Sketch This!

RenderIN Beta Test

2012-01-22T21:35:00.000-05:00

Through the Twitterverse the other day the RenderIN folks told me that they are having a contest to get testers for their next version of RenderIn. They are looking for 30 new testers. All you have to do to participate is download the trial version of RenderIN, render up an image and send it it. The best 30 images from users will be chosen for the beta program.

I downloaded the trial and started playing with it myself. While I have nothing yet that I would consider worthy to send it, the "Real time radiosity engine" is quite interesting. See the video below on how it works. Certainly worth a try. Click here to post an image to the contest.

2011 Year End Review

2012-01-10T20:39:00.001-05:00

It's been a spectacular year for this blog. What started out as a humble blog for Sketchup related tips has expanded into a globally read resource read by thousands every month.

Not only is this post a review of some of the high points this year, for all of the new readers it will be a great way to get up to speed on what goes on here. Consider it a "Cliff notes" or a "Best of album" for 2011. Let's jump right in!

First and foremost, there is a lot of Sketchup content from this year.

Draw Countertops with Components (Saves time!)
Save Those Components! (Learn to save components for reuse later)
Sketchup: Now with mind bending capabilities (Learn to use Shape Bender)
Shaderlight, my favorite render package for Sketchup
Jason Wu Brizo products now available in Sketchup
Apps for Sketchup? Steve Jobs is not amused (Learn to use Material Replacer for Sketchup)

There was a lot of coverage on mobile apps this year too:

Happy Trees with Sketchbook Pro for iPad (Learn to draw and paint on the iPad with this amazing app)
3DVia: View Sketchup models right on your iPad!
WebPad for iPad: Draw on someone else's computer screen from your iPad over the Internet!
JoinMe: Hear an incredible store of how this screen sharing app took our design competition global with just a few clicks.
Measure Digitally: Learn to use your iPad, iPhone, or Droid to measure an interior space
I'm Eric, and I used to be addicted to flash drives. (Learn how I kicked my addiction to flash drives with Evernote)

And lastly, everything else!

Profitting in the New Digital Age: This was a presentation I did for the Kitchen & Bath Design News Leaders Conference in Chicago
Steve Jobs has passed away
Kitchen Technology: I was challenged by Design Kula to do a review on kitchen technology. It ended up being three parts, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
LetsBlogOff: This is a bi weekly blogging challenge that I participated in. The topic? Top Gear.

And most importantly, I want to thank everyone for reading this year!

Maide: MultiTouch for Sketchup via iPad

2011-12-22T12:42:00.000-05:00

So just the other day I stumbled across this app for the iPad: Maide Control for Sketchup. Basically, what this does is turn your iPad into a giant multi touch controller for Sketchup. I have been playing around with it for a few days and so far it's pretty handy. I have yet to really use it on a hardcore modeling project, I have just been toying around with it.

The app is very well done, and setup is really easy. As you may know, I am a big fan of the 3D Connexion Space Explorer. However, as great as the Space Explorer is, it's not exactly portable. Maide allows you to make a great accessory for Sketchup out of something that you're probably already carrying around. Check out this video to see what it's all about. Maide works on both Mac and PC. If you end up trying it out for yourself, let us know how it goes in the comments.

Jason Wu & Brizo now in Sketchup!

2011-12-11T19:11:00.001-05:00

If you aren't aware of Brizo faucets, you should be. Brizo was started about eight years ago as a spinoff of from the Delta faucet company. Brizo is quite the opposite of a mass production, engineering first, design second faucet company.

Much like Apple, Ferrari, and other boutique companies they focus on the design of their products above all else. They apparently drive their engineers insane asking for the impossible. A few years ago, to further their commitment to design they partnered with Jason Wu, a then up-and-coming fashion designer. Since then, he's worked closely with Brizo developing the lastest design's in faucets.

Just recently, an entire line of Jason Wu bath products has been launched. No longer do you just get a great faucet, you get towel bars, soap dishes, cabinet pulls, and even a trash bin. All of these are made by Brizo, and designed by Jason Wu so they all look fantastic together. Want to check them out? Head over here to see them (and preorder)

How about this, do you want to see them in 3D? Well you can! Just fire up Sketchup and go to your components window (Window>Components) and punch in "Jason Wu" into the Google Search. You can get this entire line in 3D to use on your next bath model!

I am working on a bath design right now, I will be posting it later in the week.

If you use these, I'd love to see what you come up with, so feel free to post your models in the comments!

Click here to see the Jason Wu models in the 3D warehouse!

Sketchup 8 M2 Released!

2011-12-02T14:12:00.001-05:00

A new, improved and updated version of Sketchup has been released. They have fixed and polished about 150 things. If you want to dive deep, you can read them all here.

Most notably though:

Fully OSX Lion compatible (YESS!)
Ruby Scripts are now easier to install with the RBZ Extension
Advanced Camera tools now a permanent part of Pro

So if you want the new bits and bytes on Windows you can to go Help> Check for updates. If you are on a Mac, go to Sketchup > Check Web for update.

I am most excited about the Mac 10.7 Lion compatibility, all of those nasty bugs are gone.

Make your textrues even better!

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

So obviously I am a huge Sketchup nerd, but I've never been that good at Photoshop or any other photo editing software for the computer. Just because someone has a camera, doesn't mean their a photographer, and just because I have Photoshop doesn't mean I am a graphic artist.

There is hope however! You can use Photoshop, or any other photo editing program on your computer to edit your textures. That's right, beyond Sketchup's built in photo editing abilities, you can take things to the next level with a photo editor.

Even with my lack of photo editing skills, I can leverage Photoshop to clean up my textures, remove blemishes, and make nice repeating textures.

This demo will show you how to link Sketchup up with your favorite photo editor and start messing around with all of your textures. Don't worry though, I won't show you how to use Photoshop, you'll have to find your nearest graphic artist or 14 year old for that.

Put your models on a diet!

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

In just a few days we are heading into what I like to call the "Eating Season". Diets go out the window, people eat everything in sight, and then New Years resolutions usually are formulated based on this period of overeating. While I am not going to offer you any diet advice, I can show you how to put your Sketchup models on a diet. This is one New Years resolution that you'll be able to keep!

Did you know that when you model in Sketchup, every time you bring a new material, or a new component it's saved in your Sketchup model even if you delete it from your model? That's right, even if you delete a material or a component from your model, it's still taking up space when you save your model. Thankfully there is a really easy way to purge all of these left over materials and components. Click past the jump to see a short and sweet video on how to do this.

Rev A Shelf app for iOS

2011-11-16T07:05:00.000-05:00

In the past week, Rev A Shelf has released an app for iOS. This handy app has the entire Rev A Shelf catalog in it. It's fast and easy to use. With a few taps you can have any of their products displayed right on the screen in high resolution color. I noticed to that their popular items have a lot more pictures then the paper catalog, great for giving a customer details right out on the show floor.

What's even better is that all of the relevant specs are just a swipe away for every product.

Head on over to the Apple App store and get this app! It's better then the Rev A Shelf catalog, and it fits in your pocket. All for the low low price of free!

Also, and Android version is said to be on the way very soon.

Learn to use the Tape Measure tool

2011-11-10T08:59:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks I have been doing posts suggested by my Twitter friends. Corey Klassesn mentioned that he learned about the "Unglue" feature of Sketchup, so I did a post about that. Last week, my friend Arne Salvesen asked me a question on Twitter about the Tape Measure tool. I thought today would be a great time to do a little video on just that topic. I use the Tape Measure tool constantly while modeling in Sketchup. In it's basic form, it works just like any old tape measure. You can also use it to draw construction lines too. I use this feature to lay out windows, doors, and cabinets from my field dimensions.

Click past the jump to watch the video.

If you have a question on Sketchup, drop it in the comments, or ask me on Twitter!

RE RUN: Brizo VS Miami Vice

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

How can you compare Brizo to Miami Vice, and put a design software spin on it? Read on past the break to find out! If you have any questions, drop us a comment at the end of the post!

Out with the old, and in with the new!

I am sure most kitchen designers out there have seen this in their designs, using their "favorite" design program:

There's an old TV show that comes to mind whenever I see this...

Well, with the help of Brizo Faucets, Igloo Studios, and Sketchup, you can now have cool faucets like this:

How much better does that look? Even if you don't like that faucet, the beauty is in the utility, as that faucet ACTUALLY EXISTS! Yes, its a Brizo Faucet that can be found right inside Sketchup from their 3D warehouse collection. So whether or not you think its good looking or not, your client might love it!

Now, about that utility part.... This faucet does more then just put on a good show, it actually helps you out with your work... Do remember what I have been saying in the past that Sketchup is becoming your one stop place for design information? Well check out what you can get if you "right click" on this faucet and select "Dynamic Components" and then "Options":

Now this has got some important technical information in it, kinda boring, but necessary at times. The really useful and cool part is the "Product page" link in there, that brings you to this page:

Thats right, without ever leaving Sketchup you can search for, and insert Delta and Brizo faucets right into your model! Imagine doing a design with a client, and you are deciding on faucets, would you rather flip through a spec book, or show them their faucet, in their kitchen, live in 3D?! The best part too is that with the website links, all the options, and prices are right there!

Sketchup can help sell kitchens, and now it can help sell faucets! Miami Vice was good, but who really watches that show anymore?

Try these models out, open Sketchup's component browser, and search for "Brizo"

Make a smart outlet in Sketchup!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

In previous posts I have shown you how to create components in Sketchup that you can save out for reuse in new models. I have also shown you how to take components that are "glued" to walls and unglue them so you can do custom things to them.

Now I am going to show you how to make your own glued components. Sketchup has a neat feature where you can specify components to stick to a surface. For example, if you created a rug in Sketchup, you could specify that it only stick to horizontal surfaces (the floor). Or, if you created a picture frame you could specify that it only stick to vertical surfaces (walls). In this example, I am going to show you how to make an electrical outlet stick to a wall. Not the most exciting example, but you could apply this to all kinds of things, like lights, towel bars, artifacts, or even shelves. Check out the video below to see how it's done.

I'm Eric, and I used to be addicted...

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

...to USB flash drives.

That's right. What you are seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg. I had lots of these drives in circulation. I have several different computers that I work on, all in different places. I was constantly transferring pictures, documents, and files between all of them. On my best days I could keep track of what was where. When the caffeine wore off, all bets were off.

I tend to stay ahead of the curve and keep up with the latest technology. I tried all kinds of ways to keep my files in sync. I used to email files to myself, remote desktop into my "base" PC, I even have used cloud file strorage service like DropBox. As brilliant as DropBox is, in the back of my mind I always wanted something that could do more.

I wanted something that I could clip websites to, write down notes, record sound, and take pictures with my smartphone. I wanted all of this on one place, accessible anywhere. I wanted to be able to search those notes, by text, location, and keywords. I wanted to be able to access these notes from anything that was connected to the internet. I wanted to be able to share those notes with anyone easily. Well, for a long time I didn't think such a service existed until I discovered Evernote.

Evernote is the most brilliant app I have discovered this year. It has changed the way that I work. Evernote at it's heart is a cloud based storage service. You can create typed notes, store documents, pictures, files, and even recorded audio to the cloud. What can you use to create these notes? Damn near anything. They support all kinds of mobile devices (even Blackberry!), Mac's, PC's, even the web browser. Let me walk you through a typical day with Evernote:

I start out my day reading the news. Since a lot of my blog posts I write are about things in the news, I can with just a click or two, clip new articles into my Evernote. I have a special notebook just for these articles.

Later on, I may head to a jobsite and measure out a space with my iPad. There, I take the measurements with a drawing app, and I take pictures of the space. When I get back to the office I send all the pictures and notes to Evernote to a notebook labeled for that job. As I start designing the space with Sketchup, I export all the pictures to Evernote in that same job notebook. Later, I clip all the websites for appliances into the same notebook. I can even walk around the showroom taking pictures of hardware with my smartphone to add to the notebook. Now I've got all of my notes for a job in Evernote, accessible instantly from any device I choose, anywhere on the planet. Say I end up talking to the client on the phone and I am away from my computer, I can just open the Evernote app and look up all the information for the job.

Evernote has one more ace up it's sleeve: it can recognize text from pictures. Think about this, you can snap a picture of a business card and put it in Evernote. Evernote can read the text in the picture and make it searchable. I was over the moon when I discovered this. I started using it for business cards, but now I use it for spec books and all kinds of other text.

Boarding passes end up in there, parking tickets, handwritten notes, you name it! I could go on and on...

Here's what I suggest, go to Evernote.com and get this app. It's free unless you are a total upload glutton like me, and then it's $5 per month, or $45 per year for an astronomical amount of storage space. This app has literally changed the way I work. (Nope, they didn't pay me a dime to say that either)

Save Those Components!

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

I originally did this post for Useful Spaces, a blog that my fellow kitchen designer and Sketchup Geek Arne Salvessen maintains. If you haven't read it, you should!

A lot of times when you are modeling things in Sketchup, you create items that would be great to reuse later. In this video, I will show you how to turn that useful fruit bowl, picture of your favorite pet, or anything else into a component. Once you've done that, you can save it into a folder and easily pull it in to a new Sketchup model with just a click. This is a great time saving tool for any modeler at any level of Sketchup experience.

Need some carpets?

2011-10-21T08:30:00.000-04:00

The other day I was looking for some slick carpets for a design. Rather then make my own, I searched the 3D warehouse and came across this collection of Design Within Reach carpets.

These are very well modeled carpets that work great in Sketchup. Best of all they are embedded with extra "smarts" so they can be resized. Just drop on in your model, right click it, and select "Dynamic Components" and then "Options"

To find these, just open the 3D Warehouse in Sketchup and search for "Design Within Reach rug"

Enjoy!

Got a sticky component?

2011-10-17T07:58:00.000-04:00

Did you know that components in Sketchup can "glue" themselves to surfaces? Most people don't know this, but I'll bet most people have used a component that "glues" itself...

Imagine a picture frame that you got from the 3D Warehouse, when you bring it in, if it's built properly it will know that it needs to go vertically up against a wall.

Now in some instances you don't want things to glue. Check out this video below to learn what glueing is, how it works, and how to turn it off. Don't worry, it's really simple and if you've ever been frustrated by this problem, you'll find this really useful.

Steve Jobs has passed away

2011-10-05T21:08:00.000-04:00

I just got a text a little while ago from my sister, it read "Steve Jobs died, look at the news"

I didn't believe her. I checked Google News, and Twitter. There were only a few posts on Twitter, and one half-posted news article. I thought it was all fake, then I went to Apple.com and saw this:

Then something very odd happened to me, I got a little upset. We've had a lot of celebrity deaths in the past few years, Michael Jackson, and Patrick Swayze to name a few. Not that I take their deaths with a grain of salt, but I never really got upset over these deaths. I just wasn't emotionally attached to these other stars in the way that I just realized I was attached to Steve Jobs. I don't even know the hit movies in the theater, the latest tv show, and I don't even watch live sports. I have referred to Apple product launches as "My Super Bowl" on several occasions as my friends will attest. Steve Jobs has even gotten me to go off on several angry rants on this blog.

My father died of cancer several years ago. He was an incredibly smart guy who worked harder then any other person I have ever met. He would stop at nothing to get through the next hurdle or solve a problem to get ahead. My father's tireless work ethic made him very successful, and someone who I wish was still here that I could look to for advice and guidance on my own endeavors. In the days before my father passed away, he was still working. Judging by the little time that has passed since Steve Jobs resignation, and the time he died, he and my father may have shared a very similar work ethic.

Perhaps I never let myself realize this before, but my admiration of Steve Jobs and what he has accomplished in his short life, for me runs deeper the latest iPad or MacBook, it's his tireless dedication in creating one of the most amazing companies on the planet.

Steve, you've left behind a wonderful legacy that will inspire people for generations to come. You've certainly inspired me.

Chicago: Not just for blues.

2011-10-03T08:10:00.000-04:00

If you had been following my tweets, my irreverent Facebook posts, or my Foursquare check ins, you would have known that I was in Chicago last week. Normally when I go to Chicago, I like to see live music, and eat amazing food all while punctuating these events with a small amount of sleep. This time however, I was on a mission. No, not a mission from God, but a mission from Kitchen & Bath Design News.

The fine folks over at this publication have a conference every year called the Leaders Conference. They invite senior level execs and "decision makers" from all corners of the kitchen and bath industry to learn the state of the industry. We had economists and psychologists among the speakers. They also asked me to speak there. I was charged with presenting the topic "Profiting in the New Digital Age". The focus for me was to explain how our digital world is changing, and that the target customer for these companies was changing very rapidly.

In a nutshell, I had to do an hour long presentation on "being me". At first I thought this was going to be easy. I mean, I could just get up there and explain my digital life. But then I realized that I was being rather selfish, this "digital revolution" isn't about me, it's far, far bigger then that.

For this presentation to be convincing, I had to get everyone to take a huge step back and see the big picture. The digital revolution that we are in is way more about the latest smartphone, Google, or even the latest metal slab from Apple. I am not much of a history buff, but I know enough to understand that it often repeats itself. This got me thinking...

I started out my presentation with a look at the industrial revolution. This was a time of rapid development in technology and communication, something that I see going on today. Did you know that the first internet was actually a series of tubes? Well, everyone that saw my presentation knows now!

After covering a brief bit of history, I outlined some trends and behaviors that I see going on in todays society. One of these is folks that live their lives online as well as in the physical world. People today share so much of their lives online, something that ten years ago almost no one imagined would happen.

I also talked about the "Maker Instinct". Technology today allows people to build and create amazing things virtually and in the physical world. One example I used is a gadget that someone created that can solve a Rubik's Cube in 24 seconds. What I find amazing about this invention is not only what it does, but that it was created with a cheap cell phone and Legos. All stuff that you could pick up at the mall. The products used to make this amazing project were products that are "open sourced". In other words, the companies, in this case Lego and Google Android encouraged hackers to reverse engineer their product to solve unique problems.

Some other amazing changes in our world I talked about were "crowd sourcing". I outlined many examples of how companies can take part in the social aspect of the internet to get input on their products from many people really easily.

