Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
development of numerous complementary plug-ins for SketchUp that soon
become indispensable if your goal is efficiency and precision.
In this chapter, I will be revealing the working method of the Place
Van Zeeland project from beginning to end, a method that is the fruit of
experience garnered from various projects and of the desire not to forgo
precision for productivity.
Technical Aspects
The original modeling for the Place Van Zeeland project was done with
SketchUp 5, using very few additional plug-ins. Since then, however, the
number of plug-ins has grown considerably. They greatly increase SketchUp's
productivity and efficiency, either by implementing functions not present in
the original program or by offering versions of SketchUp's tools that are more
capable. To bring this project together, I used the entire suite of plug-ins that I
use regularly in my day-to-day work:
• Projectionsversion2.0(byDidierBur):Thisplug-inallowsyoutoextrude
edges along an axis defined by a user.
• JointPushPullVisualEdition(byFredo6):Thisplug-inimprovesand
complements SketchUp's Push/Pull tool.
• ToolsonSurface(byFredo6):Thisplug-inallowsyoutodrawandcreate
extrusions on complex surfaces and to go back and edit them.
• ThreeLineTools(byChrisFullmer):Withonesimpleclick,thistoolallows
you to create vertical lines at a specified height or elevation.
• FrontFace(byTomasz):Thisplug-inautomatestheprocessoflipping
backwards/facing faces in SketchUp.
• DroptoIntersection(byTBD):Thisplug-inallowsyoutodropcomponents
on any angled surface.
• SU2KT:Thisplug-inallowsyoutosetparametersfor,andtoexportto,the
free Kerkythea rendering engine.
New Approaches
Nicolas Rateau: “This project demonstrates how landscape architects and
others involved in terrain development can use SketchUp to model their
projects, and how they can discover the capabilities of SketchUp's Sandbox
tool and the potential of the main plug-ins to produce precise terrain models
in a reasonable amount of time.
I divided the modeling work into four stages:
1.
Gathering the necessary data for modeling
2.
Preparation of the template files and import into SketchUp
3.
Actual modeling work
4.
Production of some simple scenes for export into the Kerkythea renderer
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