As we announced a while ago, The Daily CatchUp is starting a new series; ”Faces Behind SketchUp” about members of the Google SketchUp Team. Let’s first introduce Tommy Acierno – or as better known in the SketchUp Help Groups and on the SketchUcation Community Forums, “SketchUp Guide Tommy”. His (very) short bio can be read on the “Getting to Know the Guides” page of the SketchUp Help Groups:  “Tommy has been having fun with 3D modeling since about 1998. While working on a 3D portfolio to present to any video game company that’d be willing to look, he stumbled across an ad to provide technical support for a 3D modeling program – SketchUp. That was 2005 and Tommy hasn’t looked back since. After talking to his friends in the video game industry, he’s very happy that he decided to dedicate his days to helping people”.

TDC: Hi Tommy, could you tell us a few words about your educational background since the above “bio” doesn’t say too much about it? What is needed to become a member of the SketchUp Team?

Tommy: Haha. Well, I think my education indicates that we like a lot of diversity on the SketchUp team. I originally went to college to study physics. After a year and a half, I realized that I’m no physicist. As I was exploring other options, I enrolled in a C++ class and totally loved it – Computer Science was my next focus. After another year and a half, even though I enjoyed programming, I couldn’t get my GPA high enough to transfer to the Engineering school to finish my computer science degree, so I settled for a minor. At this point, I have been in school for three years, and not a lot to show for it. I took a year off to “find myself” and all I found was an interest in Half Life and watching the X-games. One cool April morning I woke up and said to myself, “I’m going to study film.” I still don’t know where the inspiration came from. Nonetheless, that fall I started taking classes and majored in film production. After graduation, I went to the only place to go after getting a film degree – Los Angeles, CA.

I had two friends in LA with two separate job opportunities for me – 1. logging and capturing film and 2. a build release engineer for a small software company. The film job fell through and, ironically, my first job out of college was a computer science job – go figure.

During my time in LA, I had a friend who was a 3D modeler for a video game company. That always sounded like a fun job to me, and I have experimented with 3D software in the past. My dear friend was kind enough to give me some insider tricks and tips to being a great 3D modeler in the game industry.

After nearly a year in LA, my wife and I were jealous that we had friends in Colorado with mortgage payments cheaper than our 750 sq ft apartment that shared properly lines with LAX. Although we had a lot of fun in LA, we decided to move back to Colorado in October 2005. I was on a new mission now – build a portfolio that I could use to land a job in the video game industry. Although I was confident in my slow-growing portfolio, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to look for another job. I saw a posting to provide technical support for SketchUp, a 3D modeling application. In fine print, the listing indicated that “3D modeling experience was a plus.” I thought to myself, “Hey. This sounds like a nice ‘tide-me-over’ job until I get my portfolio put together.’” Little did I know that this “whim” would change my life forever.

TDC: When we are at your bio, what “fun” was it that you were “playing around” with in the late 90’s and what kind of portfolio were you working on?

Tommy: By “fun,” I really mean “learning.” I was trying to grasp using software to create 3D shapes. I experimented some with LighWave and 3D Studio Max. I actually spent a lot of time learning how to rig models and animate as well as create 3D models. When I started working on an actual portfolio, it was focused on low poly models suitable for video games. I created various environment models like lamps, chairs, ceiling fans, and a snow blower :-).

TDC: Tell us, please, what exactly you do for the SketchUp Team? In your bio you mention “helping people” and what we can see, you are also very active in the SketchUp Help Groups but this doesn’t reveal too much.

Tommy: I work with a group called Consumer Operations (ConOps). In a nutshell, we’re the folks that interact with customers (directly or indirectly) when it comes to learning about Google products and solving technical problems. Our team builds and maintains Help Centers and Help Forums. A major part of our roll is to understand, listen, and research the issues that plague folks who use Google products. When we identify a big issue that’s affecting customers, we make sure that the engineering team is aware of these issues and we advocate to have these issues fixed. In addition, we also work to fight abuse in Google products.

I focus on SketchUp and 3D Warehouse, and I’m the acting team lead for the ConOps SketchUp team.

TDC: 2005 was also only a little before Google acquired SketchUp. What has changed ever since especially regarding your job?

Tommy: Haha. Almost everything about my job has changed. However, many of the great folks that were around during the “@Last days” are still here.

It was a mere 4 months after I started working for @Last Software that we were acquired. When I first started with @Last, my day consisted of answering phone calls, replying to email, and occasionally posting to the SketchUp Forum. Once SketchUp became a Google product, we knew that the number of folks using SketchUp was going to sky rocket (yet the size of the support team would remain the same ;-). We had to be smarter about getting answers to peoples’ questions, and we needed to deliver these answers fast. We started to focus our efforts on a Help Center that would have articles that addressed as many issues that we can think to cover. We’re constantly looking for new and innovative ways to deliver answers to peoples’ questions.

TDC: Do you have any “visions” about where SketchUp might be going? I certainly do not mean to ask you to reveal any company secrets so maybe just a few words about its future in the light of your participation in the Team; your own possibilities or even maybe any thoughts about changing fields of work (well, of course let’s stay at SketchUp now).

Tommy: As I mentioned earlier, one of the main focuses of my team is to identify what customers would like to do with SketchUp and what technical glitches/limitations they’re encountering. In my vision, SketchUp will continue to evolve to meet the customers’ needs as best it can.

TDC: Now for something a bit different. It’s already well known among those enthusiastically (or commercially) building models for Google Earth that the procedure has undergone some serious “reforms” thus making the system faster and hopefully more reliable. As you frequent the forums a lot and keep in touch with the users; what’s your experience about the feedback they are giving?

