Charlotte Lee, Author at Elmtec Sketchup

10 Awesome SketchUp Plugins That Will Up Your Modelling Game

Posted on July 01, 2022February 09, 2024 by Charlotte Lee

Your SketchUp designs are already pretty awesome. Now you’re going in search of the best SketchUp modeling plugins, those tasty extras that make designing more enjoyable, more creative, even faster and even easier. There’s an enormous choice, so how do you pick the most awesome of all? Here are the very best free SketchUp plugins, each created to support stunning renditions of the real world in digital form.

You’ll be able to model simple and complex curved surfaces with confidence, and use SketchUp native tools on them. You’ll bend groups and components, and slice models into specified pieces before preparing them for cutting. You’ll find it easier to create geometry, easier to make fantastic render-ready assets like plants, grass, rocks, 3D people, homewares, lighting, art and furniture.

Custom textures, visualising scenes with textures, creating rails, stairs, columns, walls, doors, or windows, it’s all simple with SketchUp modeling plugins. You’ll be fluent in making roofs, beams, rafters, roof tiles, shingles, rooftops and their parts. And you’ll optimise models in SketchUp like a pro. Read on to find out the best plugins in SketchUp.

Best SketchUp Plugins

SketchUp plugins, also called extensions, are simply tools to help make SketchUp even easier, more flexible, faster and more fun. They boost productivity, deliver cool short-cuts, and add extra functionality. The best SketchUp plugins have a variety of powers and capabilities, but they’re all intended to free your creative spirit by doing most or all of the work for you.

We know the enormous choice can be a bit bewildering. Where do you start? A good spread of functionalities will help most designers, new and experienced, do more. Here are ten of the best free SketchUp modeling plugins, all available to play with for nothing. Fire up your imagination with these cool extensions.

Soap & Skin Bubble

Soap & Skin Bubble is brilliant for modelling curved surfaces in no time, beautifully. It’s free, which makes it even more desirable. Available on the Extension Warehouse, as well as via the SketchUp Extension Manager plugin, it has been developed by Josef L.

The free plugin lets modellers like you make a multi-faceted face inside a closed group of three or more lines easily and fast. All you do is choose the lines, start the plugin, tell it how many faces you want, then watch it happen. You can also inflate and deflate the finished new face. Soap & Skin Bubble is especially good for organic-shaped models. No wonder it’s one of the best free SketchUp plugins.

Tools On Surface

Tools on Surface does what you expect quickly and perfectly, as well as free. It lets you use SketchUp native tools on curved surfaces, giving you a wealth of options and flexibility to morph curves in extraordinary ways. Find it at Sketchucation.com, developed by Fredo 6.

A suite of clever little tools for drawing on curved surfaces, you can draw using lines, various shapes, offset, and freehand / polyline. There’s a nifty inference mechanism, a nice Contour Editor, and the plugin’s own dedicated Eraser. Version 2.5 comes with a performance contextual menu.

Flowify

Flowify is one of the best SketchUp plugins. It lets you bend any group or component created in SketchUp in a multitude of ways, enriching the creative experience by opening up a whole new way to draw groups of objects. Another freebie, you’ll find it on Sketchucation.com. The developer is Anders L.

Flowify is the SketchUp equivalent of Rhino’s command FlowAlongSrf, created for work on rectangular quad grids. Inputs to the extension are groups or components of source geometry. The support group is laid out like this:

Group with projection plane – Your projection plane is either an empty rectangular face or a flat custom-made quad grid, with the same topology as the target surface.
Group with target surface – The target surface is a rectangular quad grid with four distinct corners.
Group with connection edges – The connection edges (or when they intersect, the construction lines) connect two adjacent corners on the projection plane with two on the target surface

Slicer

Another of the best SketchUp plugins, QuadFace Tools makes it really simple to create geometry, however complex the project. A plugin that saves an enormous amount of time and effort, this collection of tools harnesses pseudo-quad modeling in SketchUp. It’s available free on both Extension Warehouse and Sketchucation.com, and it has been developed by ThomThom.

QuadFace Tools

3D Bazaar lets you make brilliant render-ready assets like plants, grass, rocks, 3D people, housewares, lights, artwork and furniture. It’s free to use and offers a choice of paid-for assets costing anything from $5 to $180. You’ll find it in the Extension Warehouse, developed by Lindalë.

Basically it’s a large SketchUp model repository full of top quality render-ready assets for SketchUp. Think plants, furniture, 3D people and masses more. You save time and effort finding models online, then setting them up in SketchUp. It’s all done for you, and the collection is updated monthly.

This is high-quality render-ready with no setup. Every single 3D Bazaar Marketplace asset has been developed with care and attention to detail. They’re all render-ready out of the box. All you do is decide on proxies or standard geometry, then click Import.

One of the very best free SketchUp modeling plugins, it supports the big three V-Ray, Enscape, and Thea renderers, and most of the assets are renderer-compatible. You can render in parallel with a single import. 3D Bazaar finds and re-links every map and proxy for you. Just drag, drop, and begin rendering, whether it’s assets downloaded from the Marketplace or files on your machine.

The advanced search engine organises your local library and finds the asset you’re looking for quickly. Your entire collection is indexed for search by model name, description, and more.

Architextures

Architextures is a fantastic way to make custom textures, and visualise scenes with textures. Another of the best SketchUp plugins. It’s free. You’ll find it in the Extension Warehouse, developed by Architextures in collaboration with KG-dev. The pro version costs $70.

This is how you make and edit a multitude of seamless textures, bump maps, and hatches. It’s perfect for Interior Design, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture projects. You create your textures using the Architextures web app directly in SketchUp.

Import materials instantly. Test material options for your design without downloading. No need to import and scale materials manually. Edit the textures you’ve imported later, simply right-clicking on a face with the material assigned then selecting ‘Edit with Architextures’.

MAJ Rail & Column

MAJ Rail and MAJ Column are some of the Best free SketchUp plugins for creating rails and columns. They’re free to use and you’ll find them in the Extension Warehouse, developed by Majid M.

The MAJ collection of plugins helps designers create quickly and efficiently. It comes with an impressive free plugins list:

MAJ Beam for beams
MAJ Column to make columns quickly and efficiently
MAJ Wall for drawing walls with 3 different layers
MAJ Door to make doors to go in your MAJ walls
MAJ Window to make windows for your MAJ walls
MAJ FollowMe for making 3D shapes simply, choosing a face that follows the mouse pointer
MAJ Rail to make three different types of rail
MAJ Stair for 4 different thicknesses of stairs

There’s also a collection of paid extras for making Cornice, Wall Interiors, Baseboards, and Floors in one click. You can make amazing halogen lamps on Knauf. The paid version lets you enjoy unlimited face list and face rotation, and it also comes with six different types of rails.

