Road Rage Book - Google SketchUp Workshop: Modeling, Visualizing, and Illustrating - page 231

Technical Aspects
I mentioned earlier that many topics about road rage, bad drivers, etc., are
whimsical in nature. In addition to their light-hearted writing, their illustra-
tions tend to be cartoonish, which is much worse. I contend that this type
of humor is downright inappropriate when discussing a topic as serious as
road rage. Instead, I chose to impart a sense of realism to my topic's writing
and illustrations. Its humor leans toward satire and ridicule, akin to the works
of my comedic idols Denis Leary and Lewis Black. And my exposure to the
flexibility of Wolf Coach's 3D designs led me to conclude that Road Rage must
have realistic, 3D illustrations and not simple 2D cartoons.
Almost 90% of the topic's text was completed in about four months; so in
early 2007, I began my search for an illustrator. I soon learned that very few
of them worked in 3D space, and those that did were prohibitively expensive.
But two of them asked me if I had ever heard of a program called SketchUp
and suggested that I take a look. I downloaded a trial version, viewed some
tutorials, and I was hooked. In a few short weeks, I found myself creating fairly
complex models, although I had never before used 3D CAD software.
The most significant advantage of using SketchUp was the ability to infinitely
modify each model's camera position until its scene was “just right.” Second,
most SketchUp models were exported into multiple illustrations. The ability
to orbit around a model, zoom in and out, add and subtract components,
etc., using SketchUp can never be replicated by even the most experienced
2D artist. This invaluable flexibility allowed for a trial-and-error approach until
each scene had the perfect size, shape, and tone. Best of all, the ability to
make these modifications myself saved five figures, if not six figures, in cost
(the topic's 240 pages include over 400 illustrations).
This project being literally my first exposure to SketchUp, most illustrations in
the topic were created using standard features. Although these features were
essentially straightforward, a few were especially important since most scenes
were viewed from a distance:
• Shadows-notonlytoaddnecessarydepthtoeachscenebutalsoused
often to highlight certain components within a model
• Fog-criticalforlow-anglecamerapositionswhereIwantedtolimitthe
size of the overall model and also restrict readers' focus on closer objects
• Softeningofedges-necessarytomakedottedlinesandotherstreet
markings look as though they have been painted on, without black edges
distorting this view
In virtually every final illustration, certain overlays were created within
Photoshop, including lens flares for approaching headlights; gradient-filled
ovals, semiovals, and custom shapes to represent headlights and taillights
from other angles; and semitransparent shapes to infer motion. Other
overlays were best handled in Illustrator, including straight and curved block