Of course I tied a lot of these concepts in with Sketchup. Sketchup has a robust API that allows people to add features to it. It has a social and crowd sourced aspect to it called the 3D Warehouse that allows people to create, collaborate and share models with anyone in the world. It is doing wonders for the design industry.

So in the end, this was a very interesting presentation to research and give. To me, what is even more amazing than all the geeky technology out there is a big shift in human behavior. If you understand that, you will understand how to "Profit in the New Digital Age" regardless if you can sync an iPod or not.

If you want to know more about this presentation, or would be interested in having me present for your company, please contact me here!

Rerun: WebPad for iPad

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

If you're reading this on Monday morning, I am on my way to Chicago for the Kitchen & Bath Design News "Leaders Conference" where I will be presenting "Profiting in the new Digital Age".

Keep an eye on the Twitter for live updates, for now, here's an older post that is still very relevant.

So to add even more awesomeness to the iPad, I have discovered a new app called WebPad. WebPad lets you draw on your iPad, live on someone else's computer screen. Ok, I realize that doesn't sound that exciting, so let me give you a real life scenario for this:

A customer called me a while back, I had been working on a design for them. There was a particular detail that I was describing to them. I had a picture in my head, and I was attempting to put it into words. Like a lot of customers, they aren't telepathic, so they didn't understand what I was talking about. If I was talking about this face to face, I would have fired up Adobe Ideas and draw out the sketch for them. In this case, I didn't have that choice.

Enter WebPad: With WebPad, I can fire it up, instantly email my customer a link. Once they click on the link, they see my iPad screen live on their screen! As I draw, it shows up on their screen. AMAZING! Virtual paper. Watch my demo live below!

Awesome Appliances

2011-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

When you are designing a kitchen on the computer, you always need to include the appliances. Most design programs have generic appliances that you can substitute for the real ones. Just make sure you have your specs handy so you can check to make sure they fit.

But wait, we're designing in 3D, why can't we do all of that at once? Impossible sounding, I know.. But it can be done. If you look through the 3D Warehouse, there are some appliance companies that have stepped up and put their products online, in 3D. Not only can you download these accurate models into your design in Sketchup, they are embedded with all that information you need. Information like dimension guides and installation instructions. Oh, did I mention that they are accurately modeled in 3D? Now you can save yourself a bunch of work, and even show your customers exactly what their appliances look like. How cool is that?

Check out below for a few appliances. Get Sketchup today and try it out for yourself!

Drawing Countertops with Components

2011-09-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

The other day I was drawing an island, and I had a symmetrical countertop. Whenever I am dealing with something that is symmetrical, I like to chop it in half, draw one side, and then mirror that half on the other side. This is a really efficient modeling technique. What if you want to change the thing you just modeled later? Do you chop it in half, fix it, and then mirror again? You could, but this takes time and is tedious. I like to use components to make this happen automagically. Check out this video to see how I do this when drawing a countertop.

As always, if you have any questions on anything you see on this blog, you can feel free to contact me on Twitter, or here!

Guest Post: Corey Klassen on LayOut

2011-09-06T23:17:00.000-04:00

Corey is a fellow kitchen designer who I have come to know over Twitter. Since being Twitter buddies, I've had the pleasure of meeting Corey in person at KBIS and Brizo's NYC Fashion week. Corey has a sharp sense of style, and an incredible grasp of Sketchup and LayOut. He teaches Sketchup classes Vancouver Canada. I have written for Corey's blog, Design Kula before, and he has wanted to write for me. In tossing around ideas, he shared with me some of his LayOut documents. As soon as I saw them I was blown away. Check out what he does below:

Presentation Plans with LayOut

As a residential interior designer, and a kitchen & bath designer, I demand a lot from my design programs. I started using SketchUp about 5 years ago (when I returned to design school, again) as a vehicle to create better ways of communicating my design program. When I made the leap and purchased Google SketchUp Pro my complete work-flow and method of communicating my design program changed.

Creating a dynamic and informative presentation package use to involve several applications like PhotoShop, MS Word, MS Excel, and AutoCAD. Not only can the licenses be costly and time consuming to learn multiple applications, but it is a very inefficient way of working. With Google SketchUp Pro, LayOut can help you achieve the same effects as all those other applications - but in one single, lower costing option. With LayOut, you can do it all.

I recently designed a kitchen for a client that presented some unique and interesting challenges. It’s a late 70’s Architectural style home with an amazing view of the public spaces from the second floor bedrooms. The challenge was to eliminate the six traffic patterns that flow right through the working triangle and actually create something interesting that represents the style of the residence. I turned to SketchUp and LayOut (as I usually do) and literally designed this kitchen right in front of the clients. I knew that communicating my ideas to the non-visual thinker clients was going to be tough.

The presentation package
I created a unique set of construction drawings that blended the standard interpretive drawings with a presentation package. You can see that the cover page is pretty standard, as far as cover pages go, but I also included the top view as the first drawing. Not only does this save an extra page, but it help give the clients and immediate and clear idea of what is being designed for them.
My second and third pages are always perspectives, but with a twist. You can see that not only have I included an interpretive drawing, but I’ve included more detailed specifications. The drag and drop functions in LayOut allowed me to insert manufacturer product images taking the interpretive drawing from design inference to design intention. Add some leader lines, fly-outs, boxes, text and you have a complete spec package right on there on the page! Who needs cut sheets?

I always try to mix up my perspectives with different views. I’m selfish, I like to save on work and provide as much overview as possible in the least amount of pages. Whenever I have an obstacle in the way, in this case an second floor and a bulkhead, I always make it a wire-frame so objects below are clear and visible. Again, saving on time and energy is my goal because no one likes to pour endless cups of coffee until the wee hours of the morning to complete a drawing package.

Using LayOut as your complete design presentation tool includes creating inspiration boards, digital material boards, case studies, site analysis, and more. There is nothing that Google SketchUp Pro can’t do. To view the complete Construction Drawing Package, you can Corey's Construction Drawing Package to open the Picsa Album.

Corey S. Klassen, ABKD BFA is an interior designer and kitchen & bath designer located in Vancouver, B.C.

about.me/coreyklassen

Hurricane Irene Relief

2011-08-29T22:10:00.000-04:00

I bumped today's story to ask all of my readers for a favor:

Hurricane Irene as we all know has come and gone, and in it's wake it's left quite the swath of damage. In my home town there was tons of flooding damage. We lost many bridges, houses were swept away, and many more homeowners find themselves with condemned homes. Brattleboro, a town just about 15 minutes from me made national headlines for the destruction that took place there.

This is some of the footage I caught myself in my home town:

Hurricane Irene Flooding Damage from Eric Schimel on Vimeo.

The damage was immense around my area. This videos are only a taste of what went on. I thought things were pretty bad until I read this post from my friend Paul Anater.

He tells a story of a place called Cat Island that he visits. These people aren't as well off as we are. After reading this story, it makes me look around and realize how lucky we are. Sure, my town and surrounding towns are beat up. We've got shelters, aid, insurance, state support, and lots of friends and family to help us out. These people on Cat Island aren't as lucky as us. Paul is turning his vacation into a mission of aid. He's already put $500 dollars of his own money into relief efforts, and I suggest you do to. Any amount will help. Perhaps skip that coffee tomorrow morning (ok, maybe the donuts and snacks) and donate. Any amount will help.

Click here to read the full story and find the link to easily donate a few bucks.

Measure: Digitally

2011-08-29T04:30:00.000-04:00

As any regular reader of this blog knows, I love Sketchup, and I also love a good app for a smart phone. Lately, I have been mashing up a slick mobile app with Sketchup. The app, called MyMeasures (available to Android and iOS) allows you to measure right on a picture. Check out this video to see it in action:

Pretty awesome right? I am working on a kitchen with an old soapstone sink that the homeowners want to reuse. I needed to draw the sink in Sketchup so that I can design a custom cabinet to go beneath it. I used MyMeasures to get the dimensions.

From this picture, I modeled this:

So, using MyMeasures I was able to capture easily all the details I needed to create this sink in 3D. The modeling took just a few minutes. Once I had the 3D model, I was able to work with it as if I was right there on the jobsite in 3D. Try doing that with 2020!

Feel free to download this model and see it for yourself!

What the bleep? (Kitchen Tech Part 3)

2011-08-19T07:11:00.000-04:00

Would you store your food in green goo? How about something that charges your cell phone with no wires? Is it the future? Some of it is, some of it you can buy right now... This post could be originally seen on Design Kula.

Electrolux Biorobot food storage device: Ok, at first glance this thing looks gross. Would you be OK with putting your food in green goo to keep it fresh? That concept might take some getting used to, but a few years ago we never thought we’d be using our phones as computers either. The idea behind this concept refrigerator is that you stick your food in the green goo, it forms pods around it, and by using the light in the room the goo stays cool and germ free. Also, since your food is separate from other items, there is no odor transfer. Interestingly, Sub Zero utilizes this same concept in their refrigerators with multiple cooling zones driven by multiple compressors. This keeps odors from moving from one area to another so your food stays fresher longer. If this goo concept were ever to come to market, there would be so many uses for it. Imagine instead of one giant food cooling area, you could have multiple “goo units” that store food at the point of use. Your wet bar could have a small area for fruit, and a main area for beverages. This could also be great in restaurant use as well.

Inductive Charging Mats: How many kitchens have you walked into that have cell phone, ipod, and game system chargers all over the countertops? We’ve got so many things that we need to recharge these days, and a lot of that goes on in the kitchen. If you’re clever, you can create a nice charging station to manage all those wires. But why manage the present when you could bring your kitchen into the future? How about wireless charging? Powermat, and Energizer make these great mats that can charge your devices by just dropping them on the mat. No wires needed. Older devices will need to have an adapter slipped onto the battery, but a lot of new cell phones are coming with inductive charging built in. Check out this video to see it in action, it’s F***ing awesome!

There is a lot of great kitchen technology out there, and this list doesn’t even scratch the surface. Consumers see more of this technology, they want it integrated into their designs. It makes sense, if they can have all this powerful technology at their desks, why should one’s kitchen be in the stone age?

Kitchen Technology Part 2

2011-08-13T08:59:00.002-04:00

This is a follow up post to my last post on kitchen technology. This post as originally featured on Design Kula.

The Brizo SmartTouch faucet: Did Brizo re-invent the faucet from the ground up? Nope. But they did add a “touch” of technology that really improves the way you use a faucet. You can touch this one to turn it on and off. Doesn’t sound that exciting huh? I’ll admit, it doesn’t shoot lasers, but it is hugely useful in the kitchen. Imagine this: You are cooking and your hands are all dirty. You need to wash off, but you don’t want to get your BBQ sauce covered fingers, or worse, your raw chicken coated fingers all over the faucet. With Brizo SmartTouch, you just tap your forearm, elbow, nose, or other fleshy bit on the faucet and you’ve got clean flowing water to rinse off in. I recently “forced” a client (my mother) to get one of these. She thought it was the most unnecessary thing when I explained it to her. After a day of using it she can’t stop raving about it! Allegedly a facerub from you cat can also activate the faucet, so curious water hating cats: you have been warned. Brizo seamlessly blends style and technology into all of it’s products, unlike Aquabrass who have attached a Playstation controller to the end of a faucet.

ZigBee Appliances: You may never have heard of ZigBee, but it’s a pretty interesting thing. ZigBee makes wireless transmitters, and the associated computer magic to get appliances to talk to one another. Why does it matter if your appliances can talk together? Not so they can plan world domination, but so they can work together to save you money. It all starts with your electric meter. If you have a ZigBee wireless electric meter it can send out lots of useful information, most importantly when electricity is the cheapest. Your appliances talk to the meter, and know when it’s the best time to do energy intensive tasks. For example, your dishwasher can automatically run at 3am, when electricity is cheapest. Your refrigerator can defrost then too. Of course, you can override these settings if you need your favorite jeans washed right away. Check out this video by Consumer Reports to see some of these appliances in action. This video features GE appliances, but SubZero also is in the ZigBee appliance game.

Stay tuned early in the week for the summary of all this kitchen technology!

Kitchen Technology, Part 1

2011-08-08T08:54:00.048-04:00

This post originally appeared on Design Kula. This is a fabulous blog and I suggest you check it out.

Technology: It’s everywhere these days. It’s evolving at a blistering pace. We all know how it goes, that shiny new aluminium tablet you bought two months ago is already out of date, replaced by something that is twice as fast, and half the price! That’s not just all marketing hype, there is a law, Moores Law. Moore’s law talks about the amount of transistors on a chip doubling.... Ok, I’ll forgo the technical jargon before you jump to your Facebook page. Basically the law says that computers will get twice as fast and half the price each year. This has been true for the last 50 or so years!

So how has this affected the kitchen in today’s market? Well, there is TONS of tech out there for the kitchen. Some of it good, some bad, and some just plain odd. I’ll guide you through just some of the things I have discovered in my travels. Before we start, I think I need to get some geek credentials out of the way:

My name is Eric Schimelpfenig, AKBD. I am a kitchen and bath designer, Sketchup modeler, trainer, public speaker, blogger, and a firm believer that the Internet is here to stay. At an early age I assembled my own computer in a cardboard box, and today I have no less then three screens on my desk at any given time. I could keep going, but I think you get the picture...

First up: The AlessiTAB. This tablet is a touch screen tablet that was developed for use exclusively in the kitchen. It runs on that all familiar Android operating system, and even features a TV tuner! I think it’s a great idea, but it’s going to be a dismal failure. Since it’s got all the tablet specs, it’s got the tablet price, without the tablet portability. The idea of having a computer or tablet in the kitchen is something a lot consumers want. With so many great apps out there for the kitchen why not get an iPad Chef Sleeve or just in put it a Zip Lock bag? (Yes, that actually works really well!)

Outdoor grilling, it’s one of the great outdoor pastimes. Imagine this: You are outside on your deck, you’re surrounded by friends, great smelling food, and wonderful weather. What could possibly make this day any better? Being able to leave all that and go hide inside. But how can you go inside to play another round of Angry Birds or check your Match.com inbox without the risk of burning your delicious meats? You can’t trust your friends, but you can trust iGrill. iGrill is a remote meat thermometer that communicates over Bluetooth to your favorite iOS device. Yup, you can look right at your iPhone or iPad and see the status of your meats without ever having to leave that computer chair. Frag on oh “master of the meats”.

Stay tuned to this spot towards the end of the week and I will unveil even more exciting (and actually useful) kitchen tech!

3D Connexion Design Challenge

2011-08-01T08:16:00.006-04:00

3D Connexion is a division of Logitech, the company that makes all kinds of peripherals for the PC. Chances are you are using one of those right now.

If you are unfamiliar with a 3D Connexion controller, think of it as a 3D mouse. Ok, that probably doesn't help, so check out this video.

Most CAD applications, Sketchup and otherwise have used a combination of mouse and keyboard commands to get you around in 3D space for years. This is a bit like driving a car with a manual transmission using one arm. You can do it, but it's not a particularly smooth ride.

With a 3D Connexion controller, you can use the famous "cap" to grab onto your model just as if it was in your hands. It looks complicated, but it's actually very natural to use. I find that it makes me a way more efficient modeler. I did a review on one of their controllers a while back, you can see it here (complete with video!)

I've had the basic 3D Connexion controller for years, and I have loved it:

There are several different models of the controller, this one just has the basic 3D cap. The bigger models are adorned with buttons that can be mapped to all kinds of shortcuts.

3D Connexion has announced a challenge: They want anyone to design a new controller. It can be any size and shape that you want, as long as it has the 3D cap on it. This is your chance to come up with the latest and greatest 3D controller. What do you get in return for your troubles? You can win one of three of the 3D Connexion controllers, and the grand prize is a mind bendingly fast CAD workstation from BOXX.

Click this link to see all the details.

As part of the contest materials, they have provided you with a 3D model of the cap to get you started. I was surprised to see that they didn't include a Sketchup file as one of the formats. Naturally I am Sketchup Pro user so I was able to import one of the file formats into Sketchup. Those that are on Sketchup Free aren't so fortunate, so I did the work for you:

So check it out, I think this is a really cool contest. If you have any submissions, please send them my way, I'd love to feature them here on the blog!

OSX Lion: Should you upgrade?

2011-07-21T22:16:00.006-04:00

I love upgrades. I am usually the first one to get a new operating system, an app update, or the latest beta version of a software. Half of the software that I run on my various devices is in beta. I love being on the cutting edge. Sometimes this means you get the latest features, and sometimes you get some broken stuff.

Apple on Wednesday released "Lion" the latest and greatest update to what it calls "The best OS we've ever made". I've checked out the reviews, watched the videos, and I think it looks fabulous. Take a look for yourself:

With every major upgrade, there is the potential for stuff to get broken. I almost updated right away, and then I thought I should do a little research. A few Google searches later and I came up to this post by a Google employee on the Sketchup help forum:

On behalf of the SketchUp team, I want to give everybody a heads-up that we've encountered a few issues using SketchUp on the new Mac Lion OS. You can check them out below (along with suggested workarounds); we are working on improving/fixing these -- thanks in advance for replying here with any other issues you find using SketchUp on the new Mac OS!

Issue: SU freezes when generating scene thumbnails for models with background images (ie, those with Match Photo scenes).
Workaround: Keep the Scenes dialog box closed when working with models with background images.

Issue: In a model with 1 match photo scene, the camera is no longer synced back to the scene when clicking on the scene.
Workaround: Add a second scene via some method other than using the Scenes dialog - e.g. right click on the Scene tab and select “Add”. Adding a scene via the Scenes dialog is not possible given the first issue.

Issue: When trying to login to the 3D Warehouse from within SketchUp, you see the message “Service not available. Try again later”.
Workaround: You can still login to the 3D Warehouse outside of SketchUp by going directly to the site: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ From there, it is possible to then upload KMZ files which means you need to export your SketchUp model to the KMZ format before uploading.

