Very cool plugin: Proper Animation (video) with tutorial

Somewhere near the top of SketchUp's all-time list of feature requests, there's a big, bold headline that reads ANIMATE THE MOVEMENT OF OBJECTS. It's something all of us have wanted to do at one time or another. Unfortunately, it's also not something we've managed to tackle just yet. And that's why Ruby script plugins for SketchUp are so darn useful.

A while ago, I found out about a nice little plugin called Proper Animation. Watching the teaser video (below) inspired me to model and animate my very own robotic contraption. Shockingly, it only took me about half and hour to do; Proper Animation is refreshingly easy to figure out and use.

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Introducing the Solid Tools in SketchUp Pro 8

Every new SketchUp release contains at least one modeling tool that’s guaranteed to save you a ton of time and effort. SketchUp Pro 8 contains five.

The all-new Solid Tools let you perform additive and subtractive modeling tasks (some folks call them Boolean operations) on subsets of your geometry. It’s really not as complicated as it sounds; basically, you use the Solid Tools to generate forms using other forms in your models. You do so by adding them together, subtracting one from the other, and finding the areas that they have in common. Plenty of 3D forms are much easier to make this way – you’ll find uses for them all over the place.

Fascinated by technology? Look into an IT online course

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Killen•WOOD: Increasing woodworking productivity with SketchUp & LayOut

Tim Killen of Killen•WOOD has found that SketchUp and LayOut are effective tools to help woodworkers become more efficient and better builders. After retiring in 2005 from the Bechtel Corporation where he served for 36 years in the management of engineering and IT projects, Tim's focused much of his energy on his interest in the field of woodworking.

Fascinated by the design and construction of things? Learn about an online engineering degree

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Mover for Sketchup

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DrawMetal

Metalwork Design Tools

DrawMetal™ provides plugins (extensions) for Google SketchUp® that draw a variety of spirals, curves and tapered shapes (tapered extrusions).

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Cutlist and Layout from Sketchup

If you’re a fan of Sketchup for creating woodworking models, then the next obvious step is to use Sketchup to help you create cutlists and layouts. Sketchup plugin Cutlist 4.1 does just that. CutList 4.1 sketchup plugin helps you determine how much of each material you need to produce your design, taking into account nominal sized lumber with allowances for finishing to final size. Then it goes one further and lays out all of the pieces on boards or sheet good sizes of your choosing. Then you should be all set to head for the lumber yard to get all of the materials that you will need with no return trips.

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Creating a Spring (Tutorial)

Creating a Spring

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Creating a Spring - free spring plugin

The Spring Plugin allows you to create springs or coils of any length, pitch, diameter and gauge; using a simple dialog box to input the required dimensions. Springs can be used in a variety of engineering, architectural and sculptural applications. To get the free Spring Plugin, click the download link below and follow the on-screen instructions.

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RpWallMaker - Free plugin

RpWallMaker Free is a free add-on for Google SketchUp (Windows or Mac) to create wide walls (3D walls with thickness), edit them and cut holes in them.

The custom walls are generated by drawing the center line of the wall in SketchUp and the wide, 3D wall is automatically generated. 

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Mirror Tool Google SketchUp Plugin

The Mirror Tool plugin created by an unknown author at the Ruby Library Depotis a useful tool to have when using SketchUp. It allows you to mirror as you would in AutoCAD.

To use the tool all you need to do is click the object you want to mirror and click the “mirror selection” button. Then you can signify the mirror line simply and click enter. This tool though also allows you to keep selecting axis’ to accurately mirror the object the way you like. This comes in handy particularly when you need to mirror about an axis that is not one of the main axis’ on SketchUp.

Overall, the Mirror Tool plugin at the Ruby Library Depot is an essential plugin to have especially for AutoCAD users. At the time of this review this plugin is free and is available at the Ruby Library Depot. I give this plugin 5 out 5 stars!

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VRay - Rendering an interior scene (Tutorial)

Part I: Adjusting the GI settings

Step 1. First render

1.1. Open the scene (which can be found here).

1.2. Assign VRay as the current renderer.

Since the default VRay settings are not very well suited for a fast initial preview, we'll make a few quick adjustments before the first render.

1.3. Check the Override mtl option in the Global switches rollout, click the button next to it and select a default VRayMtl material.

1.4. Set the Image sampler type to Fixed.

1.5. Set the resolution to 400 x 325.

1.6. Set the Region size in the System rollout to 32 x 32 pixels.

1.7. Optionally, you can turn on the Frame stamp to print the render time on the image.

1.8. Render the scene:

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