Inspirational new book: Google SketchUp Workshop

When it comes to instructions for building your first house, or your first bench, or your first Google Earth model, there is no shortage of available materials. But what happens after you’re a SketchUp rockstar? Where are all the tomes full of delicious inspiration for those of us who have mastered inference locking and nested section planes and scene properties? It’s all fine and well to read about how SketchUp works, but real progress comes from peeking over our peers’ shoulders to see what they’re working on.

And that’s exactly the concept behind Laurent Brixius’ brilliant new book Google SketchUp Workshop. Translated from the original “Créer avec SketchUp” (originally published a few years ago in French) this full-color volume presents sixteen beautifully illustrated case studies authored by expert SketchUp users from a multitude of different disciplines. Each one includes high-level workflows, tips and techniques for using SketchUp in a different field of design. Architecture, urban design, engineering, process plant design, woodworking, theater set design and architectural graphics are all represented.

Our friends over at SketchUpArtists.org conducted a nice interview with Laurent (the book’s editor) before the English edition came out. An architect, architectural 3D artist and author from Belgium, he’s done an amazing job of assembling a collection of projects that are pure inspiration. This is a book that belongs on the shelf of every SketchUp aficionado.

Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Source: The Official Google Sketchup Blog

Belgian architect Laurent Brixius has recently published a brilliant new book “Google SketchUp Workshop"

Belgian architect, architectural 3D artist and author Laurent Brixius has recently published a brilliant new book “Google SketchUp Workshop”. This book is translated from the original French version “Créer avec SketchUp”.

The book is not designated for beginners. The book is meant for professionals or people who are well versed with sketchup and other 3D programs like Autocad.

The book comes up with beautifully illustrated 16 real-world professional-level projects and case studies by some expert sketchup users from a multitude of different disciplines focusing on how sketchup can be applied for architectural visualization, architectural graphics, Urban & landscape design, engineering, process plant design, woodworking, theater scenic design, video game, film conception and numerous others.

Here the sketchup users explain their high-level workflows, tips and techniques in a different field of design.

In this book the author describes the strengths and fluid spectrum's of modeling with Google Sketchup with stunning visuals, models and illustrations in the graphics world. The users can also get overview of many of the famous plug-in for expanding sketchups abilities.

The book addresses both the free and Professional versions of the Google SketchUp and instructs 2D illustration and pre-visualization through to the fully rendered 3D Model.

The worldwide professional interviewed and exposed their workflow with tons of diagrams, screenshots and in-progress project designs. The book also provides a few hints regarding why, when SketchUp isn't doing what you expect, and how to recuperate to certainty.

Laurent Brixius’ BIO

Posted by Rajib
Business Development
Visit us at www.sketchup4architect.com
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Source: Sketchup 3D Component

Boost your search with What Do You Love from google

Google has introduced a new Google interface called WDYL or What Do You Love? It is like a search box similar to the one on Google’s homepage. Put any question into the search box and receive answers in the form of neatly organized piles of information, images and video. One can get more than 20 different Google services, together with Google Translate, YouTube, Maps and Groups, Google Image Search results, Google trends, Google Books, and so forth. Google instantaneously generates a mini-portal with any particular search query by bringing together previews of various specialized Google searches in one place.

The user may spread out the searched result by clicking on the icon in the lower right corner. If more results are required then click the button in the upper right corner of the box and go straight to the chosen service.

Put the url www.wdyl.com and google.com/whatdoyoulove, on your browser and start searching. The little heart button on the right replaces your typical "search" button.

Posted by Rajib
Business Development
Visit us at www.sketchup4architect.com
Download our sketchup magazine

Source: Sketchup 3D Component

Real-World Sightings, Now in Google Earth and Maps

[Cross-posted from the Google Lat Long Blog]

Today we’re premiering our new Real-World Sightings series on Google Earth and Google Maps. As part of this experiment, we’ve added 10 images to the map based on stories we’ve heard from our users. As is common with betas, we’ll evaluate interest and engagement with this feature before determining future rollout plans.

It all started with a recent visit to my friend Nessie in Boston. As I crossed the bridge into town, the car in front of me stopped short so I slammed on the brakes. The cars next to me were also stopped, so I got out to see what was causing the back up.

There was a huge, red lobster sitting on the bridge.

He wasn’t scared or hostile. In fact, he seemed quite amused as a few brave drivers navigated around his over-sized legs to successfully cross the bridge. Soon everyone’s fear and alarm gave way to wonder and surprise.

As I made the journey under the giant crustacean's torso, I was reminded how much bigger the world is than we often realize. I made it to Nessie’s place in Boston safely and got to thinking: the world must be full of magical stories like this.

My friends at Google agreed, and so we asked users from around the world to share stories of the strange and delightful things they’ve seen. We were surprised at how many reports we received, so today we’re adding a new feature to Google Maps and Earth: Real-World Sightings. People have witnessed fantastical creatures in every corner of the globe, and in our effort to mirror the real world as completely as possible, we have decided to start including these eyewitness reports on the map.

So if you happen to run into a dragon or alien today in Google Earth (make sure you have 3D Buildings turned on) or Maps, don’t be alarmed. Instead, we encourage you take a few minutes to look for other creatures that have been reported in places all across the world. We’ll tweet some tips to help you get started finding these images on our Twitter handle @GoogleMaps, so follow along throughout the day to spot some fun things you may have thought only existed in legends and fairy tales!

