In Part 1 of this series, Bonnie showed the importance of using SketchUp‘s Layer0 for all loose geometry, and placing components and groups on other layers. In this post, I’ll demonstrate how layers can take you beyond basic organization. And in Part 3, I’ll combine scenes and layers for seamless control of object visibility. Layer Organization Case Studies The […]
Layers – they seem simple enough. Place a SketchUp object on a layer, turn off the layer, hide the object. Each object sits on only one layer. What could go wrong? Actually, quite a bit. When you model using groups and components (which all good modelers do), and start placing groups, components, or loose geometry onto different […]
If you missed Part 1 of this series, I went over the basics of how to change your model’s style. This post goes a little deeper, showing a few dos and don’ts. Pro Style Tips It’s rather fun to open SketchUp‘s Styles window and try out everything you see, to play with different face colors, backgrounds, watermarks, background […]
One of SketchUp’s best features is styles, giving you the ability to produce excellent graphic images and non-photorealistic (NPR) renderings. I almost always use SketchUp’s native graphic styles for client presentations, though I do have to produce “fancy” renderings from time to time (these days I’m into Lumion). For a basic presentation, just turn on […]
UPDATE: With SketchUp 2017, there is a new way to install the Plugin Store. (Searching and installing still works the same way. See our post on the 2017 update, then come back here to read the example. In Part 1 of this series, I covered the basics of SketchUp extensions and how to use […]
UPDATE: With the release of SketchUp 2017, managing installed extensions is done a little differently. It used to be done via the Preferences, now it’s done in the Extension Manager. See our latest post on this. Extensions and plugins tend to scare people off. And I admit that looking through all the different scripts, and places […]
Extensions for SketchUp are amazing. I remember using my first SketchUp extensions when third-party add-ons were just introduced, way back in the SketchUp 4 days. SketchUp was still a start-up at the time (anyone remember @Last software?). And in those days, you had to install extensions via a cumbersome, somewhat geeky process requiring some coding […]
I don’t know about you, but I have kids home this week of summer break. And the two most annoying words I keep hearing: “I’m bored.” If you also find yourself fighting on the front lines of the War Against Child Boredom, maybe this activity will help. And for any teachers reading, you might appreciate this […]
In Part 1 of this series, I talked about common clipping plane issues that cause chunks of your model to disappear, and offered one set of solutions. This post (Part 2) covers a few other methods to get around that pesky clipping plane problem. Save As and Reload This solution works well if you can’t access […]
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