MAJ Column creates square and rectangular concrete columns including rebars, stirrups, and material information, making it a great choice for 3D Printing and Architecture in particular. Create columns and column components quickly and easily.

The plugin asks you for information about the column: Column length, width, or height. You can also specify Column to Zero, Rebar Size, Rebar Number, Stirrup Size, Stirrup Distance, Neck Top and Neck Bottom. And it saves the information so your ‘last column’ is always there for you.

Once you’ve confirmed your specification, select the first and second points for the column. The first point gives you a view of the column body. Columns, rebars, and stirrups are made in the Foundation Tag. Look in the Info tag for Concrete Volume, Rebars Length, Rebars Volume, Stirrups Length, and Stirrups Volume. If you don’t need rebars or stirrups, all you do is select ‘zero’ size.

MAJ rails is just as simple to use, allowing designs of a multitude of rails for all sorts of projects.

CleanUp

CleanUp is what you need to optimise your models in SketchUp. It’s free, available at the Extension Warehouse and developed by ThomThom.

The plugin quickly fixes duplicate component definition names when in model scope. It’ll purge the items you haven’t used, and get rid of hidden geometry. It erases duplicate faces, gets rid of lonely edges unless they’re on a cut plane, and removes edge material.

Use the tool to repair split edges, smooth and soften edges, put edges and faces to Layer0, merge identical materials, and merge connected co-planar faces.

Instant Roof

The Instant Roof plugin is used to create roofs, beams, rafters, roof tiles, and shingles, basically every sort of rooftop as well as rooftop parts. It’s free, available at the Extension Warehouse, developed by Chuck Vali. It’s a fabulous way to create roofs, beams, rafters, roof tiles, shingles and more, particularly handy for Architecture and Landscape Architecture projects.

You can achieve such a lot with Instant Roof:

Create gable, Hip, Shed, Mansard, Dutch Gable, Split-Pitch and more roof types – Choose from many preset options or create your own custom library including custom roof style images
Make Boxed-in, Exposed, and Soffited eaves – it supports multiple eave heights
Create Hips, Rafters, and Beams and decorative trusses with decorative end profiles from lines or faces
Make corbels for flat soffits
Includes a dormer component maker tool and Cornice Mouldings for flat soffits
Comes with 14 presets – or make your own profile Beam Ends at Gables and Dutch Gables
Optional Underside of Roof Greek Returns and Queen Returns at Gables Bird Blocks: Add angled or plumb (for eave rafter tails, not for full roof framing)
Dutch Gable Styles: Choose from many preset styles or create custom user style library including custom style images
Choose from many predefined Beam, Hip, and Rafter end profiles
Align Material Textures on Eaves, Rafters, Beams, and Hips
Roofing Gutters: Choose from predefined gutter profiles
Use Mission Tile, Roman tile, Flat tiles, Shingles, Standing seams, and more
Make Mission Tile bird stops and Ridge Closures
Apply Variegated colour roof tiles and Shingles
Reapply, Change or Delete Materials as a separate operation from creating your roof or roof detail Supports all SketchUp units, Metric, and Imperial
Take offs and a take-off log

· Cad Fixer included

The PNY Graphics Card Experience With The Founder Of Archilime

Posted on June 30, 2022June 13, 2024 by Charlotte Lee

Please can you introduce yourself to the community?

Hi guys, I’m Jack Dicker, founder of both Archilime Visualisation and Archilime Academy. Our visualisation team offer innovative marketing solutions for property developers internationally, to assist them in selling off-plan by providing a variety of visualisation services from CGI, interactive site maps, app selectors, photo-montages, brochure design, company and site development branding, film, photography, website design, Interior Design, social media and marketing all to be produced in-house in our lovely office on the River Dart in Buckfastleigh, Devon.

Our Academy teaches other creative professionals how to do what we do in regards to our visualisation output. Our Academy delegates range from Architects, landscape Architects, Interior Designers, Set Designers, Craftspeople and hobbyists who are all seeking to advance and develop their 3D techniques, learning more efficient & better optimised processes to allow them to reach a higher potential of quality.

Great thanks! How did you get started with PNY and NVIDIA products and why?

We have been in communications with CHAOS now for a few years, as far back as when I remember trying to build ‘fur’ manually with each being 3D modelled geometric grass blades back on V-ray 2.0. We had one of the most helpful contacts who worked on the development team called Ted Vitale.

I’d go as far to say that my direction and knowledge for this industry has come mostly from him in the early stages. As the relationship built up, we started to produce work for CHAOS and moved into being part of the testing team for the new versions along with producing their promo film for vray 5.

The latest partnership we now have is working on their V-ray 6 promo film and project of whom we have also partnered up with KOTO on. Essentially, Archilime is collaborating with KOTO and we are working together to build a fully utilised 3D environment of a project designed by KOTO and built by us, in Palm Springs, California. This environment will then be a shareable project for V-ray 6 buyers. Because of this new partnership, we were also introduced to NVIDIA who are now supporting us in the development of the Archilime Academy and have gifted us some beautiful A6000 RTX cards – We will be at 3D basecamp in Vancoover at the end of September for anyone that wants to come over and say hello!

Do you use graphics cards when rendering, if so why and what graphics card?

Yes! We absolutely do. We are currently using a mixture of 3090’s, A6000’s & 1080Ti’s for different processes. We vary the use of the cards because we build all our equipment ourselves so try to custom design builds that work for each artist.

Someone looking to offer Real-Time Vantage workshops and material option sessions would be equipped with one of the A6000’s as we can host these over Zoom without issues. For our 3D modelers, the 1080Ti’s are absolutely perfect and can be used with no issues at all. All of our artists have access to our 400core CPU farm here at Archilime but the beauty of the A6000’s is that they can render pretty much at the same speed if not faster.

The A6000’s are a game changer for us and we are now contemplating whether we move into fully operational GPU based rendering based on this positive experience.

How important are these products to your workflow?

As mentioned above, the A6000’s in particular have completely revolutionised our workflow, not just in terms of internal speed and efficiency, but also the level of client interaction and value these new processes can offer. With real time workshops enabled by the A6000’s, we can be offering our clients fully immersive design control over their projects as well as saving us operational time in going back and forth on amendments.

What does your typical design workflow look like?

Our workflow is quite unique in the sense that we have an Interior Designer, Interior CGI artist, Exterior CGI artist, Account manager and Design team who all work together in each project. We found that the key part of this is the Interior Designer because we can then control the full creative brief with the client as early as thinking about how to design a space whilst also ensuring that our CGI output is to the highest quality we can.

