you're working. UI is crappy, but still the best pure modeller.
maybe export finished formz into sketchup for the 'sketch look'?
but hey, if it works for ya, more power ...
Sketch Up is the business. We have had our Architects modelling in it for three years (it’s that simple even Architects can use it). We use one in each design team. Combined this program with Photoshop and Max /Rhino and it’s all the tools you need for top quality visualisations.
Admittedly the direct output is sketchy but there are ways to improve this by outputting form and lines as separate rasters for post production in Photoshop.
Those that can’t see the point of this program have missed the point.
“………but it has limited real world value after conceptual design.â€Â
Rubbish, SU all the way through design and CD if required. Section details look particularly good in SU.
On the basis of the renderings from SketchUp's site and pushpullbar.com, I really can't see why you would want to use this for visualization purposes. The lighting is mediocre, the shadows too sharp and gray, the materials very basic, which gives all the images a very dull character. And it seems like the software has some limitations in visualizations, since all the presented images are very similar. I understand that you can acquire some nice effects by brushing up the renderings in Photoshop, but I'd rather use mentalRay from the beginning.
If SkecthUp is so easy for modelling, and easy to export to a high end rendering program, why is everybody still using those programs for modelling?
nurbs, that's the only thing that fucks me up asbout sketchup.
latest version allows you to intersect to solids with the resulting intersection being a line. which is good.
since i had it my sketchbook is been collecting dust, well, almost.
i still have to get off my ass and learn cinema 4d.
note: if you like the "extended jittered edges" view, you are a developer at heart and you should punish yourself. turn that shit off.
pushpullbar kicks ass!
"If SkecthUp is so easy for modelling, and easy to export to a high end rendering program, why is everybody still using those programs for modelling? "
Like everything in the construction industry, innovation moves at a snails pace compared to other industries.
First of all a comparison of a program that cost 500 to one that cost 2000 or more seems ridiciulous. I like the fact that it was cheap. I can produce stuff quick for my residential work. Sometimes I working with complex roof lines and it helps me solve them in a few minutes. Beyond that I have used it to show how a client how the addition will intergrate with their existing house. If they reject it I haven't invested alot of time. A more costly program would be overkill for me.
@last seems to take a strong intrest in what their software users say and do. They respond quickly to your questions
From what I can see Sketchup combined with other programs can produce some outstanding stuff.
Yeah it ain't able to produce CDs as well as Archicad but thats not what it was designed to do
I’m in alignment with those who feel Sketchup is a tool that does what is was designed to do very well: create fast schematic models, the kind that you would have been sketching by hand several years ago.
It is not a peer to Max, Viz, Rhino, Form-Z… but the geometry you create in Sketchup can be exported to formats that can be imported to these programs as well as high-end rendering engines.
Take a look at what Form:uLA is doing with it. Like most other tools out there, you are limited only by your own creativity.
As a non-SketchUp user, it seems that SketchUp would only be effecient if you use it as a modelling tool and use the high end programs to render. However, some of you guys only use it for simple geometry. Everything esle is done in Max, Viz, Maya........What are the benefits? In that case you might as well use the high ends for everything.
Not to change the subject, but form:ula is just producing a bunch of early denari rip-offs.
The project I am currently designing at the office requires a lot of integrated furniture and interior details.
Instead of doing the traditionnal Plan,Section,Elevations for all these pieces, I was thinking to use sketchup to create the technical drawings.
I hope that one Isometry with dimensions and notes ( tools available in SketchUp) would do the trick? And I would use the Hidden Line output to create a CAD-like drawing...
Anyone ever did that?
Do you think It would work?
The main thing about Sketchup is the fast, easy modeling, not the rendering. Just export the model to another program if you want for rendering. If you think it's only good for schematic design you haven't even used it. It can do anything FormZ can do, except for curved things like NURBS. If you are just doing normal architecture modeling with planes, it can't be beat.
on some larger schemes we have used Sketch Up to export flat elevations of the model to use as elevation drawings. Works well with colour and shadow as well as showing context. Good for a planning submission.
sketch up 3d style will be the future,
same as rhino is doing it now
the first intelligent program so we dont have to learn all thosecomplicated tricks in 3d max to do simple stuff fast.
I've been using it at school as a crutch when crunch time comes because it's so damned fast to get decent output. I'm still learning FormZ, and it's easily the most user-unfriendly software I've ever used, so when it gets rough, I swap out to Sketchup.
I've been getting very good reviews on work I've pulled through there, but I'm always outputting plans, sections, etc to dxf and then cleaning everything up and prettyifying in Vectorworks or Illustrator or whatever is necessary at the time.
The ease of quick sectional perspectives/isometrics and light studies/massing models make it indispensable for me.
I have trouble exporting model to FormZ. I export it as dwg. CAD 2000.
I bring it into FormZ. There are diagonal lines on every face of the model.
Any Idea? I don't know what I missed. I only used the program for few days.
PL,
When you import a drawing into Form Z, the things you want to extrude have to be polylines. I think this may alleviate your problem. You can turn your lines to polylines by using the PEDIT (PE) tool in AutoCAD.
Gotan!
I suggest taht you do your technical drawings in Auto CAD, and then the rest in sketchup, because it can easily create 3d from your drawings.
All you have to do is import the ad drawing in sketchup, and rotate the 2d draings then build your 3d model from there. then you can add dimentiuons. Its very easy, I have done it before.
Sketchup is great! I think that it is one of the most intuitive programs out there.
i apologize if my question wasn't clear. I did 3d model in Sketch up and I want to do rendering in FormZ. So I export the sketch up model to CAD 2000 (I assume that it is the only choice to bring it to FormZ). When I open it in FormZ, all the face have diagonal line. the model are solid shape, but they have diagonal lines all over.
Post your question here for an 'expert' opinion.
PL, when you import into form-z make sure the "join adjacent coplaner surfaces" option is checked.
I think that is a comon problem with interfacing in all 3d modeling programs. I did a model in sketchup, but when I brought it to Rhino, it did the same thing.
The problem I had with sketch up is the lighting. There is no light source, or fixture your create. The day light and shadow is nice, but take forever to generate. Anyone knows best way to add light? What program will be good to transfer to to add light?
Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max. Just make sure you explode all elements in SketchUp before exporting as an AutoCAD DWG.
Its a fantastic programme, although I had to teach myself how to use it via the tutorials (which by the way are really good).
its ok
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