Modeling Methods

General Tips

• • construct a line tangent to two circles Some modeling methods based on classic drafting techniques.

  • dimensioning sections A nice trick to place dimensions in specific places is to switch to one of the orthographic views, take a section cut and pull out dimensions from the section cut. Save that view to a Scene, so you can return to that orientation for construction drawings. Save the dimension text to a text Layer. That way the dimensions can be readily toggled off when they get in the way or you want to show an other dimension set.

  • Different "isometric" perspective for my 3d-creations Setting up a diametric projection view.

  • Define angles of parallel projection view?

  • dimension showing distance between 2 parallel lines wo3dan described how to dimension between two loose lines. xxxx [dead link]

  • How to align 3D text to a curved line A few methods are discussed. xxxx [dead link]

  • Is SketchUp Okay for 'Hidden Line' tech drawings? Some hidden line ideas

  • Funny Dimensions Wo3Dan's tutorial SKP on dimension text tips and more, like replacing the dimension value with <> if you edited the dimension and you want the dimension to return to the actual value. hybrid text tool.

  • On a Mac, for multi-lined, dimension text, use Ctrl+Enter to create a new line and <> where you want the dimension to appear in the text area.

  • incorrect tangent to model Wo3Dan - 'Tangent to Edge' can give you a wrong solution. Even though popup and magenta make you believe otherwise.

  • Quick and dirty poché for sectional views SketchUpdate blog article.

  • Quick poché for your section cuts SketchUpdate blog article.

  • Single line flipping Jean Lemire - What to do when "Flip along ..." choice is not available in the contextual menu.

  • Tangent arcs Jean Lemire

  • Tips for Dimensioning in SketchUp Tutorial video on hiding dimensions and adding text.

• More on the Sage...

Plugins

• • Axo + Iso View TIG - Plugin to change current view to the axo/iso format desired and model-extents are zoomed.

  • CADup TIG - Makes 2D line drawing of all standard views of Groups and Components.

• Eneroth Axonometric Projection Eneroth3 - Distorts a group or component to resemble an axonometric projection when viewed from above.

• Flatten to Plane TIG - (requires workplane.rb plugin)

  • Skema Survey Skema 4 SketchUp - Make trilateration for a correct plan reconstruction starting from survey measurements.

• • How to Cut around Objects quickly in Photoshop etc Howard Leslie

  • How to export vectors from Photoshop Alan Fraser

  • How does one go about creating brand new 2D 'face me' people & objects? - Several component tutorial suggestions. xxxx [dead link]

Determine building height from Google Earth satellite images

• • Highness of Buildings Determine building height from images.

  • The energy analysis plugin OpenStudio has a tool to help calculate the effect of shadows from surrounding buildings.

Depicting Shadows

• • Exporting just shadows from 3d city Anssi goes over some internal SU settings in order to export only shadows.

• Exporting shadows without lines

  • Another method is to paint the model with a completely transparent material. Make a model with default colors. Paint only the faces you want to see, like the building footprint, a color. Make the model a group. Paint the group with the completely transparent material. To turn off edges: toggle off Display edges and Profiles in the Styles palette, Window (SketchUp in Mac) > Styles > Edit > Edges.

  • The World Clock A good internet site for finding time zones.

Plugins

Note: To download plugins from SketchUcation, join the forum (free) and logon.

• • 1001SkyRatio Goh Chun Hee

  • 1001Shadows Goh Chun Hee

  • Ambient Occlusion qpik - raycasting plugin to add soft shadows.

  • Archelios Pro Cythelia - An all in one solution for photovoltaic simulations.

  • camera_parameters Bakbek - Set camera parameters using viewpoint, target, elevation.

  • LSS Chronolux Kirill Bannov - Tests insolation duration and SVF (sky view factor) at any point.

  • Face Sun thomthom - Set faces in a selection to face the sun.

  • LightUp Integrated renderer which can perform realtime solar analysis. City Solar Analysis video.

  • LightUp Analytics Daylight, sunlight and skylight modeling tool for building development.

  • map_sun Jim Foltz - Plots sun position over a 24-hour period.

