CAD, BIM & 3D

While many people complain about the lack of integrated rendering inside SketchUp, there is no lack of options... From free till expensive, from simple to advanced (not necessarily in that order). So which rendering engines are available for SketchUp? Let's see... I think I have talked about it already. http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2010/12/renderin-radiosity-rendering-for.html  > about Render[in] http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2010/10/octane-render-gpu-based-rendering.html > about Octave http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2010/09/numenus-rendergin-gpu-rendering-free.html > about Rendergin http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2010/06/from-sketchup-to-radiance-su2rad-with.html  > about Radiance http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2008/08/free-rendering-plugin-for-sketchup.html  > about IDX http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2008/06/rendering-for-sketchup.html > about Podium, IDX, Vue, Piranesi, Atlantis, VRay, Maxwell, FryRender, Indigo, Kerkythea, POV-Ray, LuxRender, Sunfl...

Render[in] is currently in beta-testing till the end of December 2010 and during that time, you can freely request a serial number to test it. It works on Windows and OSX. Specifics: fully integrated (using native SketchUp features) radiosity in real-time (!) additional control advanced material settings sky & clouds & environment artificial light Info on  http://www.renderin.com

While I already mentioned Netfabb in an older post  I recently started using the Studio Basic free version for our Fabbing exercise. The Studio Basic version is limited but free. It is cross-platform, which wasn't the case when I first mentioned this software, IIRC. While I assume that Magics from Materialise is still the software king for STL repair, it comes at a cost and only works on Windows, so maybe you can give this software a try. The video below gives a very simple example of viewing and automatically repairing a 3D STL model from SketchUp, exported using a free script, from  http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=8447 Simple STL repair using NetFabb Studio Basic from Stefan Boeykens on Vimeo . A fairly simple model, made in SketchUp 8 Pro using the Solid Tools and exported to STL using the su2stl.rb ruby-script. As you will see, this model has some (minor) issues; such as missing face and some open edges. The free version of NetFabb Studio ...

The software from Tgi3D ( http://www.tgi3d.com ) allows you to use photographs, taken with regular cameras, to be used for the creation of 3D models. There are two products, each in two flavors: Tgi3D SU AMORPH is mainly a set of tools for advanced modeling in SketchUp. view locking > lock vertices in one view and still adjust them in other views generate mesh surfaces from points Bézier curves and generating surfaces from curves Smoothing of surfaces, to make them clean and naturally flowing Remeshing and upsampling, usable to make higher-resolution meshes from low-resolution models Model from cross-sections "Idealize" shapes, e.g. making near flat surfaces fully flat There is a free "Training Version" and a non-free full version. Tgi3D SU PHOTOSCAN adds photogrammetry tools to this. It is a standalone software, comparable to Photomodeller, where you mark points on different photographs, that are then used to calibrate camera settings and position...

When you want to translate your 3D Design into something flat, you can do it manually (selecting faces and rotating them step by step), or rely on automatic routines. This can be very useful for making a foldable form on paper or cardboard but also to prepare a 3D model for a lasercutter. Flattery Papercraft Tools is a plugin for Google SketchUp that promises to automate this. http://www.pumpkinpirate.info/flattery/ The video below gives a demonstration on the use of this script. While it is perfectly possible to do this without any plugin whatsoever, it is more convenient, as the plugin remembers edge connections (useful when adjusting the layout afterwards) and can do this with less clicks and with some visual feedback. Unfold SketchUp Model with Flattery script from Stefan Boeykens on Vimeo . This is a video-only demonstration of unfolding a SketchUp model with the free Flattery ruby-script (from http://www.pumpkinpirate.info/flattery). You have to think forward to avo...