Upcoming Projects for February

Even though we're sitting under about 2 feet of snow here in DC, I'm still hard at work putting together the February Projects of the Month. If you haven't signed up, why not? It's just $36, which comes out to just $1 per project, three projects per month for 12 months. A no-brainer!

Here's what subscribers will be getting this month:

Model an iPod

Everyone loves to model the gadgets they have lying around their house, and an iPod is really fun to build in SketchUp. It's got it all: curves, text, shapes, and colors. But there are some tricks you can use to make this project even easier than you'd think!


Symmetric Heart

In honor of Valentines Day next week, this project shows you how to make a broken heart!

Or for another way to phrase this: you model half a heart, and mirror-copy the half-heart to end up with a complete heart.



Material Collections

SketchUp comes with a few types of bricks, various tiles, several translucent window materials, etc. But wouldn't you like a bigger selection of materials and textures?

This project shows you where to find many more materials you can use, and how to set up your own collections in SketchUp.



To get these fun projects, and 11 more sets just like this throughout the year, sign up here!


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Robots!

I ran across this video on another blog. It's not a very new video, nor does it show anything new in SketchUp - this could have been done as far back as SketchUp 3!

It demonstrates a very cool technique I call "slice and scale," which you can use quite easily to make organic shapes. When you make a bunch of these shapes and make them into components or groups, you can combine them to make some awesome models.



In my Basics Book, I show how to use this technique to make a mouse (the computer kind, not the rodent).


It's a great technique to master. It gets even better when you rotate slices, since that adds a twist to your shapes.




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Fun Workshop Last Sunday

This past Sunday, I led a full-day workshop on SketchUp for the Capital Region Society for Technology in Education (or CRSTE), a relatively new technology group serving teachers in the metro DC area. There were 30 teachers in attendance, who were willing to give up a Sunday to learn something new. (Every time I meet with a group of teachers, I marvel at their dedication and passion, but then again I guess they would have chosen different professions if they were selfish and lazy.)

Here's a view of the crowd:



And here's me trying not to notice the camera in front of me:



By all accounts (at least the ones I heard), the workshop went really well. It's so much fun to introduce SketchUp to people who haven't seen it before: the "oohs" and "aahs" always come out at the first glimpse of Push/Pull, making materials translucent, making multiple copies, playing an animation, and sticking a SketchUp model into Google Earth. I thank CRSTE for giving me the opportunity to strut my stuff.

Next month I'll be participating in a CRSTE cyber-conference. Right now this link doesn't list me yet - the full catalog will be posted this Friday (tomorrow). If you're in the mid-Atlantic area, check out this conference - there are lots of interesting sessions.



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Math Forum Project: Conic Sections

My January Project is up.

This is a straight-up geeky math project (geek being a complimetary term these days). You start by building a cone, then use SketchUp's Section Plane tool to create four different conic curves: circle, ellipse, hyperbola, parabola.

This project has a Teacher Version and a Student Version. If the students doing this project also know about curve equations, the Teacher Version has some info about verifying equations by getting various point coordinates.

I'm guessing this is definitely NOT something the SketchUp creators had in mind when they created SketchUp, but it's awesome for math-types!

If this sounds familiar, maybe it's because you've seen my video on this topic (which I see has gotten over 2,000 views!)




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Excellent Plug-In: Windowizer

I heard about Windowizer years ago, but never took a close look at it until today, while searching for a cool plug-in to write about. It's been very popular since it was created by Smustard's Rick Wilson for SketchUp 4 (now that goes back a ways).

Windowizer 3 is free, and you can get it here. (There's a version 4 out, which costs a mere $10, which I haven't tried yet.) Once you download the ZIP file, unzip and place all of its contents (several RB files and a TXT) into the "Plugins" folder of your SketchUp installation. You can read the TXT file for info and instructions.

Here's what I did with Windowizer 3:

I've got a building with three "blank" windows. The colored squares along the side are only texture placeholders - Windowizer can paint window frames and glass either with a couple of default colors, or with colors that are already found in your model.

Since I want all three windows to look the same, I select all three, right-click on one of them, and choose Windowizer / Windowize. (Any face that will be windowized must have 4 edges and define a plane.)

All windows will be the same, so I click Yes. (If I clicked No, I would get Settings window for each window separately.)



The Windowizer Settings window is where I can set the various window properties: rows / columns, mullions and frames, insets, and materials.



After clicking OK, all three windows have the new properties.


