Lumion Update / Keyframe Animation / Interior Design / Boos Clues / Gadgets / Useful Apps / Featured Member / Be3D Mouse

SKETCHUP LAYOUT STYLEBUILDER EARTH

Catchup
SKETCHUCATION COMMUNITY NEWS

E DI T I O N 4

Management Mike Lucey - Managing Director Csaba Pozsarko - Training Director Octavian Chis- Technical Director Richard OBrien - Quality Director Moderators Pete Stoppel Chris Fullmer Dave Richards Eric Lay TIG Thomas Thomassen Jean Lemire Jim Foltz Eeva Edson Mahfuz Majid Contributors Eric Lay Mike Lucey Andrew Gowland Adriana Granados Csaba Pozsarko Dennis Fukai Richard OBrien

On the cover: Clapper

courtesy of Rich OBrien

Editor: Richard OBrien

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BOOS CLUES
lambada table

To start create a couple of reference planes with lines to represent equal angles. Use either the circle or polygon tool with 8 segments.

With exact dimensions not known, approximations have to be used. Create a leg between the two reference planes centered on the axis, this is important.

Then rotate the leg about the center of the reference plane by 22.5 to align the leg at a segments center.

In this step use the move tool, hover over the leg component and used the plus sign to rotate the leg about the center by 22.5 degrees.

BOOS CLUES

lambada table

Next remove exactly half of the leg, leaving it open (not closing in the face) as seen in this image.

Now mirror the component on axis using the TIGs Mirror.rb Plugin.

Explode both leg ends and make them a single component. Push/Pull the bottom ends so they both match up at a single point.

Now edit the leg component and intersect everything inside and erase the unwanted geometry. This will leave a V shaped shell of sorts.

BOOS CLUES
lambada table

Finally, to finish out the leg assembly geometry create an intersect plane between the front and back points as shown here.

Then intersect the geometry and erase the unwanted geometry leaving two simple triangles at the base of the leg assembly.

Copy the leg assembly about the center of the reference plane using the rotate tool. Hold down Ctrl (Windows) and copy/rotate 3x.

Now copy all four leg assemblies up above the ones below.

BOOS CLUES

lambada table

Mirror the top four leg assemblies in the vertical direction so they are facing upwards.

Rotate the top four leg assemblies by 45 degrees and lower (or raise) them to match up with the lower ones.

Edit one of the leg assembly components and run the Subdivide and Smooth command in the Artisan Tool set. This example used 3 iterations to make a very smooth mesh.

Edit the leg assembly component and add a foot for stabilization at the floor and holding the glass table top. Make sure it extends past the bottom of the leg just a bit, 1/16 in this example.

BOOS CLUES
lambada table

WHAT YOULL NEED.... Artisan Subdivide and Smooth Mirror FredoScale RoundCorner

Now select all 8 of the leg assembly components and scale them about the Blue axis center to touch both the top and bottom reference planes.

Finally, delete the reference planes, color the legs as you see fit and add a glass top.

KEYFRAME ANIMATION
review
Some of you may be familiar ruby guru Regular Polygon and his range of bespoke plugins from Ellipse to Sierpinski Tetrahedron . But one particular plugin caught my eye recently so I decided to make use of the 10 day trial to see how it measured up against its rivals. Keyframe Animation is Regular Polygons only commercial script and currently at version 1.4.1. Priced at an introductory $19 you can download via his blog here. It requires Windows XP/ Vista/7 or Mac OS X 10.4+ to run and Google SketchUp 7 or 8 Pro/Free. Its packaged as an installer so no fiddling around with shifting files and folders into your plugins folder. Once installed it adds a toolbar and some extra features in the plugins menu. So what exactly do these buttons do? Well, simply put, they allow you to move and rotate objects using native tools and record that transformation. You can then play your animation and, as if by magic, see your objects go through a series of movements. It really is very easy to get to grips with. Lets take a look at a typical workflow for some basic animations. First up youll need to create some scenes. Once created you can select your Group/Component and record its position via the toolbar button. Select your next scene and move or rotate your object and record its position again. You can repeat this over numerous scenes and objects. Having everything ready you can now initiate the animation as you you would with any SketchUp scenes. You might be wondering what the purpose of the Play and Stop icons on the toolbar are for? Well these actually turn off and on Keyframe Animation. With it set to off you see no objects move when you play the animation. A handy feature if you just want to tweak camera locations between scenes. What is worth noting is how these animation transformations actually work. If you move an object between scenes then the movement occurs in a straight line between point a and point b. If you rotate an object between scenes then the rotation is in the direction of the smaller angle. For instance, you cant rotate an object 200 because the smaller is 160. Under the Plugins menu you can tweak further your animated objects via Transition Times.