  • Modelur Parametric urban design tool with a sun illumination simulation - pre-beta - Windows, Mac

  • param_camera Didier Bur - Exports camera information to an external file. Original forum thread.

  • Position_shadows honoluludesktop - Fine tune shadow position.

  • Rotate to Altitude and Azimuth Gabriel - Rotate either an object or a face to match the user's selected altitude and azimuth

  • Shade Analysis Tool Martin - A plugin

• SHADING Tools Plugin Abraham Yezioro and Tali Gutman - Calculates the (Geometrical) Shading Coefficient of any selected surface.

  • Shadow Analysis Tomasz Janiak - Simple tool for analyzing daylight conditions. Demo, Fee - Windows, Mac

  • ShadowProjector TIG - Shows shadows cast on selected faces by objects and other shadow display options.

  • Shadowtex Renderiza - Paints or textures all faces that are in shadows automatically.

  • Simple Solar Study dfwlarch - Calculates amount of sunlight falling on faces.

  • Skelion Insert solar panels on roofs quickly and find out tilt and azimuth. Windows

  • sunposition Gabriel - A plugin that draws the sun path over the course of one day.

• Sun Tool Preview Jim Foltz - Beta sun studies tool.

• Trnsys3D TransSolar - Open/save Trnsys3d file to work with TRNSYS 17 simulations.

• Architectural plugins More relevant links on the SketchUp Sage's Resources page xx

Sun path - Geo explains how to set the correct sun path in his SketchUp Sage Article.

• • Pro 7 Sun Orientation Original Group thread

  • North Question Redux Original Group thread

  • Shadow and Nightfall Original Group thread

  • Set North in SketchUp Free/Make Didier Bur - Set the North angle without having model Geo-location - compatible with ALL version of SketchUp [for Free/Make users].

  • Scene North Angle Tool Aerlius - It appears SketchUp does not render the north angle that is set per scene. | This tool allows you to set the north angle per scene. In SketchUp Pro it uses SketchUp's fancy graphical North Tool to set the angle.

  • Solar North SketchUp Team - Provides tools for you to set and display the solar north angle. SketchUp Pro required

• • Curb on topo Jean Lemire - Tutorial

  • Digital Terrain Model - How to determine lowest altitude point value (and DTM positioning/measure operations) xxxx [deadlink]

  • Terrain Tech TaffGoch - 9 models showing how to make and paint terrain

  • Sandbox Terrain (Pt.1) Video from Go-2-School

  • Sandbox Terrain (Pt.2) Video from Go-2-School

  • Working With Terrain and Other Irregular Surfaces Daniel Tal 3D Basecamp 2008 session

  • Using the Sandbox Tools: Terrain, Draping and Dropping Using TINs (Triangulated Irregular Networks) and grids.

  • Guidance on using Excel Spreadsheets to bring point cloud terrain data into SketchUp.

  • SketchUp Tips and Tricks: Creating Contour Lines from Google Earth Terrain concept3D ltd - Youtube video

Plugins

Note: To download plugins from SketchUcation, join the forum (free) and logon.

• • 2DXY SiteSurvey tools Barry Milliken - Tools for drawing Site Surveys in SketchUp. Fee

  • Architect Tools ThomThom - Suite of tools for working with imported map data to generate buildings and stepped terrains.

  • BezierSpline Fredo6 - After segmented lines have been welded into polylines (with Weld, Recurve, etc), this plugin will add curve control nodes.

  • CLF Color by Slope Chris Fullmer - Colors faces based on its slope.

  • CLF Color by Z Chris Fullmer - Colors faces based on the face Z location (height).

  • Cloud v8 - Didier Bur - Imports and exports points cloud.

  • Coords Text Tag from Datum TIG - Import a CSV coordinates file with option to mark the locations with a guide point and text tag.

  • Edge Tools² thomthom - Suite of edge tools to help fix line work from imported CAD files.

  • Eneroth Fractal Terrain Eroder Eneroth3

  • Eneroth Upright Extruder Eneroth3 - A Follow Me tool that will not twist on a 3D path with additional constrain options.

  • FollowMe and Keep wikii - A Follow Me tool that will not twist on a 3D path, good for making curbs on 3D terrain - among other nice things.