Windowizer 4 has the option to make groups out of your windows, but not Version 3. So if you wanted to use components, you would make a single window, make it into a component manually, and copy the component. If you're making dozens of windows, components are the way to go.

To change one of the windows, I right-click on one of the glass faces and choose Windowizer / Edit Window.



"Change to Current Settings" means you want to change the window to the properties currently in use. Those properties are the ones this window already has, so I click No.



The Settings window appears again, and I changed the window to have a different glass color and fewer columns.


Now I want to copy these new settings to another window. So I right-click on a blue glass face and choose Windowizer / Inherit Settings. Now the settings of the blue window become the current settings.


Now I right-click on a red window and choose Windowizer / Edit Window. And this time, I click Yes when asked to change to current settings. This changes the red window to match the blue one.


Windows don't have to be rectangular - any four-sided polygon will work.


You're also not limited to just windows. From the Windowizer website, these pictures show a stair rail and bookcase created with Windowizer:



Give it a try!


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LayOut Video: SketchUp Scenes and Model Views

I made a short video yesterday that shows one of the techniques discussed in my new LayOut book. If you set up scenes in your SketchUp model (taking advantage of layers to control what's hidden and displayed), you can easily adjust what appears in the LayOut view.



The more I use LayOut, the more I like it.


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New Book on LayOut!

I've gotten a lot of requests for a book on LayOut, and now it's ready!



LayOut is part of Google SketchUp Pro, and is a presentation tool. You can import a SketchUp model into a blank page or a set template, and interact with it (zoom, pan, orbit, etc). You can set standard views and scales, add text, labels, and dimensions, use objects from scrapbooks, etc.

Here's some general info about Layout.

So far, my new book is available as PDF, but with enough demand I can make it available in print as well.

Click here for info on the book, and click here to see exactly what's in the book (a Google Docs PDF).


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Newspaper Geodesic Dome

As I wrote about in my previous post, one of our Projects of the Month (being sent out this coming Friday) uses Google SketchUp to model a geodesic dome. One teacher contacted me about a similar project, in which you can create a dome from rolled-up sheets of newspaper:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/educator/act_geodesic_ho.html

One difference between this project and mine (aside from the fact that one is physical and one is virtual) is that the newspaper dome uses only two lengths of tubes (71 cm and 66 cm). The SketchUp version has edges of a several different lengths.

It would be an interesting project to take the SketchUp dome and calculate how many tubes you would need of which lengths, then build it. Let me know if you try this - I'd love to see pictures!


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What's Coming in Our January Projects

Yikes, I realize I haven't posted in a while! Winter break was rather busy (even as a stay-cation), and the return to "normal" always takes a while. And part of getting back on track means letting you know what will be in the January Projects this month. (Want to sign up?)

Geodesic Domes

Invaluable for geometry students!

Did you know that all you need to create a geodesic dome is a Platonic solid made of triangles? In this project, you'll start with an octahedron and use guide lines and components to make some very cool domes.




Jigsaw Puzzle

If you have a digital image, you can make a jigsaw puzzle. This project will show you how to create and scramble the pieces . . .



. . . and how to assemble them again.


Writing in 3D

It's fun to personalize your models, and the 3D Text tool lets you do just that. This project will show you how to use this tool for flat text, as well as embossed and engraved text.


Again, to sign up, go to to SketchUp Projects of the Month!


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Archimedean Solids Video

Willy Felton of the Community School in Sun Valley, Idaho is a big fan of using SketchUp in math classes. (Read what he thinks here.) He and his students have produced a video to showcase their work, consisting of models made with my book on Platonic and Archimedean solids. I love the addition of 3D Text names on the model displays!



Here's an earlier video he and his students made:



I even like their choice of background music ;-)



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Logic Puzzle: Building Perspectives

I just uploaded my December SketchUp project to the Math Forum. This is a really neat logic puzzle, in which you start with a grid of "buildings" (or tall boxes).


You show only certain views of the model (front, left, etc.), and compile enough data to figure out which buildings have which height.



It's a little like Sudoku, but much more colorful! It's free, so check it out.



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Creating a Measured Guide Line

Here's something very simple and cool about SketchUp's Tape Measure tool, that many people don't know about. I actually already knew about this feature but forgot, and was reminded again recently when learning how to create a geodesic dome from an octahedron. (BTW, if you're into geodesic domes, I'll be sending out that tutorial in January, to our Project of the Month subscribers!)

Say you want to create a guide line ending at a specific distance, passing through a specific point.

