Nifty Bits

3D Basecamp 2012

• 3D Basecamp YouTube videos

3D Basecamp 2014

• Session videos

3D Basecamp 2016

• Session videos

3D Basecamp 2018

• Session videos

• • How do I make SketchUp run faster? There are enough of these tips to have its own page.

  • Camera > Previous restores your last camera positions. It's so useful that it deserves to be added as a keyboard shortcut.

    • • Use it if the camera gets 'trapped' inside a model while orbiting to go back to the last good location

      • It's also good to set the identical camera position for multiple Scenes. Adjust the camera and save/update the first Scene in the Scene palette. Select the next Scene tab. If the camera moves to some other location, select Camera > Previous to restore the camera position of the first Scene. And be certain to update the Scene to save.

  • Use Section Cuts to examine the inside of a model for unnecessary geometry to delete.

  • If a text leader needs to be repositioned, select it and switch to the Move tool. The Scale tool also can be used. Tug on the bounding box handles to reposition the leader.

  • While working with any tool, move the tool over any geometry you want in the middle of the workspace and double-click the middle button - the scroll wheel.

  • Convert your SketchUp models to PDF format using free software DigitalThumb - Group discussion on making PDFs for the SketchUp free crowd.

  • To soften harsh shading, open the Shadow Setting window and move the Light slider to a darker value and the Dark slider to a light value.

  • Group a Line - You cannot make a group or component by selecting a line, right-clicking and choosing the option on the context menu. But you can use the Edit menu option or a keyboard shortcut for making a group or component.

• • • Make an image, like a landscaping element transparent PNG, a component by selecting a line with the image. Go into edit the component to remove or hide the line. An image does not have edges, so this will help lower model geometry.

• • How do I open skb files Four ways to open the backup file in SketchUp. xxxx [dead link]

• changing thumbnail of material Gully Foyle gives instructions on changing a material thumbnail.

• Upload model with custom thumbnail Aerilius - This plugin allows to create a thumbnail image for models shared on the 3D Warehouse.

• TaffGoch - The default longitude/latitude data is stored in a DAT file in the program directory. In Windows, open the DAT file in Wordpad (Notepad will not work) to add more default city location data. In Mac, open the DAT in TextEdit.

  • Windows - C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 6\Resources\en-US\locations.dat

  • Mac - /Applications/Google\ SketchUp\ 7/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/locations.dat

• SketchUp Sage tutorial | Forum thread

Within SketchUp...

• • Note that the report generated by the Model info>Statistics window can be copied and pasted into another program like Excel as a tabbed list.

  • You can check "Components only" to get a list of components - check Show Nested Components if your items are buried in other components or groups.

  • SketchUp 7 Pro added Dynamic Components, which among other things will allow a variety of attributes to be added to a component. Along with that feature is the ability to send model attributes to a CSV or HTML file for Pro users through File > Generate Report.

There are several other ways to write and generate attributes:

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

• • AttribReporter Ashley Joyce - Web dialog plugin which allows you to write attributes to selected items.

  • Attribute Helper SketchUp team - Displays all the attributes attached to a component. Open-source project.

  • Attribute Inspector Aerlius - A viewer and editor for entity and model attributes.

  • Attribute Reporting An introduction to SketchUp's attribute function through the Ruby API - create a custom bill of materials, etc

  • Automated SketchUp 2 Excel farazforoozan - Automate SketchUp through MS Excel.

  • ComponentReporter++ TIG plugin which sends model info to two CSV files - Instructions are included within the RB file. Open the file with a plain text editor, like Notepad, to review the instruction text at the top of the file. - Free

  • dataexporter Uli Tessel - Exports information about edges. - Free

  • Eneroth Attribute Editor Eneroth3 - Advanced attribute editor supporting classes like arrays, vectors, and points, and entities like definitions, layers, materials, and models. Includes tool to pick points and vectors.

  • Estimator - Real-time estimating inside of SketchUp. Windows, Mac - Fee

  • FredoTools::ReportAreaLabel Fredo6 - Several services about area, exports CSV file. - Free

  • General Locator Moris Papasmadov - Link 3D models to Google docs online Spreadsheets.

  • model_report Didier Bur - Export a text file or an Excel sheet with information of the current model. - Free

  • Product Connect Igloo Studio's designer/builder product plugin for the 3D Warehouse with an easy way to add model attributes.

  • SpaceDesign Render Plus System add-on - Windows

  • Links Manager Didier Bur - Set,Get,Edit and opens URL for any object in SU model. - Free

  • Wattributes Wiset - A suite of tools to create a bill of material and export to Excel. Free while in beta.

  • YouTubePlugin Moris Papasmadov - Associate YouTube video with each selected SketchUp entity by pasting the "Embed:" text provided by YouTube. - Free

• More on working with spreadsheets for SketchUp.