Tommy: The feedback that we’ve received from folks has been fantastic. We think that being able to fully re-create our world in digital 3D is monumental goal. Everyone has the right to understand our world and we want to do our part to make that happen. The tradition of mapping our world is something that humans have done for thousands of years – we’re just applying a modern twist to the idea J.

TDC: Last year we had the chance to meet personally at the 3D BaseCamp. It was a great event and I enjoyed it a lot. I know from other participants’ feedbacks that they also felt similarly. What was the SketchUp Team’s opinion or “evaluation” of the BaseCamp? Do you think it would be worth having such events more frequently?

Tommy: If it were up to me, we’d have a 3D BaseCamp every six months. The value gained from interacting with folks face-to-face is fantastic. All to often in the digital world, it’s easy to forget that there’s a face behind that email or forum post.

TDC: In your SketchUcation Forums profile you have a picture with a cute, little kid. You apparently live in a happy family…

Tommy: I’m extremely fortunate and grateful to have a wonderful family. That cute little kid is my 2-year old son, Brayden. Not pictured is my beautiful wife Brooke, and our 1-month old son, Owen [but now see the picture above - TDC]. I also have two dogs – Callie and Snickers. They’re both Boarder Collie mixes.

TDC: Well, thank you very much, Tommy, for this interview; I hope (I’m sure) many readers will like to have some insight “behind the scenes” and how everyday work goes on in Boulder. Now please, “appoint” the next Google SketchUp Team member for us to make the interview with (but of course, we won’t reveal the name yet).

In today’s “Spotlight”, The Daily CatchUp has interviewed Goh Chun Hee, author of 1001bit tools

TDC: Please remind us about 1001bit tools. What is it?

Goh: 1001bit tools is a collection of ruby plugins for Google Sketchup dedicated for architectural works.

My idea of an ideal design process is to start designing spaces and forms in 3d, visualize, modify and improve the model in 3d, then finally produce working drawings straight from the 3d model. In the real world, the sketch design, working drawings and presentations are often separated processes because building 3d models, even conceptual ones had been difficult and time consuming.

When I first saw Google Sketchup few years ago, i was totally overwhelmed. With Sketchup, we can now build and modify 3d models fast, easily and accurately. Sketchup provided the platform on which designing in 3d is now possible. However, to bridge the gap between concept design and shop drawings, we need tools to build architectural elements fast, correctly, easily, and with sufficient level of details. While SU is ideal for architectural works, it is not a dedicated architectural software. Sketchup does not come with tools that is unique for architectural works. This is where 1001bit tools fit in. 1001bit tools comes with a lot of specialized ruby scripts to generate architectural components within few mouse clicks.

TDC: Could you elaborate on some of these tools inside 1001bit tools?

Goh: Inside 1001bit tools, you’ll find tools to create staircases, spiral staircases, escalators, windows, doors, louvres etc.

In addition to these, there are tools to automatically generate roof rafters, and tools that automatically creates hip roofs from complex shapes.
There are also editing and drawing tools like fillet, chamfer, extend, and tools that cut horizontal groove lines on complex surfaces.

TDC: Is 1001bit tools available in languages other than English?

Goh: Yes. 1001bit tools comes with a language pack. And thanks to the contributions from so many of our users, 1001bit tools is now available in French, German, Russian, Spanish, Chinese (Traditional) and Chinese (Simplified).

TDC: What are your future plans for 1001bit tools?

Goh: I am constantly adding more tools to make 1001bit tools better. The latest addition is a revolved surface tool with a scaling option. I’ll be adding more surface tools in the future.

TDC: How do users get notified on updates?

Goh: Visit our website (www.1001bit.com) more often to download upgrades. There is also a discussion thread on Sketchucation forums
I am really grateful to Sketchucation because the forum has played a crucial part in the spreading of 1001bit tools.

DoubleCAD XT and XT PRO are from IMSI/Design, makers of TurboCAD, DesignCAD, and IDX Renditioner rendering plug-in for Google SketchUp.  Mauritz Botha, the Chief Technology Officer of IMSI/Design answers a few questions from “The Daily CatchUp” regarding their DoubleCAD products.

TDC: What is DoubleCAD?

Mauritz: DoubleCAD is a new line of 2D CAD products that we’ve created for the professional market.  They are designed as drafting and detailing solutions for developing construction documentation.  We know that most people don’t do all their work in one application and we chose to emphasize streamlining workflow between applications, in particular SketchUp and DoubleCAD, and AutoCAD and DoubleCAD.

TDC: IMSI has been known primarily for your retail and consumer products, not for the professional market.  Why the switch?

Mauritz: We are the #1 CAD brand in retail and will continue there, but we haven’t been solely for the consumer market.  Our TurboCAD PRO product line has been firmly planted in professional environments for years.  But three years ago when new investors took over IMSI and created IMSI/Design we decided to place a new emphasis on the professional market.  Many CAD producers were trying to push customers upstream to more sophisticated BIM and PLM solutions.  SketchUp was a great example of a product slipping into the market underneath all the high-end marketing buzz and meeting a real world need:  simple 3D conceptual design.  We are trying to do something similar and provide more focus and innovation on the other end of the process:  2D construction documentation.  We felt the big players have been reluctant to add innovative features and significant productivity improvements in this area when their business goals are to push customers upstream to expensive and cumbersome BIM packages.

TDC: How is DoubleCAD going to change the market?

Mauritz: Rather than spend a lot of money on marketing buzz, we put the money into the product, and in price savings.  We’ve created two versions, DoubleCAD XT which is designed to compete favorably with AutoCAD LT, is what we call an AutoCAD LT work-alike.  It is free for both personal and commercial use – like SketchUp.  DoubleCAD XT PRO goes well beyond XT and AutoCAD LT in providing parametric design tools, advanced drafting and detailing features, and a lot more, for only US $695.