I created a hexagon (with the Polygon tool), and want to find a point that's 4' from the center, passing through one of the corners. Here's what you MIGHT think will work:

Activate Tape Measure, make sure the "plus" sign appears on the cursor (press Ctrl / Option if not), and click the center point. Then click the corner point.

This creates an infinite guide line passing through the two points you clicked. If you then try to size this guide line by typing 4' and pressing Enter, you'll be asked if you want to resize the model.


Clicking Yes would change the hexagon so that the distance between the center and corner is 4' - not what I'm looking to do.

Starting over, here's how to do this: Activate Tape Measure, click the center of the hexagon, then HOVER on the corner point.


Type 4' and press Enter, and here's your guide line.

This entity is actually considered to be a guide point, and not a guide line. So if you right-click on the guide line and choose Entity Info, you'll only see its entity type, not its length. But you could always check its length with the Dimension tool.


This is necessary for creating a geodesic dome because all corners of the dome must be the same distance from the dome's center.



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What's in the Upcoming December Projects

For subscribers to our Projects of the Month, December will be a fun month. If you haven't already signed up, now's a great time - you can look them over during your winter break, while skiing in the Alps, sunbathing in Barabos, or staying home like me.

Calculating Length and Area

Teachers always ask about using SketchUp as a calculation tool. Length and area are no problem; this months' project shows you how to find lengths of one or more edges, area of one or more faces, and how to work with curved edges and faces (which can be tricky).



(SketchUp can't do volume calculations on its own. However, check out this blog post about a volume-calculating plug-in.)

Build a Snowman

We already had one (minor) snowfall here in DC, and they're calling for more tomorrow (ugh). So in honor of weather that kids love (parents, not so much), one of this month's projects shows how to create a snowman. You'll learn how to create and copy a sphere, and how to find accessories in the 3D Warehouse.

You can make a simple, standard snowman, or a weird, funky, or even scary one.



Opposite Colors

Everyone knows this optical phenomenon - you stare at something for several seconds, then look away. What you'll see for a couple of seconds is the same image, in opposite colors. This project will show you how to change a model's colors so that you can try this trick yourself. For example, the model on the left becomes the one on the right, and vice-versa.


As another example, here's the US flag in its opposite colors:


In case you missed it, here's where you can sign up.


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SketchUp Sculpture Exhibit

More SketchUp and art!

A sculptor named Stephanie Syjuco mined the 3D Warehouse for some simple, colorful SketchUp "sculpture" models. She placed them in a SketchUp exhibit (with Bryce in the middle of the room).


She then fabricated the actual models by hand and arranged them in an exhibit.


It's a great concept - she borrowed the work of others, probably all of them non-artists, who were just playing and experimenting with SketchUp. She then brought them these models to life.

I'm not sure if any of the modelers know their work is being displayed in this gallery in Ireland, but how cool would it be to someday stumble upon something you designed?


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Plug-In: Calculating Volume in SketchUp

SketchUp can tell you the length of selected edges, or area of selected faces. (This is one of the three topics covered in our December Projects of the Month).

But I'm often asked if SketchUp will also calculate volume. The answer is no within SketchUp itself, but there is a plug-in that does it. It's called "Volume Calculator" (how did they come up with that name?), and one place to find it is here. As with any plug-in, once you save the RB file, place it in your "Plugins" folder within your SketchUp installation, and restart SketchUp.

Volume Calculator works great for simple, clean geometry, but a bit less well for complex models. Here's what I did with it:

I created a box with a smaller box cut from one corner. Its volume is
(12 x 18 x 17) - (8 x 11 x 6) = 3,144 cc.


To get the volume, you need to first make the object into a group or component. Then right-click on the group / component and choose Volume. In the window that appears, select your units (cc in my case), whether to hide edge in the new object that will be generated, the color of this new object, and whether to hide the original. Then click OK.



My original box was hidden and a new aquamarine one appeared in its place. I hid the dimensions to better see the the calculated volume, which was added to the new object as a text string: 3144 cc. (The original object is still there, just hidden.)

Circular objects present an interesting problem, because circles are actually segmented polygons. So you might not get exactly the results you expect. For example, here's a truncated cone (aka conical frustum), whose volume =



If the circles were "true" circles, the volume would be 1407.43 cc.


But the circles have 24 segments, so the calculated volume shown below is a little off. Also, the new object is created showing its segmentation.


I tried the same object again, this time starting with a base circle of 200 sides. This time the result was almost exactly correct.

Volume Calculator sometimes chokes on a model that's not completely straightforward, like a cylinder with a cylindrical hole.