  • Guides

    • Color of Structural Lines Sahi - Changes the color of guide lines.

    • Guide Proxy TIG - Tools to save Guide-Points and Guide-Lines from Deletion as Proxies.

    • PointTool Matt666 - Draws cpoints.

    • Projections Didier Bur - Set of projection and guide tools.

  • KML LineString Importer Aerilius - Track path with GPS > Convert to KML in Google Earth > Import KML path into SketchUp.

  • KML Tools Aerilius - Imports and Exports KML files into SketchUp - bring almost any feature from Google Earth to SketchUp and back.

  • Make Fur tak2hata - Add grass/fur/hair/filaments to surfaces.

  • Point-Cab Laserscanning plugin from Laserscanning Europe.

  • pointools Work with large point cloud models. Bentley discontinued SketchUp plugin in January 31, 2013, yet announced new alliance with Trimble.

  • Points cloud triangulation - Didier Bur, C. Fale - Creates triangles starting from a construction points selection. Use after importing points from Cloud_v80bxx.rb.

  • Sam D Mitch

    • Add Terrain Skirt Sam D Mitch - Adds a skirt around a Google Earth snapshot or similar terrain mesh patch.

    • Clip or Trim Terrain Mesh Sam D Mitch

    • Connect Guide Points Sam D Mitch - Draws lines between selected guide points, like from an imported point cloud.

    • CSV_Import Sam D Mitch - Imports point data from a CSV file.

    • Terrain Tools Sam D Mitch - Bundles several terrain tools into one plugin.

  • Simplify Contours SketchUp - Makes topo lines, contour lines, less complex to be easier to use in SketchUp

  • Stick groups to mesh kirill2008 - deforms groups to sculpted, mesh surface.

  • Sun Tool Preview Jim Foltz - Beta sun studies tool.

  • Survey Tool Didier Bur - It uses bearing and distance data to draw property boundaries.

  • Terrain Reshaper Didier Bur - Tool to quickly rebuild a TRN (triangular regular network) based on a TIN (triangular irregular network)

  • TopoShaper Fredo6 - Creates terrains from iso-contours.

  • Trimble Field Points for SketchUp Trimble Field Solutions - Create Points and send them to Trimble Field Link.

    • Weld Smustard - Welds connected edges into a polyline.

    • Recurve Diggory Blake - Welds connected edges into a polyline.

Landscaping

• • Google SketchUp for Site Design: a Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture Daniel Tal - Book

  • Landscape with Alpha Images SUWiki tutorial.

Plugins

• • 3DArcStudio Tree Maker 3DArcStudio - Creates trees and plants.

• • 3D Tree Maker Poublan P. - Makes 3D tree, plant and grass components.

  • Canvas renderiza - Paint group and components in spray type manner.

  • CLF Repeat Copy Chris Fullmer - Quickly populate a model with components. Fee

  • CLF Scale and Rotate Multiple Chris Fullmer - Scales and rotates components and groups.

  • ComponentSpray Didier Bur - Spray out components for landscaping.

  • LandF/X LandF/X - A landscape architectural add-on to create planting and site plans from AutoCAD plans. Free

  • Make Fur tak2hata - Generates grass, crowds, fur, etc...

  • Raytracer ThomThom - Collections of tools based on raytracing - drop, rayspray, grow component to construction points.

  • RpTreeMaker Render Plus - Tree generator plugin which will creates 3D vegetation and proxies for rendering. Free - Windows

  • Skatter jimimy-billy-bob - Scattering extension to render hundreds of thousands of objects.

SketchUp Ivy Pierreden - Ivy generator.

Vegetation Models

• • • 2.5D Trees 3D Warehouse models

    • 2D Face Me trees 3D Warehouse models

Hand-stitched methods

• • • Create Basic and Cone Spirals Tyson - While not giving mathematically correct results, it's still a neat modeling technique. xxx [dead link]

    • Doughnut Helix Kito Raupp

• Rope • Cornish Wheel Knot TaffGoch Rendered version displayed at DeviantArt.

