Peter is 13, going into 8th grade, and has Asperger's. He's a science and math whiz, so maybe it's no surprise that he's a budding SketchUp expert as well. He had been using SketchUp 6 in school, and after seeing us at the conference, he popped over every so often with his laptop, asking how to do this or that in SketchUp. Each time, one of us would explain the technique or tool in question, he'd leave for about 15 minutes, and come back with a completed model.
Here's a house model Peter worked on. He did the main design from scratch, and got the "extras" from the 3D Warehouse (car, bike, trees, etc.).
I guess the silo isn't really a silo because it has windows and there's a guy inside with a kid on his shoulders:
He also asked about making cutouts out of a photo, and I spent about 10 minutes showing him how to do it. This is how he applied the technique - placing a turtle cutout inside a tank:
Peter's an impressive kid, very courteous, funny, and obviously smart. His mom reports that his skills are lopsided, like most kids on the spectrum (including my own). I don't how he interacts with other kids, but with adults he was a pleasure to be around.
Here are some more fun facts about Peter:
He loves to build, and spent part of recent family vacation building a Lego Taj Mahal.
And here's a video of his winning entry for this year's Science Olympiad. He built a plane made of balsa wood and rubber bands, which stayed aloft for about 80 seconds.
Anyone can design anything in 3D! www.3dvinci.net