The toolbar itself performs the bulk of the tasks with the menu items allowing for further refinement to your animations. Nothing particulary groundbreaking so far but like alot of plugins its got hidden treasures!

This allows you to set the time that each object will take to move or rotate between scenes. But by entering a negative value, as shown above, will use the default transition time that can be set under Model Info. It gives you very subtle control over each transformation and helps you build much better sequences.

KEYFRAME ANIMATION
review
To build on the level of control you can also set the Delay Time for each scene. For example, I could have an object move upwards between scene 1 and scene 2 but delay its animation for a defined time. So Im basically pausing the scene transitions and stopping the animation momentarily. As you can tell so far this is all very easy to get to grips with. In minutes youve objects moving and rotating and changing the speed and start time at which these happen. Next up, is getting your animations exported. Keyframe Animation has a very powerful feature called Tweens. For those, unfamiliar with the term tween, its basically in between frames . Because SketchUp doesnt export animations Regular Polygon has tackled this issue by looking at each transformation and creating a series of scenes between each. These tweens are based on the Frames Per Second you input, so the higher the FPS the higher amount of scenes created. Its a clever way of handling the export to video conundrum. Also creating tweens results in a separate .skp file being created that is suffixed with .tweens so as not the interfere with your own file. Obviously, having lots of transformations occuring over a longish period at a high frame rate will result in a hell of a lot of tween scenes! So do your homework beforehand and work in manageable batches. You can always compile these exported videos in something like Virtual Dub afterwards. There are other animation plug-ins out there... Mover Proper Animation But neither compile everything under one roof. Its clear that Mover blazed the trail for Keyframe Animation. But this is the complete article giving you great control and output. Its a great addition to SketchUp and Im sure users and clients would benefit from seeing their projects come to life before their eyes. Its fun and easy to use yet extremely powerful. Its also compatible with Twilight Render so you can get that Photorealistic output easily and quickly. Overall, its a blockbuster!
by Rich OBrien

Download Here

INTERIOR DESIGN
Recently I was having dinner in a nice Italian restaurant with a neo-classic decoration. A few walls had shell niches that exhibited wonderful sculptures. These niches were exedras - a semicircular recess inside the wall. The word Niche derives from the Latin nidus or nest. The Italian nicchio for a seashell may also be involved, as the traditional decoration for the top of a niche is a scallop shell. I recall a nice piece of art of Filippo Lippi - Madonna - where the trompe-loeil niche frames her. I thought it could be a very good example to apply the Extrude tools plugin developed by TIG. You will also need another plugin by Rick Wilson called Weld available from Smustard. com. Once you have downloaded both tools follow the instructions how to install them. These tools are a mustto-have for interior designers. After analyzing the geometry I decided that the option to use was Extrude Edges by Rails. I had organic forms with double curvature, the front arcs and two curved paths converging at the rear of the exedra.

how to create a shell niche

Draw two 12 segment semi-circles, with a 2 diameter, as shown above. Use SketchUps inferencing to align to the ground plane and to the Z-axis.

Draw a third arc using the same setting but offset by 2 .

how to create a shell niche

INTERIOR DESIGN

Explode the inner arc and then divide a segment into 6 segments using the right-click Divide command

Divide the lower semi-circle in half and the upper semi-circle as above using the line tool.

INTERIOR DESIGN

how to create a shell niche

Using the arc tool, draw 3 curves similar to what you can see here. The divided segment can be used as a guide to centre the outer arc and align the inner arcs.

With the select tool, select the lower radius. Then using the rotate tool +CTRL make a copy and position as seen here.

how to create a shell niche

INTERIOR DESIGN

Select your new radius and copy it as before using the rotate tool.

Using the circle tool, draw a 24 segment circle at the centre and inference the endpoint you see here

INTERIOR DESIGN

how to create a shell niche

Using the arc tool, make a small arc and move a copy along the red axis to intersect the rails.

Delete all unwanted geometry leaving behind what you see here. This will form the base on which well assemble the shell niche.

how to create a shell niche

INTERIOR DESIGN

Using Rick Wilsons Weld plugin, weld the three arcs into one curve.

Using TIGs Extrude Edges by Rails plugin, select the curves as above to form the first part of our shell niche. In the dialogue boxes that appear choose to Reverse Faces, Erase Co-Planar Edges, smoth Edges and Erase Original Curves.

INTERIOR DESIGN

how to create a shell niche

Now array copies of this using the rotate tool as before. If file size is important then turn the group into a component before arraying.

Finally, intersect your shell with the upper arc and delete any unwanted geometry. Here you can see the remaining parts before final assembly. The centre wedge was arrayed to create a decorative fan.

how to create a shell niche

INTERIOR DESIGN

Heres the final assembled model with extra details to frame the scene. The Follow Me tool helped create the molding and the 3DWarehouse provided the David statue. A quick a simple technique like this can make your interior design projects standout!
by Adriana Granados

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

each image rendered for about 24 hours....my PC is quite old!

I was introduced to SketchUp back at version 3, having worked with a few ordinary 2d and 3d programmes (autosketch, turbocad 3d, bryce, drawing express etc.) I found SketchUps ease of use very gratifying. Since then I have managed to use SketchUp occasionally in my professional career, producing arch-viz and pre-viz for various projects. It wasnt until I was made redundant and decided to go self-employed that I decided to try and integrate it into my work more often.

right. The Kerkythea forums were an invaluable source of advice and help. The second image was purely about creating realism, So I created a very simple model of a glass and spent an age in Kerkythea and on the forums, perfecting the lighting and materials. eventually getting an image I was happy with. The third image was the Steampunk raygun, again lots of advice on the kerkythea forums helped me to get it to a point I was relatively happy with. A steampunk mobile phone is something Ive had in my head for a while, but it wasnt until I finished the raygun that I decided to have a crack at it. I didnt want this to be usual steampunk fare with cogs and visible mechanisms though. I felt this should be more a Victorian realisation of a mobile phone, which could be treated as an heirloom and a fob watch.

Self-employment (and the inevitable gaps in work which come from the first few years of a startup) allowed me to experiment, expand my skills and learn SketchUp. My discovery of Kerkythea as a free rendering solution coincided with this, suddenly what I was creating became a different beast. It took a few failed attempts to start to understand Kerkythea, but I used three personal projects as training. I started with the dimensions of my phone at the time, a Nokia N95 8GB weighing in The first was an image I created for inclusion at 45mm x 95mm, and proceeded to create in the Society of Architectural Illustrators a clamshell design which opened on the quarterly newsletter. I took an old sketchup longest edge. I created a box and used the model of a barn extension and started bevel edges plugin to give all the edges a prepping it for Kerkythea. It took several rounded look. weeks, on and off, to get the final image

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland
Very early on, I started doing some material tests in Kerkythea. I wanted to see if I could create a silver material which looked aged, tarnished and imperfect. I started with the Silver found in the metals_ashikhmin_mlt library found at the kerkythea website (fig. 1). This is a perfectly flat and reflective material which looks unrealistic in these circumstances. There were three different elements that I knew this material would need in order to make it more realistic.

Fig.1 Assigning metal material in Kerkythea

The silver should be tarnished with uneven reflections The surface should be very slightly uneven The surface should be covered with micro scratches Nothing was done to the Anisotropic layer (fig.2), the tarnished look was achieved using the windy procedural texture in the specular slot of the Matte/Phong layer (fig.3).

Fig.2 Anisotropic Layer

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

Fig.3 Matte/Phong Layer

In order to achieve the slightly undulating surface I used the windy procedural again, this time scaled slightly larger with a minimal strength, I wanted this to be barely noticeable, giving the metal the appearance of not being perfectly flat (fig.4).

Fig.4

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland
For the micro scratches I started with a base image of some scratched metal, and manipulated it in GIMP, making it more monochrome, and seamlessly tiling it to ensure no edge repeats (fig.5). This was then put in bump slot 2. and made relatively strong and scaled (fig.6) appropriately within Kerkythea to give the desired effect.

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland
All the engravings were produced by using this material and adding a suitable black and white image to the third bump slot, or by adding a normal map generated in GIMP from a suitable image. I have as a result of this early work, a library of 10 different silver materials. The construction of the model in SketchUp highlighted at least one limitation of the programme, and its one that I kept bumping up against. I work in millimetres and this is quite a small model, there are quite a lot of details less than a millimetre apart. When Sketchup got below a millimetre, it started misbehaving, for example it doesnt seem top be able to draw circles with a diameter of less than 0.5mm nor can it connect 2 lines less than 0.2mm apart. This was particularly apparent when creating the letters on the keyboard. Eventually, on the problematic issues, I had to create larger letters and scale them down. This problem was apparent when using the bevel edges tool and on the smaller circle and cylinder based parts, so it did influence how I put things together. The speaker grill, for example, was a labour of love. Creating holes in a slight dome of this size was not easy, and the end result is not perfect. I had experimented with bump mapping the holes, unfortunately the dome would not be mapped by any method (including the various UVtools plugins that are out there, and I tried them all!).

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland
The ruler was a relatively late edition, as I realised there was nothing to act as a reference object. the texture for this was sourced at cgtextures.com and Im quite pleased with the resulting material, not too shiny, a little bump and thats about it. quaility lightprobes, and eventually settled on VAN Kleef 3 by Bob Groothuis which, as an internal image of a period shop, provides exactly the right amount of light for the scene.

Each scene has its own camera settings and I use www.dofmaster.com to help get the depth In terms of material and textures, I tried to keep of field blur right, especially of the closeup the materials in Sketchup very simple, ensuring images. that all the materials were separate and colour coded and/or named in a descriptive manner I use the Kerkythea preset called Metropolis to allow better handling in Kerkythea. All the Light Transport for virtually all my renders, engravings and any image based textures on this occasion I use the BPT variant, which were mapped in Sketchup, to ensure accurate produces better caustics. I must have had the positioning. Anything unnecessary was purged light settings just right, because the noise from the drawing. produced in this render setting cleared up really quickly. One of the primary reasons this has turned out so well had been the use of a high quality In total I let each of the six images in this series lightprobe in Kerkythea. I experimented with render for about 24 hours (my PC is quite old, many different lightprobes. All of the native with only a dual core processor) in total it was kerkythea globals came out too pixilated for rendering for nearly a whole week! In total my tastes in this scene, so I ended up at the I worked on this project in my spare time for HDRlabs sIBL archive, a collection of very high over 6 months. Its been emotional!

Kerkythea Echo 2008 is a freeware photorealistic studio rendering application from Ioannis Pantazopoulos. It currently supports all OS platforms with the latest release candidate supporting Windows 64bit systems. It integrates with SketchUp, 3DS Max, Gmax and Blender and supports .obj, .3ds and .xml file types. Whilst developement of Kerkythea continues its developers are now concentrated on its commercial offspring called Thea. Theas much more powerful than its older brother and has recently come out of public beta where its started to acquire as sizeable following.

