Modeling Methods
Collection of modeling approaches and tools to create specific objects...
Dynamic Components
Dynamic Component Collection SketchUp DC training examples
Saving DCs and Uploading them to 3D Warehouse SketchUp tutorial
Animated Doors
I wonder if there is a way to animate an overhead garage door?
DC Bolt Builder Howard Leslie
DC Chain Puzzle Scott Lininger's simple game showcasing some of the fun things DCs can do.
How to make text that appears when you select an object xxxx [dead link]
Non Concurrent DC Animation Jim Foltz Door handle turns before the door swings. Discussion.
The Room Jim Foltz's experimental use of different DC functions.
Sang Smusher 1.0 Got to have a smusher
Dynamic Door Eric Schimelpfenig - Video of a snazzy way to control cabinet door style, size and placement -model
Finding DCs in the 3D Warehouse
Add is:dynamic to the Search query
Go to Advanced Search and check Show only dynamic models
"Drafting"
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.
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.
Face Me Components
2.5D trees
The TomsDesk method for 2.5D trees
2.5d tree toot...tut xxx [dead link] tomsdesk 2.5D tutorial.
SUWiki article on landscaping with alpha channel materials/textures showcasing the modeling performance benefits of utilizing entourage composed of transparent PNG images instead of high-poly components.
3D Warehouse with sample components to use and study,
Tom's website. [dead link]
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]
Shadow Studies
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.
Dynamic Components (DC)
SunTracker Requires the plugin scenes.rb to see the component change orientation during an animation with scene changes. (Open a plain text file, on Windows use a text editor like Notepad, and paste in the text. Name the plugin scenes.rb and install in SketchUp's Plugins directory.)
TIP: The code snippet for scene.rb needs to be added and saved in a plain text editor (like Notepad, Notepad++ [Windows]). Add the file to SketchUp's Plugin directory. Reload the program if SketchUp was already running. This plugin runs in the background, it will not be listed in any menu. The main value of this plugin is if a scene animation video was created with SketchUp.
TIP: A DC needs to be added to SketchUp without losing its outer component wrapper. Try downloading the DC to the desktop then importing it into an active SketchUp workspace if there are any problems with the DC working as expected.
To make this DC react to time/date changes, use the DC Interact tool,. First make sure the DC extension is active. Go to Window > Preferences > Extensions and enable Dynamic Components. Select the DC in the workspace. Switch to the Interact tool through the DC toolbar (View > Toolbars > Dynamic Components or Tools > Interact. Change the time/date through the Shadow Settings window or toolbar, then click on the DC with the Interact tool to update the component's position.
True dynamic sun tracker Also requires the plugin scenes.rb to react to scene changes.
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
The Shadow knows...
There's actually a 0% opacity, transparent PNG above. Right-click on the image to save it you your hard drive or use the drag and drop method to drag the image into an open SketchUp session.
Some uses for this include architectural shadow studies and special shadow faces for low-poly 2.5D landscape components.
TIP: Image-misers can re-save the image down to 1 pixel.
Creating Terrain
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
Add Location
There was a change to the Google Map API that does not play nice with SketchUp's ability to find locations with decimal degree coordinates. If this is an issue, use an online DMS calculator to convert to degrees, minutes, seconds.
Rapid Tables online references and tools.
http://www.satsig.net/degrees-minutes-seconds-calculator.htm
Sun Earth Tools coordinates conversion
fun facts
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.
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
Helical forms - spirals, screw threads and more
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)
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
Spiral Minaret Construction TaffGoch
Nuts to you Gully Foyle
Creating a "Twisted Sphere" Making a blacksmith's 'basket'
Spiral Ramp Tutorial Igloo Studios
3D Warehouse may already have a model you need.
Gearheads
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
More on the gear train animation by Jim Hamilton...
Video of the gear train being assembled. While a little blurry, nonetheless you can almost hear the 3D printed pieces being snapped together in this silent video.
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
Grid Nuts
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.