Issue: When selecting a region using the “Photo Textures” dialog, only one pin is visible which makes it hard to accurately grab a photo texture. You can still grab photo textures - it is just that grabbing the exact region you want is now more difficult as you can’t see all the pins.

Workaround: By left clicking on the photo region and moving the mouse, you can somewhat manipulate the region you want to capture.

Issue: With the new Lion OSX, there is a new Mouse option (“Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating”) which is checked by default. When this option is checked, scrolling forward with the mouse wheel causes the SU model to zoom out and scrolling backwards causes the model to zoom in.
Workaround: In Lion, go to System Preferences > Mouse and uncheck “Move content in the direction of finger movement when scrolling or navigating”. Note: in a future release, unchecking this option should no longer be necessary.

Issue: Stacked Snappy dialogs can now break apart after resizing one of the dialogs in the stack.
Workaround: Re-snap the dialogs together if they break apart after a resize.

Issue: With Lion, SketchUp now remembers whatever models you had open in a previous SketchUp session and, on re-launch, opens those same models. This means that models can now show up behind the Welcome dialog, which is a change of behavior. It may also mean that SketchUp can take longer to launch and may potentially re-open a problem model from a previous session.
Workaround: Close your models prior to exiting SketchUp if you do not like this behavior.

So, I suppose not an entirely bad list, but there are a few alarming ones in there, particularly with the 3D warehouse. No official word from Google on when we will see some updates. So those out there itching to upgrade, you probably should let Snow Leopard purr a little longer. Have you upgraded? Tell us your experience in the comments!

Here is the link to the post on the Sketchup help forum.

My geeky heroes

2011-07-18T08:11:00.001-04:00

Over the past few years I have been afforded many opportunities to speak publicly. Some of my career options early on included "Rock Star" in the list. Alas, I don't have any tattoos, a regenerative liver, or most importantly the ability to play a "cool" musical instrument. So because of these limitations, I have been relegated to the less "cool" task of being a kitchen design, blogger, and geek.

Whenever I get the chance to be on stage I get a bit of an adrenaline rush. Like the rush you get when you hear the bark of a powerful car engine after a perfect heel-toe shift. There is something about being in front of people and having something interesting to say that really gives me a charge. My goal whenever I speak is to not drone on and be boring, I always want to be memorable and fun. My thought is that you could be saying the most useful facts in the world, but if you aren't memorable, those facts will be forgotten when people walk out of the auditorium, or head to the next booth.

Since I don't have a talent coach I sometimes scour the internet in search of good speakers, I watch them and try to learn from them. There are some great speakers in our time, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, and some say even our current president. Rather then review the most famous speakers of all time, I have picked a few more recent, more tech related folks that I have discovered and would like share with you.

First up:

Steve Balmer:

I know what you are thinking: You didn't pick Steve Jobs as the first one!! I know Steve's great, and we are getting there. Steve Ballmer has got to be one of my favorites. At his core he is 100% passionate about what he does. Every time you see him speak you can see that. That being said, he certainly has a penchant for sticking his foot in his mouth and being a bit of a loose cannon. His faults make me love watching him even more. The guy sometimes borders on being a maniac! See the videos below:

This is a clip of him handling a really tough question with his typical loud and boisterous behavior...

This is a developers conference where he flips out on stage. Can you see the passion here?

Bill Gates:

Ok, I will be honest, I think Bill Gates is not a good public speaker. He's not the worst, but there is just not a lot of energy from the guy when he is on stage. Brilliant guy no doubt, but I find the "Steve's" much more engaging. However, Mr. Gates did have one moment which really stuck out in my memory. Since his departure from Microsoft he's been spending his time fighting malaria. He did a speech for TED on malaria and was describing how it's transmitted through mosquitos. The speech itself was decent, but the part where he unleashed live mosquitos on the audience really sent his point home. He didn't tell the audience until several minutes later that the mosquitoes were uninfected.

I can't embed this video for you, so you'll have to watch it on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppDWD3VwxVg

Larry Ellison:

So this guy is NOT someone I look up to. Below is a highlight reel from him at a product launch. This is a HIGHLIGHT reel, so it's probably got the best stuff in it. I am sure Larry is a smart guy, and I am nerdy, but he just lost me right away.... You'll see, you only need to watch it for about 15 seconds.

Steve Jobs:

This guy is a master of presentation. He's such an engaging speaker. He inspires his employees, developers and makes his customers swoon for his products. How does he do this? I'll let someone else explain that at the end of the post. For now though, take a look at the original iPhone launch. Steve really knows how to launch a product. I am not a live sports fan, and I always refer to Apple product launches as "my Super Bowl"

Now, lets step back and look at these four guys. They are all heads of HUGE tech companies. They by many measures are fabulously successful. Microsoft probably has way more resources then Apple. Why does everyone carry around and talk about their iPods and not a Zune? How about the new Windows Phone 7? The answer is below. If there is any video on this post that you watch in it's entirety, you must watch this one. This video will literally change the way you think about marketing your product.

Simon Sinek:

Kitchen Tech on Design Kula

2011-07-15T08:03:00.000-04:00

My friend Corey Klassen graciously invited me to write for his blog, Design Kula. We brainstormed a topic together, and we decided that with my penchant for tech that I would cover some interesting kitchen technology.

I dug through the internet and found several pieces of technology. Some good, some great, some odd, and some quite green (literally).

So I recommend that you head over to Design Kula and check it out! (unless you are still shouting at your voice activated coffee maker)

join.me: The coolest screen sharing app.

2011-06-27T07:16:00.012-04:00

This past week I was in Chicago for NeoCon 2011. While I didn’t spend too much time in the MerchMart, I did hang around the Brizo showroom with a group from Interior Design Chat for a live chat.

If you aren’t familiar with Interior Design Chat, it’s a Twitter chat that happens every Tuesday night at 6pm EST. A bunch of interior designers get together and chat live on Twitter using the hashtag #intdesignerchat. The chat is fast, like a cheetah with a rocket pack on its back fast. You need quick fingers and quick wit to keep up. It’s worth it though, the people you can meet are really interesting. The chat was started just about a year ago and has really blown up in the past year. People from literally every side of the planet participate. I heard a statistic that the chat is read by some 44,000 people.
After the live chat we met the next day at the Lightology showroom in downtown Chicago. Lightology is the worlds largest lighting showroom, and certainly makes lights look like artwork, not just utilitarian electrical to photon converters. While we were there, we were given a design challenge. We divided up into four teams, fired up Sketchup, and set about creating big kitchens in a small amount of time. Since we’re all members of Interior Design Chat, we naturally were all over the social media while we were designing.

As far as the technology goes, I am never satisfied with what is available, I always want the next thing, almost to a fault! I had been playing around for the past few months with join.me. join.me is a simple online meeting app. If WebEx or GoToMeeting were wearing suits, join.me would show up in flip flops and a Hawaiian shirt. At first, you may not take it seriously because it doesn’t have all the “big boy” features like our suit wearing friends, but it does have one magical feature: Simplicity.

WebEx and GoToMeeting are great online meeting apps to use. They’ve got a ton of features that suit wearing, BMW driving business types will find extremely useful. With all that power comes complexity, and price.

How often have you been on the phone with someone, and you just wanted to show them your screen? With join.me you can do just that, and in a matter of seconds. All you do is go to join.me, click “Share” and a tiny little app fires up. It gives you a link that you can paste into an email, or a chat. Once the person on the other side clicks the link, within seconds they are seeing your screen. No complicated software installs, no signup, or configuration. Just instant screen sharing! It’s amazingly simple and you wouldn’t believe how fast it is. There is even a phone conference as part of it. The best part, its FREE! I use this service all the time when I am talking to clients about a design.

So what does this have anything do to with our design competition? Well, as we were designing, people were asking us questions about what we were doing on Twitter. Rather then answer them in 140 characters, I just fired up join.me and Tweeted a link! People from all over the world logged in to see what I was doing. In the course of a few hours, I had over 60 unique viewers watching me design live! Mind you, there was no planning, and no promotion of this. It was just a last minute thing I decided to do. Soon, I had each team in the room tweeting a link, and we had viewers from all over the place watching us create these kitchens. The level of engagement was amazing. People were using the live chat feature to ask questions, and even tweeting, and retweeting the link all over the place.
Maggie from the join.me team even stopped in to see what we were up to. I told her how pumped I was about this neat use of their software, and I asked her if she’d answer a few questions about it here in this post.

Q1> So join.me is free, but I also noticed that you have a paid version. What’s the difference between the two?

join.me pro is really for those who love join.me but need a little more. They might want to have their own personal URL, or the ability to schedule meetings in advance, or have a few presenters on the account. It’s as simple to use as join.me, but with a little extra. You can start your free two-week trial here.

Q2> So join.me is ridiculously simple to use, but would you have any tips for beginners?

I guess my tip would be like any other tip I’d give someone who is using a new service: Get your hands on it. Use it. Share your screen; view others. Check out how everything works. If you want, you could share between your computer and your mobile device (iOS or Android). The best part of join.me is the experience. You can also check out our blog if you want to dive deeper into some of the features.

Q3> Have you ever seen someone tweet what is on their screen like we did for the design competition?

I haven’t, but it’s a very cool way to use join.me. We have people who use join.me in all sorts of ways, like joining virtual book clubs, holding virtual “office hours” for students, reviewing projects and documents with colleagues - it’s really interesting to learn how join.me can fit into their lives.

For what I do on a day to day basis as a designer, WebEx and GoToMeeting are too complicated, and too expensive me. They do have their place though. join.me is so fast, and so easy to use it’s just amazing. If you’ve ever thought “I wish I could show what’s on my screen to someone else” in the easiest, fastest way possible, join.me is your app.

Guest Post: Tips from Arne Salvesen

2011-06-21T12:00:00.000-04:00

Arne Salvesen is a CKD (Certified Kitchen Designer) from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He writes the blog Useful Spaces that focusses on kitchen and bathroom design, and from time to time good things to eat and drink. I had the pleasure of meeting Arne at KBIS, and he is such a nice guy. In addition to his great design sense, he's also a Sketchup user. I asked him if he'd be interested in doing a post for my blog, and he jumped at the chance. With one proviso: He had to be able to use the Canadian spellings of words. Of course I agreed! You can follow Arne on Twitter [@arnesalvesen]

Eric has graciously asked me to do a guest post for Sketch This! It's truly an honour since Eric has been one of my go-to guys for Sketchup for about a year now. But after he asked me for a contribution, I wondered what could I possibly offer to someone who knows so much about this terrific piece of software. Eric's advice: go with what you find useful.

For me, Sketchup's benefit comes in the form of speed. The functions contained within the programme duplicate tasks I would perform while hand-drafting, and do so with more accuracy. Two of my favourites are the "divide" and "multiply" functions. "Divide" is useful when you have a fixed amount of space you want to divide into an equal number of spaces. To illustrate, I'm showing a bar back panel that I want to make into a door style with five, equally sized recessed panels. I start by creating some guidelines around the outside of my panel, set 3" (the width of my rails and stiles) in from the edge. There's also a guideline on the left edge.

To outline where my panels will be I simply select the first two guidelines and copy (not move) them being sure to select the left guideline as my starting point. These guidelines are then placed so select point lines up with the guideline set in from the right edge.

To create my panels I simply type "/5". This will make 5 copies of what I have just moved, and space them equally over the distance I have moved them. Now I simply have to use the guidelines to draw in my panels knowing they are all exactly the same size.

The opposite function to this is "Multiply". Multiply is used when the space between a group of items is the important part. A very common example of this is framing. Typically the framing member is a wall are spaced 16" apart. Here, I show an object (representing a 2x4 framing member) being copied in line to a new location. If I simply type in "16" while I'm moving the object, then hit the Return key, the object will be moved exactly 16" (This assumes you're working in inches. If not, just add " after 16 and you're set!).

To repeat the move, simply type "*" followed by the number of times you'd like the move repeated, and voila! Your wall is framed.

NeoCon!

2011-06-14T16:45:00.002-04:00

Last week I was absolutely buried in projects, and this week I will be at NeoCon in Chicago talking about Sketchup, and the iPad. I will be tweeting LIVE with the great folks at Interior Design chat. If you are on Twitter, and you haven't checked out this chat, you need to. It's a great resource if you are in the design industry.

Among my presentations, I will be showing how as a designer you can leverage an iPad to be an amazingly useful design tool. Apple has declared that we are in the "Post PC" era, meaning that tablets are the future. For now, I will leave you with a little taste of the new era with one of the first apps I discovered on my iPad:

As a recent new owner of an iPad, I have been discovering so many new apps that are useful in my daily life at work. I am a former iPhone owner, so I am no stranger to iOS, or the App store.

I had no idea that the larger form factor of the iPhone would make such a huge difference in the "app experience"

I have been looking for a way to put Sketchup models on the iPad in 3D, so I can present them to clients without having to drag out the laptop.

There is a company called 3Dvia. They have a 3D iPad browser that can do just that. They also have an online 3D repository that their 200,000 members can upload 3D models from a variety of 3D design softwares.

All of these models can be browsed with just a few touches right on your iPhone or iPad, check out the video below:

So now I can take all of my 3D models with me on my iPad! I use this to show clients current projects, and as a portfolio for my previous work. Head on over to 3Dvia and check out their mobile apps, pretty cool stuff!

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, how much is a 3D model worth?

Lets BlogOff: Guilty pleasures: what’s your favorite show on television?

2011-06-07T10:34:00.019-04:00

This is my first entry into the Lets BlogOff challenge:

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I have never been a big fan of TV. I have an ever changing schedule, and I am never around when my favorite shows are on. About four years ago, I got rid of TV altogether. Instead, I watch shows online. I am going to be outing myself as such a “guy” here, but my list of shows is rather short. Family Guy, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. Once or twice a week I will catch these shows, but sometimes weeks go by and I don’t even watch them.

I am a huge fan of cars, I always have been. In my opinion, there isn’t one good car show on American TV. Why? Advertising. When you have a car show and your biggest sponsor makes the car that you are testing, how can you say bad things about it?

Well, a few years ago, I was playing around on YouTube and I came across this video

After watching this clip about five times in a row, I realized something, I was laughing hysterically, yelling at the computer, and I was a bit informed. But most of all, I walked away from that video with an emotional response towards that car. Rather then some dry host regurgitating a fact sheet about this car, Jeremy Clarkson was able to make me emotionally attached to this incredible hunk of metal.

I needed more, like a junkie I opened every browser window on every computer I have (and if you read this blog, you’d know that’s a lot) and downloaded every Top Gear episode that I could find. For hours and hours I watched old episodes of Top Gear. I have never seen super cars driven this way before, tire smoke, sliding sideways, and hosted by three guys who are just “cocking about”. The chemistry between these guys is amazing. Jeremy Clarkson's loud and boisterous personality, James "Captain Slow" May, and Richard Hammond who whitens his teeth. The challenges are hysterical too: Stuff like “Can a Lotus outrun a helicopter gunship?” “Can this Audi race up a mountain faster then a man?” Or one of my favorites: The Peel P50.

The show is biased, and completely unscientific. They think that anything British is a “scaled down version of God” and that anyone who drives an American Pickup wants to marry their sister. I love it though, and here’s why:

Any car guy, no matter what they say its all about the facts. Any argument between two car guys, before it deteriorates into comments about the other one's parents involves angrily spewing out horsepower facts.

I don’t own any “super cars” so when I look at them, I used to think “This one’s got 40 more horsepower then that one, it must be better” and so on... Until one day I got to ride in two supercars in one day. One was a Ferrari F430. This is an AMAZING car. As precise is a dentist drill, fast as anything, refined down to the smallest screw. The engine sounds like a perfectly tuned symphony. As a technical achievement, it’s a masterpiece. The next car I rode in was a Lamborghini Gallardo. In every measurable sense, this car is worse then the Ferrari. It’s loud, it shakes, it’s hot, small, hard to see out of, and the ride was brutal. But I loved it. Why? From the moment it started up, I was laughing like a little kid. The engine, once it starts just howls and shakes. It’s excessively loud. When you finally thread yourself in the interior, you can turn your head and right over your shoulder you can look at the engine behind a glass panel, shaking around as you drive. The noise this thing made was incredible. Despite the fact that it was shattering my spine as we drove, I was laughing so hard. There are even scoops on the engine cover that pop up like guns from a tank to cool the engine off, AND you can pop these up at the push of a button just to show them off. It’s kind of like flexing the muscles of your car!

Despite the Lambo being “worse” I walked away from that ride with a huge emotional attachment to that car. This was years ago I rode in it, and even now as I write this, I am grinning.

So why do I love Top Gear so much? Because they can convey really well this emotional attachment they have to cars. Every time I watch that show, I grin. Do I learn many facts? Probably not, but that’s not the point of super cars, and Top Gear seems to be the only show in the world that gets this. I love Top Gear, and it’s certainly one of my guilty pleasures.

Memorial Day Re Run: Apps for Sketchup? Steve Jobs is NOT amused.

2011-05-30T21:59:00.000-04:00

Due to the long weekend, I leave you with this re-run from several months ago. This is an immensely useful plugin that I use every time I use Sketchup. Its free, and definitely worth downloading.

Sketchup is as useful in the 3D world as a Swiss Army knife, but sometimes it just doesn't do exactly what you want it to do.

Just like you can put an app on your smartphone, you can add a plugin for Sketchup. There is a great developer community out there, and just like the smartphone apps, a lot of the Sketchup plugins are free.

Plugins solve problems. One problem that I have is that clients always love to change colors. When you've got a Sketchup model full of materials it can be time consuming to swap them all out.

Thanks to a plugin by Thomas Thomassen I can now do this with just a couple of clicks. Check out the video of his "Material Replacer" plugin below:

This fabulous plugin can be had for free by downloading it right here. Thomas, or "ThomThom" on the forums works for cookies. So please, if you like this plugin send him a cookie.