TDC: What do you mean by AutoCAD LT work-alike?

Mauritz: Because most people doing 2D drafting today are familiar with AutoCAD, we designed the DoubleCAD user interface to be similar to AutoCAD LT in order minimize switching costs.  If you are familiar with the AutoCAD classic interface then there is little to learn regarding basic functionality.  The menus, commands, intelligent cursor and other elements are designed similarly.  But we didn’t make DoubleCAD a clone:  we wanted to be free to innovate and make improvements.

TDC: What improvements are there compared to AutoCAD LT that people can expect?

Mauritz: Fantastic SketchUp file import for one thing.  We bring in all the expected geometry, layers, views, etc, but we also create a paper space with a viewport for each SketchUp scene.  It may not sound sexy, but it is a huge time savings with certain types of models and documentation.  The viewport properties include layer visibility, camera position, and 2D or perspective camera views.  If you use layers extensively and have dozens of views to document, this can be a huge time saver, and help reduce errors.  We’ve also added features that lots of AutoCAD users have been asking for such as Bezier curves, draw-order-by-layer, transparent fills, embedding bitmaps… we’ve also added a wall tool that creates self-healing walls for 2D plan design.  Save your design as a .DWG and because the walls are AutoCAD Architecture compatible, the walls remain self-healing in AutoCAD even though they don’t have the tools to create a wall.  You can use that tool to quickly design floorplans that you can export to .DXF or explode and save as a .DWG and import into SketchUp, create faces for the slabs and walls, extrude, group one floor and add it to another – you are quickly on your way.

TDC: And what about the PRO version?

Mauritz: DoubleCAD XT PRO includes a lot more!  There is a full suite of AutoCAD Architecture compatible tools including compound walls, parametric AEC doors and windows, stair, rail, slab, and roof tools, plus schedule and section tools.  There is the drafting palette which allows you to create floorplans, roof plans, sections, elevations, and detailed views that are fully associative with the model, even an Xref of the .SKP file.  We’ve added parametric design tools including 2D parametric constraints, similar to the ones that were only added to the full AutoCAD in 2010.  There is the parametric parts manager that is a bit like dynamic components, except that the parts are scripted.  The PRO product also includes tools for creating weld symbols, surface roughness symbols, a gear tool, a trace tool, and more.  And all for only US $695.  And we’re continuing development at a good pace.

TDC: Who is using DoubleCAD today?

Mauritz: The free product attracts a very, very wide range of users.  Some simply treat DoubleCAD XT as a viewer or a file converter:  you can open a .SKP and save it as a .DXF for import into Blender, or save a .DWG that includes more information than the SketchUp Pro .DWG export function, and you don’t need the Pro version of either application to do that.  We’ve seen lots of students using it, as well as many professionals that are looking for an extra CAD seat for home use.  Smaller architectural offices and others downstream in the architectural workflow, from HVAC contractors, to electricians, and many others are profiting from its availability.  The PRO version has seen its best adoption from smaller architectural firms, sole practitioners, landscape architecture, and people that do 2D mechanical design and product design.

TDC: Can you tell us about your plans for future versions of DoubleCAD?

Mauritz: We are listening to our users, so you can get a feel for many of the changes by reading the DoubleCAD forums (http://forums.doublecad.com).  And if you don’t see what you want you can jump right in and suggest it.  We’re working on shorter design cycles right now and want to really build momentum through a combination of innovation on the one hand, and constant improvements to existing functionality on the other hand.  In particular we are currently working on a number of performance improvements to speed working with large drawings or even several large drawings assembled via Xrefs.  We’ll be improving Xrefs, our text tools, layer management, and over the next few releases we have quite a few enhancements to benefit SketchUp users in particular.  And in conjunction with partners in several countries we expect to see localized versions in the near future.

TDC: Thank you for spending the time with us to explain a little more about DoubleCAD and the direction IMSI/Design is taking.

“Bonnie dedicates her work to teaching kids, teachers, and design pros how to use SketchUp. She is a former bridge engineer, a mom to five kids, and an amateur violinist. Her goal is to get everyone to think, visualize, and create in 3D. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her family.”

Read the whole interview on “The Capital Region Society for Technology in Education” website and see Bonnie’s blog.

Inglobe Technologies, an Italian company focussed on providing Augmented Reality solutions, has recently released the Augmented Reality Plugin for Google SketchUp. We asked Graziano Terenzi, CEO at Inglobe for an interview with “The Daily CatchUp” on their ARmedia Plugin.

TDC: Graziano, what is ARmedia?

Graziano: ARmedia is the Augmented Reality Brand by Inglobe Technologies as well as Inglobe’s platform for developing Augmented Reality (AR) applications. It is the framework that allows us to deploy a variety of AR solutions that can be easily integrated with other software platforms. The engine of our Augmented Reality Plugin is based on it.

TDC: Graziano, What does  “Augmented Reality” mean, please explain more?

Graziano: Simply stated, Augmented Reality is the superposition of virtual content, such as 3D computer graphics and animations, onto a real world scene in real-time. AR is implemented by means of an ever growing set of emerging technologies that will innovate and improve enormously the workflow within many different applicative domains. I believe that Design practitioners will be positively affected by Augmented Reality.

TDC: Graziano, when I saw the Augmented Reality plug for the first time I thought it filled a huge gap the the digital designer’s toolkit as it allowed the designer to produce a nearly tangible virtual model for the client. Was this your intention and how did this idea come about?