Any artist will know, it doesn’t matter how good we are at realism, the styling is what will ultimately sell the idea to the client. Because we work with property developers we then have full access to specifications and can tie in our Interior Design process with this. The process starts with the Interior Designer having a workshop with the client right through to the Design team building the marketing materials with all the branded visualisation to ensure consistency.

During that process, we have a very thorough QC process where each artist would have a senior sponsor to check and control the technical aspects of the imagery.

Is there a particular job or piece of work you’re most proud of?

There’s many pieces of work that myself and the team are proud of, particularly over the last year. Every single artist we work with has developed their skills and is producing work that is stronger and better than their last.

For me personally, a project that shows off this evolution the best is a project we completed for a hotel in Salcombe for the Harbour Hotels Group. We worked closely with their interior design team to fully understand and encapsulate their interior vision throughout our CGI’s and are really proud of both the technical skill and marketing potential evident in the final images.

We did over 400 CGI’s over 60 projects in the year 2021-2022 and 2022-23 is set to be even stronger due to these new advances in our workflow and processes.

The SketchUp Journey from Scratch With Kingsbrook Joinery

Posted on June 17, 2022June 13, 2024 by Charlotte Lee

Luke’s journey begun at the beginning of Lockdown 2020, as the world went into complete shutdown, he decided to take the leap and start his own business. As you will see from his story today, the hard work and dedication has paid off with an impressive warehouse, a current team of 8 and an ever expanding workload, building incredible pieces from 3D model to real life.

Once his designing journey had begun on his own there are various aspects of running a joinery business Luke opened up to not needing to worry about before. 3D modelling being one of them.

“While I worked for a company, we had designers who would look after the concept side of our projects, I would only be responsible for the building”

However, Luke explain it was a unexpectedly simple process to learn the basics of SketchUp, but an anxious process at the beginning, he told SketchUp that before lockdown he didn’t use a laptop and his partner needed to help him log on for the first time!

With the user-friendly interface Luke was able to pick up his SketchUp skills fast and get designing new projects for the flood of customers coming to his door without spending hours watching tutorials and spending hundreds outsourcing it from the beginning.

You can see from the image below, Luke started experimenting on SketchUp and how quickly his SketchUp skills grew.

“Learning on the job was a must for me, and SketchUp really allows you to work most things out on your own, I didn’t have time to sit staring at YouTube for hours, I had a new family to spend time with.”

As his business grew from strength to strength, Luke was able to move into creating 3D designs in SketchUp confidently for clients, allowing them to see their ideas come to life before they were built, and also transfer 3D models back into 2D designs using LayOut containing measurements for the building process.

“One of our team members Josh creates the LayOut drawings and is a wizz on SketchUp so we are lucky to have him!”

SketchUp UK will be sitting down with Josh for a 1-2-1 tutorial in the near future for anyone who wants to learn more about LayOut and how it works!

The next challenge was being able to create 3D models and designs to hand over to his ever growing team to build.

“Designing in SketchUp had become second nature to me, it was a whole new ball game designing these models and handing them out to others to build, you have to make the designs much more detailed and have a clear understanding on how it is going to be built.”

Finally, we asked Luke to showcase some projects for us and talk about what projects he is currently working on.

“I love working on designs like the ones attached below, they take a lot of work but are worth it in the end, being able to see the final project and how happy the customer is gives us all the fulfillment we love from this business! I also love wardrobe designs are they are the easiest to create in SketchUp and always looks great and classy”

To see more of Lukes work, 3D modelling designs and renders, you can find them on social media here:

Sketchup Subscriptions

Posted on June 14, 2022July 14, 2023 by Charlotte Lee

There’s a great choice. But how do you choose the right Sketchup licence or pick the perfect Sketchup subscriptions? The answer lies in knowing exactly what each subscription provides, what the features and benefits are, and what the experts recommend. Here it is, all in one place. By the end of this article you’ll be fluent in the various types of Sketchup software: the Sketchup Pro licence, Sketchup Pro Student, Sketchup free and the rest. Read on to know the score.

Sketchup Licences

First, let’s explore the many excellent features of each Sketchup software licence. Your choice depends on exactly what you want to use the tool for, in what context, and the functionality you need. Every choice comes with access to a fantastic free library of tutorials and learning resources.

Sketchup Free

Sketchup Free is a great way to test-drive the software for yourself, see how it works and performs. It has everything you need to get a grip on the magic of Sketchup. This is the simplest free 3D modelling software out there, web based for flexibility. It lets you bring your 3D ideas online and makes SketchUp projects portable, not restricted to the machine you work on. Because it comes with such great functionality it’ll do everything you need a 3d drawing tool to do. Just bring inspiration and you’re off. This is what you get with Sketchup free:

The Basic SketchUp modeller
A Trimble Connect Personal subscription
SketchUp Viewer applications for iOS and Android
Basic importers for .PNG and .JPG files
Exporters for .PNG and .STL files

Sketchup Go

Previously Sketchup Shop, SketchUp Go is a bundle of superb collaborative Sketchup software tools designed for conceptual 3D designs. It’s a subscription-based version of web-based SketchUp including professional-level features, Trimble Connect for Business, plus email support. This is the one you need when you want to design, mark up concepts, and share everything with your team quickly. It’s a great way to get buy-in, get the best ideas from everyone, and do it all via a simple, easy to use mobile solution. Here’s what’s included:

The premium quality online modeller, SketchUp for Web
A Trimble Connect for Business subscription
Augmented reality viewing on SketchUp Viewer for iOS and Android
Advanced importers .3DS, .DAE, .DEM, 2D and 3D .DWG/DXF, .KMZ and .STL
Advanced exporters .3DS, 2D and 3D .DWG/DXF, .FBX, .KMZ, .OBJ, .VRML, .XSI and COLLADA
Editable Styles
Editable Materials

Sketchup Pro

A Sketchup Pro licence offers a wonderfully intuitive way to design, document and communicate ideas in 3D. You actually iterate in 3D. You create detailed, accurate models from the start. You can design, define, and plan in every stage of a project and it plays nicely with other design tools. The Extension Warehouse offers exciting extra functionality. Objects let you work fast and smart. Customisation makes everything unique. It generates detailed reports for stakeholders. And it harnesses inferencing for optimal accuracy and speed. This is what Sketchup Pro UK

Includes under the Sketchup Pro licence:

A Premium online modeller
A Trimble Connect for Business subscription
SketchUp Pro for Desktop, LayOut, and Style Builder, desktop apps only previously available through a Classic SketchUp Pro licence
Augmented reality viewing on SketchUp Viewer for iOS and Android
Viewing on these Mixed Reality (XR) applications: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Hololens, and HP Windows Mixed Reality

Sketchup Studio

Sketchup Studio offers everything you get in the Pro version in the Sketch licence plus some brilliant extras you won’t want to miss out on. This gives you the full suite of Sketchup tools in one place, so you can deliver excellence every time, in no time. It has:

V-Ray for SketchUp, bringing gorgeous photorealistic rendering to your workflow

Scan Essentials, letting you work with point cloud scanned data in SketchUp. It’s great to be able to use Scan Essentials to import point cloud data in all sorts of popular formats

What’s new in SketchUp Studio

V-Ray 5 for SketchUp provides stunning visuals. With its help it’s easy to present beautiful, workable designs that look uncannily real. And it’s easier to convince your stakeholders. It’s all about the lighting. When you present ideas lit with realistic lighting that can track the time of day, moving with the sun, and change at night, it’s incredibly real-looking. You’ve brought your idea to life. Here’s what V-Ray can do for you:

Auto-generate a range of lighting options in just a few clicks without any expert lighting knowledge – it’s so intuitive
Achieve global illumination
Create rendered lines
Make realistic natural and artificial lighting features to inspire your clients’ imagination
Access to 20 cloud credits via Chaos Cloud, V-Ray’s superb cloud rendering service
Access to a robust 3D content library, Chaos Cosmos, a great source of easy-to-render content to download into your design

Scan Essentials lets you import, view, and interact with point cloud data in the SketchUp modelling environment. You use your imported point cloud inside SketchUp to model the scanned as-built condition of the design, reveal accurate visual context to the Sketchup model you’ve made, and collect accurate data about measurements. As you can imagine, it saves designers a lot of time, which means saving money.

Import and view point cloud data directly in SketchUp
Model on point cloud data in SketchUp
Document point cloud data clearly in 2D with LayOut

What’s included in SketchUp Studio

Sketchup Studio is absolutely crammed with amazing features, all created to make your design life better, easier, more cost effective, faster, and more efficient. Your work will be more inspiring. Your clients will be delighted. You’ll be able to get even more creative. So what does it offer? Here’s a comprehensive list of all the goodies that come with popular Sketchup Studio:

SketchUp Pro – top class 3D design software that thousands of people around the world swear by, across a multitude of sectors and industries
V-Ray 5 for eye-poppingly good 3D renders
Scan Essentials for fast, accurate point cloud data work
LayOut
StyleBuilder
PreDesign
Add Location
Access to the Extension Warehouse
Access to the 3D Warehouse
XR Viewer
Mobile Viewer
Trimble Connect Business
SketchUp for Web, the portable version you can take with you anywhere

Sketchup Studio FAQs

Finally, let’s answer some of your most pressing questions about Sketchup software.

What is offered in a Studio subscription?

Sketchup Studio provides designers with the full suite of products. You get everything available in SketchUp Pro plus V-Ray for rendering stunning realistic lighting effects, and Scan Essentials to enable work on super-fast point cloud data. It comes with SketchUp Pro, SketchUp for Web, Trimble Connect Business, Scan Essentials, V-Ray, LayOut, Extension Warehouse, 3D Warehouse, Mobile Viewer, XR Viewer, PreDesign, StyleBuilder, unlimited Trimble Connect cloud storage.

What’s the difference between a SketchUp Studio subscription and a SketchUp Studio for Higher Education subscription?

SketchUp Studio for commercial use includes V-Ray and Scan Essentials. SketchUp Studio for Higher Education includes Sefaira but not V-Ray and Scan Essentials. Sefaira provides cloud-based software for energy efficient building design, winners of the Green Building Innovation of the Year award at London's Ecobuild. These days it’s part of Trimble Inc.

Is Studio a Windows-only offering?

Your SketchUp Studio subscription includes Windows-only V-Ray 5 and Scan Essentials.

How do I upgrade from SketchUp Pro to SketchUp Studio?

It’s easy to move from Sketchup Pro UK to Studio. Just sign in to your account with your Trimble ID. Go to Plan Settings. Then click on the plan you want to upgrade to, and it’ll take you through the buying process.

How can I access SketchUp Studio?

When you already have a SketchUp Studio subscription, it’s easy to download the products in your Trimble Account Management Portal or AMP. Don’t forget, SketchUp Studio is Windows-only.

Can I try SketchUp Studio before I purchase?

Yes, feel free to give it a try even if you’ve already signed up for Go or Pro.

I am a current SketchUp Studio subscriber. What are my options?

If you already have a Studio subscription, you can access V-Ray and Scan Essentials via your Trimble Account Management Portal. You’ll still have Sefaira. When renewal comes around, it’s time to decide whether you want to hang onto Sefaira or remove it. The Sketchup price is lower without it.

The 30 Second Secret To Creating Your First 3D Model In SketchUp

Posted on June 13, 2022December 12, 2023 by Charlotte Lee

If you’ve never created a 3D model in SketchUp (or any other modeling program), the following steps offer a quick overview the basics:

Select the person, context-click the selection, and select Erase in the context menu that appears.

In the Getting Started toolbar, select the Rectangle tool ().

On the ground plane, in the space between the red and green axis, click the Rectangle tool cursor (). Then move your cursor to the right and click again. A rectangle appears on the ground, as shown here.

On the Getting Started toolbar, select the Push/Pull tool (), and place the Push/Pull cursor over the rectangle you just created, as shown in the following figure.

Click and drag your rectangle up into a 3D shape. Keep an eye on the Measurements box and release the cursor when your shape is about 5 feet tall.

Without clicking or selecting anything, simply type 6’ and press Enter. Notice how the height of your shape changed to exactly 6 feet tall, and the value you entered appears in the Measurements box.

In the Getting Started toolbar, select the Orbit tool (). Place the Orbit cursor above your shape. Then click and hold while you move the mouse down. Notice how the view of your shape changes, as shown in the following figure. Practice clicking and dragging with the Orbit tool as much as you like. It’s a pretty fun tool!

In the Getting Started toolbar, click the Zoom Extents button (). If you orbit around until you lose track of where you are in your model, the Zoom Extents button is a handy way to reorient yourself.

If you have a scroll-wheel mouse, scroll down to zoom out a bit. Working in SketchUp is much easier with a scroll-wheel mouse. However, if your mouse lacks a scroll wheel, click the Zoom tool () and you can zoom in and out that way, too.

No matter what tool is selected, holding down the scroll wheel activates the Orbit tool until you release the scroll wheel.

Top Tip!

In the Getting Started toolbar, click the Paint Bucket tool ().

In the Materials panel that appears, select Colors from the drop-down menu, as shown here. Then select a color from the options that appear on the Select tab.

Click one side of your model with the Paint Bucket cursor to apply your selected color. Experiment a bit with the different options in the drop-down menu if you like. For example, select Landscaping, Fencing, and Vegetation from the drop-down menu and apply pebbles to your model. Select Tile from the drop-down menu and apply a tile pattern that you like. Orbit around and apply different materials to each side of your model, as shown here.

