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Simple House Colors and Textures
Problems to Avoid
Problems to Avoid
Sketchup is just the beginning - we have 2 other 3D programs we will be using to render more realistic versions of our models. Things that look fine in Sketchup can be really ugly when fully rendered - avoid having to return to Sketchup to fix problems, re-export the model and start over in Blender.
Fix for Disappearing Walls
Fix for Disappearing Walls
A simple explode and regroup will usually fix this problem - make sure you check the Entity Info of the house group before exploding! Use Ctrl-A to select everything instead of drawing a selection box, too.
Just because it looks good in Sketchup doesn't mean it was done correctly - your model will look wrong in the next phase if you aren't careful. Follow this...
Materials Checklist
Finish your house before starting on Materials (colors and textures).
Scan for Reversed faces before starting.
Paint a COPY of your house that has the word PAINTED right after the date code.
Plan the painting order to maximize Bucket Tool modifiers:
SHIFT - Changes faces with the same color to a new color.
CTRL - Fills unpainted faces with paint surrounded by other colors until it hits another color.
ALT - Picks current color of the face you click on. Unpainted is also a material (paint stripper).
Do NOT paint groups - select a face to make sure you can paint it.
Colors NOT to use:
Black or really dark colors
Transparency of all kinds
Before you begin painting, review your model for any faces that are reversed. Reversed faces have a different color that sort of looks the same as deep shadow. Right-click and choose "reverse face" for any faces that oriented incorrectly the wrong way - they should all look the same white color. No, painting them white will NOT work!
Painting Part 1
Painting Part 1
In which we use colors from the materials panel to mark which surfaces in our house are going to look the same. We don't have to keep the colors, just decide which parts are going to match. Ctrl and Alt are very powerful modifiers!
Painting Part 2
Painting Part 2
In which we enter the Window component and paint the surfaces. Doing them in a certain order and using the Ctrl-Paint modifier speeds things up a LOT!
Swapping Textures for Colors
Swapping Textures for Colors
In which we use the Shift-Paint modifier to change a color to a texture all at once. Default texture choices are limited, but can be edited for more variety. NO amount of transparency is permitted - just because the window panes are glass does not make it okay to use transparent "glass" textures!
Downloading a PNG
Downloading a PNG
To best show off the painted version of your house on your Portfolio, we'll download it in Sketchup - not snip it. Here you learn how to change the resolution and make the background transparent to make the best image possible. I only did one angle but you can do several!
Animating With Scenes
Anyone can "take a picture" of their house and show it from a specific angle. A video of your model, however, really gives visitors to your portfolio a real sense of what you have created. The first video will be of your Sketchup house, and we'll need
Positioning for Next Steps
Positioning for Next Steps
We built our house off-center in the "primary" quadrant, but the things we want to do next work better if our model is centered. Use this technique to move your model so that when we later spin it 360° it won't wobble everywhere.
Using Scenes to Animate
Using Scenes to Animate
In which I group and center the house before setting the first scene of my animation. Positioning is key - don't let the panel that opens on the right side of the screen throw your entire animation off center.
Adding Several Viewpoints
Adding Several Viewpoints
In which we continue adding additional scenes to make a short looping sequence that we will capture to make a recording of our model. 5 scenes is enough, but add closeups if you have fine detail to show. Don't overdo it though.. 8-10 is getting to be too many for a truly simple house.
We'll be using a new screen recording software called Screencastify to turn our scenes into a video file we can put in our PORTFOLIO FILES - DO NOT DELETE folder on Google Drive. This will let us place it on our portfolios as an animation! NOTE: YOU ONLY GET 10 FREE RECORDINGS. It installs as a Chrome extension and appears to have some editing tools that will let us crop the parts we don't want to see as well as add our names like Penny did below.
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