  • • Spiral Square Stock I TaffGoch

    • Spiral Square Stock II TaffGoch

    • Spiral Staircase Handrail TaffGoch

    • Twist Drill Bit TaffGoch

    • Spiral duct 2 Tutorial based on Jean Lemire's handstitched method - Gully Foyle

Mix of Hand-stitched and plugin-aided helical modeling

• • Follow Me -- Profile Twisting Half-round spiral handrail

  • screw thread and threaded nut and bolt Jean (Johnny) Lemire, Bruce Walker and catamountain (plugin aided tutorials)

• screw threads

Plugin-aided helical modeling | Plugin Help

• Twisty Things Constructing cylindrical and tapered helical models with script generated helices - a Scale about Center and Move tool exercise found on the Tweaking Tool Tips. Scale page - catamountain

• helix + follow me tool Scripted-based method for a spiraled, square handrail- catamountain

  • Odlanier's Inducer Gully Foyle

  • Spiral duct Gully Foyle

  • k_tools K. Kruch - Most recent version of the k_tools.rb script which added a screwing feature.

  • Toroidal Helix Gully Foyle - Showcases a good mix of modeling methods - hand-stitched to script-aided.

  • Spherical four bar toy xxx [dead link] SUWiki tutorial. Old plugin that most likely needs updating.

  • Grow TIG - Original forum thread xxx [dead link], version 2.0 is posted toward the end of the thread.

  • Follow me rotate wikii - Rotates and tapers along a path.

Helix plugins

• 3d printing screw threads jimhami42 - Create high-poly threads suitable for printing with the plugin Spirix.

• BezierSpline Fredo6 - One of the bezier curves is the Courbette spiral.

• Bolt Maker Sam D Mitch - Add nut and bolt details.

• Draw Metal Terry - Plugins for spirals, helices, curved and tapered shapes as seen in ornamental ironwork.

• Draw Helix Jim Foltz - Draws a cylindical helix or taper helix.

• Draw Whorl Rick - Draws spiral threads with tapered section (if needed) for making screw and bolt threads.

• Eneroth Cylindrical Coordinates Eneroth3 - Move all vertices inside selected group/component by letting the old X represent a radius and old Y an angle. Useful for creating spiral shapes.

• EP Fasteners & Threaded Holes Jay Watson - Produces Printable Nuts, Bolts, Screws and Tapped or threaded Holes for 3D parts.

• Follow Me Helix sdmitch - Create a helix around a path.

• FredoScale Fredo6 - The Box Twisting tool will create helices. Free

• FredoTools Fredo6 - A suite of tools. One of the tools, CurviShear, will produce helices. Free

• Helix along curve 3dalbertsoft - Plugin.

• • Helix on Surface sdmitch - Draws a helix around a surface.

  • Helix12 Rick Wilson - Draws a helix around any selected face.

  • Loxodrome regularpolygon - spherical helix plugin.

  • MagicBox ShapeWizards - Parametric shapes. Free version on Extension Warehouse.

  • screw TDB - Screw a set of edges around the z-axis.

  • Spherical Spiral regularpolygon - Archimedean spherical spiral.

  • Spirix Jim Hamilton - Revolve or extrude any 3D sequence of edges along the z-axis.

  • SU Draw Parametric Shapes John McClenahan - Drawing shapes based on circles, polygons, or helix.

Skinning/lofting and extruding along helical path(s)

• • Curviloft Fredo6 - Skinning and lofting

  • FredoScale Fredo6 - Scaling and tapering tools after creating a helical model.

  • Eneroth Upright Extruder Eneroth3 - A Follow Me tool that will not twist on a 3D path with additional constrain options.

  • ExtrudeTools TIG

  • FollowMe and Keep wikii - Follow Me plugin which will not distort the extrusion along a 3D path.

Rope tutorials

• • Rope Strands on Irregular Paths TaffGoch

  • Rope Grommet Study TaffGoch

  • 3-Strand Rope Study TaffGoch

  • Knot Tutorial TaffGoch

  • Bowline 3-Strand Rope Construction TaffGoch

Companion engineering plugin resources on the SketchUp Sage.

• • Bevel Gear Pair Online SLT gear generator by 3DDoctors.net. Free and donationware

• Clocks

  • • gary's clocks Gary Mahony - Engineering wooden clock gears - DWG patterns - AND great practical advice on engineering gears in general.