So if you have something like this, you might want to try breaking the calculation into two separate models, then subtracting.

If you teach math, this plug-in could become an essential addition!



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Symmetry of Fall Leaves

My free November project for the Math Forum is up. It involves using a photo of a leaf, tracing around half of it, and investigating the overall symmetry of the leaf. By combining the leaf models you get from a few different photos, you can create a nice collage of colorful leaves.



You can also use rotational symmetry to create a nice wreath.

This is a nice project for math students, but it also can be used in art and science classes. Enjoy!


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Waybe: SketchUp Models to Paper

Those who have subscribed to my SketchUp Projects of the Month since September got my project on how to take a simple SketchUp model and unfold it, in order to create a paper model. (If you're a subscriber who signed up after September, email me and I'll send you this PDF.)


Today I looked at a plug-in that does this unfolding for you, called Waybe.

Waybe can take a simple or complex SketchUp models, and unfold it into a printer-friendly format, maintaining all of the model's colors and materials. It's not exactly a one-click operation; for anything complex you need to divide your model into groups which get unfolded one at a time. (This is actually a good thing: it requires you to think and plan which sections of the models should be separated.) Waybe also includes fold tabs; very helpful.

On Waybe's home page you'll see this cool example of a tank model in SketchUp and its 3D paper model:



Teachers: there is an educational version of Waybe available for $80. But check out this page - it looks like they are having a promotion where you can get this version for FREE during the 2009-2010 school year. What a no-brainer!

If you've used a similar plug-in for creating paper models, let me know! I'm looking at Pepakura next...


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Upcoming November SketchUp Projects

On November 15th, subscribers to our Projects of the Month will be getting a fantastic batch of projects! If you haven't signed up, what are you waiting for? You get 36 projects (3 per month for 12 months) for $36 - that's $1 per project. A no-brainer, IMO.

Here's what's on tap for November:

American Flag

This project has it all: a bit of math, valuable lessons in spatial thinking and planning, and use of color and components. You start with a schematic drawing of the American flag, and create its geometrically accurate SketchUp model.


Cutout from a Photo

If you've ever wanted to jump into a SketchUp model, here's the next best thing. All you need is a digital photo, and you can create a "cardboard cutout" component to stick in any model. Bonus: this cutout always faces you, so it doesn't look like it's 2D.




Cube Nets

I've worked with a lot of geometry teachers lately, and this is just the sort of thing they want to see. A cube can be "unfolded" into 11 nets. This project will show how to find all 11 distinct solutions, but you don't have to share the answers with your students till they've tried it themselves.



Feedback on our past projects was incredibly positive; I'm excited to see how these projects go over! Again, here's the link to sign up.

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Challenge Yourself!

Design competitions are a great way to exercise and show off your modeling skills. Every so often Google hosts a competition with cash prizes, such as the recent shelter design contest, or last year's bridge modeling contest, which I helped judge.

But if you're in it for the bragging rights and not the money, check out the SketchUp 3D Challenge Site. Every 2-3 weeks someone posts an idea for a competition, and readers can vote for the winners.

The latest competition is for the design of a sports stadium. Hurry up - entries can be submitted until Nov 11!



Teachers: keep an eye on the 3D Challenge site and if a topic comes up that would interest your students, have them enter. Extra credit for contest winners!


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Geofix: Awesome Geometry Toy

This is a little delayed, but I visited the Didax booth last week at NCTM, and found some cool toys. What I took home was a small set of Geofix tiles - a set of interlocking polygons of equal edge length, which can connect to form Platonic and Archimedean solids, as well as stuff like mushrooms and snails:



As soon as I got home and showed these to my kids, they sat on the floor playing with them (and fighting over them) for a long while. My 9-year old made the snail.


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Math Teachers Dig 3DVinci

I'm in beautiful Boston, MA today and tomorrow, for the regional meeting of NCTM. This morning, Jon Choate and I gave a talk on 3D geometry with Google SketchUp. We had one of the larger conference rooms (about 300 capacity), and it was standing room only. At some point they stopped letting people in.



At the booth afterward, people said our talk was the highlight of their day, and that many people spent time at other presentations in the back, downloading and playing with SketchUp.

For the models used in our talk, see our 3D Warehouse collection.

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Escher for Halloween

I got this model from a teacher named June Still-Flores, who created these triangular Escher tiles after working through one of our September Projects of the Month.