Close the Materials panel and select Window > Styles. Windows ONLY: The Styles appear in the Default Tray.

From the drop-down menu, select Sketchy Edges and then select a style option. In the following figure, Marker Wide is selected. Notice that the style completely overrides all the materials and colors applied. To see them again, select In Model from the drop-down menu and then select the Simple Style option.

Are you ready to give it a go? Every learning resource you could possibly need. Download the free version of Sketchup Pro and experiment for 7 days. Take the brilliant v-ray for Sketchup free trial to discover legendary 3d rendering. And check out a huge choice of tutorials, here and here.

Trimble and SketchUp Accounts

Posted on June 03, 2022July 14, 2023 by Charlotte Lee

Trimble and SketchUp Accounts

You’ve heard it’s absolutely brilliant. You’re keen to give it a go. You want to test drive a Trimble sketchup account, and you want a simple, comprehensive guide to support your explorations. You’ve got it! What is Trimble Sketchup? Read on to find out. What, exactly, can Trimble Sketchup do for you? You’ll know by the end of this article. Get busy to find out about Trimble Sketchup login, and discover what you need to know about Trimble Sketchup free. Here’s how to get started in the Trimble Sketchup app.

Trimble Sketchup Accounts

Let’s kick things off with the basics. What is Trimble Sketchup? SketchUp is a collection of tools owned by Trimble Inc. The subscription-based tools include SketchUp Pro Desktop, a popular 3D modelling computer programme used by a wide range of people for an equally broad range of drawing and design applications. It’s used for architectural design and interior design, industrial and product design, landscape architecture, civil and mechanical engineering, as well as creative applications like theatre, movie and game development. There’s a Trimble Sketchup free version too, plus a wealth of tutorials and learning resources.

Once you’ve set up a Trimble Identity, you can access Sketchup Trimble accounts with your Sketchup Trimble login.

Frequently Asked Questions About Trimble Identity

What is Trimble Identity? Trimble Identity is basically an authentication system, a way of confirming you are who you claim to be. Sketchup uses Trimble Identity to give access to the various Trimble applications and websites. This includes Trimble SketchUp accounts and every application that belongs to SketchUp subscriptions. You can use your Trimble Identity to sign in to one Trimble online service or site then click through to another without having to sign in again.

Troubleshooting

Having Sketchup login Trimble problems? In January 2022 a major upgrade took place to Trimble Identity, changing how it works with SketchUp accounts. If you haven’t used your Sketchup applications for a while you’ll need to sign out then sign back in for the upgrade to take effect. If you have any issues, this should fix them:

If you use several version of Sketchup, sign out of each one, close it, then restart it and sign back in
If you can sign in but the SketchUp application still doesn’t work, try clearing your sign-in. If you’re on a Mac, find the login_session.dat file in the Library folder Library/ApplicationSupport/SketchUp[Version Year]/login_session.dat. For Windows find your login_session.dat via the search box in the Start menu

You created a Trimble Identity but you still can’t sign in – What do you do?

Check you’ve used the right email address

Try signing in using the Google or Apple options – if that’s how you created the account in the first place it’ll be the easiest way to get back in
Remember to set up your Trimble Identity password before trying to use the email address and password associated with your Google or Apple account
To set up your Trimble password, type in your email address and follow the ‘forgot password’ instructions
If your email address is right and you’ve never used Google or Apple, use ‘forgot password’ to set a fresh password

What to do if Trimble says your email address doesn’t exist?

If it says ‘The entered email address does not exist’ when you’re trying to reset your password, it means there isn’t an account for the email address. Have you made any mistakes? If not, create a Trimble account and try again. It can sometimes happen even when you use an email address you’ve used in the past, for example for a classic SketchUp license. Simply click on the ‘create an account’ link on the sign-in page.

I have created my account or reset the password but haven’t had confirmation emails

If you don’t get emails confirming your account set-up or password change, check the firewall and spam filter then ask your IT people to let emails through from *@trimble.com, *@trimblepaas.com and *@mail.trimblepaas.com. If the messages are in your spam folder, whitelist the email addresses

What if you get stuck in a loop verifying Trimble Identity?

Please contact Customer Service and create a help ticket. We’ll need to know your contact details, the email address you used to set up the Trimble Identity, and the steps you took to get where you are. Screenshots are always useful, as is the context and details like the browser you’re using and the type of device.

What if you get locked out of your account?

Trimble Identity locks your account when you use the wrong password too many times. It locks for 15 minutes. You can either wait or use the ‘forgot password’ process to avoid waiting.

Creating a Trimble ID

So how do you create a Trimble ID? Let’s look at Trimble sign in Sketchup. Creating a Trimble ID is easy and fast. But as we’ve mentioned, you can always access all the resources using your third party Apple ID or Google ID login instead. Here’s what you need to do to set up an account. We recommend you list and link all the primary Sketchup sites where you can set up an account.

Open SketchUp 2019 or later, or visit a SketchUp site like the 3D Warehouse and click ‘Sign in’

On the sign in page, add your email address into the box then press ‘next’
If you’ve already used the email address to create a Trimble ID you’ll see a box to enter your password. If you’ve forgotten it, simply click ‘reset password’ to go through the steps to set up a new one
If you’ve never used the email address you’ll be given the chance to set one up in the ‘Sign in to all things Sketchup’ box – fill in the details, click ‘I am not a robot’ then click ‘create new account’
You will be sent an email asking you to activate your account. Click on the email link within 72 hours
Click the link in the email to finish creating your Trimble ID
If you don’t get an activation email, check your spam folder or give it five minutes

Using 3rd Party Sign-in Options with Trimble Accounts

There’s no need to create a Trimble Sketchup Account. If you prefer you can simply log in with either your Apple ID or Google ID. If you want to do that, you have to use the same email address you used to create your Trimble Account.

Do you have to sign in with Apple or sign in with Google?

No, the default sign-in is via your Trimble account. Apple and Google sign in simply give you more options for signing in.

Why would you sign in with Apple or Google?

Third party sign in lets you sync your password with each service, so you only need the one password to access multiple services. If you want a unique password for Trimble Services, you’ll need to use your Trimble Account to sign in. You can only use Trimble Account sign-ins for Trimble services.

How can you change your password?

Because passwords are directly connected to their original ID service, Trimble Account, Apple ID and Google Sign-In have their own passwords, so you’ll have to change or reset your passwords with each provider. When you sign in to Trimble ID with a third party login, you’ll use the email address and password for that third party, not the password you created on Trimble’s site.

Once you’ve set up a Trimble Identity, you can access Sketchup Trimble accounts with your Sketchup Trimble login.

What if your password isn’t working?

You can have a separate Google ID, Apple ID and Trimble Account, each with its own unique password. Just make sure you’re using the right one!

