I've been pretty remiss on this blog lately, and it's not because there hasn't been much to write about. We have all of our books updated for SketchUp 2013, and that's taken up so much time there isn't much left for blogging. But I've also just finished the August projects for our Projects of the Month subscribers, and here's what they are:
Changing Traffic Light
In this project you start with a completed traffic light model and create an animation of the lights changing.
Trundle Bed
This is the bed one of my kids wanted from a catalog, and since we're not buying it I thought a SketchUp model was the next best thing. The fun part of this project is learning how to fit the bed posts into the headboard and footboard.
Clock with Numbers
It looks easy, right? Not so fast! If you want each number to be in its exact spot around the clock, and be facing the right way, the component - swapping trick in this project will help.
The middle of summer can be a relaxing time with not much to do (if you're a kid), but it's great to have indoor activities at the ready for those days when it's just too darn hot to be outside. (Or if you're having too many thunderstorms, like we are in DC!) Here's what subscribers to our Projects of the Month will receive one week today, on July 15th:
Beach Scene
If you can't get to an actual beach this summer, here's the next best thing! Use SketchUp to prepare a scene you can dive right into, starting with a picture you can use as the background image. The other objects in your model can be downloaded from the 3D Warehouse, or modeled by you if you're so inclined.
Mona Bieber
You can blame my kids for this one. When I told them I wanted to show how to put someone's face in famous painting, my 12 year old wanted the Mona Lisa, and my 9 year old insisted on Justin Bieber's face on her. The results: disturbing!
Engineering Toolbox
People have been complaining that SketchUp has lacked the ability to easily insert standard objects like function curves, 3D solids, even objects such as beams, flanges, channels, lumber pieces, etc. There's a plugin called Engineering Toolbox that lets you do just this, for free.
Stay busy and sharp this summer - get our Projects of the Month for just $25.95 per year!
The school year may be winding down, but summer can be a great time to take some time for 3D modeling! If you're a subscriber to our Projects of the Month, here's what's on tap for the projects that will be sent out this weekend:
Greebles
With the help of an amazing plugin, you can take simple shapes and add greebles, little (or not so little) bumps to make a boring shape much more interesting.
Beach Ball
Here's a great model to get you thinking about a beach vacation: a beach ball created with a few simple tools.
Cube and Hexagon
You might not think there's a relationship between a cube and a hexagon, but so many objects in 2D and 3D geometry are related in interesting ways. This project shows you how to use the Section Plane tool to find a hexagon inside a cube.
A favorite activity in the SketchUp class I teach has been to create a table and load it up with food and drink. Some of the kids wanted to model soft drink cans, so this project shows how to use a downloaded image to do just that.
Easy City
This is another favorite activity in my class, "invented" by one student almost by accident. Starting with some randomly drawn lines, rectangles, or other shapes, you can quickly draw up a modern-looking city.
Copy Along Path
Domino runs make for a fun project in Sketchy Physics (watch for my soon-to-be-released book on that topic!), and this project shows how to use two easy plugins for making copies of anything (including dominoes) along a set path.
Again, here's that link where you can sign up to get our projects, still just $24.95 for 12 months. Summer's coming - do you have enough activities to keep your kids (and yourself!) busy?
Going out next Monday to those who subscribe to our Projects of the Month (still on sale for $24.95 for a year!) are these three fun projects:
Giant Mutant Killer Ants
In this project, you use SketchUp to pick a spot on Earth and import some huge ants that will be taking over a city. Then you get too see what the creatures look like on the actual Earth (well, Google Earth, the next best thing).
Walk Through
This project shows how to use SketchUp's Walkthrough tools: Position Camera, Walk, and Look Around, to create an animated tour of a house's interior. (My animation from this project can be found in the next blog post - scroll down or go to http://3dvinci.blogspot.com/2013/04/walk-through.html.)
Moire Pattern
This project is better seen as an animation - by creating sets of stripes of various sizes, you can create a model that shows a Moire pattern, in which your eye fills in wavy black curves where no curves actually exist. (See my animation father down on this blog: http://3dvinci.blogspot.com/2013/04/sketchup-moire-pattern.html.)
Following my previous post, which has a video of a SketchUp Moire pattern, here's another result of one of this month's Projects of the Month.