Graziano: Thank you very much for the question.  Yes, I think that this is exactly the point here. Digital designers today have a lot of tools that provide them with incredible functionalities for accomplishing complex visualization tasks.  All these tools are incredibly useful and add value to the designers workflow.  Nonetheless they still suffer a structural limitation: they only function and “live” inside the machine, i.e. inside the computer.  But there is a whole new world, that we are starting to explore within our development activity, which makes us believe that many designer’s tasks can be better accomplished by bringing Building Information and Digital Content to the real world rather than only relegating it to their digital sphere of existence.  Augmented Reality, we believe, is the means that will make this possible.  Our main goal with the ARplugin was to provide as many practitioners as possible with an innovative tool for examining, analysing and visualizing their 3D projects, by means of a “tangible” Augmented Reality Interface.  The basic visualization capability of the ARplugin can be appreciated by taking a look at this video, since according to a dear friend of mine, an Augmented Reality picture in action is worth a thousand words…

Of course the AR plugin is a first step towards a deeper integration of Augmented Reality with SketchUp as well as with other beautiful plugins.

TDC: Who do you see using AR now and in what markets would you see it used in the future?

Graziano: There are a lot of people who are using the ARmedia plugin in a wide variety of markets. For example, the plugin is employed by construction companies worldwide.  Architecture and Design Firms (and professionals) are using the plugin both as a presentation tool and as a design aid.  Content Creators and companies in the Media industry are employing it in their projects.  But besides these predictable uses, we observed that curiously also many other people are using the plugin.  For example, university researchers, school teachers and students from many different disciplines (Mathematics, Archaeology, Architecture and Urbanism, Engineering, History,  just to mention some) are starting to use the plugin as an aid to their activity.
I believe that as a consequence of the future release of planned upgrades, there will be a sensible growth in every market where the plugin already got positioned, especially in the Media and Advertising, Architecture, Design and Content Creation.

TDC: Please tell us about the equipment that is needed to operate / use AR?, also the costs involved and the OS that are available.

Graziano: The ARplugin is not much demanding in terms of Hardware requirements. You can run it on a standard PC, 1GHz Processor, 512 MB Ram, 100% compliant OpenGL Video Card with 128 MB Ram, 50 MB of available Hard Disk space, and a simple USB 2.0 Webcam. Of course, the better the webcam, the better the visualization quality, as bad webcams almost always entail a not perfect performance.  In other words, with a standard PC, with a $ 50 webcam and with ARplugin you will have an excellent tool for presenting your ideas to your clients using Augmented Reality.

Besides this basic configuration, we can also make the plugin work with more sophisticated hardware, like Firewire and HD cameras, Head Mounted Displays and other Virtual Reality devices. But generally this is not needed for a standard use of the plugin.

With reference to the other part of the question, currently, we have released both a PC Windows and a MAC OS 10.5 version of the ARmedia Plugin. Professional, Educational and Student licenses are also available. Every interested reader can find the details here.

TDC: Can you tell us about your plans for the further development of AR and any associated applications.

Graziano: AR is going through a very fast development stage. We are constantly expanding our platform capabilities and are already capable of providing our partners with very complex AR solutions. With regards to the future development of the ARplugin, we are working to extend it with a lot of functionalities. A couple of interesting upgrades are already on the way.

One important upgrade will be the combo ARmedia Exporter plus ARmedia Player. The Exporter will allow users to create and publish augmented reality files. These files can be viewed using the ARmedia Player, a free player that can be downloaded from our website and that we are starting to distribute these days. This upgrade has been developed to make it easier to publish and visualize AR content using the ARplugin.  With the ARmedia Exporter and Player users will be able to visualize AR models created with Google SketchUp without launching SketchUp or having it installed on their computer. This I think will take the use of the Plugin a step further, opening a wide range of new possibilities in many different sectors.

Another important upgrade will be the ARmedia FL Player. We have already concluded the development of a Flash based Augmented Reality Player which will allow users to make their SketchUp 3D models accessible directly on a webpage. The ARmedia FL Player works independently of the ARplugin, and it can also treat models made with other modelling software. This is a very useful tool as it takes the power of the AR with SketchUp another step further, letting users access AR content more easily without dealing with physical or geographical limitations.

TDC: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your company?

Graziano: Yes of course. I am founder and CEO at Inglobe Technologies. I have a background in researching Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science, Science of Design and Systems Science, i.e. all subjects that, I believe, are strictly related. From the day I first met Augmented Reality, I fell in love with it. So I decided to create, together with my brother Alessandro (who left IBM to endorse this endeavour) and my friend Francesco, Inglobe Technologies, a company focused on providing Augmented Reality solutions. Now the company is starting to gain a good reputation worldwide and ARmedia is perceived as one important AR brand all over the world.

TDC: Thank you Graziano for enlightening us on the intricacies of AR and this useful and very interesting technology that you have brought to SketchUp users.  We look forward to seeing you further develop ARmedia.

This week “The Daily CatchUp” interviewed Paul Lee of Viewsion Google SketchUp Authorised Training Centre.

TDC: What made you become interested in SketchUp training?

Paul: I learned CAD the hard way (by asking everyone in the drawing office to help me) years ago and later had an opportunity to teach it. CAD courses didn’t at all prepare candidates for the workplace, and learning was a haphazard experience. I wanted to improve teaching in this area, and saw the opportunity this presented. I wrote a detailed CAD course in 2002 in a local Vocational school but got little support to continue it so it died.

In 2005 a colleague introduced me to SketchUp. The more I learned about the program, the more I became interested in it. I started this SketchUp training venture with a partner in 2008, (www.viewsion.ie) and its going pretty well so far, despite the recession.

TDC: What does Viewsion do that’s special?