Remember – if you choose ‘Turn Off Email Forwarding’ in your Apple ID settings it will change the email address you share. If you created your Trimble Account with ‘turn off email forwarding’ then disable it later, you won’t be able to use the account to sign into your Trimble Account. A new login is the only way.

You sign in with Apple but your files and purchases have gone – What’s happened?

If you used ‘Hide My Email’ we can’t link your existing Trimble account when you sign in with an Apple ID. This is because the ‘privaterelay’ email doesn’t match the original email you used to set up your Trimble Account.

To see everything you bought and made, tell Apple to stop using your Apple ID with your Trimble Account via the Apple ID settings page. Sign in to appleid.apple.com then share your email with Trimble by clicking on the ‘manage’ link under ‘apps & websites’. Remember your Apple ID email must match the email you originally used to create the Trimble Account.

Sign in with Apple and do the two factor identification steps
Choose the option to connect your Apple ID to Trimble applications. This lets you share your email address directly with Trimble Account
Alternatively choose ‘Hide My Email’ to create a new, anonymous email address. Hiding your email will create a new Trimble account for you
If you hide your email from Trimble, the system provides Trimble with an anonymous email address as the username for your account
Apple lets you hide your email from sources you don’t trust – Emails sent by Trimble to the new email address are received and redirected by Apple to your actual email address
This email address will be the one you use to sign in using an email address
If you decide to turn Hide my Email off, it might create a new Trimble Account. If so you’ll need to re-enable hide my email to get to the data and purchases under the privaterelay email address
Click ‘done’ and your Trimble Account will be created using the private relay email as your user name. You’ll be signed in and can go to the site you want to visit

Bulk Uploading and Managing Members in Your Trimble Account

Did you know multiple users can be provided with access to a Trimble Sketchup account? You can even assign ‘user’ or ‘admin’ privileges. Instead of entering each person one by one and assigning roles and product access the same slow way, you can automate the process, as an Account Owner or Company Admin, using Bulk Upload and Bulk Change.

Bulk Sketchup Trimble Account Changes

First, choose the right company account when you sign in
If you don’t see My Products and need to switch between accounts, click on ‘account name’ at the top left for a drop-down list of options
Under the Members page, click on Add New Users in the upper right corner
Pick ‘Bulk Add’ (.csv)
Click Download template.csv to access the CSV template
Open the CSV file in any CSV editor like Google Sheets or MS Excel
Enter the user details: Email, First Name, Last Name
Save the file in a .csv format
Please only add a maximum of 200 users at a time
Click Upload .csv file
Select your edited file
It can take several minutes to add the maximum number of users
You might see a list of errors to fix. You can skip fixing them and continue if you like
Select the preferred Role and Product Access for the uploaded users. Most of the time you’ll use Product User, promoting the relevant users to higher roles later using the edit menu for individuals via the Members page, or using Bulk Change
A Product will be disabled if there are not enough space available for new users – you can always do it manually later on
The Account Owner role is disabled for Bulk Add, with one Account Owner allowed per account
The Secondary Account Owner role is disabled if any of the new users is an Account Owner or Secondary Account Owner in other accounts
The Secondary Account Owner role won’t be shown when the logged-in user is a Company Admin

· Click Save and you’re done

Diving into concept design for Oscar award winning films with Chris Rosewarne

Posted on May 27, 2022July 14, 2023 by Charlotte Lee

“Artemis Fowl: Safe design Lovely prop to work on, super detailed as it was built and automated by the talented folk in the propshop!

Meshing gear, dials and Swiss clock like automation, allot of visual movement in this. I wanted it to look like the inside workings of a pocket watch, ticking mechanisms just visible behind the decorative face” – Chris Rosewarne

Chris Rosewarne, involved in designing props for Oscar award winning films that have taken the industry by storm as we rise out of lockdown in 2022 has now opened up about his SketchUp and concept designing journey, how he creates complex designs from concept to completion and some exciting new projects coming up this year.

Chris, studied Art at St Martins College of Art and Design and went onto do a Model Making Degree Course at Bournemouth. Spending his childhood building things such as Lego, his desire to be hands on with creating and building things, alongside his interest in comics and movies led his path to becoming a model builder for the film industry.

“James Bond: Spectre – cool little prop to design, a laser microphone gun attachment! 🚀 Had a couple earlier designs rejected in favour of the more utilitarian aesthetic which work well for the feel of the series. It’s hard to sometimes play-down a design, but that’s also a look all unto itself, very good lesson to learn!” – Chris Rosewarne

While Chris was studying he was lucky enough to secure a work placement with Artem, a visual effects company in London. As time past, he then begin to move into the design space and away from building, creating storyboards, illustrations and concept art.

Working on Tim Burton’s Dark Shadow was Chris’s first exposure to SketchUp. After learning the basics of 3D modelling in college, his career had been in total 2D until now.

Speaking to other art directors, SketchUp was described as ‘Extremely Simple‘, they can scan elevations and import them as technical drawings. They then give Chris screen grabs to paint over and bring them to life. Gradually Chris begun to start using SketchUp and build his knowledge over time.

Soon after, Chris started a job on Die hard and decided to try designing in SketchUp, he watched some tutorials online thinking “how do I do this!?” Thankfully Google and YouTube came to the rescue, people had created tutorials, the support system for SketchUp was great and he was finally able to start building on his knowledge.

“Tim burton’s Dumbo circus prop designs. Giant circus cannon. It’s always nice to switch genres in film projects, I love tech and sci-fi but a period movie project is a good “palette cleanser”, I really enjoy doing the historical research for these designs, fascinating to see what was made and built before!” – Chris Rosewarne

Over the years Chris has really begun to push the level of detail on SketchUp, as he begun to render designs to being the concept to life so that the complexity of the 3D model was mirrored in the final render.

When Chris was a child, building Lego was a large part of life and enjoyment. Thus now designing models for award winning films he used his theory of building Lego models in SketchUp. Creating more complex designs geometrically so, when these designs are rendered, the detail was there. To save time, Chris would often create a detailed component in quarters, once the first quarter was done all he needed to do was mirror this component, so the software really does alot of the heavy lifting.

SketchUp has everything in the tool box early on that means designers like Chris can think simplistically, the flow between ideas and screen becomes a lot more streamlined.

I love that SketchUp has a simple viewing port so when other designers need to view my work it displays good graphics simplicity. I often find half-baked ideas present and communicate the concept well throughout the design journey.

Chris Rosewarne

“Death On The Nile (spoiler alert!) lovely little brief, designing Jacqueline de Bellefort’s 22 calibre pistol. Based on a Sharps Model 1A Pepperbox. The script described it as being heavily engraved in the design of a serpent.