WebPad for iPad

2011-05-16T07:48:00.005-04:00

So to add even more awesomeness to the iPad, I have discovered a new app called WebPad. WebPad lets you draw on your iPad, live on someone else's computer screen. Ok, I realize that doesn't sound that exciting, so let me give you a real life scenario for this:

A customer called me a while back, I had been working on a design for them. There was a particular detail that I was describing to them. I had a picture in my head, and I was attempting to put it into words. Like a lot of customers, they aren't telepathic, so they didn't understand what I was talking about. If I was talking about this face to face, I would have fired up Adobe Ideas and draw out the sketch for them. In this case, I didn't have that choice.

Enter WebPad: With WebPad, I can fire it up, instantly email my customer a link. Once they click on the link, they see my iPad screen live on their screen! As I draw, it shows up on their screen. AMAZING! Virtual paper. Watch my demo live below!

AIA 2010 Re Run: Mike builds kitchens from space!

2011-05-12T10:40:00.000-04:00

This year unfortunately I won't be attending AIA, but my good friends Mike Tadros of Igloo Studios, Mark Johnson, and David Pillsbury will be! The show starts today and I am sure that they are going to be doing all kinds of magical things with Sketchup, including but not limited to some Shaderlight renderings. Check out what Mike did last year: Also, follow the #AIA2011 hashtag on Twitter to keep up. Each of the presenters names are linked above with their Twitter feed. You can follow the AIA hashtag to the right with the Twitter Widget! Here is a post I did about some of the "Movie Magic" that Mike did last year....

At the AIA show this year, Mike Tadros, president of the Sketchup training company, www.go-2-school.com did several presentations during the AIA show. As with all of Mike's presentations, they are well thought out, and very informative. Mike has a really fluid manner of teaching, and he's great at sensing what his class needs, and molding the presentation on the fly to accomodate everyone in the room. Check out some of Mike's videos to get an idea of what I am talking about:

Of all Mike's presentations, there was one that really stuck out for me. Mike started building a kitchen using the Kraftmaid models that are available in the 3D warehouse. He went on to show how easy it is to create kitchens and living spaces with these models. At one point, a lady asked if she could build her own kitchen with these tools. Mike said "Sure!" and then asked, "How about I build your kitchen for you?" She agreed. At this point, she, I, and I think everyone else was confused as to how Mike was going to accomplish this. Remember, we're all on a trade show floor, and even though we were surrounded by architects, nobody had any idea what her kitchen looked like.

Without skipping a beat, Mike asked what her address was. He pulled up Google Earth, and zoomed in on her location, and found the aerial photography of her house.

With just a few clicks, Mike had the aerial photography in Sketchup, where he began to trace the outside of the house. He was quickly able to model up the walls. The lady at the show was rather confused up until this point, because she had no idea how Mike was going to draw her house, without ever seeing it. As soon as she saw the walls go up, she was able to easily describe where her kitchen was located.

After finishing the walls, Mike started to build a kitchen for her...

Right there on the screen, Mike put the cabinets where she wanted them. There was no waiting, no render time, it all happened live, right there on the trade show floor. Mike was using Merillat cabinets, which are available on the 3D warehouse in Sketchup

After Mike built her a kitchen, he even emailed her the Sketchup model. She can now go home, download Sketchup Free, and view her dream kitchen herself, right in her own home. When she decides its time to get it built, she's got a great 3D model to start with! They say a picture is work a thousand words, but how many words is a 3D model worth?

Adobe Ideas on the iPad.

2011-05-09T07:55:00.001-04:00

I did a lot of presentations at the Kitchen & Bath Industry show this year. The presentations that I did were at Kraftmaid's Knowledge center. Kraftmaid is doing a great job at being a leader in technology for design, and that's what a lot of my presentations were about.

If you follow this blog, you may know about my exploits with various bits of technology, in particular, my new iPad. I got the iPad about six months ago, despite my newfound Android addiction. Since getting the iPad, I have slotted it into my workflow rather nicely. In this digital age, I see no reason that we can't go completely paperless. In part for saving the trees, but also because its so damn convenient to not have to deal with paper.

In my presentations for the iPad I talked about a slew of apps that can make your life so much easier as a designer. One that I really love and use just about every day is called Adobe Ideas. This app is a simple, robust drawing app built by the company that made "Photoshop" a verb. Despite the rather nasty spat Apple had with adobe this past year, Adobe Ideas rocks on the iPad! In the video below you will see how I use this app for taking field measurements, meeting notes, and I even draw ON a picture!

As the KBIS coverage continues throughout the coming weeks, stay tuned for more apps! In the meantime, go get this app and let me know in the comments how it works for you!

KBIS 2011 Recap

2011-05-02T08:05:00.002-04:00

KBIS in Las Vegas was certainly a great experience this year. The show was smaller then it has been in past years. Despite the small size, there was an air of optimism about. People seem to be less nervous about the economy.

This year I presented in Kraftmaid's Knowedge Center. This was in the technology area of the Masco Cabinetry. I did presentations on how to use the iPad in a dealer showroom to be way more productive, and eliminate just about every piece of paper in sight. I also did some Sketchup presentations. Mark Johnson did wonderful presentations on social media. Mike Tadros and the gang from Igloo studios launched a new plugin for Sketchup that will make ordering and specifying products lightyears easier. There were even some live renderings using Shaderlight right on the show floor!

In the coming weeks I am going to get more in depth about each topic we presented. For now, I will leave you with this YouTube clip that was recorded of Mark and myself on the show floor.

Stay tuned for more coverage!

KBIS 2011

2011-04-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

By the time you read this, I will be on a plane headed to Las Vegas for the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show!

This year I will be giving seminars on iPads, and using Sketchup in kitchen design. I will also be a part of some exciting launches going on, so stay tuned this spot for more detail. (I'd tell you more now, but I am sworn to secrecy!)

This is also the first year I will be a member of the press. I finally get to freely wield my camera wherever I wish! For all the updates, stay tuned to this spot.

Also, to get even more updates, check out my Twitter feed.

The force is strong with Shaderlight

2011-04-11T08:27:00.000-04:00

I have talked in the past about how I thought rendering was too complicated and too hard to do for the average Sketchupper. I thought I was right until I discovered Shaderlight, the rendering plugin for Sketchup. Check out some of the renderings I have done:

Shaderlight has proven to be a powerful, and very easy to use tool. If you understand Sketchup, then you can understand Shaderlight. As with any program, its always good to have a good teacher. Its even better if you can learn from a master. Martin Cox, the senior Shaderlight Ninja will be offering a free, yes, a FREE web seminar on lighting in Shaderlight on Thursday, April 14th at 1pm EST. Click here to sign up! Ingredients required to view this recipe of awesome? A computer, monitor, and a dash of internet. Thats it!

I've already seen him present in person, and I can tell you it will be worth it!

3D Connexion: Making your mouse even more jealous

2011-04-05T23:19:00.000-04:00

3D Connexion has just announced new drivers for their line of 3D controllers. I reviewed one of these units a while back. You are probably thinking "New drivers, big deal. That's like me getting excited over regular vs premium gas."

You are right, driver updates are normally just bug fixes and other boring things. This update is a little more involved. After you install this update you will be able to whip through web pages, fly through playlists on iTunes, and even Windows Explorer. You accountants out there could really spice up your day by panning around a giant spreadsheet (Yes, you can really do that now)

Best of all, this update is free. It will make your 3D Connexion device, no matter what model much more useful. Lets just hope your regular mouse is not the jealous type.

Sketchup's Grandfather

2011-03-27T23:26:00.000-04:00

Just the other day a friend of mine sent me this video. Its a video of "Sketchpad" developed in 1964 by MIT. It is a 2d and 3d drawing application that is run off a computer that looks to be the size of an entire room. As a hand draftperson back then, they must have looked at this and thought that these MIT nerds were crazy... If they could only have seen the future.

If you thought that was cool you should check out some of the related videos to this one. Seeing this reminded me of all of the Microsoft Kinect hacks that have been happening since the hardware was released. If you aren't aware, Microsoft Kinect is a 3D camera that you can add on to your XBOX 360. The 3D camera makes YOU the controller, rather then a joystick or WiiMote. To get an idea of how this works, check out this video:

Microsoft has been making the Kinect open source so that anyone can "hack" it to control whatever they want. Check out these videos to see what folks have been coming up with:

All of those hacks have been done with an inexpensive piece of hardware and just your average home computer. Add in a dash of Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets, and an episode or two fo Star Trek and you've got yourself a hack. Its amazing what we can do today with such available technology.

Hopefully in the near future we'll be modeling with our minds and our hands, instead of a mouse and a keyboard!

Sketchup, now with mind bending capabilities

2011-03-13T18:41:00.000-04:00

I love plugins for Sketchup. Think of them as "Apps" for Sketchup. Sketchup in its stock form is quite a useful modeling tool, but you can take it so much farther with different plugins.

The other day I was tasked with modeling a house for a client in Sketchup. Sketchup's tools are great for this sort of thing. This house did have several curved staircases. If you've ever had to figure out one of these, its not easy, there is a lot of math involved. Once you've got the math done you need to actually draw the thing. Drawing a curved staircase in Sketchup isn't actually that hard, its just time consuming.

Enter Shape Bender, a brilliant plugin for Sketchup. It was written by Chris Fullmer who I had the pleasure of meeting at Basecamp 2010. Shape Bender allowed me to take a straight staircase and bend it by just using a couple of clicks.

The Staircase Before

The Staircase Afterwards and shelves that I bent with Shape Bender

To see how Shape Bender can bend geometry and minds, check out this video:

If you'd like to get Shape Bender for yourself, you can download it HERE.

Here are a few other plugins that I use that you may find interesting:

Round Corners by Fredo 6

Material Replacer by Thomas Thomassen

Organic Modeling in Sketchup

2011-03-09T08:16:00.000-05:00

Its been a busy week for me, so I wasn't able to do my regular Monday update.

I wanted to share a new tool I have been using in Sketchup called "Artisan". Its an organic modeling toolset for Sketchup. The creator, Dale Martens has been responsible for many other excellent scripts. I think this one is his best yet. I am just starting to learn it. Check out the video below, and if you want more information I encourage you to head over to his site and check it out. Its available as a demo. So far, its truly amazing.

Shaderlight: Now available on fruity computers!

2011-02-27T20:58:00.001-05:00

Shaderlight: Its a rendering plugin for Sketchup that's fast like a cheetah with a jetpack, and about as easy to use as a can opener. Don't let its simple toolset lead you to believe this is a toy, this renderer is a serious piece of kit. Its been out for the PC since last year, and its now coming to the Mac on March 1st. Head over to www.Shaderlight.com to reserve your copy! I've had a chance to see it in action and it offers the same great renders that you get on the PC. My seat-of-the-pants speed tests indicate that it renders even faster on the Mac. Read on to hear about my experience with Shaderlight...

In the past if you remember I have been anti rendering for a variety of reasons that I laid out in this article I published. There are no shortage of rendering plugins for Sketchup. I have tried out many of them. Some can produce phenomenal results, but I have always found the learning curve to be way to steep, and the render times to long to make it worth it.

At Google's 3D Basecamp I had the pleasure of meeting some of the team from Shaderlight. These folks are no strangers rendering. They were there to unveil their version 1.0 rendering technology for Sketchup. I met them in the lobby and got to talking to them about rendering. As you know I was a skeptic but still curious. Martin showed me some rather impressive renders with some rather speedy render times. He also showed me how easy it was to use. I still wasn't convinced because he was using all stuff from his hard drive. I issued a challenge: Render one of my drawings and see how it comes out. He accepted, and I loaded a drawing onto his laptop right there. How you may ask? Its a Google gathering, of course I had my flash drive with me!

He loaded my kitchen in, set up a few materials, put in a light and fired up the rendering engine. Within minutes I started to see my kitchen come to life! I was hooked. Since then, I have totally changed my view on rendering. I have turned into quite the rendering geek. Check out some of these renders that I have done:

If you can use Sketchup, you can use Shaderlight with a very short learning curve. The renderings are really impressive, and happen quickly. On March first, it will also be available for the Mac.

I suggest you head on over to www.Shaderlight.com and download a trial today! Its free to try, and cheap to own and I highly recommend it!

(I'd also like to thank the team for featuring my renderings on their home page!)

iPad, Motorola Xoom, and the HP TouchPAD

2011-02-20T22:25:00.009-05:00

I am currently the owner of an Apple iPad. I really like it a lot. I find it a very useful tool at work, and a great entertainment device at home. Apple had a lot of impressing to do for me to actually say I like another iOS device, after they hobbled my old iPhone 3G.

Even though the app experience is quite wonderful on the iPad, I still think its an incomplete experience. There isn't any support for Adobe Flash, and probably never will be. There is also limited interoperability between apps. Files you create in an app on the iPad generally remain within that app, and the files aren't available to other apps on anything other then a very limited basis. This is a very limiting experience. We're used to being able to open a file on our computers in any number of apps.

I think that these shortcomings have been largely overlooked because Apple is so far ahead of any other tablet that is out on the market. Shortly after the iPad burst onto the scene, countless manufacturers have tried to rush something to market. Most of these tablets have been based on Android. Google itself has said that Android isn't designed for anything larger then 7 inches. Of all these 7 inch and smaller tablets the Galaxy Tab is the only one that seemed to have potential. I used one, and I wasn't impressed. I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to use it in my lap, or hold it against my face like a giant women repelling phone.

There are two tablets that have been recently announced that I think actually have potential to rock the iPad boat:

The Motorola Xoom

The Xoom is the first tablet to run Google's "Honeycomb" operating system. This one is specifically designed to run on larger screens. Incidentally, the screen on this gem is just about the same size as the iPad's, which I think is perfect. This screamer of a tablet also packs front and rear cameras, and a 3G radio for all the road warriors. Motorola says that you can upgrade it to 4G as well.

The HP TouchPad

The HP TouchPad looks very intriguing as well. I thought the Palm Pre was one of the best mobile operating systems out there. I believe it failed because Palm spent all of there money on this bizarre add campaign. After they were out of money they couldn't market or develop it anymore. With HP's deep pockets, and its "play nice attitude" with its sister devices, I think this one has real potential. WebOS and the Pre were developed by someone who used to work for Apple on the iPod, and it really shows in WebOS devices.

So which one is the best? As soon as I can get my hands on one and compare it to my iPad, I'll let you know. If you follow this blog, you'll know that while I love my Apple products, I am not 100% loyal.

3DConnexion SpaceExplorer

2011-02-13T07:44:00.003-05:00

There isn't a lot of hardware out there for 3D programs. Really it comes down to having a good wheel mouse, keyboard, and a few monitors. A few years ago I heard about a device called a 3D mouse. My geek sense kicked into high gear and I started searching around for one. I stumbled upon the 3D Connexion Space Navigator. This amazing little device allowed me to "grab onto" my 3D models and work with them almost as if I was holding them. Recently, the folks over at 3D Connexion were kind enough to send over a SpaceExplorer for me to try out. Read on to find out how I liked it:

The 3D Connexion line of 3D mice all have one thing in common: the "cap" in the middle. This cap is what you grab onto to move about in 3D space. You can move the cap in six directions. This allows incredibly fluid and intuitive control of where you are in 3D. Within minutes of using this thing you will be flying around your models just like Superman, no phone booth or cape needed.

After using it for a while, you will notice that you hardly need to pick your hand up off of it when you are modeling. Your motion throughout your model is so much smoother. The way this thing gets you around really allows you to access places and get views that would normally be far more challenging. If you've ever modeled in the interior of something in Sketchup, you know that when something gets in front of your view, it's frustrating to get away from it. Usually you have to bail and do "Zoom Extents". Not with this gadget!

Check out this video I made of me using it:

The 3D Connexion mice also offer fine grained tuning of just about every function imaginable. From motion speed, to macros, you can control it all. It even automatically switches presets for each application you are in. For those of you that don't think glowing blue lights are cool, you can even turn that off. (Lets be honest, you aren't going to do that, are you?)

I love this thing. It has made me faster and more efficient. It's also an excellent presentation tool because it allows you to make presentations less "herky jerky" and more smooth and immersive. Just don't try to re-create the Star Wars trench run scene unless your viewers have strong stomachs!

Plugin Review: Fredo6 Round Corners

2011-02-07T21:41:00.003-05:00

Ahh, laziness, slacking off, and procrastination... You wouldn't think these words would be associated with the innovators and "movers and shakers" of our world, but I disagree.

Without the aforementioned qualities how would we have gotten the Moo Mixer, the Segway, the spaghetti twirler, or the great Nugget Cup?

Well, there's another innovator in the Sketchup world: Fredo6, he is a regular poster and plugin creator who is on the SketchuCation forums. He is the creator of several brilliant Sketchup plugins. Ones that are even more useful then the "Moo Mixer". One that I use on almost a daily basis is called "Round Corners". In Sketchup, its rather difficult and time consuming to make rounded corners on things. Using his plugin makes doing this easy, and fast. Read on to see a video of the plugin in action!

I have talked about plugins before for Sketchup. Google's open API for Sketchup makes it easy for creators to write these plugins. Just like Apps can make your smartphone do amazing things, plugins can make you even more fast and productive with Sketchup.

Check out this link on SketchUCation to get this plugin, and instructions on how to install it. Its free of charge, so go check it out!

I'd be remissed if I also didn't mention the "Hawaii Chair" in my sarcastic list of inventions!

3DVia on the iPad

2011-01-31T08:03:00.000-05:00

As a recent new owner of an iPad, I have been discovering so many new apps that are useful in my daily life at work. I am a former iPhone owner, so I am no stranger to iOS, or the App store.

I had no idea that the larger form factor of the iPhone would make such a huge difference in the "app experience"

I have been looking for a way to put Sketchup models on the iPad in 3D, so I can present them to clients without having to drag out the laptop.

There is a company called 3Dvia. They have a 3D iPad browser that can do just that. They also have an online 3D repository that their 200,000 members can upload 3D models from a variety of 3D design softwares.

All of these models can be browsed with just a few touches right on your iPhone or iPad, check out the video below:

Sketchup goes "Minority Report" with Multitouch

2011-01-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

If you've been a Sketchup user for any length of time at all, you'll know that you NEED to have a mouse with a wheel to navigate a Sketchup model. Check out this older, but completely relevant video that Google has done on the subject.