Paul: Alongside the standard SketchUp courses we have produced the world’s first course for the production of CAD-free construction drawings using only SketchUp and Layout. We deliver this course worldwide through live instructor-led online training. (You can find our Youtube video under the “sketchupireland” banner.) We have also provided specialist training to landscape designers, building contractors, film set designers, and engineering  / architecture professionals.

TDC: Where do you see SketchUp going in the future?

Paul: In general terms that’s anybody’s guess, but it’s definitely on an upward and ever expanding trajectory. On one level, we see SketchUp becoming a serious BIM tool, ultimately replacing CAD. Most fields (possibly every field) of design will be very much affected by this technology. Open-source is key. The fact that anyone can write code for this is driving SU’s evolution at a phenomenal pace. Take for example Fredoscale and 1001bit tools. SketchUp’s own Dynamic Components are a massive step in the BIM direction.

The possibilities for product marketing through 3d Warehouse are something which have not yet taken hold of the commercial imagination. This will be a very exciting area to watch into the future. However, companies such as Velux and Kolbe Windows have made some progress in this area, which is encouraging.

TDC: What other areas interest you?

Paul: We aim to pursue the Google Earth modelling of our locality (Cork City) as well as country-wide. This will help to grow tourism in the country as well as being a great resource for ordinary people, local government, etc. We have been working on some models for upload to 3d warehouse that will be helpful to architects engineers and students locally and worldwide. Such models would include regulatory requirements for things like disabled toilets, staircases, windows etc. We are very interested in production of dynamic components for commercial use such as window manufacturers, concrete products etc. Secondary schools education (or K-12 institutions as they are called in the States) is another area that interests us greatly as we feel that SketchUp is the perfect tool for many areas: technical drawing, architectural / construction studies, woodworking, graphic design and tutorials just to name a few. We aim to get kids interested by running a competition this Autumn to model Project Spectrum- We will be providing free SU training to people involved with autism groups (please get in touch if interested – info@viewsion.ie)

Energy analysis from SketchUp models is an area of huge interest and though we don’t yet have experience in this area, we are very keen to get to grips with it. Cost analysis using SketchUp is something that we are pursuing for a client at the moment.

TDC: What is Beyoncé’s phone number?

Paul: I cannot reveal that information as I feel this would be a betrayal of her trust.

TDC: Please tell us who you are and how you got into the world of 3D Visualization.

Susan Moses: My background is in the field of design & architecture…. knowledge gained via academia, but mostly by work experience.  I started my path in the world of 3D Viz when an architect suggested I take a course in formZ at UCLA.  I was instantly hooked.

TDC: When did you first hear about Google SketchUp and what was your first reaction?

Susan Moses: I first heard about SketchUp in 2005 when I took an ArchiCAD course at UCLA.  It was suggested by the instructor that we look into the software.  I downloaded the free version, watched all the tutorials, read the @last forum posts back to front, and the rest is history.

TDC: Do you think that the world of 3D Visualization has changed because of Google SketchUp? And if so, do you think Google’s role in that has made it more accessible for people?

Susan Moses: SketchUp’s intuitive interface and small tool set makes 3D modeling a breeze.  What takes hours to model in another 3D app takes minutes in SketchUp.  For that reason it makes it possible for many disciplines to feasibly hire a SketchUp modeler to convey their ideas in 3D.  Let me put it this way: SketchUp expanded my options in the work field instantly.  It was much harder to land a single design job than it was to land ten jobs requiring SketchUp knowledge.  I built my 3D Visualization business on the spine of SketchUp and I have never looked back.  I have been told that my knowledge of design and architecture gives me an edge when architects, designers, event planners, etc. consider hiring a 3D person as a team player. Resolving unanswered questions relating to the design in the process is a serious plus.

With the integration of Google Earth and 3D Warehouse, as well as the free version option, Google has undeniably made SketchUp more available to the masses.  I think the question is. ‘Has Google done a good job in creating a buzz?’  To that I say, even with the contest collaborations with industry giants ‘Dwell’ and ‘Guggenheim’, I am still surprised at how many people I know and/or meet that know nothing about SketchUp.  It is a powerful little app with so much maiden potential.  Google knows that or they wouldn’t have made it a part of their portfolio.

TDC: What is your favorite subject of modeling in your profession? In other words, what kinds of projects have your preference?

Susan Moses: I’m all about the challenge.  I love modeling complex architectural stuff.  Some of the ORDOS 100 houses or Sagaponac House No. 26 by MVRVD (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries) are top of the list.  If it requires using the Bezier curve tool… I’m all over it.

TDC: What do you think the future of 3D design with Google SketchUp holds? Will the application continue to mostly support Architects, or do you think it will pan out to other areas as well?

Susan Moses: The future is absolutely auspicious and untapped.  With the right course of action: sound R&D and marketing teams could pull rabbits out of SketchUp’s hat.  The world of gaming could wield an avalanche of opportunity for SketchUp.  Coincident to gaming Google SketchUp could have an indelible impact on idea creation and communication in disciplines such as filmmaking and animation.

In support of architects, it is a dream of mine to head up the think tank that packages comprehensive sets of cutting-edge modern and contemporary furniture, lighting and accessories.  The fields of architecture and design constantly demand the use of furnishings by avant-garde designers in the form of components and there is not currently anything like that in the marketplace.  Evidenced by my custom component library, containing countless models that many a SketchUp professional would die for.

TDC: What are your thoughts about some of Google SketchUp’s ‘lesser qualities’, such as speed and limited tool set?

Susan Moses: SketchUp’s management of LOD (level of detail) has always been it’s biggest challenge.  A plugin for creating a proxy would definitely be useful.