Here's part of what June wrote:

I want to thank you for all the information you have about Sketch up. We are a small school (www.parkviewchristian.net) and we have started a high school this year. Its very non-traditional...we have 2 full time freshmen that come all day monday thru friday, and we have 12 more homeschool kids that come in various times for various classes. This year I have become a teacher for the "electives" for our freshmen. I am using SketchUp for our graphic arts class. I have never used SketchUp till I started this class. Your projects are a Godsend for our class. I started to search for more information about SketchUp lesson plans and I am soooo glad I came upon your site. It has been informative and useful. I have subscribed to the projects of the month club, which we are using for our class projects. I have been working on the Escher Triangle project. It has taken me about 3 hours and lots of "undoing" but feel a sense of accomplishment now that I have done it.

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October Projects are Ready to "Ship"!

On October 15th, subscribers to our Projects of the Month will be getting their second batch of projects. (The September projects were described here.)

If you haven't signed up yet, here's some incentive to do it soon: the $24 per year price will go up to $36 next month!

Here's what's on tap for October:

Hexagon Mosaics

You'll learn how to tessellate a hexagon, and use simple tools to embellish the pattern. This project also makes use of components, for easy, all-at-once updates.



Changing Textures

You've probably painted faces using materials like brick, stone, and tile. This project will show ou how to change a material's size, color, and exact placement.




Placing and Sizing in Google Earth

See how to place a SketchUp model in Google Earth, how to adjust the model's size and location, and how to make copies of the model.



Feedback on the September projects was incredibly positive; I'm excited to see how these projects are received as well! Again, here's the link to sign up.



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New Math Forum Project: Escher!

SketchUp + Escher = Skescher?

Here's my October project for the Math Forum: creating Escher tiles based on a square. This project appeals to math students, but also kids in art or graphic design classes. I let my own kids loose with this project, and they had a blast (though the model below was made by yours truly).


Escher was a genius - not only does his work teach concepts like tessellation, but also requires that you use your imagination to come up with animals or strange-looking people or monsters. What kid (or adult) wouldn't find that fun? And what better application to create these tiles than SketchUp?



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Modifying a Push/Pull

In addition to writing about useful plugins (see here, here, and here), I also like to write about features within SketchUp itself that most people don't know about. The subject of this post is the ever-popular Push/Pull tool, which you can modify with the Ctrl key (PC) or Option key (Mac).

Say you start with 3 concentric, flat circles:


This is what you get when you use Push/Pull on the red circle:

But this is how the underside looks - the original circle has been "sucked" up to the top of the red cylinder. What if you want to keep that face there?

The pulled faces always disappear when they are within other faces. If you pulled up the yellow and green circles, only the outer (green) circle would remain on the bottom.

Here's how you can preserve the pulled face. Starting over with the flat circles, activate Push/Pull then press (don't hold) Ctrl/Option. You'll see a "plus" sign on your cursor. Pull up as normal; from this view the result looks the same as before.

But on the underside, you still have the face at the center of the circles. It's been switched from front to back (the color is the "back" color), and I have no idea why this happens, but at least the face is still there.

If you then use Ctrl/Option for the yellow and green faces (you have to press the key anew each time), you'll keep all three faces at the bottom.

Here's a more practical application: cutting a window. The flat orange face below is to be pulled forward, to create the window moulding.


With or without the Ctrl/Option key, the window will look fine from inside the room.

But here's how it looks from the outside, without the modification - the moudling face was sucked back into the room.

With the Ctrl/Option key, you keep the face (albeit reversed) within the wall.





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Teen Center, Designed by Tweens

Mike Valler works with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Bedford, and has been showing his kids how to use SketchUp. Here is the design the kids came up with to fill the space in their new teen center. All of the furniture was designed from scratch, so just imagine what they'll put in those rooms once they start using the 3D Warehouse.

The designers of this project are between 10 and 12 years old. Pretty impressive.

Click the 3D button on the model below, and then drag the mouse from left to right to spin it around. Zoom in and out with your scroll wheel.


Mike says:

The only training they had was help by asking me as we went. It was very much a trial and error on all of our parts... but great fun. And for them to help create what is now the teen center was really cool for them.

If you want to download this model, get it here in the 3D Warehouse.


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What a Great Way to Start off the Week

Willy Felton is a teacher who is using my ModelMetricks and GeomeTricks materials with his students. I blogged about him before - see One Teacher's Opinion.) He sent me a link to this YouTube video he made showing what his students have done:



There's nothing like seeing the fruits of your work - the projects I've designed, with each student's personal touches.