• • Lujdvik Cejp Artsy 'clock' pieces with lots of gears to admire and inspire. From both an artistic and engineering perspective, this fella's work is fantastic! Many of the pieces have a mouse-over button or video to show the animation. German | English

  • Woodline Wooden clock router accessories. (Woodline sells router bits cheaper than most retail outlets.)

  • Dimensioning wooden gears Article on dimensioning parts for wooden peg gears.

  • Drawing gears in SketchUp Capolight Electronics Project - Guide for designing gears for 3D printing.

  • DXF import plugins SketchUp Pro can import DXF files that many of the linked sites in this section offer, but the free-crowd would need an import plugin.

  • GearDXF Spur gear generator. Free

  • Gearotic Motion DXF, CNC output. Wide variety of gears. Fee

  • Gearsphere TaffGoch - 3D Warehouse model for inspiration.

  • Gear Template Generator Free online gear generator creates several different types of gears, animates two gears and exports a vector PDF (several conversion steps for SketchUp to import. Inkscape can convert a vector PDF to DXF. The DXF file can then be imported). Program exports SKP, Fee

  • 3D Printing and CNC Resources for using SketchUp with 3D printers and CNCs. Check out the new STL exporter from the SketchUp developers to help streamline the 3D printing process.

  • Me-Bac Online, involute spur gear calculator. Exports DXF files. Free

Plugins

• • ANSI Sprocket Sam D Mitch - Create standard ANSI sprocket as used on bicycles and motorcycles.

  • DHgear4 Doug Herrrmann and Jim Hamilton - Involute gear generator, with and without a key slot. Jim's video of his 3D printed gear train using an early version of this plugin. Free

  • HypocyloidCam Dan Rathbun - Plugin to make hypocycloid cams for cycloid reduction drives. Free

  • Involute Gears Cadalog - First SketchUp gear plugin. Idea: Use the resulting gears as a template for other gear shapes. Free

• jimhami42_rack_and_pinion Jim Hamilton - Plugin for rack and pinion. Free

  • SimFonIA Animation, numerical simulation plugin for virtual prototyping gear function, etc., includes transformation processor, keyframe editor, exportation options, and bullet (physics engine.) Windows - Fee

  • SPGears jgrundman - SketchUp plugin to create spur, helical, bevel, and beveled helical gears with involute tooth profiles. Free

While LayOut, a companion 2D document program with SketchUp Pro, can have a grid background, there is no native grid in SketchUp. That feature can be added through plugins.

• • Grid Tool SketchUp team - One of the first sample plugins created for SketchUp, dating back to version 4. And it's still one of the best, basic grid plugin because it is maintained and parametric. Meaning after you make a grid, r-click on the grid group and select Edit SketchUp::Samples::Grid::Grid from the context menu to change grid-size at will.

  • Combine Editor Wikii - Move, Scale and Rotate using an onscreen manipulator that displays rulers and protractors.

Tips...

If you love grids in your model space, then consider adding one to a Template.

Avoid inadvertently moving the grid by locking it in place by r-clicking on the grid > Lock.

• • Fudging below terrain modeling matthiasbasler

  • display issue: burning through olaf troubleshoots overlapping transparent PNGs burn-through.

  • Faux 3D window Show building interior with an image

  • Tip: To bring the highest resolution image from Google Earth, go to Window > Preferences > OpenGL and check Use maximum texture size. This will bloat the file and quite probably/possibly slow down the modeling process, so use judicially.

Plugins

Note: To download plugins from SketchUcation, join the forum and logon.

• • KML LineString Importer Aerilius - Track path with GPS > Convert to KML in Google Earth > Import KML path into SketchUp.

  • KML Tools Aerilius - Imports and Exports KML files into SketchUp - bring almost any feature from Google Earth to SketchUp and back.

  • Ocean Modeling SketchUp Team - Allows you to model on the ocean surface, ocean bottom, or somewhere in between.

To read some specific tips on how to tweak/sculpt models with the native SketchUp tools, review the information on the Tweaking Tool Tips pages.

• • 3D human figures in Google SketchUp YouTube video.

  • Growing a leg catamountain - Extruding a human leg from a circle.