When I am out on the road, I always have my MacBook Pro with me. I use this for modeling in Sketchup on the go. I always bring with me a three button mouse. This can sometimes be a pain if I am in a place where there isn't adequate room for a mouse. Sometimes I simply forget the mouse. Its really time consuming to model without it though. With the wheel mouse you can orbit, pan, and zoom while you are in the middle of a drawing operation. This is essential to fast modeling. If you don't have a wheel mouse, you have to stop every time you want to orbit, pan or zoom and click a command from the toolbar if you are using the trackpad.

Well just the other day I discovered that there is a better, multitouch way. Its not as slick as this types of gestures you'd find on an iPad, but it certainly makes modeling faster. Check out this video I did demonstrating the process. Note that this method works only for MacBooks.

I am so happy I discovered this method. Try it out for yourself, you can pretend that you are ">Tom Cruise from "Minority Report"

Sketchup 8 M1 Released!

2011-01-12T18:08:00.002-05:00

Google is releasing an update to Sketchup 8 today. They've creatively named it "Sketchup 8 M1"

I would't be doing my due diligence as a blogger if I didn't tell you about this update. With every update Google pushes out for Sketchup, there are are always lots of little fixes. Things that you may not even realized they fixed have been fixed.

This update includes a big one however... the shadow bug has been fixed!

For those of you that aren't aware, the shadow bug can cause your models to sometimes look like this if you have shadows turned on:

Basically what happens is sometimes when you are "inside" a shadow you can see this effect that make your shadows look "shattered".

This bug has been around since Sketchup version 1.1 and its wonderful to see it finally fixed!

Google put together this great little video to show you the difference.

The best part about this is that its a free upgrade! To get it, go the following menus in Sketchup.

Windows: Choose Help > Check for Update
Mac: Choose SketchUp > Check Web for Update

I'd like to also thank the SketchThis.NET art department for taking the time to edit the Sketchup 8 logo.

UPDATE: You can see the full release notes here.

Apps for Sketchup? Steve Jobs is not amused

2011-01-10T08:30:00.001-05:00

Sketchup is as useful in the 3D world as a Swiss Army knife, but sometimes it just doesn't do exactly what you want it to do.

Just like you can put an app on your smartphone, you can add a plugin for Sketchup. There is a great developer community out there, and just like the smartphone apps, a lot of the Sketchup plugins are free.

Plugins solve problems. One problem that I have is that clients always love to change colors. When you've got a Sketchup model full of materials it can be time consuming to swap them all out.

Thanks to a plugin by Thomas Thomassen I can now do this with just a couple of clicks. Check out the video of his "Material Replacer" plugin below:

This fabulous plugin can be had for free by downloading it right here. Thomas, or "ThomThom" on the forums works for cookies. So please, if you like this plugin send him a cookie.

Happy trees with Sketchbook Pro for iPad

2011-01-04T20:54:00.000-05:00

So I remember as a kid sometime after Sesame Street, Bob Ross would come on and show the world how to create "Happy little trees" using just a canvas, paint, and some soft spoken words.

As a recent new owner of an iPad, a device hailed by Steve Jobs as "Magical and Revolutionary" I have been rather obsessed with drawing apps for it. There are many out there. AutoDesk's Sketchbook Pro really stood out for me because it seems powerful enough for a real artist to use. I say "seems" because I am about as much as real artist today I was at the age I was watching Bob Ross on TV.

I think this app has great potential for interior designers and artists who want to add that artistic touch to their drawings. SketchBook Pro has the ability to allow the user to draw over existing photographs. I could see a designer to use this to color in an elevation or perspective drawing...

So what do you think? Is this app Bob Ross approved?

Shaderlight Contest

2010-12-28T22:04:00.000-05:00

So if you've followed my Twitter, or my Facebook page you may have heard of me talking a little about Shaderlight, a rendering software for Sketchup.

Well, I have been having a great time using it, and have been producing some great results.

Shaderlight is having a rendering contest which ends January 5th. They want you to create the best looking "winter wonderland" with it.

I have created these two images:

So perhaps after you've stayed up all night on December 31st drafting your new years resolution you can try out Shaderlight. It's free to try and cheap to own. The learning curve is short too!

Droid Does Re-Run

2010-12-20T21:02:00.000-05:00

I originally ran this post a few months ago. I thought I'd repost it for those if you considering a smartphone for a holiday gift!

So after spending some quality time with my friend Paul Anater in Miami this past week, I have become inspired to expand what I write about on this blog. I usually like to stick to strictly Sketchup topics. I am a bit of a geek sometimes, and I'd like to share some experiences I have had switching smartphones.

I remember when the iPhone first came out in 2007. I watched in envy as everyone was able to switch over to get what at the time was, the most advanced smartphone out there.

I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon on the day the iPhone 3G was released. That was a great year to be an iPhone owner. There were 10,000 ways to waste time on the app store, and limited 3G coverage. The best part was, this was before AT&T was REALLY bad....

For two years I used my wonderful white iPhone. I loved it. It did everything I wanted it to. When the 3GS came out, I didn't even really want to upgrade. The 3GS was quite a bit faster, and I did feel myself wanting for a little more speed on my phone, but my 3G still ran great, and I never ended up trading up to the 3GS.

Then something happened, Apple released the new iPhone 4. At the same time, they also released a huge software update, iPhone software 4.0 for all models except the original iPhone. Apple has a nice habit of upgrading software on old devices, even as they release new hardware. This is nice for current owners as they usually add some nice new features, and performance enhancements. I think this is a really good move on Apple's part, it makes current customers happy, which generates good PR, and drives sales for new hardware.

I have been through three major software revisions with my iPhone. Each time there is a major release, there is a slew of new features, and a few bugs. Apple usually quickly fixes the bugs, so I always have felt really comfortable upgrading the day these new updates come out.

I upgraded to 4.0 the day it came out, and things were not as they usually are. The software took forever to install on my 3G, and once it did, I immediately noticed a major performance hit. Instead of feeling like I had all my apps, and the internet at my finger tips, it felt like I had to reach through a bowl of Jello-O to get to any of them. Once I got them they were, sticky, and hard to handle. I think that Apple put out a piece of software that was not well tested on the old iPhone.....

Check out my friend Paul Anater's blog post on the subject. There's a great video embedded in that post as well. If you're a current 3G owner, you will be able to relate.

I have a theory that this has something to do with their business model, but we'll keep theory and conjecture for another article.

My resolution was to switch phones, and carriers. I was sick of getting dropped calls, and slow internet connectivity on my iPhone. That software update did me in. I walked into my local Verizon store and picked myself up a Droid Incredible. I was a sucker for the original Droid ads. As a geek, they really got me interested... This was the first commercial.

Now, this commercial is a little dated already, as the new iPhone CAN do all of these things... But there is so much more to Android then just side by side comparions of features.

Lets break the two platforms down. You've got Apple, they want everything to be perfect. They control the entire process, from the hardware, to the software. I'll bet they'd even love to control the cell towers if they could afford to. You can't do anything on your iPhone unless Steve says that you can. Things are magical and perfect in iPhone land.

Then there is Google Android. Its open, customizable, and available to anyone who's got a piece of hardware that they want to put it on. This has its upsides, and downsides. The upsides are that you can do ANYTHING you want on Android. If you want to run 60 apps at the same time and drain you battery, go crazy. If you want to have a different music player then the stock one, just go ahead and download one. If you want to have apps that have full access to the phone, you can get them. A great example of allowing devolopers access to the entire phone system is that you can create apps that work great with other apps. For example, just about any piece of media on the phone can be shared. If you have your favorite Twitter app on your phone and you want to post a photo, that app comes right up in the list of ways you can share a piece of media. No longer to you have to launch the app, create the tweet, go to your camera roll, and search for the picture.

Perhaps you aren't happy with the dialer pad on the phone, simply download another one! Smartphones are more and more becoming portals to the internet, and less and less about phones. I think the internet should be open and free, and I also think that the device that you use to access it should be the same. Remember how angry we all got when Microsoft blocked Netscape back in the day? Its funny how we now tolerate that sort of Draconian control from Apple, just because they are "Hip" and "Cool".

Now for the really good stuff: The speed of the Droid Incredible. Between Verizon's speedy 3G network, and the Incredibles hi octane processor, this phone can go faster then you can think. The internet operates at nearly broadband speeds. You can even load Flash on it! Then there is Google's system wide voice search. Want to find something, anything on your phone or the internet? Simply tap one button, and just ask it!

You can ask Droid anything. Things like "Call Paul Anater" or "Navigate to Orlando Florida" will do exactly what you expect them to. The voice recognition is uncannily good.

If you are thinking of making the switch, you should. I use this phone more then I ever used my iPhone. Now have at the disposal of my thumbs the ultimate connection to the world. Its brilliantly fast, and rather then get in my way, it gets out of the way and just gets things done. Droid definitely Does.

As an aside, I was able to take my now deactivated iPhone 3G and downgrade it to the old 3.13 software. Its not as easy as upgrading, and you do have to wipe your phone and manually put everything back on it, but it does work perfectly now!

NKBA revolution, Social Media Style

2010-12-09T23:18:00.000-05:00

As you may recall 10 days ago there was a post on the NKBA LinkedIn group from Mary Gut CKD. This was the post:

"I just got word that NKBA has drastically lessened the requirements for the AKBD exam. Only 70 questions with no experience required? Comments NKBA?"

This post incited a firestorm of comments that were against the NKBA lessening, or rather removing just about all the requirements other then money to obtain the AKBD level certification.

Now, I think back in the day when the internet was more like the "wild wild west" this would have been a rather childish outpouring of commentary. Chat rooms and forums were dominated by those who used the anonymity of the internet to release anger about a particular topic in a generally childish way.

What happened after Mary Gut's post was quite the opposite. The 80+ comments that followed were all very well thought out, mature assessments of the situation. After a few days, the first NKBA officer chimed in with an explanation for the changes in the certification. If you look here at my original post on this, you can see that her comments were received about as well as a pie in the face.

The comments continued, and finally the president of the NKBA, Mark Karas chimed in both on LinkedIn and on this blog. He offered a rather luke warm solution: Keep the amount of test questions at 70 instead of 200, and only require 2 years of experience.

More negative comments ensued. Members still weren't satisfied. The consensus was that lowering the requirements for the AKBD certification "cheapens" the certification and makes the NKBA less valuable professionally.

A few days later, Mark Karas again announced another change: He stated that the AKBD certifications would remain exactly as they originally were! Rather then paraphrase, you can see his official post here.

I think the NKBA took many mis-steps in their process. For starters, from what I understand only one person made this change. It was not discussed or voted on by the NKBA board. The NKBA also didn't enlist the advice of its members, their most precious resource on this rather big decision.

I have been a big proponent of social media for a while now. I think this is a great example of how using social media can empower those who want a voice. How would have people from all over the country have been able to voice their opinions in a open forum such as this 15 years ago?

The NKBA seems a bit being as an organization in the social media field. I hope this incident was a wake up call for them, and a door to a new opportunity to seek better communication with its members.

I am glad the NKBA decided not to change the requirements for this certification. I am glad to be a part of an organization that listens to its members, even if they made the wrong decision first.

I'd like to leave you with this really compelling video about the value of social media.

The NKBA: Soon to be homeless?

2010-12-02T10:34:00.002-05:00

So being a big social media geek, I am naturally engaged in many social networks. One of them, of course, is LinkedIn. The other day I stumbled across a post in the NKBA discussion group. Mary Gut, CKD posted the following announcement:

"I just got word that NKBA has drastically lessened the requirements for the AKBD exam. Only 70 questions with no experience required? Comments NKBA?" -Mary Gut, CKD

Normally casual posting and discussion is what takes place in this group. However, following this post was a firestorm of comments against this new direction for the AKBD certification.

To explain to those that are unaware, the NKBA is a non profit organization that is dedicated to the training and development of kitchen and bath designers. The idea is that all members get the best training possible, and that as a whole we become the best professionals in the industry. Getting these certifications is supposed to set us apart from other, non certified designers. This is the NKBA's mission statement:

"The Mission of the National Kitchen & Bath Association is to enhance member

success and excellence, promote professionalism and ethical business practices

and provide leadership and direction for the kitchen and bath industry worldwide "

Now the AKBD certification is the first in a list of certifications that you can attain. Before this new change, to get it you had to have several years of experience. To prove that you had this experience you had to get affidavits signed by your employers who were supposed to be industry professionals. After you met the requirement for work experience you were then eligible to take the 200 question test.

I took this test, and passed. It was hard. I had to study a volume of books and lean on my years of experience to pass. I feel that I am a much better designer because of this test. I valued this certification because it says to my customers and colleagues that not only did I study hard and pass a challenging exam, I clearly have years of experience in my field.

What the NKBA has done now is strip away the requirement for any experience. You read that right, all you need now is 30 hours of NKBA class time, and you need to study their volume of design training books so you can take the test. So, in literally less then a week's worth of work, anyone off the street that wants to add letters to their name can take this test.

So after several angry posts against this in the LinkedIn discussions (and for reasons I can't understand one person was FOR this change), someone from the NKBA chimed in with the following post:

"Thank you all so much for your feedback regarding the changes to the AKBD certification. The AKBD exam has been streamlined from 200 questions to 70, but please note that the exam has not been made easier, as candidates will now face the 70 best and most difficult test questions. Candidates are still required to complete 30 hours of NKBA education, understand a combined 2,800 pages of text from the nine volumes of the NKBA Professional Resource Library, and pass what will be a more difficult academic exam.

Members should be proud of earning the AKBD certification, as it demonstrates that you have significant academic knowledge of kitchen and bath design. However, the AKBD certification is the NKBA's associate, academic certification--the first in a series of certifications. It was never intended to demonstrate practical design skill, which is gained through experience. The CKD and CBD certifications each demonstrate that design skill by requiring candidates to prove their experience and pass a practical design exam. It's because of this that the work experience requirement of the AKBD has been eliminated. "

Niamh Fiona O'Byrne

NKBA Certification Manager

This one section of the above post really floored me:

"However, the AKBD certification is the NKBA's associate, academic certification--the first in a series of certifications. It was never intended to demonstrate practical design skill, which is gained through experience."

It was never intended to demonstrate practical design skill? Are you kidding me? What exactly is it supposed to demonstrate then?

I think I can read between the lines and see what is going on here:

The NKBA has had a bad couple of years financially. What better way to increase your numbers than by making it really easy to become a member and add letters to your name. To become a member, all you need to do is spend a lot of money on 30 hours of training, then spend more money on books, and then even more on taking the test. Experience is priceless, irreplaceable, and the best thing one can have to become a leader in their industry. With the NKBA removing this requirement, they will probably increase their checkbook balance for the short term, but they are eroding the true value of their members, one that cannot be quantified monetarily, experience.

What's next? Are there going to be commercials with a loud bearded pitchman telling that us for one low price we can get not one, but two levels of certification if we order in the next 15 minutes provided we pay shipping and handling on the plaques?

Design Within Reach

2010-11-28T22:46:00.000-05:00

The other day I had to do a quick office design in Sketchup. Its not the most exciting design, but I had to put it together to decide where blocking and electrical were going to go. After I put the design together, I realized that with the wood floors, and the spartan walls the office would probably have a significant echo to it. I decided to quell potential echo, I could put some interesting looking carpet on the wall, and on the floor.

You could fairly easily make your own carpet in Sketchup, either using built in textures, or your nearest digital camera to create a new one. But what's easier then just typing in "Carpet" into your 3D warehouse search and downloading one?

Oh, and don't worry, I was thinking a cool looking carpet, not some crazy shag carpet like this one:

Below is the carpet I selected. I was able to find this in Sketchup, right in the 3D Warehouse. Design Within Reach has a lot of carpets on the 3D warehouse already. Its easy to browse through them, select the one you want based on size and pattern, and then place it right in your model. The nice part is that these models are made properly, so they automatically "stick" to the floor so that you don't have to mess about with rotating them and placing them in place.

So in a few clicks, I was able to find my carpet. Not only did I find one, this one actually exists. The model is the correct dimensions so I can see if it fits. If my customer wants to purchase this carpet because they saw it in my design, I can simply right click on it, and browse its options to see a link to the products website. This particular model actually has pricing right in it!

So there you go, just another reason that Sketchup can not only save you time on the design end, but also on your research as well.

The greatest plugin I never new I needed!

2010-11-15T20:04:00.001-05:00

As you may already know, I draw a lot of kitchens in Sketchup. But that's not all I draw, I sub contract myself out to a lot of different professions. Recently, I have been converting 2D house plans into 3D models.

If you've ever drawn an exterior of a house in 3D, you probably already know that one of the most difficult parts to draw is the roof.

Sketchup's rich and open API allow the open source community to create just about any plugin they want for Sketchup. With this, you get some great plugins, and some not so great ones. The other day, I came across one of the best plugins I have ever seen for Sketchup.

Its called "Instant Roof" by Vali Architects in Hawaii. This jaw droopingly awesome caused me to curse out load when I first tried it. To quote myself after I first used it:

"Holy ****! That is ******* *** **** amazing!"

Now, before you start think I was rated R, it was a "for tv edit" outburst, see this example:

Now, for the serious stuff. If you are drawing roofs on houses, then you NEED to get this plugin. I'll let the creator explain it to you better then I can:

This plugin is immensely useful. It is so well written. I highly recommend that you go download it today. There is a free version, and a pro version. This is going save me loads of work. If you draw houses for a living, this is sure to be one of the best tools you'll add to Sketchup.

The Wild Wild 3D West

2010-11-05T23:23:00.000-04:00

One of the things that makes Sketchup such a fast modeling tool is the 3D Warehouse. The 3D Warehouse is an online repository where anyone can upload and share their 3D models with anyone in the world. This makes Sketchup an even faster modeler, because sometimes it's just quicker to download a model then make it yourself!