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Raised Fret Model

A reader named Walter Page sent me an example of what he recently created with Joint Push Pull, a free SketchUp plugin I described last week. Walter created a cylinder with 27 identical raised frets:



Here's a quick description of how he did it:

The pattern repeats over 5 faces (highlighted below), and there are 27 total frets. So he started with a circle that has 27 x 5 = 135 side. Once the cylinder was created, hidden edges were displayed, and he created the edges needed for one fret:



Here are the faces of the fret, shown in red:



The red faces were rotate-copied around the cylinder 26 times.



All of the red faces need to be selected before using Joint Push Pull, and you can use Select / All with Same Material to get them all at once. Only after all faces are selected should hidden edges be turned off.



Then run Joint Push Pull, and presto. No way could you create these frets so easily without this plugin.



I asked Walter for some info about himself, and here's what he said:

I am 74 years old today, I have worked in the petrochemical industry most of my working life, from apprentice to draughtsman to designer to project engineer and finally to senior project engineer. I am still involved with the industry through an agency and have recently been modelling a process plant for one of my clients, size of the file is approx 150 MB, one of many.

From a very early age I have been interested in Technical Illustration, this was mainly through seeing the centrefold illustrations that appeared in the Eagle comic (Dan Dare). In the early days I used various plastic templates, but with the arrival of the computer age I have been able to achieve my life long wish to produce Eagle type models. I don't see this as a chore, I get great pleasure from it. At the end of the days work I can look at the model and know that I have achieved something.

I first used SketchUp 4 some years ago, at that time I was surprised at what it could do, other similar software was very complicated and too costly. I am self taught and put to rest the saying 'that you can't teach an old dog new tricks' Oh yes you can!

I feel the same way - it's quite satisfying and fun to create something beautiful, even if it's only on your computer. That's why I spend too many late nights doing this stuff...

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Photo in Frame: One Teacher's First Attempt in SketchUp

I got an email from a tech-ed teacher named "Mrs. V," who told me:

I tried your poster lesson for my VERY FIRST try at SketchUp. (Just myself, as a teacher/learner, not with a class.) I attached the drawing. It was fun and generally I had no problems with the directions for a first timer.

Here are her results:



Keep in mind that she had NEVER used SketchUp before, and was immediately able to create a room and group it, then import a photo and place a frame around it. Not bad for a first effort! Her blog about teaching technology is http://fivbert-technologyteacher.blogspot.com.

This wall poster project was included in our September set of SketchUp Projects of the Month. It can also be found online for free (PDF), for anyone who wants to see how these projects are set up. So far, we've heard only good feedback from our subscribers!

Anyone can design anything in 3D! www.3dvinci.net

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One Teacher's Opinion

Here's an email I recently got from a teacher:

After teaching Geometry for years I have been looking for a way for my students to play with the shapes that are so central to the subject matter. Daniel Pink in a "Whole New Mind" talks about how the skills of the 21st century will revolve around creativity and design and that these skills should be pervasive in education. Integrating SketchUp into my curriculum teaches mathematics along with these important 21st century skills. I have found that SketchUp is a great way for students to experiment with abstract and realistic geometric shapes in their own creative way. They feel a sense of ownership and control over the mathematics in stark contrast to the shapes and designs shown in textbooks.

My students have enjoyed learning the tools of SketchUp because of their love for computers, and I have found that they can manipulate complex shapes without the drudgery of normal construction tools. I had a student create an icosahedron on the second day of class, I had a discussion about symmetry and Platonic solids in a more natural way than would have occurred if I had presented the material as a lecture.

SketchUp is a much more engaging tool for today's students than tractional compass and straight edge. I am a self-taught SketchUp user and 3DVinci has been a great resource for me to learn how to demonstrate geometrical ideas to my students with technology. Once students have made objects in SketchUp I show them the Geometrical theorems that apply to their work, and not just abstract shapes to which they have no connection.

Geometry is all around us and SketchUp allows students to explore the relationships of shapes that exist in their world in a fun and engaging way. Teaching SketchUp in my classroom always results in comments like "wow", "this is so neat", and "look what I created". Students are asking me questions about Geometrical concepts because they want to create and explore the shapes, not because they need to study for a test.

I have found the material in 3DVinci books to be clear and easy for students to follow.

Willy Felton
5th year teacher of Algebra 1, 2, Geometry, Precalculus, Trig
The Community School
Sun Valley Idaho

This absolutely made my day.




Anyone can design anything in 3D! www.3dvinci.net

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