  • need help making a tap How-to layout and make a faucet handle.

• Tufted Cushions

  • bar stool Egg-shaped seat back.

  • Organic Modelling A SketchUcation sub-forum.

  • rockwork Extruding a rocky face with Push/Pull and a few other SketchUp friends.

  • ruins Making architectural structures look craggy, rocky and aged. Look for the tutorial in the thread.

  • twe posing Takuji Hagihara - two human posing rigs. Search, Search 2 the Pro group for her beautiful human models. xxx [dead link]

  • SketchUp Character Building monsterz3rO blog with some figurative SketchUp work. | YouTube tutorials.

  • sketchup-skel mattscar - This module makes it possible to create and animate bones (essentially components) within a skeletal hierarchy. (Quite dated. It needs an update to run in the latest version of SketchUp.)

• • Car Tutorials are listed on the 3D Warehouse.

  • EliseiDesign SketchUp car tutorial website, several tutorial videos, forum.

• Google Sketchup tutorial : How to do a car in 3D. part 1 YouTube video.

  • How do you model vehicles? Alan Fraser - General approach xxx [dead link]

  • How to model a car Marian

  • How to model a simple car: Google SketchUp Video from RogueAutomotive. 3D Warehouse model

  • Modeling from different elevations Setting up elevation images as modeling templates for a YF-19 fighter jet - catamountain

  • X-15 Construction 3-View TaffGoch

  • My Sketchup Works ixlrlxi Concept "transportation." Tutorial toward the thread bottom.

  • "Project Matchbox" 3D Car Modeler An autobody plug-in by antantantant.

  • Silvershadow's eye candy 2 -: BLACK HAWK silvershadow - U.S. army helicopter

  • Silvershadow's eye candy 3 - H.M.C.S. Snowberry silvershadow - British warship

• Sketchup car modeling realtime workflow YouTube video

  • The secrets behind Car modeling in SketchUp Elisei Jurubita - First of 3 pdf modeling 'books'. Fee

  • Complex shapes... how'd they do that? Using elevations, create an initial autobody mesh with the plugin:

    • Soap Skin & Bubble, tutorial thread xxx [dead link]. Note: the Hidden center component seam in the SU5 file "Front end with SSB" may be visible in SU6. Using Erase+Shift is one way to hide the 'seam' between the adjoining, mirrored components.

    • Bezier Surface ThomThom - Create bezier surface with bezier patches. beta

    • 'FerrariSketch Serge Ferrari Architecture - Tensile structure forming - more options than Soap, Skin & Bubble.

    • MeshMaker Sam D Mitch - Creates a regular triangulated network on a selected face.

    • Jacob Samuel has several bezier surface manipulation extensions on the Extension Warehouse.

Tips

• • With so many body style options only limited by the imagination, take advantage of making custom, component libraries. For example, with a car, model a body half to a good stopping point. Make it a component and drag that component into a custom library. That way, when you want to make a new - but similar - car body style, bring in that original component body and rework it. It saves a lot of time by eliminating the initial modeling set-up steps.

  • To rework the same component in the same file, right-click the component and select Make Unique.

  • Scroll down a bit for a list of useful plugins.

Plugins

Note: To download plugins from SketchUcation, join the forum (free) and logon.

Note: Direct links to old plugins stored at the Ruby Library Depot haven't worked for a while. Enter the dead links on the wayback machine to download.

• • AutoSmooth thomthom - Automatically softens and smooths auto folded edges created by the native tools.

  • BezierSpline Fredo6 - Bezier curve plug-in on steriods.

  • Bezier Surface thomthom - WIP

  • Bitmap to Mesh thomthom - Generates a mesh from a given BMP image. - Free

  • Blend kirill2008 - A lofting tool.

• Boolean tools

  • • BoolTools Whaat - Boolean tools for the free crowd and pre-SketchUp 7 Pro. Fee

    • OSCoolean oscarlok - Boolean tools for the free crowd.

    • Solids Trim and Keep (Pro) Jim Foltz - Trim a Component and have all instances update as well. SketchUp Pro-only plugin.

• • CleanUp thomthom - Many model cleaning options.

  • Control points kirill2008 - Adds control construction points to curves and groups with faces for 3D model manipulation.