Right now the 3D Warehouse is like the wild wild west. Anyone can post content to the 3D warehouse. From large companies to Hot Pocket fueled basement dwelling teenagers. This makes what you can find in the 3D warehouse a bit of a mixed bag. Here is some photographic evidence of the problem. (Note that my kitchen IS drawn to scale here)

This was the top hit for the search "Plate"

This was the top hit for the search "knife"

This was the top hit for the search "coffee maker"

As you can see, a LOT of these models aren't drawn to scale. That doesn't mean they aren't usuable though! A simple use of the scale tool will solve that.

Now, what you have seen so far are amateur efforts at creating models. Honestly, there are some great amateur attempts out there. The biggest mistake made is not drawing things to scale. Using the scale tool fixes this really quickly. If you can get over that, there is a lot of great stuff out there.

But what about real products, ones that are guaranteed to work, and are models of actual things that you might specify? Well a lot of companies have stepped up and created some wonderful models that I use on a daily basis.

Here are some links to some notables (in no particular order)

Brizo Faucets

These are great models. Contained in each model is a wealth of information. See this post to learn more.

Kraftmaid Cabinetry

This is a great collection of cabinets. What's nice is not only do they make the individual cabinet models, they also make available displays and other designers projects for download. It may look a little overwhelming when you first see this collection, but it's full of great models that you can download and explore. Use them for inspiration on your next project!

Jenn Air

I don't sell appliances, so unless I am trying to find the exact model a customer has, I use these. Why do I use these? This is the biggest collection of models of appliances on the 3D warehouse. They all match each other, and they are organized very well. Jenn Air is trying to get designer "Mind Share" by making these models really easy to use, and its worked!

I maintain a list of products that I think are great models. These are ones that I use frequently. Click here to see all of my collections.

If you are signed into Google when you go to these, you can add my collections to your collections. What's nice about this is that when I update my collections yours will be updated too. Not only do you not have to model, but you can let me maintain your collections as well!

Happy Sketching!

Sinks of Steel on Kitchens.com!

2010-10-28T21:41:00.000-04:00

I spend a fair amount of my time on social media. With this, comes reading a log of blogs. I even occasionally take a spin by Kitchens.com to see what is happening there.

The other day, Kitchens.com unveiled a new initiative: To feature designs, and styles that real people can actually afford! I think this is great, and I think that the styles that they have come with are quite good!

Aside from liking these kitchens, and the idea that they are affordable, my keen eye spotted something: These are all Sketchup models! Since I am a big Sketchup and kitchen design geek, I am always sourcing components from Sketchup's 3D warehouse. In fact, you can see my frequently used products here.

I picked these three images specifically because of the sinks. A while back, I created some stainless steel sink models that I shared in an old blog post.

If you look closely, you can see these sinks are featured in these models!

Now, obviously, these pictures aren't straight out of Sketchup, they are rendered using a 3rd party post processor. I contacted Kitchens.com via Twitter and they responded that these were in fact all Sketchup models, and that the rendering had been done in 3D Studio Max.

Reality Distortion Field

2010-10-22T18:54:00.000-04:00

Ok, I've got to vent about Apple here. But before I tear into them, let's start with a brief history.

Apple has always been hip and innovative. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started selling computers in the mid-seventies out of a garage. The whole idea behind these computers was that they were completely open source. You built them yourself, and programmed them yourself.

As Apple grew and grew, they became the "Alternative" computer. PC's were for those in suits, and Mac's were supposed to be for the non-conformist, open-minded free thinkers.

Apple, for years, has been a niche market computer. I have always thought they were great. I am typing on a nice MacBook Pro right now. Since Apple's business model is a "vertical stack" meaning they develop the hardware and the software, they are quite nimble in terms of being able to innovate. This has resulted in some great products over the years. I am a huge fan of Macs because of their ease of use, and reliability.

Then in 2007 the iPhone came out. I don't have to tell you, but it was a pretty big deal. Apple was profitable before, and now because of the iPhone they have more cash then they know what to do with.

I think all of the success at Apple has gone to their CEO's head. Take a listen to Apple's latest earnings call. And then strap in for an angry rant.

Ok, so lets break down some of Steve's comments. First, he says that Google calling its platform "Open" is disengeniuos. This couldn't be further from the truth. Lets look at Apple's iOS operating system. It's a completely closed eco system. You can only use it on specific Apple devices. As a developer, you are only allowed to use certain features of the phone. Your only method of distribution is through Apple's App store. Your apps can only get on the App store if Apple says it's OK for them to be on there. If you've been paying any attention over the past three years, you know that Apple exercises its right to remove apps from its app store for a variety of unfair reasons. I don't know about you, but this seems like Draconian control to me. It's Apple's way or the highway. Apple used to lockdown their app developers in NDA's so that they couldn't even talk to other developers about their apps!

Then there is Google Android. Google gives its Android software away for free. Anyone can use it on any device they can shoehorn the software into. Google provides an app store, and also allows apps to be sold though other app stores, and even directly off of developers' websites. In a nutshell, you can sell an app to an Android device anyway you want, with or without Google's help.

As a devoloper, you also have access to the entire phone. Do you want to make an app that will replace features that the phone already has? No problem, just write it. Apple would smite you to hell for even thinking about that!

Google's Android is a lot like Windows. Anyone who can write software can do anything they want with it. The only real difference is that Android is free, and Windows costs money.

This is the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion field at its best.

Steve also goes on to say that Android is fragmented. He's a little right on this one, but it works well. HTC and Motorola sell phones with customized versions of Android on them. I have used both, and they are both very easy and pleasant to use. The user doesn't need to be a "Systems integrator". That is complete bullshit. These phones are just as easy to use as Apple's conveted iPhone.

Steve Jobs also called out the devoloper of TweetDeck, a Twitter app for iPhone and Android. He said that TweetDeck had to make only one version of its software for Apple, and 244 versions for Android. This is completely untrue. See this Tweet from the TweetDeck CEO

In fact, not only did he Tweet this, he was quoted as saying that it only took two people to create and deploy their app for Android. Does that sound like a nightmare? Two people create and deploy an app that will work on many more devices then its Apple varient will? And these developers don't have to worry about Google approving, or disapproving their app. Google lets the public do that.

Even Andy Rubin jumped into the fray. For those of you who don't know who he is, he is the "father" of Google Android. He responded with this tweet:

This is the command line used where any developer can build its own version of Android.

I think all the success and fame has gone to Apple's head. Steve Jobs has to get his head out of the clouds and look around. His company's arrogance and obsessiveness may work in their favor now, but with more and more "open" platforms being offered, I'm not sure how long it will last. Once I made the move to Android, I realized that open is the future. I like freedom of speech, and since most speech is electronic, I like an open platform to do it on. Apple has jaded me, and I don't think I am alone.

I'll continue to use my MacBook. Anyone can develop for Mac OS, and let's face it, Mac's are better than Windows machines in my opinion. As far as mobile devices go, I'll stick to the open ones, no matter what the OS is. Until Apple releases its grip on iOS, you can count me out.

I'll leave you with one last thing, back in 1984, when Mac was the "Alternative, Free thinkers" computer, they ran this incredible commercial. You can see that the runner represents the Apple user, and the "drones" are all PC users. It's funny looking at that commercial now and I can't help but think how the roles have reversed.

So what are your thoughts? Open, or closed?

Brizo in NYC at Fashion Week

2010-09-28T12:08:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, Brizo generously invited a group of prominent kitchen and bath bloggers out to New York city for a design challenge and a Brizo learning session. (At least Brizo said we were "prominent"!)

After taking some classes on Brizo product, the room full of us was each tasked with coming up with a design pitch for a bathroom in the giant space we were given. This space was GIANT! It doesn't look that bad in the pictures, but the ceilings were 156" tall, so that should give you an idea of the scale of this bathroom. Coincidently, this bathroom does exist in real life.

Underneath Park Avenue, in a conference room we were each given ten minutes to come with a pitch for a bathroom idea. We were then given one minute to stand up and present our ideas in front of the room. Some of us just had idea's, other folks did some great sketches.

Not a bad sketch for ten minutes huh? I wish I could take credit for it. Mine looked more like the doodles of someone who was just trying to run the pen out of ink. After we presented our ideas, the top four were selected. We broke into a team for each idea and proceeded to hash out our plan. The eventual goal after an hour was too get our designs into the Sketchup model for judging later.

Everyone got into their designs, the hour flew by. We were granted extra time, as apparently fashion shows don't ever start on time. The Jason Wu show we were supposed to see after the contest was no exception.

So after the designs were submitted, most of us took off via Brizo limo for the Showtime house. The Showtime house is a penthouse high above New York City that is filled with rooms that are designed by famous designers. They were all themed after a Showtime television show. I got a few pictures, but the website has much better ones! Check out the website for a full tour.

So between the fashion show, and the after party, our Sketchup models were cleaned up and readied for judging.

From what I understand there is going to be some sort of official announcement from Brizo on the winners, so I won't spoil the fun for them. Of the four, which one would you have picked?

A table, the dynamic way

2010-09-16T12:07:00.001-04:00

Hey folks, I just wanted to share this little gem I found in the 3D Warehouse with you...

A lot of times in kitchen design, the kitchen table plays a big part in the design. I find myself often placing one in my designs. They are pain to draw, and its hard sometimes to find the right size one on the 3D Warehouse.

No more though! With the advent of Dynamic Components, we can use one table for whatever we need in terms of size!

If you search for "dc table google" in the 3D Warehouse you'll come across one that looks like this:

There is more then meets the eye with the table. Its dynamic, that means you have choices.

If you use the scale tool on this table, and stretch it out, it automagically gets longer without getting distorted, and it will throw in the correct amount of chairs.

If you right click on the table, and select the menu called "Dynamic Components" and then "Component Options" You are exposed to a menu that shows several different options for the table. You can change the color of the cushions. You can select if you want the chairs at random angles, or if you have a touch of OCD, you can have them lined up perfectly.

You can even use the "Interact" tool to hide certain chairs.

You can even make the largest table in the world with just using your scale tool. (You may want to NOT do this if you are using an underpowered machine!)

This table is really useful, and I use it all the time. Its so easy to scale it to the size that you need, it sure beats drawing something from scratch. Check out this great DC to save you time on your next design!

Basecamp 2010

2010-09-08T11:42:00.000-04:00

I have talked a bit in the past about how it's getting cooler and cooler to be a geek these days. Some of the richest people on the planet are geeks! There are lots of "Geek" conventions around, like this one, or this one. (For the record, I am not interested in either!) But for us Sketchup Geeks there is nothing better than Basecamp.

Google graciously invited 250 of the world's greatest Sketchup users to come to their campus in Boulder Colorado. There were people from literally all sides of the planet. I personally met attendees from Australia, Croatia, Hungary, France, and the UK. I know there were more world travelers there as well.

I have been to Google before, and if there is one thing Google is good at, besides just about everything on the internet, it's how to take care of its guests. Besides all the great food they serve, these events are hosted in an extremely fun, unconventional way. This wasn't a conference, it was an "unconference". To some of you this sounds like a disaster in the making, but trust me on this folks, this was the richest, most immersive conference I've been too. If you follow this blog, you'll know of my conference credentials.

Before we got seated for the keynote address, you already could tell that this was going to be fun, I mean, look at the stage where we were set to have our conference:

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. Those are campsites that are set up on the stage. This is where we were set to have our "unconference" sessions.

Aidan Chopra and John Bacus gave an entertaining keynote address to the attendees where they launched Sketchup 8 to the world! The keynote was interactive, we were able to talk and ask questions. It wasn't just Aidan shouting at us through a bull horn! They went over all of the new features of Sketchup 8. There was some great stuff to see. One fact that stood out for me is that Sketchup gets 1 million uses a week. This is unique uses. Think about that for a second, 1 million unique people, per week, are using Sketchup.

Alright, now I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting to hear what an "unconference" is. Besides being a procrastinator's dream, I think it's the most organic way to run a conference. With all of us in the room, we were handed sticky notes and pens and asked to write down an idea that we wanted to present. After we wrote something down, we stepped up to the mic, or bull horn and spoke, or shouted our idea. We then slapped our idea on a giant marker board with time slots.

After we put our ideas up, the Googlers organized them into schedule. We all poured over it and picked the sessions that we wanted to see, and headed off to separate rooms.

If you haven't already figured it out, there is a camping theme going on here. I like how they did this. It kept everything light and humorous. Even though each session had a presenter, it usually turned into a discussion of the topic at hand. The atmosphere made everyone feel comfortable engaging one another. It definitely made for an organic experience no matter what the size of the session.

The next day, after feeding us well (as Google always does) we had the opportunity to attend some presentations by different companies. There were a lot of rendering plugins that were shown. I attended a session by Shaderlight. Shaderlight has a rendering plugin for Sketchup, that even in its infancy, is showing great promise. As I have said before, I always thought rendering was for a different breed of computer user. Seeing this plugin has shifted my paradigm as far as how easy it can be to render in Sketchup.

Shaderlight's Render presentation

This is a kitchen that was rendered by Shaderlight. I have seen renderings this good before, but what had me in disbelief was the Shaderlight folks telling me that I could render this kitchen in minutes. I challenged them with one of my own Sketchup models, and they pulled it off. (More on this in the future)

So on day three, we all ended up back in the auditorium for a little Q &A with the Sketchup team. During the sessions, Google put a huge marker board up where we could all write ideas down that we want to see implemented in Sketchup. They were all put on a list, and we went through each one. Google offered up comments and suggestions, and engaged the crowd to find out exactly what the thought behind each idea was. The marker board was eventually retyped and put up on the giant screen where we were able to discuss, and vote on new feature ideas. The size of the text was determined but the loudness of the applause!

The Google team actually cares what its users think, and it showed on this last day. Not only did we, the users, get to make this list, we were able to discuss it in a open forum with the programmers from Google. They were able to give a lot of insight into how they choose what they are going to add to Sketchup with each release. I learned it's an exceedingly tricky process to add even the smallest features to a program that is used by so many people in so many different parts of the world in just about every profession that exists.

I feel privileged to be able to attend this event. The Googlers worked so hard to pull it off, and pull it off they did. The event went like clock work, and was the most enjoyable conference I have attended. Google worked tirelessly to finish Sketchup 8 and release it during Basecamp. I talked with a few of the Google programmers that worked 20 straight hours compiling code to get it ready for release. Not only did they do that, but they spent the following three days from morning to night working the conference.

A big thank you to Google for the incredible release, and the incredible conference!

Destroyed in Seconds

2010-09-04T11:26:00.001-04:00

I am not a destructive person by nature... But the other day I was getting frustrated because I just couldn't get this design I was working on right. I was about to get up from the computer and go do something different when I thought of something that would be a great stress reliever: Destroy my new design right in the computer!

In Sketchup, there is this wonderful physics simulator plugin called "SketchyPhysics". It's now in its third iteration.

SketchyPhysics is based on a video game physics engine. It can simulate a lot of real world variables like gravity, magnetism, buoyancy, and others. It allows you to make things called "Motors" and "Servo's". I'll let YouTube do some talking here. The following is the video I made after installing SketchyPhysics.

This isn't exactly the most useful application for kitchen designers, but it certainly put a smile on my face after working on this design for hours and not really getting anywhere. It took me only a few minutes to setup this scene. First, you flag all the components as something you want to be able to take part in the "Physics" of your model. Next, I made an invisible ramp, and set the giant boulder on top of it. When I click start, the boulder rolls down the ramp, and smashes into the cabinets.

I have also used this plugin to simulate the workings of a hobby CNC machine that I built. If you open that model in Sketchup, and have SketchyPhysics installed, you can move the machine about on all three of its axes. I used this to check for clearance before I built the machine.

Now, to see some real examples of what SketchyPhysics can do, check out these videos:

So, if you ever need to take out some frustrations, simulate a robot, or an assembly line, this plugin can help you out!

Sketchup 8 Released!

2010-09-02T08:53:00.000-04:00

Its an exciting day folks! Fresh out of the Sketchup oven is a new version of Sketchup for all of us to play with! There are some great additions and tweaks that make a great modeling software even better. here are some of the headlines:

Geo Modeling update:

There are lots of new resources available to those who Geo Model. You are now able to use aerial photography, StreetView and Google Earth images to build your geo located models. Google has a massive database of imagery of the planet, and its now even easier to access it right within Sketchup. You can now import Google Earth imagery into your model, in color, without the need to have Google Earth installed anymore!

This is the dialog where you can search any address on the planet and import its imagery in Sketchup

Color terrain data and imagery in Sketchup, and its in COLOR! Pretty cool! You didn't even need to leave Sketchup to get all of this.

The next feature that I think is really cool is the Igloo Modeling tool. Before in Sketchup, you could model a photo using the Photomatch Feature. Now, not only can you photomatch, but you can use multiple images, in any location that you want. Basically, you can combine images from any angle to create an "Igloo" to model on:

Using different scenes, you can "enter" each image and start drawing on top of it. If a particular image obscures the geometry that you need to draw, simply move to another scene. All you have to do is zoom out, double click on the image, and then you are automatically taken "into" that image and you can start drawing on top of it. I think this feature is going to be great not just for modeling buildings, but for modeling just about any object. In the coming weeks, I am going to take some pictures of objects from multiple angles and model them.

There has been a nice update to the Styles window as well. You now get thumbnail images of each of your scenes! This is really helpful when you create models with lots of scenes.

There has also been another interesting update to the Styles tool. You can enable something that is called "Back Edges" Basically, it shows what would normally be hidden lines in your model. This is a little trick that drafts people use to illustrate lines that are important, but wouldn't be seen in a particular view. You could do this before in Sketchup by using a transparent color, but this option is much better because the hidden lines are dotted automatically.

There have been some improvements to LayOut as well. We can now FINALLY do angular dimensions:

You can also export your LayOut documents to DWG and DXF, which is pretty cool because you can now send them to your AutoCAD using friends. (And they now can all be a little jealous of your newly updated modeling tool)

If you look closely, you can see the dotted lines in the back of the "eight".

New Modeling tool: Solids.

