Trimble Sketchup

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With the lack of chatbox people and filesharing, I figure it would be an excellent time to raise some awareness for Trimble SketchUp with this. Of course, screenshots from those high definition camera phones that everybody seems to have are acceptable, but I believe models are much more convenient for those actually looking through the thread. Even with a functional filesharing system, I personally think that they make excellent additions to the final presentation of a design. Above all else, should your design be similar to Blockland #347, they are relatively simple to create as they generally take fifteen minutes to create. With that said, I also wanted to use this thread for those otherwise incapable fellows that wanted to model made for there map. Of course, it would have to simple enough for me to understand, but I would be happy to make them should they be drawn on graph paper.​

Trimble SketchUp is a 3D modeling program optimized for a broad range of applications such as civil, film as well as video game design. The program highlights its ease of use, and an online repository of model assemblies known as 3D Warehouse enables designers to locate, download, use and contribute free models. The program includes a drawing layout functionality, allows surface rendering in variable styles, accommodates third-party implementation programs enabling other capabilities and enables placement of its models within Google Earth. SketchUp debuted in August 2000 as a general purpose 3D content creation tool, with the tagline "3D for everyone" and envisioning a software program "that would allow design professionals to draw the way they want by emulating the feel and freedom of working with pen and paper in a simple and elegant interface, that would be fun to use and easy to learn, and that would be used by designers to play with their designs in a way that is not possible with traditional design software. It also has user friendly buttons to make it easier to use. - Wikipedia​

[l-col] Use the Line tool to draw edges or Line entities. Line entities can be joined to form a face. The Line tool can also be used to divide faces or recreate deleted faces. Activate the Line tool from the Toolbar or from the Draw menu. Type the length into the Measurements Toolbar located near the bottom right, after placing the starting point of the line, and press the Enter key. The SketchUp will use the current document units setting if you only type in a numerical value.[/l-col][r-col] Use the Eraser tool to delete entities. The Eraser tool can also be used to hide and soften edges. Activate the Eraser tool from the Principal Toolbar or by selecting Eraser from the Tools menu. When you select the Eraser tool, the cursor changes to an eraser with a small box in front. From there, simply click on an entity to erase it. Alternatively, erase several entities at once by holding down the mouse button and dragging it over several entities to be erased.[/r-col][l-col] Use the Push/Pull tool to push and pull Face entities to add volume to or subtract volume from your models. You can use push or pull to create volume out of any face type, including circular, triangular, rectangular, and various abstract faces. One can activate the push or pull tool from the Toolbar or the Tools menu.[/l-col][r-col] Use the Paint Bucket tool to assign materials and colors to entities in your model. You can use it to paint individual entities, fill a number of connected faces, or replace a material with another throughout your model. Activate the Paint Bucket tool from the Principal Toolbar or by choosing Paint Bucket from the Tools menu.[/r-col]Personally, I think the best method in which to port over the original sketch is to manipulate the screen canvas in such a way that it resembles paper facing straight up to sketch on. The program offers the option to change the point of view from either the top view, left view, right view, or isometric view under Camera located in the toolbar. Utilzing the line tool mentioned above and constant accurate measurements, one can sketch the initial drawing in the program just as they would on graph paper. When the sketching is finished, utilizing the push/pull tool, one can volumize each individual polygon, excluding inclines, by raising each to the predetermined height. Now, because they are not squares or rectangles, the inclines have to be dealt with differently. By creating two lines that goes from the lowest point of the incline to the highest point on both sides, the program will automatically generate an incline. With that, the model is practically done assuming only those few components were included in the design. However, to give viewers better orientation as they look at the model, a distinct difference in color between the floor and walling in necessary. In order to do this, one must simply select the paintbucket in the toolbar, select the color when prompted by the window, and proceed to color one of the aforementioned features.

Spoiler

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Resources:

[l-col]Download SketchUp
-A suite of applications for professional design, visualization, and communication.[/l-col][r-col]SketchUp Training
-Special SketchUp files designed to let you learn at your own pace.[/r-col]
[l-col]Video Tutorials
-Narrated videos that cover everything from basic to advanced SketchUp topics.[/l-col][r-col]The Sketch Thread
- Those sexy guys.[/r-col]

 

I have no idea what GSU is, but this one is pretty easy.

TL;DR you basically draw the map to a scale in the program like you would on paper, make it all 3D, and add color and stuff.

 

Ah, Google SketchUp. Trimble bought SketchUp from Google some time in June this year hence the name change, hahaha. I didn't find that out until recently.

We used Autocad back in freshman year and that's where I started making these models. I eventually saw that somebody was using SketchUp and decided to check that out. It's very efficient for something that's free.

 

Are you typing in the measurements or are you just lengthening the line by hand? When you make the initial point of your line, you can type in an exact measurement and it will automatically make the line that length.