I created a cover to dress over the 4 barrels to give us a surface to engrave into, the prop makers did an amazing job with this one!” – Chris Rosewarne

At SketchUp 3D basecamp, people wanted to know how Chris does what he does. He opened up and admitted he actually probably one of the worst technical modelers at the event. He specialises in design work which is polar opposite to technical designers.

Chris flows ideas and aesthetics from mind to software using a lot of detail but overall creating pretty simple designs. The distinction between himself and technical designers is the method of design. Chris will focus on the visual aspect, technical designers take a more practically approach to the design, ensuring objects are water tight etc.

“Star Wars archives: casino droid, went though various designs with the only constraint that it had to look similar to BB8 This one reminded me of Vincent from Disney’s The Black Hole another strong childhood favourite of mine!” – Chris Rosewarne

A lot of what I am comes down making items look aesthetically pleasing, it often comes down to composition and framing, you could spend a week modelling a robot for example but the way it appears on screen is cropped, with the lightning and framing edited to give it a cinematic effect.

Chris Rosewarne

Finally we asked Chris for some of his proudest works, it was a hard job to decide, Chris mentioned there are two types of proud for him, the projects he enjoyed creating and designing, and the end results most popular with the audience.

One of they key favourites was the design of Quills gun from Guardians of the Galaxy, there are some images below, but if you would like to see the full workflow, click here for a short video from concept to creation.

Other personal favourites for Chris included the Sniper Rifal for Skyfall and the star wars casino drones.

Jurassic World is the next release Chris has been working on recently alongside up and coming films DUNE 2 and Meg 2 awaiting a release date in 2022/23.

To see more of Chris’ work, 3D modelling designs and renders, you can find them on social media here:

So who is Chris?

Our brand new SketchUp top trumps give you a speedy breakdown and the 411 on everything you need to know about Chris…

From where he calls home in the digital design space, to his secret SketchUp power, you’ll find the ins and the outs of his SketchUp Journey here…

If you want to have a personalised SketchUp top trump made for you, email us at marketing@elmtec.co.uk and let’s get the ball rolling!

How to Classify Objects, Organise Models and Place Moving Cameras in SketchUp

Posted on May 26, 2022July 06, 2022 by Charlotte Lee

Classifying Objects

The SketchUp Classifier lets you add detail to components and groups to create an object that you can then manage.

Objects have various details that you can use to count, measure, dimension and tag as well as generate reports, analyse a model and export the objects too.

You’ll need to be a SketchUp Pro user to do this.

How to classify objects

Before you start, check the following:

Make sure that the object that you’d like to classify begins as a component
Check that the classification system is loaded into the template
Make the Classifier tool visible on the toolbar

Now you can select the component and choose the classifier tool. Click on the arrow next to your classification system and choose the object type. You can then go ahead and classify the object by inputting any of the necessary info.

Generating a report

Using SketchUp’s generate report service, you can report all of the listed attributes in the form of a .csv file.

These reports are particularly useful for getting a snapshot of how many of each component is needed when it comes to the construction stage. This helps with planning and costing the final project.

Go to File > Generate Report and create a new template. You can now choose which components to include in the report.

When you’re happy that you have everything you need, go ahead and click on Run Report.

Organising Models

Using the array of organisational tools lets you keep your model tidy. Not only does it help for finding everything when you come to use them, but also for generating reports as well.

Organising geometry into groups and components. This allows you to separate smaller parts of your model and work on specific areas individually.

Nesting groups and components. Giving hierarchy to these items allows you to easily select what you need in a logical way. When creating reports, you can choose components that fall within a certain level of the hierarchy. And this allows you to report on the specific objects with matching data.

Changing group and component visibility. You don’t need to see everything all of the time. In fact, when working on your SketchUp model, it’s always advisable to only have the screen present relevant groups and components to keep you focused on the task at hand.

Viewing a Model

Viewing a model from every aspect is essential to ensure that your design continues to meet your spec.

It is possible to orbit, zoom and pan to check out your model from various angles.

Orbit. You can move around above and below your model to get a general idea of how it looks from every side. Select the Orbit tool and click on the drawing area. You can now move the cursor to orbit around the central point of that area.

Zoom. Zooming in lets you focus on a specific element when you don’t want to be distracted by the rest of your model. And zooming out offers you a snapshot of your vision to include everything together in your design. Select the Zoom tool. Then click and drag up or down to zoom in or out.

Pan. Panning simply sends the camera angle to the left or right to get a better idea of how things are looking on both sides. Go to Camera > Pan. Click and hold the scroll wheel and the left mouse button to pan left or right.

It’s possible to switch each of the views on and off as you wish.

You will find that using a three-button scroll wheel mouse makes this job, and modelling in general, a whole lot easier.

How to preview a model in Google earth

After preparing your model, you can go ahead and export it as a .KMZ file. This is the format that Google Earth will recognise. You can open the file with Google Earth and the map will appear with your model in place.

You can zoom in and move around the site to see how the design feels in its chosen surroundings.

How to place models in the ocean

Sometimes you’ll need to see how a structure fits into ocean surroundings. And this can be done through Google Earth thanks to its ocean layer addition.

In SketchUp, go to Window > Extension Warehouse and select the Ocean Modelling extension. After installing the extension, you can now preview your model in the ocean by following the above steps.

How to save a model in Google earth

Google Earth loads into Temporary Places by default. But you may wish to save the preview for future reference. To do this, context-click on the model name in the Temporary Place folder and choose to Save to MY Places instead.

Camera menu

The Camera menu includes standard views of your model. These are Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Left, Right and Iso.

In addition, there are also 3 perspective options.

Parallel projection. This allows lines to appear parallel in 3D and 2D.

Perspective. Here, lines disappear to the Horizon point to give perspective to the items on your model.

Two-point perspective. This is often used for creating 3D buildings. This gives a linear perspective along the width and depth of the objects as they meet at two individual points on the horizon.

Placing Movie Cameras in a Model of a Production Set

If you are designing sets for a film, then SketchUp Pro will let you access all areas using the Advanced Camera Tools (ACT). You can access this by going to Tools > Advanced Camera Tools.

It’s possible to place cameras anywhere in the model of a production set to show you a preview of real camera angles.

Once you have placed your cameras on the set, you can then view the previews from each of them in separate frames. It gives you a different perspective of the same scene and this can help when deciding where to utilise the cameras during the filming of the movie.

You may need to install the ACT extension from the Extensions Warehouse before you begin.

To add a camera using ACT, choose Select Camera Type from the toolbar and go to Categories and then Camera. The camera view will now appear and the area within any shaded bars to the top, bottom or sides will be your visible area through the camera.

To choose that camera view and add it to your design, click on the Create Camera button. You will now see a dialog box where you can add the name of the camera. Click done.