It's an animation of a walk-through, showing various rooms of a house. The project showcases SketchUp's Walkthrough tools, which simulate standing in a specific position, walking, and looking around. When you create scenes of specific walkthrough "stops," you get a very nice presentation.
Check out this video (sorry, not the best resolution) of a Moire pattern in SketchUp:
This comes from one of the April Projects of the Month, going out next week. There's nothing overly complicated in making the model itself - the trick is getting the right viewing angle so that your eye "fills in" all those wavy black lines.
My friend and colleague Eric Schimelpfenig has been working on this for years, and now it's here: SketchThis - a fantastic SketchUp plugin for kitchen designers. Check out the very dramatic teaser vid:
Eric is a professional kitchen / bath designer, and a longtime SketchUp aficionado. He does training and custom 3D modeling, and now SketchThis is the culmination of his years of experience in 3D. He's a whiz at dynamic components - SketchUp objects you can configure. Dynamic components can be parametric, change materials, have choices of sizes, you name it. I saw his dynamic components demo at last year's Base Camp, and within 50 minutes he built *from scratch* a set of cabinets that any kitchen designer would kill for.
SketchThis has mostly free content, so anyone can download and play around with it. For kitchen and bath pros who want access to the entire content database, there is a $29.99 / month subscription fee - Eric sees SketchThis as direct competition with 2020 (the current industry standard) - and his subscription is WAY cheaper than what you'd pay for a 2020 seat.
Please give SketchThis a try, and feel free to share your feedback (bonnie@3dvinci.net). I'll probably include a project on this in one of my upcoming subscription projects, using the free content of course, so look for that email in the next month or two!
And Eric and I have been planning out a kitchen / bath design book, based on SketchThis, but also to include more general design and planning tips and info. Lots of news to look for in the hopefully near future!
March is the month of pretty things, at least in our set of projects! Here's what we have for project subscribers (still on sale for $24.95 per year!) coming out next week on the 15th.
Amazing Polyhedra
A math professor who's used my GeomeTricks books to create Platonic and related solids has created a wonderful model for everyone to use, containing organized sets of solids you can combine. (See my blog post about this!) This project shows you just some of the things you can make by starting with this model, and all the hard modeling work had already been done for you!
Dotted Mug
This project came from one of my SketchUp enrichment students. She wanted to know how to start with a simple cup, or mug, or bowl . . .
. . . and place polka dots all over it. This is a fun project that makes use of the Intersect Faces tool.
Broken Wine Glass
I recently saw this very neat image, which I believe is a rendered image of a SolidWorks model:
It's also possible to create this gravity-defying model in SketchUp!
These projects will show you all sorts of fun modeling techniques - why not subscribe now? For $24.95 you get 36 projects over 12 months, and many hours of "WOW!"
Math professor Debra Borkovitz recently sent me this video she made, which beautifully shows the interactions between Platonic, Archimedean, and their derivative solids. You don't need to be a math geek to appreciate the amazing, eye-popping relationships between all of these 3D objects.
In her blog post, Debra explains how she made the models in SketchUp (she used my GeomeTricks books to learn how to create many of these objects!), and also goes into detail about making the video itself. Like the music? It was composed by her friend and colleague, another math professor!
If you want to experiment with these objects yourself, be sure to download Debra's model, which contains all of the solids used in this video, each on its own layer. Click the 3D icon below to spin or zoom the model, and click "Google 3D Warehouse" to go to its download page.
To control layer visibility in Debra's model, open the Layers window and check the Visible box for what you want to see. You could play with this model for hours!
This month's projects, going out to subscribers next week, includes a Sketchy Physics example -I've been making so many amazing models for my upcoming book! The subscription price is still discounted at just $24.95 for a year, which includes 18 fun projects.
Jenga!
With the free Sketchy Physics plugin, you can make a FUNCTIONING JENGA GAME - this project shows you how. Once you build your tower, start pulling out blocks. Will yours fall right away, or stay up?
House Plans
This project is a teacher request: How to start with a realistic model of a house . . .
. . . and create floor plans.
Tip of the Screw
One of last month's projects showed how to make screw threads, using spirals and the Scale tool. But a real screw ends in a point (or close to a point). This project shows an easy way to finish off the end of the screw model.
My goal is to get everyone to think, visualize, and create in 3D. You're never too old or too young - my materials are great for kids as young as 8, and for design pros throughout their careers. I live in DC with my wonderful family.