Posted by Dave Barth, Product Manager

Source: The Official Google Sketchup Blog

Google SketchUp in Higher Education

SketchUp has proven to be a very valuable tool for students and educators. Last year we created a video to showcase a few K12 schools who use SketchUp in interesting ways: they’re doing everything from creating models of their town buildings to designing furniture.

We now we have a new video profiling how SketchUp is being used in higher education institutions. Take a look at three areas of study (film, interior design, and architecture) from three schools (Los Angeles Film School, Art Institute of Colorado, and University of Colorado) using SketchUp to advance the skills needed by students to enter the professional world after graduation:

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp for Education Program Manager

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Source: The Official Google Sketchup Blog

Amsterdam adds another dimension in Google Earth

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful city of Amsterdam for yourself, I’m happy to say that Google Earth now offers the next best thing: Amsterdam in 3D.

Recently, several thousand buildings have been added to the capital city of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. Using Google Maps with Earth view or Google Earth’s “3D Buildings” layer, you can now travel the city’s historic streets and canals to experience its rich architectural history.
Navigate in Google Earth to visit one of Amsterdam’s famous museums like the Rijksmuseum or the van Gogh Museum. And with the Google Art Project, take a peek inside the museum to see high-definition renditions of many famous paintings.

Van Gogh Museum (front) and Rijksmuseum (right)

Review: Google SketchUp Workshop

There are enough books out there to get you up and running with SketchUp. There are books you can refer to for specific information or to teach you to code extensions. There are others that are great for very specific subjects such as landscaping or woodworking. But I've never found one to pickup just for fun and inspiration ... until now.

The title Google SketchUp Workshop may sound dry but don't be fooled - if you're into SketchUp either as a professional or enthusiast and you have the basic skills down already then this is the book for you. If you're a novice, this book is not going to teach you the basics; the Overview section of the book starts with working with complex models in SketchUp and moves on from there to other advanced topics assuming a level of knowledge you get only from working with SketchUp for a while. If you have these skills already the subjects in the overview are really useful. Yes, you might know quite a few of them already but it doesn't hurt to brush up and to see if there's a better way of approaching the issues you face.

The rest of the book is made up of sixteen chapters, each of which is written by a different author. Each author is introduced and each has a specific area of interest or expertise which they then address with specific real world examples. The experts range from the SketchUp norms of Architecture, Engineering and Design through to more esoteric areas such as set design, woodworking, concept design painting and graphic design. It is this variety of subjects and voices that make this book so successful. Of course you will be more interested in some subjects than others but seeing these practical and inspiring examples of what SketchUp is capable of, described by experts in their fields teaches you something. Even if you never intend to model a Process Plant you can learn a lot from Mitchel Stagl's chapter because it shows an approach to working in teams and with really complex models. You might not have the artistic skills  to paint the concept art Alex Jenyon can but his chapter might inspire you to be a little more adventurous the next time you have to produce a 2D image for a client.

It is the variety of voices, applications and subjects combined with scope of artistic to technical emphasis that make this book my favorite SketchUp book to date. Some have criticized the fact that many of the examples use third party software (some of it very expensive) in addition to SketchUp to achieve their results. I might not be rushing out to buy a thousand dollar rendering engine but I did learn something from each chapter about how SketchUp integrates into each author's workflow. Very few people use SketchUp in isolation; it is just one tool in the arsenal.

I can't remember the last time I dipped into a technical book just for fun but with it's beautiful color illustrations, variety of subjects and inspiring tone I find myself constantly going back to the Google SketchUp Workshop and not wanting to put it down when I do. Whether you read it cover to cover or skip around through just the chapters that interest you most there is something for most SketchUp enthusiasts here. I just hope they're working on volume two...

Source: Sketchup Fanboy

New Features Of Google Sketchup 8

Sketchup is a 3D modeling software owned by Google. This 3D software is used by professionals from all walks of life. Generally it is used for placing 3D models in Google Earth.

Sketchup Warehouse enables users to view & download various forms of 3D models. Till date, eight versions of sketchup have released. The latest version Sketchup 8 was launched on Sept. 1’2010. The important Sketchup 8 features are:-

Geo-localization of models in sketchup:- The latest sketchup has Google Map built in it. If we create or download any 3D model from sketchup, then we can easily geo-localize it by this sketchup 8.Coloured & 3D view of the terrains of the geo locations:- In google map, we generally see non coloured & one dimensional view of the geolocation of any product. But for the first time, in sketchup 8, we can view the land relief of the geolocation of our model coloured & in 3D. The Building Maker:- The heading tells that this sketchup has building making feature. We can add buildings to google map by this feature. Its very efficient. We can use this feature to create buildings from our models.Five years have passed since Google has acquired Sketchup from the company @Last Software. Since then, they are periodically updating their software. The latest update was the “SpaceNavigator (a computer mouse which supports 3D software)” support.

Also this sketchup version has a plugin which supports 3D animation.

To know more, please contact us

Source: Sketchup 3D Component

New book: Google SketchUp 8 For Dummies

When I first downloaded SketchUp years ago, I thought I was the coolest guy on the block because I could push/pull a square into a cube. Then I went online and saw what some other folks were modeling and realized I needed to up my game FAST. So like many folks, I turned to (my now colleague) Aidan Chopra’s Google SketchUp For Dummies book.

I learned a lot from this Dummies book, so I’m especially proud to be able to announce that the newest edition of Google SketchUp For Dummies is on bookshelves now. This new edition is fully revised and updated to cover all the tastiness we packed into SketchUp 8—both free and Pro. You can find the book online and at bricks-and-mortar bookstores.