The crosshair will now show you the central point where the camera is aiming and you can see the properties of that camera in the bottom-left corner. You can edit these properties as needed.

You can also use the Orbit, Pan and Zoom tools to change the position of your camera. And the arrow keys will also come in useful for making any fine adjustments to your camera view.

Click Lock Camera when you are happy with the view to make sure that it doesn’t move around.

Now, you can contact-click and choose Done.

Delete an ACT camera

If you decide that you no longer require a certain camera angle, then you can go ahead and remove it permanently. Make sure that you are no longer in the camera view mode and zoom out to make the camera visible on the screen. You can then delete the camera. Beware that this will remove any corresponding scenes and tabs as well.

How Can I Access SketchUp for iPad?

Posted on May 25, 2022July 14, 2023 by Charlotte Lee

SketchUp for iPad offers a full-featured 3D modeling experience that enables you to design on-site, on the go, and in the office. Create, edit, and mark up 3D projects anywhere with SketchUp for iPad.

What You Need: SketchUp for iPad works with a wide range of iPad models and requires at least iPadOS 15 or higher. For more information, take a look at the System Requirements.

Your Models, Anywhere: SketchUp for iPad makes it easy to open, share, and manage your models. You can use Trimble Connect to access your files from other versions of SketchUp, save files locally on your iPad, or use your favorite cloud storage app. Take a look at our Working With SketchUp Files page for more information on how you can manage your models across multiple devices and apps.

Let’s Go! If you’re ready to dive in and start creating on iPad, our Getting Started page introduces you to the basics of SketchUp for iPad.

Create when inspiration strikes

Brilliant ideas don’t always hit you when it’s convenient — but a mobile 3D drawing space makes it possible to get work done wherever you are.

Sketch anything in 3D. Simple.

With support for Apple Pencil, multi-touch gestures, and of course, mouse and keyboard, you can easily draw, swipe, and click to give form to your creative vision.

Mark up & move projects forward

Quickly redline 3D models, make field edits on the fly, and sync all of your changes to the cloud to keep stakeholders aligned while on the go.

Always connected

A robust integration with our cloud-based collaboration platform, Trimble Connect, keeps files in sync across devices so you can move seamlessly between SketchUp for iPad, SketchUp for Web, and SketchUp Pro desktop design apps. Whether you’re connected to high-speed internet, or you’re working offline, take your work with you wherever you go.

How to Print your Models and View them in Google Earth

Posted on May 17, 2022July 14, 2023 by Charlotte Lee

Printing Views of a Model

Getting your design ideas onto paper is as trouble-free as you’d expect. There are various ways to customise the results including scale changes, orientation and desired quality to name but a few.

Straightforward model printing is possible on both Windows and Mac OS X. And both contain a similar range of options to bring your designs from screen to paper.

Printing views of a model in Microsoft windows

Windows users can take advantage of several Print Setup and Print Preview options. The majority of setup choices and additional preview features are quite familiar.

Print preview

Before you begin, it’s worth noting that to print your model to a different scale, you need to click Camera > Standard Views to make the changes prior to printing. There are various views to choose from. It’s also important to change to Parallel Projection view from the default Perspective view.

Reaching the Print Preview dialog box requires 2 simple clicks: File > Print Preview. The dialog box now appears with an array of optional functions.

Tabbed Scene Print Range – the Current View radio button is selected by default. Change this to Selected Scenes Only by checking the Scenes button. Enter a value ‘from’ and ‘to’ in order to select the scene numbers.

The Copies function lets you simply choose the number of copies you need.

Print Size options include Fit To Page and Use Model Extents—both are checked by default.

Fit To Page will automatically make your image fit on the selected paper size. Uncheck the box to enter your own values. Now you can also select a specific scale for the printer to use.

Use Model Extents will zoom to the model extents and ensure that it fits the entire model in the print. This is only possible if the whole model is visible in the current view. If it isn’t, then you won’t have this option.

Print Quality options let you choose from Draft, Standard, High-def and Large formats.

When your model includes a slice, you can check the 2D Section Slice Only box to print it.

Selecting the Use High Accuracy HLR box will transmit your image to the printer in a vector format.

Print Setup

Setup choices include printer selection and paper configurations and to access these options click File > Print Setup.

- Select your printer from the list of available devices
- Select Properties to make any changes to your printer configuration
- Select the paper size required and the source
- Choose the Portrait or Landscape printing button
- Click OK to begin printing

Printing views of a model in Mac OS X

There are 3 areas where you can perfect your print output using the Mac OS X system. These are Page Setup, Document Setup, and Print dialog.

Page Setup

Head to File > Page Setup where you can apply any current settings to Any Printer. Alternatively, you can select another printer from the list.

You can also select the paper size and choose portrait or landscape print results. The Scale box lets you increase or decrease the scale of your printout. Save these settings as the default from here if you wish.

Document Setup

Click on File > Document Setup where you can Fit View to Page or change the height and width.

As with Windows printing, you’ll need to go to Camera > Standard Views and select a view before printing. Again, change from Perspective view to Parallel Projection view.

Set the scale using the In Drawing and In Model options to change the measurements of your printout and model respectively.

Print Dialog

To finally send your image to the printer, you need to select File > Print. There are a few adjustments you can make to the potential results at this stage.

Firstly, select the printer you wish to use
Input the number of required copies
Change the print quality to either Draft, Standard, High or Extra High
Select Vector Printing if needed
Decide which line weight is necessary for your printout
Click Print

Viewing Your Model in Google Earth

Within SketchUp, you can preview your model in Google Earth to see how it sits in its natural surroundings when construction begins. To do this, you’ll need both SketchUp and Google Earth installed on your computer.

How to optimise a model for display from Google earth

Before viewing your model in Google Earth, you’ll need to optimise the model. The following steps will show you how to get your design ready.

Set your model geolocation. With the Add Location function, you can choose to either import a terrain or display it on Google Earth. SketchUp will locate your model ready for previewing.
Create accurate model dimensions. This is essential if the scale of your model is going to be comparable to the map.
Minimise model faces. Complex models will take up a lot of processing power to display on Google Earth.
Face orientation. Keep your front faces pointing outwards to avoid losing textures when shown on a map.
Add images to faces. Import and apply images of a building to add to your model when previewing in Google maps. And if you need to see through certain faces, then check the transparency options for the image.

How to preview a model in Google earth

You can zoom in and move around the site to see how the design feels in its chosen surroundings.

How to place models in the ocean

Sometimes you’ll need to see how a structure fits into ocean surroundings. And this can be done through Google Earth thanks to its ocean layer addition.

In SketchUp, go to Window > Extension Warehouse and select the Ocean Modelling extension. After installing the extension, you can now preview your model in the ocean by following the above steps.