A Window Installation - Google SketchUp Workshop: Modeling, Visualizing, and Illustrating - page 87

For example, limited time to complete a model could lead to a quick decision
between spending time to create a realistic building material texture using
a scanner and Adobe Photoshop and taking the faster approach by simply
selecting a color that is similar to the color of the building material.

3. The 2D output : Because the output is a print or electronic Adobe PDF

document, at times, the 3D model will not translate well. More time and effort
has to be spent on illustrating a 3D image when it will be in a 2D output.

4. The varying existence of the right plug-ins : The right plug-in can give the

illustrator the ability to create whatever he or she envisions. Without the
plug-in (and without the knowledge to create one), the illustrator has
to develop techniques for getting around it. Usually, this translates into
spending more time to manipulate the model to get the intended result.
Making more plug-ins available will increase the potential to create even
greater documents.

Technical Aspects
There are numerous reasons why SketchUp works well for creating the
illustrations in the window installation step-by-step document, or for that
matter, any homebuilding step-by-step document. SketchUp is a 3D modeling
program, which allows the illustrator to create illustrations that mimic real life,
rather than being 2D. SketchUp illustrations are cost effective to produce. The
user interface and tools are relatively straightforward and simple. The ability
to develop a library of materials and components significantly decreases the
amount of time spent on modeling. Other illustration software like Adobe
Illustrator and AutoCAD require each step to be an independent drawing.
With SketchUp, a model can be used to illustrate all the steps, making changes
easier and decreasing the number of times an item has to be illustrated.

Some additional positive attributes of SketchUp are as follows:

• Theabilitytouseaccurateandprecisemeasurementssothatobjectscan
be drawn to real-life dimensions.
• Themodelscanbeata1:1scale,mimickingreallife.
• The3Dcapabilityallowstheillustratortoexaminethebuildingassembly
from every angle.
• Theabilitytocreatematerialsthatresemblerealbuildingmaterialshelps
clarify the illustration and bring real-life significance.
• Themodelscanbedrawnusingasmuchoraslittledetailasneeded,
depending on the need to express a step properly.

To create the step-by-step document, the following SketchUp plug-ins were
used: Profile Builder , Page Layers , Add Hidden Layer , Fredo Scale-Radial Bending ,
House Builder , and Hide All Unselected .

The specific SketchUp features that were used include the basic drawing
tools (line, rectangle, circle, arc), copying (arrays), snaps, referencing, sections,
groups, components, layers, and scenes.