  • Curviloft Fredo6 - Loft and skinning.

  • ExtrudeTools - Zippered Set TIG - Extrudes a faced-mesh group along various polyline rail-curves.

  • Ferrari Architecture - Tensile forming - More options than Soap Skin & Bubble. The plugin used to be available on the Ferrari website.

  • FredoScale Fredo6 - Scaling on steroids. YouTube

  • HoverSelect Fredo6 - Multiple selection of lines.

  • JointPushPull Fredo6 - 3D Push/Pull tool.

  • Make Fur tak2hata - Adds hair, fur,...

  • Point Merger Tools BTM - Merges multiple edges.

  • Projections Didier - Projection/extrusion tools.

  • RoundCorner Fredo6 - Makes fillets/chamfers.

  • Sculpt Tools BTM - Suite of sculpting tools.

  • Shape Bender Chris Fullmer - Bends a model to a curved path.

  • Simple Loft Chris Fullmer - A alpha version loft script

  • SketchUp Loop Subdivide Smooth Plugin Guitar List. Free

  • sketchup-skel Matt Scarpino - Creates animated bones (essentially components) within a skeletal hierarchy for 3D people. These bones are animated with keyframes that define the local axis and duration of each rotation.

  • SketchyPhysics Anton Synytsia, Chris Phillips SketchyPhysics original code site and SketchUcation forum. (Anton Synytsia took over development from Chris Phillips.)

  • Snap Connector Tool Cadman, Inc - Embed snap connection points within a group or component to align assemblies. Fee

  • Stick groups to mesh kirill2008 - deforms groups to match a sculpted, mesh surface.

• Graduated, organic shaping / Tensile Structure / Bezier Surface / Quad Subdivision

  • • Artisan Dale Martens - Subdivision modeling with additional sculpting and soft transformation tools. Fee

    • Bezier Surface ThomThom - Create bezier surface with bezier patches. beta

    • Eneroth Fractal Terrain Eroder Enerroth3 - Nice way to break up surface into a more organic form. Free

    • FerrariSketch Serge Ferrari Architecture - Tensile structure forming - more options than Soap, Skin & Bubble. Ferrari Sketch at the Ruby Library Depot

    • MeshMaker Sam D Mitch - Creates a regular triangulated network on a selected face.

    • Jacob Samuel has several bezier surface manipulation extensions on the Extension Warehouse. Fee

    • Sketchy FreeForm and Deformation - Chris Philips, (TIG updated) - Deforms a model. A version by gbabcock.

    • Smoove tool from the Sandbox tools extension that comes with SketchUp.

    • Soap, Skin & Bubble Josef Leibinger - Tensile Structure. Donationware - to keep the plugin around, donate. Pro Group thread with lots of tutorials. xxx [dead link]

    • SUbD ThomThom - Subdividing model mesh with the ability to weight an edge for controlled creasing. tutorial Fee - Windows, Mac

    • Subdivide Smustard - Apply a Catmull-Clark subdivision to selected surfaces. Free

    • SubdivideAndSmooth Dale Martens - Organic modeling toolset with a Push/Pull-like workflow. Precursor to Artisan. Fee - Windows, Mac

    • Teapot thomthom - It makes parametric teapots. But more seriously, the plugin is an investigation of bezier meshes.

    • triangulateFaces TIG - Newer version of Triangulate Quad Faces.

    • Vertex Tools ThomThom - Selection tools for organic modeling. - Fee

• • Tools On Surface Fredo6 - Toolset to draw shapes on proxy models to help influence how Artisan will subdivide.

  • Tgi3D Free-form 3D modeling softwares - Fee - Windows

  • Tools on Surface Fredo6 - Support drawing shapes/offsets on top of 3D mesh surfaces.

  • triangulateFaces TIG - Newer version of Triangulate Quad Faces.

  • Vertex Tools ThomThom - Selection tools for organic modeling. - Fee

• • how do you create solid arches? Making model similar to the "St Louis Arch."

  • How to draw this pine cone-shaped light fixture tutorial by catamountain

• round to square

Bending stuff - along a 2D path

• Tutorial

  • • Curving a Componant For the tutorial, see Jean Lemire posted file on "manually" bending a detailed, dimensional component.