Buildings
Asymmetric building nightmare Creating a sloping roof to fit on a very old building. xxxx [dead link]
Creating Windows which cut through several walls. As a component can only be set to cut through one face, here are a few suggestions on cutting a window through several faces. xxxx [dead link]
Crown & Rake Molding Study Tutorial on the changing crown proportional when it goes up a raked eave. Also useful for some classical cabinetmakers.
Highness of Buildings Determine building height from Google Earth images.
Roof tutorial with section planes and tiles Using section planes to define an edge instead of removing geometry
Problems with groin vaults Several methods on making groin vaults
Construction Books Several detailed SketchUp modeling construction books by Insitebuilders
3D Construction Modeling Insitebuilders' Dennis Fukai's blog
Nick Sonder SketchUp BaseCamp 2012 inspirational presentation broken down into several YouTube videos. More links under LayOut.
ProTradeCraft Matt Johnson has a series of video tutorials on building homes.
SketchUp for Dummies Aidan Chropra - Book's video companion channel featuring modeling buildings.
SketchUp House Plans A marketplace for House Plans, Models, Components, Styles, Materials, Scrapbooks, Templates and Plugins.
Tiny House Blog Some SketchUp concept modeling.
Plugins
Note: To download plugins from SketchUcation, join the forum (free) and logon.
1001bit tools Goh Chun Hee - Plugin tools for architectural modeling.
3D Doors Windows Frames RubySoft - Adds doors, windows and frames. Fee
BeamTools Cadalog - Parametric, industry standard C, I, H, L Angles, T sections. Free - Windows
BuildEdge Plan Parametric building modeler. Fee - Windows, Mac
BuildingStructureTools tak2hata
ConDoc Tools Create construction documents based on "The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture" by Michael Brightman. Fee - Windows, Mac
Create Section Drawing tak2hata - Tools to create and work with multiple section cuts and export section DXFs.
Doors and Windows
3DRubyWindow RubySoft - Tool for drawing frames, window and door components. Fee
Didier Bur - Cut through double-sided walls - Cutting Windows (Windows) Cutting Windows (Mac)
DoorMaker Paul Russam
DoorsSK Сергей К. - Create and manipulate doors opening and closing.
GKWare Door Maker Gary K - Style and rail cabinet door plugin. Free, Fee
Windowizer3 Windowizer4 Smustard - Automates window-making - Free and Fee
Window Studio Andersen Windows - Generates detailed SketchUp components of Andersen Windows & doors plus other CAD support. Scroll down a bit for this downloadable design tool.
Generate Ceiling Grid Sam D Mitch - Written for tile size 2X2' and 2X4'.
Instant Script Extensions Chuck Vali - Several extensions to automate the creation of different architectural details. Yearly subscription.
Hole Punching Tool TIG - Tool for glued, cutting components to cut through several faces.
HouseBuilder HouseBuilder There are 3 flavors of this useful plugin for homebuilders - Video Tutorial
Lamella Roofs timwarner - Creates lamella roofs.
Lines to tubes Didier Bur - Extrudes arcs, curves along selected lines.
Sam D Mitch has quite a few plugins listed on a blog page as well as at the SketUcation PluginStore.
Medeek Truss Plugin Creates accurate, 3D truss geometry. Fee
MultiWall Tool Didier Bur - Creates walls made of up to 4 layers, with widths and materials.
SketchUp Ruby Plugins Francis McShane - Several plugins to help create buildings.
Stairs
GKWare Stair Maker Gary K - Circular and spiral staircases.
Stair Maker sdmitch - Straight, spiral, and u-shaped
SUperPlan Automated construction schedule simulation and sequence validation tool. Works with Microsoft Project.
Timber Frame Design daiku - Timber framing plugins
Tomot Windowtools, doortools, bookshelf and bifold door plugins - Free and Fee
TubeAlongPath TIG - Extrudes tubes and cylinders along selected path.
Wikihouse Open source construction set - print your own house (link may not work in IE8.)
Google Earth
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.
Organic - Sculpture
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.
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.)
Cars - and other fast stuff
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
Odds and Ends
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
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
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.
Woodsy Stuff
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.
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.