Sketchup is a "Face modeler". In other words, everything that you model is made up if faces, and isn't "solid". A lot of solid modelers have tools that allow you to intersect, union, and subtract from "solid" objects in the model.

In Sketchup 8, there are now "Solid" tools offered to help you model. Think of it as a huge upgrade to the "Intersect with model" tool. The intersect tool is a great tool, but sometimes it can be a little tricky to get it to do what you want it to do. With these new tools, its really easy to make complex geometry.

There are a bunch of other improvements as well. In the coming weeks, I will be covering these. In the mean time, I will be at Basecamp learning from the Sketchup creators all there is to know about these exciting new tools and features!

Basecamp 2010

2010-08-26T22:46:00.004-04:00

This is a boulder that doesn't get capitalized.

This Boulder gets capitalized.

View Larger Map

It's where I am heading to on Tuesday for the tenth anniversary of Google Sketchup. Every so often, the folks over at Google invite users from Sketchup from all over the world out to the Sketchup factory in Boulder for what Google calls an "unconference".

Two hundred Sketchup users were invited. Myself, and another fellow Sketchup user will be hailing form western Massachusetts, some folks are local to Boulder, and some are coming from around the world! I have been in contact with a fellow Sketchup user form Australia! We "met" online due to our mutual interest in our favorite 3D modeling software, and now are going to meet for the first time. He's not the only one coming from overseas.

It's events, and people like this that make me really appreciate what I had to go through in high school as a bit of a geek. Now I get to hang with people from all over the world, at one of the biggest tech phenomenons of our time.

Yes, that is the main lobby of the Google Boulder office. Yes, you do see a rock climbing wall in the background!

I'll be keeping my Facebook page and my Twitter feed as up to date as possible while I am out there (and while sitting idle at the airport as well). Stay tuned for more details!

Sinks of Steel

2010-08-12T12:10:00.001-04:00

As I am sure you know, I use Sketchup daily for kitchen design. One of the things that comes up all the time when using Sketchup is undermounting a sink. It used to be a tedious process of cutting a hole in the countertop that was the right shape for the sink, and then dropping the sink into the hole. If you were able to get it right the first time, it still took you forever. If you have to move the sink, forget about it, you'd probably give up.

That is why a while back, I created these undermount sinks.

Those sinks have been working great for a long time. They've gotten tons of downloads, and have been used in just about every kitchen and bathroom I have designed for the last year or so.

I was recently inspired by these faucets that are now available on the 3D warehouse from Delta and Brizo. Not only are they extremely useful, but the folks who created the models over at Igloo Studios did a really neat trick with using a single photo texture to make the faucets appear to be real, without having to be rendered. I did a post on this a few months ago where I compared these faucets to Miami Vice. See how Don Johnson faired by clicking here.

I sell a line of stainless steel sinks by Artisan. They are quite popular, and end up in a lot of our kitchen designs. A few of the other designers I work with were asking me if I could build an offset double bowl sink in Sketchup, and a "D" bowl. Instead of creating a generic one, I decided to create one that we sell. In the next few pictures, you will see the process I used to build these sinks. If you are impatient, and just want the goods, get into Sketchup and search for "Artisan Sinks" on the 3D warehouse.

There are a few things I need to model a sink in Sketchup accurately. First, I need the dimensions. I headed over to Artisan's website and grabbed a technical drawing on one of their sinks.

I imported the drawing into Sketchup. There I was able to scale the image based on the dimensions that are on the drawing. From there, I started to trace right over the image to start getting the shape of the sink.

Next, I used Sketchup's famous Push Pull tool to start massing up the sink.

I removed some unnecessary geometry, now you can see that the sink is starting to take shape.

Now I have hidden edges that I don't want to be seen. Notice that I left the edges along the top, and bottom. In the next picture you will see that I can select those edges, and use a plugin to round them over.

Using this plugin I was able to select the edges that I wanted to round over. Much easier then using Sketchup's built in "Follow Me" tool.

So there it is, a model that is all ready for some textures.

I grabbed a picture of the sink from the same website. I placed the picture directly over the model that I wanted to paint it onto. You can "project" textures onto models. Think of it like standing in front of a projector, the image is "projected" onto you. Using this method, you can paint flat textures onto 3D models.

Since my model was drawn accurately, and the picture I was using was distorted (as most images are, because camera lenses bend images) I had to use Sketchup's built in texture positioning tools to fine tune the texture. If you've got a texture that is really out of shape, you can fix it up with a little Photoshop trickery. These texture tools were designed for texturing buildings, but they can work rather well for this sort of modeling.

There is the final product. Its a accurately sized, textured kitchen sink. It doesn't end there though. Next I made a Dynamic Component out of this sink.

This will help you, the end user with a couple of things. First, the component will automatically cut a hole for you in your countertop. It also has an option to set how deep its undermounted. And lastly, in the component, there are links to the specs of the sink, and a video on how exactly to use it! To get to all of these, simply right click on the sink when you have it in Sketchup, go to Dynamic Components, and then to "Options" and you will see the settings and the link.

So, go into Sketchup and search for Artisan Sinks. I've got a collection of three different ones in there to help you model!

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/cldetails?mid=b31bc56becdd90e784283d54542a3ba0

Building Kitchens from Space!

2010-08-09T11:45:00.005-04:00

Without skipping a beat, Mike asked what her address was. He pulled up Google Earth, and zoomed in on her location, and found the aerial photography of her house.

After finishing the walls, Mike started to build a kitchen for her...

Droid Does

2010-08-01T12:05:00.003-04:00

So after spending some quality time with my friend Paul Anater in Miami this past week, I have become inspired to expand what I write about on this blog. I usually like to stick to strictly Sketchup topics. I am a bit of a geek sometimes, and I'd like to share some experiences I have had switching smartphones.

I remember when the iPhone first came out in 2007. I watched in envy as everyone was able to switch over to get what at the time was, the most advanced smartphone out there.

I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon on the day the iPhone 3G was released. That was a great year to be an iPhone owner. There were 10,000 ways to waste time on the app store, and limited 3G coverage. The best part was, this was before AT&T was REALLY bad....

For two years I used my wonderful white iPhone. I loved it. It did everything I wanted it to. When the 3GS came out, I didn't even really want to upgrade. The 3GS was quite a bit faster, and I did feel myself wanting for a little more speed on my phone, but my 3G still ran great, and I never ended up trading up to the 3GS.

Then something happened, Apple released the new iPhone 4. At the same time, they also released a huge software update, iPhone software 4.0 for all models except the original iPhone. Apple has a nice habit of upgrading software on old devices, even as they release new hardware. This is nice for current owners as they usually add some nice new features, and performance enhancements. I think this is a really good move on Apple's part, it makes current customers happy, which generates good PR, and drives sales for new hardware.

I have been through three major software revisions with my iPhone. Each time there is a major release, there is a slew of new features, and a few bugs. Apple usually quickly fixes the bugs, so I always have felt really comfortable upgrading the day these new updates come out.

I upgraded to 4.0 the day it came out, and things were not as they usually are. The software took forever to install on my 3G, and once it did, I immediately noticed a major performance hit. Instead of feeling like I had all my apps, and the internet at my finger tips, it felt like I had to reach through a bowl of Jello-O to get to any of them. Once I got them they were, sticky, and hard to handle. I think that Apple put out a piece of software that was not well tested on the old iPhone.....

Check out my friend Paul Anater's blog post on the subject. There's a great video embedded in that post as well. If you're a current 3G owner, you will be able to relate.

I have a theory that this has something to do with their business model, but we'll keep theory and conjecture for another article.

My resolution was to switch phones, and carriers. I was sick of getting dropped calls, and slow internet connectivity on my iPhone. That software update did me in. I walked into my local Verizon store and picked myself up a Droid Incredible. I was a sucker for the original Droid ads. As a geek, they really got me interested... This was the first commercial.

Now, this commercial is a little dated already, as the new iPhone CAN do all of these things... But there is so much more to Android then just side by side comparions of features.

Lets break the two platforms down. You've got Apple, they want everything to be perfect. They control the entire process, from the hardware, to the software. I'll bet they'd even love to control the cell towers if they could afford to. You can't do anything on your iPhone unless Steve says that you can. Things are magical and perfect in iPhone land.

Then there is Google Android. Its open, customizable, and available to anyone who's got a piece of hardware that they want to put it on. This has its upsides, and downsides. The upsides are that you can do ANYTHING you want on Android. If you want to run 60 apps at the same time and drain you battery, go crazy. If you want to have a different music player then the stock one, just go ahead and download one. If you want to have apps that have full access to the phone, you can get them. A great example of allowing devolopers access to the entire phone system is that you can create apps that work great with other apps. For example, just about any piece of media on the phone can be shared. If you have your favorite Twitter app on your phone and you want to post a photo, that app comes right up in the list of ways you can share a piece of media. No longer to you have to launch the app, create the tweet, go to your camera roll, and search for the picture.

Perhaps you aren't happy with the dialer pad on the phone, simply download another one! Smartphones are more and more becoming portals to the internet, and less and less about phones. I think the internet should be open and free, and I also think that the device that you use to access it should be the same. Remember how angry we all got when Microsoft blocked Netscape back in the day? Its funny how we now tolerate that sort of Draconian control from Apple, just because they are "Hip" and "Cool".

Now for the really good stuff: The speed of the Droid Incredible. Between Verizon's speedy 3G network, and the Incredibles hi octane processor, this phone can go faster then you can think. The internet operates at nearly broadband speeds. You can even load Flash on it! Then there is Google's system wide voice search. Want to find something, anything on your phone or the internet? Simply tap one button, and just ask it!

You can ask Droid anything. Things like "Call Paul Anater" or "Navigate to Orlando Florida" will do exactly what you expect them to. The voice recognition is uncannily good.

If you are thinking of making the switch, you should. I use this phone more then I ever used my iPhone. Now have at the disposal of my thumbs the ultimate connection to the world. Its brilliantly fast, and rather then get in my way, it gets out of the way and just gets things done. Droid definitely Does.

As an aside, I was able to take my now deactivated iPhone 3G and downgrade it to the old 3.13 software. Its not as easy as upgrading, and you do have to wipe your phone and manually put everything back on it, but it does work perfectly now!

Google Apps with Mark Johnson

2010-06-28T22:14:00.001-04:00

Mark Johnson FAIA from Masco Cabinetry did some great presentations on many different topics at this year's KBIS show and AIA show. He has a very unique way of presenting. Rather then getting up there and spewing facts out, or shouting and waving his arms about (like me) its more like a fireside chat with Mark. Mark can take even dry subjects and make you feel all warm and fuzzy about them!

One presentation he did that I really enjoyed was called "Google Apps for Designers". Mark went on to talk about all of the free Google applications that are available, and how to use them as designers to promote your business. I am sure we've all heard about GMail, Google Search (who hasn't these days, its a VERB now!), but there are several others that can be used for research and marketing your services.

I'd like to consider myself rather geeky, and I am definitely a heavy user of Google (who isn't?) But I have never really paid Google Trends any attention until I saw Mark's presentation.

Google Trends is an application that allows you to see how popular a particular search topic is. All you have to do is enter that topic into Google Trends and you can see how many times its been searched over a certain period of time.

Here we can see the comparison of Sketchup, AutoCAD and 20-20 Design. You can see a nice spike in Sketchup when it was acquired by Google. Its interesting to see that they all dip at about the same time...

This search for the word "Cabinetry" yields some interesting results. Note how in the beginning of each year, it spikes, and then as the year progresses, it falls off... Also note that year after year its trending down... I'll bet this graph overlaid onto a graph of home sales would be rather interesting to see. Google Trends can be a very interesting tool to see, well, trends. Perhaps you want to see how many people are searching for a wood species, or a door style. Think of Google Trends like that gossipy person in high school that seemed to always know what was going on. The difference here though, is that Google Trends doesn't exaggerate, and its not biased!

Another topic that Mark talked about was social media. This is a really hot thing going on in our world today, and I think he was right on with this point. You can't go anywhere today without seeing "Find us on Facebook" or "Follow us on Twitter" Just about every major company and brand has a presence in social media. The great thing about this new wave of social media is that it's very accessible to anyone. Whether you are a fortune 100 company, or just yourself, you can tweet, blog, and Facebook just like the big guys.

You may or may not know that KraftMaid and Merillat have recently launched a lot of their cabinetry in Google's 3D warehouse. With inexpensive and free versions of Google Sketchup and these free models, you can draw KraftMaid and Merillat kitchens. Mark shared how you can use Google Earth, Google Maps and 3D Warehouse in combination with kitchen models to promote your showroom location, how to get there, what it looks like in 3D...no special glasses required!

There is a new social media aspect of the 3D Warehouse that Mark showed us. You can now share your models on the warehouse, and then link them to just about any social network that is out there. This is great if you have a LinkedIn account, Facebook, Twitter, or any other network. Masco even has a section of the 3D warehouse dedicated to designs by fans.

The above is an example of how you can share a model even in a blog!

Mark also showed how KraftMaid is leveraging technology to make it easy for designers to promote themselves and their designs with portable devices like the iPod, iPhone, or Apple iPad. Imagine being able to pull your phone out of your pocket and show off that latest design to your customer!

Lastly, Mark rounded out these presentations by showing how easy it is to use all of these services. You don't need to be a geek to figure all of this stuff out. If you can use email, you have the skill set to get out there and market yourself on the Internet!

Designing with Corian in Sketchup

2010-06-19T18:37:00.002-04:00

Have you ever had that friend that broke up with their significant other, and started another relationship weeks, or even days after it ended? That can be a tough transision, one that rarely ever works. Usually the reasons for starting the new relationship aren't thought through, and it almost always end up not working out in the end...

When I teach people Sketchup, I tell them that they don't have to give up their current solution, no matter how bad it is! Throwing away your current solution and jumping into another without learning it first can be a disaster, no matter how great the new system is. A smooth transition is the way to go.

A great way to get started in Sketchup, without switching overnight is to draw small parts of your project in it. I started in Sketchup using it for countertop quotes. Countertop quotes are really easy to draw, and easy to understand. Even if you start a Sketchup countertop and give up, one can draw a countertop quote in pencil in a matter of minutes. The risk is very low to try it out, and the reward is some great Sketchup training.

A typical countertop quote for me looks like this:

With the introduction of the Corian Private collection, I had a customer that didn't understand the grain direction in Corian, and what that would look like. If you aren't familiar with the Corian Private collection, take a look at this picture:

The "grain" on the Corian Private collection series typically runs in one direction. This poses a problem when you get to joints, as that grain will have to change direction. In this case, it's mitered.

In a typical "U" shaped kitchen, you could have two joints. What do you do, do you mitre? Do you do butt joints? More to the point, even if you understand what this will look like, will your customer?

Enter my solution. The picture below is a Sketchup model. It was drawn to accurate dimensions, and the texture is an actual picture of a Corian Saffron slab. I was able to draw the countertop, draw in the seams, place and rotate the textures, all in minutes.

To do this, first start by drawing your countertop in Sketchup. You can draw in a backsplash, and you should also draw lines separating the deck where you would like the seam. This separates the faces of your countertop so that you can put a texture on each face, and rotate it to you liking. My drawing started out looking like this:

Notice I plan on doing two butt joints. So I drew lines across the deck where those seams are going to be. The next step is to apply your textures. You can create Corian Private Collection texture like I did, or you can download this model at the end of the post and experiment with the texture that is already in the model. Place the texture on the first leg of your countertop, like this:

Now, I want this "grain" to be running the long way. Its really easy to do, just right click on the face with the texture, and select "Texture" and then select "Position"

Now, this will put the texture into a mode that will allow you to scale it, twist it, and distort it. You can do this by grabbing and pulling the pins that are around the texture. YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THIS! Using those pins is a great method for distorting textures, and getting them to fit on faces, but in this case, we want to maintain the scale of the texture. I went to a lot of trouble photographing that texture so that it would be the right scale in the drawing, there is no need to ruin all that hard work!

So, if you right click again, and select "Rotate" and then "90" the texture will be rotated 90 degrees. The scale won't be affected at all, and you didn't have to drag any of those pins around. If you see the edge of a texture, you can just click and drag the texture around to place it where you want it on the face. These textures are drawn the exact size of Corian slabs, so this can help you determine if you need another seam if you have a really long counter. (Always check with your favorite fabricator too!)

Right click again, and select "Done". Now your "grain" should be running in this direction:

Now, repeat this process for the other two faces. Rotate as needed.

Now, lastly you have those black lines across your seams, which I don't like personally. Its really easy to get rid of them. You can either right click on each line and select "Hide" or, you can use the Erase tool while holding shift. When using the Erase tool WHILE holding shift, any lines that you go over this way will be hidden. If you use the erase tool without holding shift, you will actually remove the line and the two adjacent faces will be connected, and your textures won't be rotated the right way.

So, while this may seem time consuming, its really not. I can now create a drawing just like this in about 15 minutes or less. Its a great way to show how Corian, and granite seams are going to look, and makes a really professional document for both your customer, and your fabricators. The dimensioned schematic that you see here was created in LayOut, which I will cover in a future post.

Search for "Corian Saffron" countertop in Sketchup's 3D warehouse, or download the model with the link below.

These instructions are a brief overview of how this process is done. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to post in the comments below, or contact us directly.

AIA Show

2010-06-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

SketchThis attended this years AIA show as a guest presenter with Kraftmaid and Igloo Studios in their tech booth. Things went quite well overall, the folks at Krafmaid, myself, and the Google team all had a great time.

There were a few snafus though, I didn't get the tan I was hoping for, and I experienced a lot of this.

Thanks to Apple's business model of making things obsolete so quickly, what was otherwise a great little MacBook is now waiting to be replaced by its all aluminum counterpart. According to Apple, this thing is going to be fast, like 1.21 gigawatts fast!

I digress though, this post is supposed to be about the show, not about the "uber" nerdy computer that is in the mail for me.

So, from what I understand, you don't see too much in the way of kitchen and bath related products at these AIA show's, its usually doors, windows, and structural stuff. For the most part, this stuff is rather uninteresting to us kitchen designers.

