Bonnie Roskes

Soap Skin Pillow: Part 2 - Soap Skin Bubble

In Part 1 of this series, we started our pillow model by importing an image and trimming a square to get the pillow shape. Here’s where we ended up:   Now we’ll use the amazing Soap Skin & Bubble Extension to give the pillow its puffy shape. You can get this free extension in the […]

Soap Skin Pillow: Part 1 - Build the Pillow Shape

Hi all, sorry for the lack of posting last week. It was a bit crazy with the upcoming release of a new book – stay tuned for our announcement! I recently posted a four-part series on “Perfect Pillows.” That technique was a bit of a cheat – using a more or less rectangular block with rounded edges […]

Low Poly Models

Even on a fast computer, have you ever had a SketchUp model perform really slowly? In most cases, slow orbiting and the like is caused by bloated models. And what usually causes this bloating is the importing of large models from the 3D Warehouse. (By “large” I don’t mean a model’s dimensions or scale; I […]

SketchUp Artists Styles: Part 2 - Install Styles into SketchUp

In Part 1 of this series, I showed how to download a style file from SketchUpArtists.org. When your extracted style file is in a folder on your computer, you’re ready to install it into SketchUp.   Create a Style Collection In SketchUp, open the Styles window and click the Details arrow.   Choose to open or […]

SketchUp Artists Styles: Part 1 - Download Free Styles

So many people don’t know about SketchUp styles. But I’ve seen that once someone discovers styles, they’ll play with them like a kid in a toy store. Styles are used to change how your model appears. SketchUp provides a pretty decent collection in the Styles window:   But when you want to branch out from […]

Review: 3DConnexion Space Navigator

What’s a SpaceNavigator I’ve had this 3D mouse for a while, and I finally got around to opening the box and giving it a try. (I think this was a giveaway from a recent SketchUp Basecamp.) It’s called SpaceNavigator, made by 3Dconnexion, and it sells for $109. It has a sleek look:   I hear […]

Paper House Project: Part 4 - Photo Match Painting

We ended Part 3 of this series with a simple house, modeled entirely in SketchUp, with these two images saved as screen captures: Now we’ll use these images to paint the blank house, which was copied from the original house. Photo Match Axes With Photo Match, model location and directions are essential to get right. […]

Paper House Project: Part 3 - Photo Match Setup

Part 1 of this series on paper houses showed how to use SketchUp to create and unfold a simple house, which can be printed, folded, colored, and assembled. Part 2 showed how to create the same house painted in SketchUp, with the help of a graphic editor. This post, as well as the next one, show […]

Paper House Project: Part 2 - Edit Texture Images

Part 1 of this series showed how to use the Flatten and Unwrap extension to make a simple paper house in SketchUp. In that project, your kids (or you) print on blank paper and use markers or crayons to add windows, doors, materials, etc. This project shows a different method: painting materials in SketchUp. I started […]