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

a Victorian realisation of a mobile phone, which could be treated as an heirloom and a fob watch

FEATURED MEMBER
andrew gowland

USEFUL APPS
sketcher
For this edition of Catchup I would like to introduce Sketcher by Neatberry. Being a Mac user I was becoming increasing jealous of those great looking pencil, watercolour and oil effect renders that that Window users were generating with PhotoSketcher, unfortunately it was only available on the Windows platform. However when I discovered Sketcher this jealousy vanished! By the way Sketcher is a dual platform application. The first thing that impressed me was that there was no learning curve at all. It was simply a matter of launching the app and dropping the original image into the main preview (canvas) window and then create what I needed with the parameters (control) panel. The preview window contains a full size preview of the image you are working on and update of style happen quite fast. The parameters panel contains the sliders and options needed to edit the look of the image. Sketcher has four main filters that can be applied and some extra hybrids, combinations of some of the main filters! First impressions might be that the filter options are limited, but with the use of the the tweaking sliders its quite possible to fine tune the final output image to meet your exact needs. In order to give an idea of what can be achieved I have tested the Silver Shadows image which features on the SketchUcation Gallery. As you can see from the output opposite its an excellent means of adding some spice to your presentations. Definitely an app you need in your Mac arsenal!
by Mike Lucey

USEFUL APPS
sketcher

PRODUCT UPDATE
lumion3d

Lumion 3D Service Pack 2 Build 4-6

Since our last CatchUp issue, Act3D has released a new version of Lumion 3D, a feature rich GPU geared rendering engine. Some of the new features are: UI improvements for the Movie camera Removed clip speed and clip beginning/end effects Trees now have alpha transparency when rendering final quality movies or images When selecting objects they are filtered by object types New installer which works for both 32 and 64 bit OS Tweaked ranges of some of the sliders Tweaked naming throughout the program Fresnel reflection now uses Schlicks approximation UI tweaks for move object effect Added key frame capability to more effects Several changes to DOF to improve usability Memory improvements for selecting objects Imported models can now have PSD textures You now have to provide a name before saving Effect thumbnails replaced by text labels Press shift when placing items for random scale Press Ctrl when placing items for multiple items at once New effect for changing the camera clip distance Baking process which optimises rendering performance for many identical objects is now alot faster and uses far less memory New Show Layer effect with keyframes has been added, so that you can show the different stages of the construction of a building in a single clip Edge smoothing in movies has been dramatically improved thanks to a new Smooth Edges effect replacing the old MLAA effect Added new Palm trees, corals, lilys and grass objects to the Tree Pack

Another good news for those who wish to evaluate Lumion3D before buying is that instead of the previous, rather limited Demo version, now there is a (so called) Free version available. Lumion free is a version of Lumion for non commercial use or evaluation. The content library and output options are limited but you can save 720p movies and save your project. Certainly it does not boast with all the features of the full Basic and especially Ultimate Lumion 3D versions but it is apparently feature rich enough to try. You can read more on the actual specifications here.

PRODUCT UPDATE
lumion3d

Act-3D has also announced the 2011 Lumion Movie Competition

The prizes
1st prize: 10,000 US Dollar and a free Lumion 2.0 Ultimate license 2nd prize: 2,000 US Dollar and a free Lumion 2.0 Ultimate license 3nd prize: 1,000 US Dollar and a free Lumion 2.0 Ultimate license Movie requirements Create a movie using Lumion (Free, Basic or Ultimate are all allowed). You are allowed to use editing software to enhance the output of Lumion. Any subject for your movie is allowed should be in 720p MP4 format.

How to participate
Send download link of your movie in 720p MP4 format to competition@lumion3d.com Competition ends November 1, 2011 make sure your send your email before this date. Make sure you include name/company name in your email. Make sure you have read the rules above. By sending Lumion3D an email, you participate in the competition, accepting the rules of this competition. Read more details about the competition and further conditions on the Lumion3D site click the image below.
by Csaba Poszarko

MAYOR MIKES GADGET

lexip 3dm pro
In this edition of Mayor Mikes Gadgets Im going to bring you up to speed on LEXIPs 3DM-Pro mouse. This is definitely not a gadget as I feel its not a novelty in the slightest! It might even be the missing link in the 3D computer design process. When I first learned of the 3DM-Pro I had one of those I didnt know I needed one until I saw it experiences but again I often get those! I have now had the opportunity to test out the LEXIP 3DM-Pro and find it to be a well designed and constructed mouse. Even the packaging it came in was well thought out with no plastic covers that required a knife or scissors to open. The package lid even had a magnetic closer, nice touch! The 3DM-Pro mouse is being described by Lexip as the worlds first 3D mouse and I would have to agree with them. I have tried out 3DConnexions Navigator with SketchUp in the past and while it worked fine, I found having to take my hand off it and onto the keyboard disrupted work-flow. I rarely use it these days tending to stick with the mouse alone for all SketchUp work. To me the 3DM-Pro mouse combines the features of 3DConnexions Navigator and a quality mouse. Its a strange feeling when first grasped and to become familiar and really productive with the device takes a little time. I would recommend using it for browser navigation and other simple non pressure activities first in order to get used to simple movements and then slowing build confidence and expertise in SketchUp navigation, creation and editing.

Some technical data and I quote from Lexips Press Release. The 3D mouse 3DM-Pro accelerates the entire design, development, creation processes and revolutionizes navigation in 3D environments. Unlike traditional mice limited to two axis movements, this 3D mouse allows the user to navigate easily and intuitively in 3 dimensions using all 6 degrees of freedom (3 translations and 3 rotations) : just press down the body of the 3DM-Pro mouse forward or backward, to the right or left or use the joystick, to simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate your 3D model or environment Combining characteristics of a classic mouse and 3D manipulation, the 3D mouse facilitates the 3D workflow. From drawing, to sketch, to part, to assembly, no need to constantly shift between navigation and editing. The 3DM-Pro does it all in a simple and smooth way. Including plug-in for all major 3D software (SketchUp, 3dsmax, Solidworks, Rhino, Nova ) the 3D mouse is the ultimate tool for professionals. By reducing the number of complex and repetitive gestures (use of both hands, keyboard shortcuts and mouse combinations ) the 3DM-Pro higher both productivity and work comfort.

MAYOR MIKES GADGET

lexip 3dm pro
The specifications are as follows, 6DOF motion controller and analog stick for unparalleled level of control Plug-in for SketchUp, Solidworks, Catia, 3ds Max and many more 3D applications 3200 dpi laser for precise drawing and editing 7 programmable buttons for optimal personalization of 3D applications Non-slip rubber clicking scroll-wheel Ergonomic shape for comfortable working experience Soft touch and non-slip rubber sides for greater comfort

Drivers have to be downloaded from the Lexip Pro site and currently there are no Mac drivers but I am assured these will be available shortly. Also, the Lexip site has some video showing the 3DM-Pro in action and dont forget the click the USA flag (top left corner) for the English text that is unless you speak fluent French. Finally the price! Its not cheap but good value I think at 199 plus local taxes. This falls in with the price structure of current navigator products. We will be doing a more in-depth review on the 3DM-Pro with SketchUp in the next edition of Catchup.
by Mike Lucey

CONSTRUCTION MODELING - Step 3

Install formwork and rebar for the pier and continuous footing before placing the concrete.
Add lumber from a component library

Components added for visual scale and staging

Use a plumb line to position the component

Resize the component with the Scale tool* Scale to a stock lumber dimension for estimating Stringlines are a wireframe rig to place components

Green Scale about Opposite Point

Set the axis and rotation arm with the Rotate tool

Key-in the angle as you rotate the component Footing formwork spreads beyond face of wall**

FOOTNOTES
*Scaling is much faster for construction modeling because it does not affect similar components in the model **Click here to view the wall section detail along this wall

Toggle Ctrl and Move to position formwork

All the formwork is scaled from the same component

Plumbline locates the corner of the foundation wall

Edit model base to paint bottom of the excavation white

Footprint of the foundation wall above the footing

Add a stock rebar from the component library Components have built-in handles for alignment

Add bent rebar from the component library

Right click the temporary line to divide

Endpoint

Key in segments to locate rebar in the footing

Use handles to position rebar on the divided line

Scale and Move-copy the rebar in the footing

Add J-bar component and array copy with Move tool Nested pieces organized in the Outliner

On Green Axis

Set spacing with first copy, then input multiplier

Use Rectangle tool to place concrete in forms

Edge in Component

U-TUBE

Videos from our books. Scaling Components Rebar Layout J-bar Arrays

Using the edge of formwork to size the concrete

Push-pull the rectangle to the bottom of the form

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