They tend to keep these show's categorized by product type, and we were in the technology area. Let me translate that for you laymens: We were in the nerd area, the geek zone, or techie lounge. Remember when geeks weren't cool? Well, we weren't until Google made it cool to be a nerd. And guess what, they were right next to us! Next to being a Googler, we were the coolest people there.

Kraftmaid is making a big push in to the tech area, and I think its wonderfully useful, and ~~geeky~~ cool. Where other cabinet companies are content with one piece of design software, and paper catalogs, Kraftmaid and Merrillat are going far beyond that.

At the show, Mark Johnson did presentations on how you can experience Kraftmaid with more then just a paper catalog, and showroom display. He demonstrated how you can have an interactive portfolio, and brochure available right on your iPod, iPhone, and iPad. He even had an iPad at the show to show how it all worked!

Mike Tadros did several presentations on Sketchup. He talked a lot about the 3D warehouse, and the Sketchup models that are available on it for kitchen designers, and architects. Mike strayed away from his rehearsed presentations a few times, and it was quite brilliant actually. He did several mini "Q&A" sessions. These we're nothing short of brilliant. Architects gathered around and threw questions out as fast as I apparently go through MacBooks. And as cool as the Fonz, Mike answered them all wonderfully. One the last day, a lady came up asking if she could see her kitchen in Sketchup. Without even skipping a beat, Mike asked her for her address, and zoomed in on her house in Google Earth. He took a snapshot of the roof of her house, and imported it into Sketchup. Within minutes, he used Sketchup to draw the outside walls of her house. Once that was done, she was able to describe where her kitchen was in the house, and Mike put up the interior walls. Minutes later, he was downloading Kraftmaid and Merillat cabinets and placing them into her house. After about twenty minutes, with her making requests, and Mike operating the computer, she had a new kitchen, all designed in Sketchup. This, I think was the most compelling presentation of the week.

Alex Oliver did several great presentations on how the 3D warehouse can be leveraged to really make the design process in Sketchup much easier, and quicker. He also did something that I had only heard about, he created 3D pdf's! That's right, 3D PDF's! You can use Sketchup, and Adobe Acrobat to make a PDF of your Sketchup model, and show it in 3D. Just about every computer everywhere as PDF viewing capabilities. Think about that for a minute!

David Pillsbury did presentations on how you can use Sketchup to draw houses. Many architects stopped by to see what they could do with Sketchup. Its simply amazing to see how easily you can draw a house, and how compelling it is to take someone through a 3D tour through it. A very interesting part of David's presentations involved the use of AutoCAD as well. I for one have left AutoCAD in the dust with Sketchup, although I still think its a wonderful program. David really showed off how well Sketchup and AutoCAD can play well together. From talking with a lot of architects and designers, it seems that a lot of them use Sketchup for many tasks, and then AutoCAD for others. Its really nice to see that they work so well with each other.

After I was able to pull myself away from all the other geeky and nerdy stuff that I was surrounded with, presented the Arcitect to designer workflow. In the past few years, I have seen many jobs that were designed by arcitects, and then passed along to us kitchen designers. Usually there is a big disconnect between the arcitects vision, and the kitchen designers. Its not a difference of opinion, its just that there is no standard form of communication. I have found that when customers come in and want a kitchen design, we are often redrawing things that an architect has already done, and it makes for a realy cumbersome design process.

Enter Sketchup, most Architects are already using it to create 3D models of the houses they design to show their clients. What I did to show how this workflow can be much better, is take one of these houses, and fill the kitchen space with Kraftmaid cabinetry.

Why is this so awesome? Well, first of all, the same great 3D model that was presented to the customer by the architect gets to be used to draw the kitchen. This is great for the customer because they can see how the kitchen relates to their whole house.

Next, if the architect wants to be involved in the design, I can take their Sketchup model, re work it, and send it right back to them, often very early on in their design process. This way more decisions can be made. This means cabinets come in faster, and making the whole project move along much smoother.

I did several live examples of this at the show, and I think it opened a lot of eyes. Architects are no stranger to Sketchup, they just didn't realize that us kitchen designers use it too!

Over the next week or so, I am going to put up some posts with details of each person's presentations. I will include the models, pictures, and a nice narrative so if you missed them, you can relive all the magic right here.

AIA Show

2010-05-28T19:39:00.002-04:00

So this year SketchThis.NET is heading to Miami Florida to present Sketchup at the American Institute of Architects convention. We are teaming up with Igloo Studio's, Kraftmaid, and the Google Sketchup team to put on a great show!

KBIS is going to have nothing on this show!

So what are we going to do when we are down there? My first thought was to find some place that looks like this:

But then I thought, how good would a pale Massachusetts native look after a few hours of basking in that sun? Bright red, that's how i'd look! So rather then work on my tan here, I have decided that for one of my presentations I will be taking an existing model that I found on the 3D warehouse, and filling it with cabinets, countertops, and whatever else I can get my hands on in the 3D warehouse. Why would I do this you ask? Because I am doing a presentation on how arcitects and kitchen deisgners can use Google Sketchup Pro to collaborate on models. This will save us both time, money, and most of all, will make the client even happier!

The house I have chosen is below. Any thoughts on what I should do?

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;If you have Sketchup &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

If you want to see inside this house, click on the 3D view and you can download it and see it right in Sketchup!

Brizo Faucets vs Miami Vice

2010-05-07T18:21:00.004-04:00

Out with the old, and in with the new!

I am sure most kitchen designers out there have seen this in their designs, using their "favorite" design program:

There's an old TV show that comes to mind whenever I see this...

Well, with the help of Brizo Faucets, Igloo Studios, and Sketchup, you can now have cool faucets like this:

Now this has got some important technical information in it, kinda boring, but necessary at times. The really useful and cool part is the "Product page" link in there, that brings you to this page:

Sketchup can help sell kitchens, and now it can help sell faucets! Miami Vice was good, but who really watches that show anymore?

Try these models out, open Sketchup's component browser, and search for "Brizo"

KBIS 2010

2010-04-24T17:23:00.004-04:00

Well folks KBIS 2010 is over...

What a great show this year. Chicago is such a great city, other then the fact that it can be brutally cold and windy, its a really nice place to hold a convention. There is lots to see in the city, whether its great architecture, art, shopping, or most importantly for Chicago, MUSIC!

We all had the privilege of seeing these guys live one night when we were out there. (Check out the triple necked guitar!)

We also had the chance to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They were incredible!

Let's cut to the chase: SketchThis, along with Igloo Studios, Kraftmaid, and Paul Anater were all there presenting Sketchup in Kraftmaid's technology booth.

We did presentations all day, every day of the show. Presentations ranged from Bart's 2020 imrovements, to Mark Johnson's Google Apps, Alex Oliver, Paul and I on Sketchup. The presentations went great all weekend. Our little booth was overstuffed most of the time with eager learners. We were surrounded by celebrities and shiny objects on all sides, so at first we were a little worried that we weren't going to draw much of a crowd. We started off by giving the best presentations that we could, and then we introduced the cheer. At the beginning and end of each presentation we got the ever growing crowd to cheer as loudly as they could! It was epic! I feel like every person in that show had some pent up energy they needed to release some way, and the cheer seemed to do the trick. This had a great effect on our attendance, word seemed to spread on the show floor that we were having a great time, and teaching a lot of great stuff. Soon, we realized that our little corner was filled to the brim, and the celebrities were not doing as well as us!

Even after the presentations, the buzz was positive and great. Sketchup is pretty new to the kitchen and bath industry. Kraftmaid has really stepped up and given us some great stuff to design with while using Sketchup, and the fact that they are on the forefront of this new technology really legitimizes it for our industry.

I talked for hours with many different designers from many different fields that were really amazed at what this program could do. I think a lot of people went home and checked it out.

If you saw us there, post a comment below, we'd love to hear what you thought of everything. If Sketchup caught your interest, there are a lot of learning opportunities coming up, all of which I will be blogging about soon!

Here is one of the kitchens I used in my presentations. I built this kitchen step by step, in about 22 minutes to show how easy it is to use Sketchup. Feel free to explore this model. If you want to see it in Sketchup, go to www.Sketchup.com and download it, its free, and you'll be able to play around with this model all you want. Its made with Kraftmaid cabinets!

Layers!

2010-03-23T08:30:00.000-04:00

People love choices these days! Us kitchen designers see that all the time. With so many choices, how do you show all the options in Sketchup without doing multiple drawings?

Its easy really, you use layers. Layers are collections of Sketchup geometry. The beauty of layers is that they can be hidden and shown at anytime.

Basically what this means is that you can show any number of options in a kitchen, whether that be different appliances, cabinets, colors, or walls. All you have to do is draw each option, and put it on a layer. To show that option, simply enable that layer, and disable the others.

If you are using groups, which you should be, you can easily put groups on layers, this creating options... I tell you what, just watch the video!

Move over Sang!

2010-02-27T08:46:00.001-05:00

Sketchup can be configured so many different ways. You can add your own plugins, styles, components, and templates to name a few.

One of the most important things to set in Sketchup is your default workspace. When you start Sketchup for the first time, you get a choice of several different templates. Most of the templates are aimed at architects and engineers.

To make life easier for us designers, I have created a custom template that you can download and install into your Sketchup. Why do all the work when I have already done it for you! This template includes the corect drawing units (inches) and some custom styles for your designs.

Check out this video on how my template works:

To download this template for yourself, head on over to the download section of SketchThis.NET

We've gone social!

2010-02-21T11:20:00.002-05:00

Even though in terms of technology, the internet is rather young, I think its here to stay! Since the internet became really popular, it has changed so much. I remember when it was a real novelty to see a picture on a website! Nowadays, if there isn't an "App for that" or a video on your site, you just aren't cool. Don't forget about "being social" as well!

It seems that internet users, rather then dealing with "real" social situations, have decided that socializing over the internet is much better. At first, I was a little skeptical of this whole social networking phenomenon. Now that the Whitehouse has a Facebook page, and we are Tweeting to space, I am convinced that social networking is here to stay.

So, throw my hat in and fill out my social networking portfolio with the following social networks!

Twitter - Here you will find our random thoughts and links as they relate to Sketchup (You can also pick up our Twitter feed to the left side of this blog.)

Facebook - You can "Become a fan" of SketchThis here. We try to keep this page very relevant to Sketchthis.

Email - If you are old school, and still using that ancient technology called email, you can sign up for our monthly newsletter.

So there you have it! SketchThis has social skills now!

KBIS!

2010-02-16T21:01:00.002-05:00

I am proud to announce that SketchThis.NET has been invited to KBIS this year to present with Igloo Studios and Kraftmaid Cabinetry in their "technology" booth at the show! We will be giving presentations during the show. Stop by and see all of us. This would be great chance to see Sketchup in action live, and get any of your questions answered! As we get closer, I will post more details.

But before the show, you can still get a lot of your Sketchup questions answered right here. In every blog post, I try to offer some tips and insight into using Sketchup in kitchen design. Often when people are faced with the prospect of using a new piece of software it really helps to see what its capable of from start to finish. I find it easier to start with the big picture, to make sure it can do what I want, and then work my way down to the details.

To help folks really see what Sketchup can do for them in kitchen design, I have put together this three minute video montage of a kitchen being designed in Sketchup. After seeing this you will have a really good idea of what Sketchup can do for you! Share it with your friends, and as always, please visit our website to ask any questions you may have.

Sketchup 7: Texturing just got a little easier!

2009-12-06T16:23:00.003-05:00

Sketchup has many textures in it that are shipped right along with the software. If you want more textures, you can download some Google provided material bonus packs.

I have found that some of the wood textures that are shipped with Sketchup are a little lacking in detail. I often times will create my own textures from images that I find on the web. A simple Google image search turns up endless pictures that are ripe for use as wood textures.

In Sketchup 6, you were able to make any image that you found a texture, however if you imported it and you found that the image wasn't quite right, you had to go back out of Sketchup, edit the image, and then start over.... This was frustrating, as sometimes textures looked good until you got halfway through texturing your model and then you found out that in some circumstance they didn't look so good. Now you had to delete all the textures you had, and start over.

This frustartion is gone in Sketchup 7 now. The Google team added a nice new feature that hasn't really seen much coverage since the launch of Sketchup 7. I love this feature, and I use it all the time.

In your "Preferences" in Sketchup on both the Mac and PC, you are now able to specify a default image editor. What this allows you to do is import a texture, and place it in the model as you always have been able to do. But now, if you don't like the way the texture looks, say it needs to be cropped, rotated, or touched up, you can do so by right clicking on the texture in the materials browser. Instantly you favorite image editor is launched, you make the changes you want to make, click save, and before you have a chance to switch windows, all your textures in the Sketchup model are updated! No need to start over and re-paint everything!

I took some screen shots of this process in action, so you can get an idea of how this works. For my default image editor, I will be using Google's Picasa photo organizer. For those of you that think that Google has also shipped me a case of Kool Aid, know this: I am about as graceful with photo editing software as these dancers. I find that for the basic things I do to photo textures, like straightening, cropping, and rotating, Picasa works great. (Its also free too) However, Sketchup will play nice with any photo application out there, so if you are any good at Photoshop or others, you can probably do this better then I can!

First, get on over to your favorite search engine and find some pictures. When you find the one you want, save it to your computer, taking note of where you saved it. (You will need to show Sketchup where this file is when you import it) As you will see, I picked a particularly ugly wood texture, I did this because its easy to see its imperfections, and what is happening to it as we edit it. I don't typically design kitchens made out of old sheds!

Next, inside Sketchup, find your "Materials" window. If this isn't already open, you can find it under the "Window" menu. When you see the window, click the little house icon. This will show you what materials are already in your model. This is where we are going to create the new texture from the image that you just downloaded. On the PC there is a small plus icon that you can click on to create a new texture, on the Mac you can right click in a blank area and select "New Texture". You will then be prompted to find that file just downloaded. Once you do that, it will appear in the list of textures as ones that are "in the model" you can now select that texture and paint it on whatever surfaces you want to. In my case, I ended up with this:

This isn't exactly what I wanted. There are a few bad things going on here. First, the boards are facing the wrong way. Second, I don't like that big smudge that is in one of the boards, nor do I like the big black line, or the nail holes at the end of each board. Don't worry, we can fix this easily! Find the texture again in the materials browser, right click on it, and click "Edit Texture" You will then see a little tray slide out (already pictured above) that allows you to tweak the texture in Sketchup. Really all you can do here is just change its size. What we are going to do now is edit it in the photo editor that we setup earlier. Just to the right of the texture name, there is an orange arrow flying out of a box, click that. This will load the texture image in your photo editor.

Now that we have this image loaded up in Picasa, I will have another sip of Kool Aid fix this picture the way I want it.

Here you can see that I have rotated the image, and I am cropping it to get rid of the smudge, and the nails.

Here is the image, all cropped and ready to go. Now all I need to do is click Save, and head back over to Sketchup

And there it is! Just the way I wanted it. I did have to stretch it a little higher in Sketchup by changing its height. This can be done in the "Edit texture" tray. You will see dimensions that you can type in to change the size of your texture.

So now you know how to really make some nice textures in Sketchup. The really great thing about this feature is that you can do it at anytime. Even if I had this whole model textured up, and I changed the texture with my image editor just like I showed you here, the whole model would be updated without you having to repaint all your textures! How cool is that!

If you have a great example of this, please email me your models, I would love to feature them here.

Catalogs in the cloud

2009-11-07T17:41:00.003-05:00

A while back, I wrote an article on the theory of the 3D warehouse. I touched on several topics, the Pony Express, Ted Stevens, and the Internet. There's even some information in there on how Sketchup's 3D warehouse works!

So, if you've taken the time to go back and read that article, you should have a pretty decent grasp on how the 3D warehouse works (Unless you got sucked into the link to asteroids that I buried in there)

As more and more kitchen designers discover Sketchup, more and more companies are taking their catalogs and putting them online in the 3D warehouse for anyone to use.

Kraftmaid has recently made a big push into the 3D warehouse. If click here, you can see their main 3D warehouse page. They have have several categories, Universal Design projects, Extreme Home Makeover, and Projects by Achitects and Designers to name a few. One of my projects was featured in the latter category, you can see it here..

You can also browse the individual cabinets that Kraftmaid has posted for you to use in Sketchup to design your kitchen. The design I created above was done with cabinets from this collection. After I placed all the basic cabinets, I drew in the accessories and countertops.

The next entrant in to the 3D Warehouse is Medalion Cabinetry. Their 3D warehouse collection features several different lines of cabinets, some finishes, and a few different door styles.

The last cabinet company to throw their hat in the 3D ring is General Casework. They have a well organized catalog of basic, slab front cabinets.

If you are unfamiliar with Sketchup and the 3D warehouse, you may be at this point thinking "Great, I found a bunch of 3D models, but how do I get them into Sketchup?" Well, there are two ways, you can use the 3D warehouse button right in Sketchup to download models right into your model. Or you can use the component browser right in Sketchup. Using the component browser has several advantages. You can browse online just like you did with the links above, and you can also save "favorites". I find this method very useful for marking commonly visited sections of each manufacturers offerings. (I typically have "bases" "walls" and "talls" marked for each cabinet company) The component browser also allows you to search, and bring in models without having to start your search over each time you bring a model in.

So, these three comapnies have provided us Sketchup users with a selection of models of products they offer. There are several issues that come up with these new offerings... First, are they useful to you? Would you rather use these instead of a dedicated design software (such as 2020)? Do you use these models for just presentation, or are you using LayOut to create construction documents? How do you feel about everyone in the world having access to information that was previously for designers only?

Before I go off on one of my colorful rants laced up with asteroids and YouTube, I want to see what you out there have to say. If you don't have Sketchup already, go get it (its free), search for these collections, and try it out for yourself! I'd love to see what you come with, and hear any of your questions, comments, concerns. If you have a model you have created with these cabinets, I could also feature it in my next blog post.

If you are new to Sketchup, refer to these older blog posts for tips on how to use Sketchup to create a kitchen design.

Placing Cabinets
Using the 3D Warehouse
Undermounting a sink