SU’s limited tool set is a plus in my book.  Too many tools equals too much time spent navigating the interface.  If I want to do something outside the tool set capabilities, I use the Ruby scripts, which brings us to the next question I see.

TDC: Do you use any Ruby scripts/Extensions/Plug-ins and do you think Google should include more of these in their default install?

Susan Moses: I use them extensively.  Early on I took the time to read the Ruby forum posts and what was Chinese to me in the beginning became an exciting second language.  The best way to learn Ruby is to create an object and perform a Ruby function.  I did this exercise over and over in my spare time until I had a good working knowledge.  The ultimate downside to Rubies is the fact that they are created by third-parties who leave a lot of the guesswork as to which folder to install to (Plugins or Tools) and ultimately where they show up in the menus is a big guessing game.  A Ruby script that arranges plugins/tools alphabetically would be a big plus.  So yes, Google should definitely devise a script handling strategy in the near future.

TDC: So which Rubies do you use?

Susan Moses: I think I have almost every working Ruby script/Plug-in freely available installed in the program.  My faves (not in any order) include:

Plug-Ins

1. Weld (which has disappeared on my Mac) or Repair Broken Lines
2. Move to Origin (essential)
3. Get Dimensions (another essential)
4. Page Layers
5. Push Pull faces along a vector
6. Stray Lines
7. Pipe Along Path
8. Tube Along Path
9. Rafter Tool

Tools

1. CenterPoint
2. makeFaces
3. Left Click Reverse Face Tool
4. StairMaker
5. Champher Along Path
6. Elevation 45 Shadows
7. Delete Coplanar Edges

It would be a good day if/when Google SketchUp 8 Pro Version came installed with a set of cleanly organized (maybe a secondary tool set with identifying icons) sine qua non rubies/plugins that when hovering over the tool would give a brief description of their function.  Add to that a comprehensive set of video tutorials on the official site.

TDC: What is it that you like/don’t like about Google SketchUp?

Susan Moses: Many Google SketchUp users have complained that it becomes an addiction… I find this to be entirely true.  It does have a way of taking over your life… but that’s a good thing when it’s your job I guess.  Hmmmm…. ‘Where did my social life disappear to?’

Susan Moses’ web site is here: http://3dblur.blogspot.com/

TDC: Al, you have been involved in 3D CAD for a long time. How did you get started.

Al Hart: Yes Coen. I guess I am one of the “Cad Pioneers” although I am not as famous as Pat Hanratty and the others. We founded Sigma Design in 1978 which wrote ARRIS – the first micro-processor based, 3D CAD System. ARRIS is still being used and we still make new versions for the dedicated customer base. In 1987 we spun off a new company – now called Render Plus – writing add-on applications for ARRIS.

We created more than 20 add-on applications for ARRIS CAD, and then in the 1990s we started creating stand-alone applications – which didn’t require a CAD system. The most popular of these were Site Designer by LANDCADD, Giza Office Furniture for Facet, and Planix Exterior Designer for Softdesk. We developed our own 3D CAD system to support these applications.

TDC: Interesting… But, how did you get involved with SketchUp

Al Hart: We wrote a SketchUp import/export routine for ARRIS CAD in 2003 after we discovered that about ½ of the architects using ARRIS also used SketchUp. SketchUp made a presentation at the ARRIS users group meetings in 2004 and 2005. We were quite impressed with SketchUp and decided to drop our own 3D Cad system, and write add-on applications for SketchUp instead.

The first was RPS 3D PDF which creates interactive, 3D, PDF files for use with Adobe Reader. Then we created a rendering interface, based on the McNeel and Associates rendering engine AccuRender. These proved to be quite popular add-ons for SketchUp.

TDC: What kind of applications are you writing?

Al Hart: We realized that SketchUp was a great system for creating 3D objects, massing studies, etc. But that it was weaker in some basic CAD capabilities – such as placing pre-made components into a space and manipulating them, or drawing 2D Construction documents. We decided to create some tools to enhance SketchUp in this area. The impression we get from the SketchUp team is that they would prefer to develop capabilities – such as Dynamic Components – but let the third party world create scripts for specific uses of these tools. So our primary business is to develop applications to enhance SketchUp.

TDC: What is the difference between an application and a script?

Al Hart: SketchUp provides a fairly powerful scripting language – Ruby – which can be used to created scripts to do almost anything in SketchUp. Quite a few ruby developers create these scripts and them make hem available – either free or at a small cost – to the SketchUp community. We use quite a few of these ourselves – such as FlightPath from Smustard. Often if you have a specific need you can find a script someone has written for it.

An add-on application is larger than just a script. Our applications combine toolbars, dialog boxes, right click functions, ruby code and C++ code to provide a complete user interface for tackling tasks.

Of course, there is a lot of overlap between scripts and applications. One difference is that a script can often be download, placed in the SketchUp Plug-ins folder and used immediately. An application, because it contains a variety of items – images, ruby scripts, dialog boxes and DLLs usually needs to be installed, rather than just unzipped into the Plug-ins folder.

TDC: OK – enough history. I wanted to ask you about your latest product.

Al Hart: That would be nXtRender – our new, low-cost rendering engine for SketchUp…

TDC: But Wait. When I look at the SketchUcation  Render application Home pages thread I see more than 30 renderers for SketchUp. Why do we need another one?

Al Hart: Well, there are indeed a lot of them. But there are only a few which are integrated into SketchUp – meaning that the rendering settings, lights and materials are stored in the SketchUp model – and there are only a few written by a team like ours which is dedicated to making the process as logical and easy as possible.

TDC: OK. I can see that point. But one of the 30 or more products is your own product, IRender, which uses the same engine as nXtRender.