      • From suggestion in Jean's bending tutorial above, position intersecting planes by making a Linear Array with the Move tool | video

    • Plugins

      • • Zorro2 Whaat - Slices a model - replaces the need to setup intersecting planes in Jean's tutorial model.

        • Tools on Surface - Fredo - Draws profiles on a curved surface.

• Extensions and plugins that now bend existing models

  • • Shape Bender Chris Fullmer - Bends models to a curved path (doesn't like wrapping cylinders though.)

    • FredoScale Fredo - Some bending operations

Bending stuff - 3D

• Tutorials

  • bending an object over a surface

  • Honeycomb patterned surface

• Extensions

  • • Flowify Anders L. - Bends groups and components to a quad surface.

    • Sketchy FreeForm and Deformation - Chris Philips, updated by TIG - Deforms a model. Version by gbabcock.

    • Joint Push Pull - Fredo - Push/Pulls a curved surface.

• • Crown & Rake Molding Study Tutorial on the changing crown proportional when it goes up a raked eave. Also useful for some classical cabinetmakers.

  • compound curve Tutorials on modeling a compound curve in a manner similar to how compound curves can be fabricated in wood. xxxx [dead link]

  • Tricky problem~ Desk with tapered, rope legs xxx [dead link]

  • desk leg question Several methods to make a cabriole leg. There are a few more cabriole threads if you search the Pro group.

  • Molding Profiles SketchUcation thread with many classic moulding profiles for a component collection. Join forum and logon to download.

  • Dynamic Door Eric Schimelpfenig - Video of a snazzy way to control cabinet door style, size and placement - model

Woodsy SketchUp Sites

• • Come Along for the Ride Woodworking blog

  • Chiefwoodworker's Blog Cabinetmaking

  • Cloud Cut Online cut optimization.

  • Design. Click. Build. Fine Woodworking's SketchUp Blog featuring articles by Dave Richards.

  • Lumberjocks blogs

  • SketchThis! Eric Schimelpfenig blog geared toward kitchen design.

  • SketchUp for Woodworkers Rob Cameron video tutorial collection.

  • Swamp Road Wood Works Tutorials

  • Woodworking SketchUcation's woodworking forum.

Plugins

Note: To download plugins from SketchUcation, join the forum (free)and logon.

• • CabinetSense Paul Verhelst - Readies cabinet models for production and processing with CNC, CutList Plus and SimLab. Fee

Cutlists

• • Builder-Free Jack S. - Nesting, graphical cutlists and material cost estimating. Pro version too.

  • Cabinet Vision Version 5 began importing SKP files. Fee - Windows

  • CutList CaptPanic, Vendmr - The original version of CutList as it first appeared. New updates by Steve Racz.

  • CutList Steve Racz - The latest incarnation of this popular woodworker's tool. Wiki page has tutorial links.

  • CutList Bridge 4 Joe Zeh - Plugin to export SketchUp data to the program CutList Plus fx and shreadsheets.

  • Cutlister ishboo - Original code based on CutList, currently developed by Steve Racz, but with different features.

  • CutMap Graphical cutlisting.

  • Mozaik Software Cabinetry design, material list, cutlist and CNC applications and sends rendering data to SketchUp. Fee

• • Eclate_Displace Pilou - Create exploded parts.

  • ExplodeImplode Todd Burch - Creates exploded parts.

  • GKWare Cabinet Maker Garry K - Cabinets.

  • GKWare Door Maker Garry K - Style and rail cabinet door plugin. Free, Fee

  • K2WS_Tools ktkoh - A joint set.

  • Milling Tools thomthom - Creates dog-bone fillets at corners of faces.

  • Mortise & tenon tool for woodworkers ktkoh - An earlier version of K2WS_Tools. Links to video tutorials.

  • ProfileBuilder Whaat - Follow Me on steriods - quick-change profiles. Fee, Free

  • TIG.splitsausage TIG - Adding edges at molding joints after extruding a Follow Me molding profile.

  • Wood working rubys Update jhoutman - Quickly add parts and pieces common to woodworking projects.

  • Wudworx Woodworking plugins and tools for SketchUp.