Al Hart: IRender nXt is very powerful and contains all the high-end features which serious rendering folks like to use. But as we added each new feature, it made the use interface more an more complex. For instance, SketchUp only has one transparency setting – amount of transparency. IRender has 9 – including such things as refraction and caustics. This lets the users get exactly the effect desired. But for the novice, it can be very confusing setting 9 parameters and re-rendering to get the perfect effect.

We wanted to make a renderer which made very good renderings, with very few options for the user to set. So we created a new interface to the nXt rendering engine – nXtRender, made it easy to use and set a very low price.

TDC: Can you create good renderings without a lot of settings?

Al Hart: One thing we did was to create a set of default rendering environments – to match typical modeling environments. The user selects one of these environments, and then clicks the render button and gets a very good rendering with no additional setting being required.

Here is an example of a rendering created from a 3D warehouse using the High Dynamic Lighting preset. The High-Dynamic – Studio lighting effect filters the sun through a forest to create subtle lighting patterns.

No changes were made to the SketchUp model. Just click high dynamic and click render. Colors, transparency and materials are all read from the SketchUp model.

TDC: But what if I want to make better renderings.

Al Hart: Usually the two things you want to add to a model, which aren’t already contained in the SketchUp model and materials are lighting and reflection. We have a simple right-click dialog which sets these properties for a material.

You right click on surface containing a material (you do not even have to open a group or component for edit – we figure out which material you want), and set the sliders for reflection and/or Illumination (usually not both) and you can easily add the items which make a good rendering. The changes are automatically applied to all surfaces using the same material.

Here is another 3D Warehouse model. We placed it in a room, added some lights to the ceiling and added reflection to most of the materials, clicked the render button and got a great rendering.

The highlighting (bright white reflections) on the fixtures and bowls and the subtle lighting effects from the ceiling lights create an excellent rendering with a minimum amount of effort.

TDC: How long does it take to create these renderings?

Al Hart: That’s always a tricky question. With nXtRender you can let it render as long as you like – each rendering pass improves the rendering by sampling the lights and reflections better and better. The rendering of the bathroom took less than a minute.

But more geometry, larger screen sizes, more lights, etc., create models which take longer to render.

No matter how much we improve the speed of the renderer it is never fast enough. Most users render at a small size until they like the results, and then let the final rendering “cook” overnight.

TDC: Sounds good. Is there anything more you would like to add?

Al Hart: In addition to making a light by setting illumination for a material we also provide light bulbs and spot light bulbs which you can include in a light fixture.

However, that is just about it for features – we wanted to keep the feature list very small to make nXtRender very easy to use. And we wanted to keep the price low to make it an easy purchase decision. We hope this till be a very good addition to the list of renderers for SketchUp, we hope it gets added to the list of available renderers on the SketchUcation forum, and we hope your readers will give it a try.

To read more or download a trial version (with full capabilities for 30-days), visit: nXtRender.

TDC: Thank you for doing this interview with us Al.

Al Hart: Thanks for having us.

LEDAS Ltd., a Russian software development company, recently released a new version of Driving Dimensions plugin for Google SketchUp. We asked Dmitry Ushakov, Director of Product Management at LEDAS for an in-depth interview with “The Daily CatchUp” on their latest offering.

TDC: There is a new version of Driving Dimensions for SketchUp released last week, remind us what it does?

Dmitry: Our plug-in adds parametric functionality to Google SketchUp, making it similar to MCAD software packages. Moreover we have implemented it in a way that can be used even by beginners. You know that Google SketchUp users can add linear and radial dimensions to their models, and these dimensions are updated (recomputed) each time you make changes to your geometry. So your dimensions are driven by geometry. We provide the opposite possibility: let your dimensions drive your geometry. When you set a desired value for a driving dimension, your model is automatically updated to satisfy it. In addition, we did not limit ourselves by linear/radial dimensions and introduced angular dimensions. So with our plug-in you can change any length, distance, radius or angle in your model with just one click!

TDC: Your concept is simple, but most Google SketchUp users used to apply Scale or Tape measure tools for changing dimensions in their models, what is your added value except UI?

Dmitry: Indeed you can use some built-in SketchUp tools to set the desired length dimension for any edge. However, using these tools you can set not more than one dimension at a time. If you set other dimensions previously, they may be changed in an undesired way. In contrast, all driving dimensions set to your model are stored and applied simultaneously. Even if you change your model by moving or resizing some of its entities, you can use the Update Geometry command (available with the Driving Dimensions toolbar) to apply automatically all driving dimensions you set previously to your model. Finally, as I said before, the Driving Dimensions plug-in allows you to control not only the length, but also arbitrary distances, radii and angles in your model.

TDC: So you can satisfy several dimensions simultaneously. How does it work?

Dmitry: Simultaneous resolving of driving dimensions and geometric constraints are used in the MCAD industry for many years. The computational engine that resolves simultaneous constraints is called a ‘constraint solver’. The pioneer company here was UK-based D-Cubed Ltd. (now a part of Siemens). We started the development of our LGS constraint solver in 2001 and released the first commercial version in 2004. Now we have several customers who incorporated LGS into their CAD applications to support parametric design with constraints. Simultaneous resolving of hundreds and thousands constraints is not so trivial since basically you need to solve a large system of nonlinear equations and make it in less than one second since end users do not like to wait. We developed several knowhow techniques mainly related to the decomposition of a large initial system of constraints into smaller parts that help us to reach interactive behavior on industrial scenarios.

TDC: OK, you are professional MCAD guys, but Google SketchUp is not an MCAD package. Do you think your experience is requested by Google SketchUp users?

Dmitry: When we started the development of Driving Dimensions plug-in for SketchUp we believed that its functionality will be requested, but we did not predict such great popularity: in less than 8 months after we release a first public beta more than 10,000 SketchUp users from 120+ countries worldwide downloaded a free version of our plug-in from the DrivingDimensions.com website. We have a forum at this site where our users share their vision with us. the SketchUcation Community Forums are also very helpful for this. We received a lot of ideas concerning the future development and we have to think what should be done first, since we are a comparatively small software development company and cannot invest significant resources into this project. But these are pleasant thoughts.

TDC: And what’s new in the version you released recently?

Dmitry: The main user request was to port our plug-in to the Mac. And I am very happy to announce that version 1.1 released in June can run not only on Windows 2000/XP/Vista, but also on Mac OS X (Intel 10.4+). We have also updated the Windows version: now users can apply driving dimensions between grouped elements (if they belong to the same component).
We have also improved the UI: a new button on our toolbar opens “About Driving Dimensions” dialog with links to online help located on our website, and the procedure of argument selection for driving dimensions has been corrected. Being always concentrated on quality issues we have improved the stability of our plug-in by fixing several bugs.

TDC: Why is your plug-in free? How do you earn money?

Dmitry: We have two versions of the Driving Dimensions plug-in: Free and Pro. The Free version is not intended for commercial use and is limited in the maximum driving dimensions entities that can be added to one Google SketchUp model. The Pro version is available from the share-it! online store for only $45 per single user license. Driving Dimensions is not the only plugin – it is rather a line of software products. Recently we released a first public beta of Driving Dimensions for Rhinoceros, a popular NURBS modeling package, and our plan is to introduce driving dimensions into many CAD systems that lack parametric functionality. Our motto is “parametric design for all at adequate price!”. You are welcome to visit our site at http://drivingdimensions.com, where you can find more information about the Driving Dimensions family of plugins, watch video tutorials, download sample models to play with, and ask questions on our user forums.

TDC: Thank you for this interview Dmitry and we wish you and your development team the best of luck with your future endeavors.

Dmitry: Thank you.

Barbara and Dennis Fukai are the people “behind” Insitebuilders, a small press specializing in books for the design and construction industry. All of their construction books are written as graphic narratives using a combination of three-dimensional illustrations, interactive 3D construction models, short videos, captioned text, and interactive media. Their goal is to keep their construction books simple. The objective is to make complex construction information quick to read and easy to understand. To accomplish this they use very accurate 3D construction models built with Google SketchUp. The Daily CatchUp asked Dennis about his reasons for using SketchUp for this purpose.

TDC: What do you see as the real value of SketchUp?

Dennis: I think Brad Schell, the founder of SketchUp, said it best on the cover of our book “Building SIMPLE: Building an Information Model.” To paraphrase, he saw 3D modeling as the best way for everyone to share the ideas, designs, and dreams we all have floating around in our heads. For Brad, everyone, the “professional architect, builder, mom and pop remodeling a kitchen, or a kid designing the next space station…” has an idea that needs to be expressed. In short, his dream was to bring 3D to the masses, and that’s exactly what he did.

What has always amazed me about SketchUp is its intuitive feel. It seems like the tools are right where they should be, they operate almost exactly how one would expect them to, and the program anticipates the little things necessary to make 3D modeling easy for everyone. In fact, the pure genius of SketchUp, is that some how the original @Last team was able to get all of these ideas coded into a simple program that seems to just expand and grow from within its own user base.

And what is truly amazing is that in all our books, with thousands of pieces in hundreds of assemblies, we have yet to find the limit of what even the early versions of SketchUp can do. There is no way any of this is an accident, and I continue to admire how inventive and instinctive that early vision remains in probably the most useful product out there for construction modeling.

TDC: Why use SketchUp for construction modeling?

Dennis: Though it’s a great design tool, SketchUp is more than a pretty face. It also has an important role to play as an information and communications tool for manufacturing, construction, and property development. In fact, its real value is not that it can simply illustrate objects in 3D, but that it can also very quickly model and communicate “time” as an erection sequence, simulated field assembly, or a preconstruction process. (See Dennis’s blog: http://insitebuilders.wordpress.com)

We use our books to show how SketchUp can be an effective tool to visually communicate the means and methods of an assembly as a series of distinct events or activities. This is especially important in risk management, but it is equally important in discussing change orders and clarifications because it sets up a visual understanding of a problem from a common point of view.

The result is an increasingly collaborative approach to construction, where owners, designers, and constructors are all able to animate concerns in 3D, illustrate project production over time, test alternative approaches to an assembly, and evaluate schedules and costs as a logical sequence of activities in order to find the best values for a project.

TDC: How is construction modeling different in SketchUp?

Dennis: The speed and intuitive feel of SketchUp makes it easy for almost anyone to build a construction model. The trick is using the Outliner in combination with strict control over the organization of the pieces of the total construction. Layer controls, Groups and Components help, but the basic idea is to maintain distinct clusters of objects as a controlled collection of nested construction assemblies.

Fortunately, almost all estimates and schedules in construction are organized in a work breakdown structure (WBS). This means the WBS quickly provides an over all framework for the pieces of the construction model, including three standard levels of subassemblies, sequences, and the supporting labor and equipment used to actually build almost any complex construction project.

The organizational methods we use for the construction models in our books have evolved with the changes to SketchUp over the years. This means that our readers not only interact with the animated details of complex construction in 3D, but they can also follow through with those assemblies using the hands-on project based tutorials included with every book.

TDC: Thank you, Dennis, for these “insights” and finally here are some exciting (though low resolution) samples from Insitebuilder’s recent projects: