Villa Thrilla

MA K I N G
a storm in
Photoshop
LI GHTUP
brings sketchup
to life
WEAVING
with Eric
+ MORE
SKETCHUP LAYOUT STYLEBUILDER EARTH
Catchup
EDI TI ON 6
SKETCHUCATION COMMUNITY NEWS
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Everyone at SketchUcation wishes
you all a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year
Connect with us
vv
Management
Mike Lucey - Managing Director
mikel@sketchucation.com
Csaba Pozsarko - Training Director
csabap@sketchucation.com
Octavian Chis- Technical Director
octavianc@sketchucation.com
Richard OBrien - Quality Director
richob@sketchucation
Moderators
Pete Stoppel
Chris Fullmer
Dave Richards
Eric Lay
TIG
Thomas Thomassen
Jean Lemire
Jim Foltz
Eeva
Edson Mahfuz
Majid
Contributors
Eric Lay
Mike Lucey
David Hennessy
Adriana Granados
Csaba Pozsarko
Dennis Fukai
Richard OBrien
David Hier
On the cover: Villa
courtesy of David Hier
Editor: Richard OBrien
Copyright 2011 SketchUcation
All rights reserved
While the pulisher has made
every efort to ensure the
accuracy of of the information
in this magazine, they will not
be held responsible for any erros
therein
Hi,
Its been a hectic year at SketchUcation with some major
milestones achieved. The most exciting is reaching over
100,000 members. This would not have been possible without
our super community making SketchUcation the friendliest
place for SketchUp support.
So to each and every member we say thank you so much
for choosing SketchUcation as your forum of choice. It really
means a lot to us that you continue to visit, post and contribute
on a daily basis.
But we remain committed to bring you even more SketchUp
content in 2012. You may have noticed that last edition we
launched our own book sales.
books.sketchucation.com
Well, we are not stopping there as we have some exciting things
cooking that we are super excited about. We cant mention it
yet but rest assured you will love it!
Well sign of this year wishing you all a very happy holidays
and a joyous new year.
Until next year.....
Mike Lucey
Interact with us
BOOS CLUES
weaves
Create a circle perpendicular to the ground plane. In this example I
used only 8 segments and made it 12 diameter to keep it simple.
I extruded the circle a few times making
sure both sides had equal distances.
I moved the segment on the far end up
so the bottom of the circle matched the
top of the frst circle. If the end segment
is constrained to the ground plane hold
the Alt key to override it. This is forcing
the Autofold behavior.
I then moved the inner segments up
equal distances on either side for a
smooth transition.
BOOS CLUES
weaves
Now make the modifed tube a
component and start to copy/rotate and
place them in a weave pattern.
Continue to copy/rotate the segments.
Continue to copy/rotate the segments
until you have the amount you want.
Simple as that.
BOOS CLUES
weaves
Now you can use the Artisan plugin to
subdivide and smooth the mesh for a
cleaner weave.
Or you can use the Sketchy Free Form
Deformation plugin to bend and twist
the weave.
Have fun.
by Eric Lay
www.tgi3d.com
AMORPH
SU
Fast, accurate and
aordable
photogrammetry and
metrology tool
I
recently obtained a DrawTop for testing
and must say that I will be keeping it!
The DrawTop is a sheet of custom-cut vinyl
that is attached to the back of the laptop
and instantly creates a handy and useable
whiteboard, ideal for doodling, client
meetings and presentations.
Included with the DrawTop are:
4 fne-tip dry erase markers
1 microfber eraser
4 Velcro stickers to hold the pens in place
The vinyl sheet has an adhesive back for
attachment to the laptop but I have a
confession to make! I am a Mac user and
was not prepared to stick this to my shiny
aluminium cover. Instead I used the 4 Velcro
stickers to do the job for me, allowing the
ability to set up and remove in a jify.
The DrawTop ofers the laptop user a
convenient worktop for hand drawing as can
be seen from the above picture. To make the
DrawTop more useful I would like to see it
coming with some kind of a device that the
laptop would be seated on to allow turning.
This would work in the teacher facing
students situation allowing the teacher to
turn the laptop, make notes, drawings etc on
the DrawTop then turn it to face the students.
I mentioned this to the makers and they are
considering it.
The folks at DrawTop also cut vinyl for lots of
devices other than laptops so you can really
customize this to your needs.
SmartTop for $5
DrawTop Tablet for $10
Original DrawTop for $12
www.thedrawtop.com
by Mike Lucey
MAYOR MIKES GADGETS
drawtop
INTERIOR DESIGN
how to make a vaul ted cei l i ng
O
ne of the most read topics that interior designers consult on my blog is how to make a
vaulted ceiling. Writing this article for Sketchucation has a special meaning for me and I
dedicate it to my mother who just passed away. This is the ceiling of the room where I spent
2 days receiving condolences and where I had to say goodbye to her at least in this life.
The room had a comfortable and elegant
design. The ceiling vaults intersecting in the
manner of Gothic designs also had a cross
slit in which artifcial light emanated. Also, a
great perimeter crown molding hided other
fuorescent lights. The red granite foors
combined with sandstone contrasted with 12
height white walls. To complete the mystique
atmosphere a faint difuse light entered
through 10 height windows.
My frst recommendation when you model an
interior space is to group foor, walls and ceiling
separately in order to manipulate the model
much easier. It is very common to be handling one of these three groups and needing to
avoid the interference of elements and planes that you are not working on.
On this basis once created the walls up to the ceiling height, I grouped all the entities to
prevent the sticking with the ceiling elements.
As the ceiling was composed of eight intersected vaults, the frst step was the creation of the
frst arc. To help me with this drawing I used the function Extrude Edges by Vector in TIGs
Extrusion plugin to create a face on which to draw an arc.
Note:
This project is a good example in using
SketchUps Solid tools that can save vital time
and efort. The only requirement for using these
functions is to be in the presence of volumes, ie
grouped closed geometries.
INTERIOR DESIGN
how to make a vaul ted cei l i ng
The simplest way to know that we have modeled a
volume is to select the group and open the Entity Info
window to check if the Volume feld is showing. If this
feld is not displayed either means that your geometry is
open somewhere (a face is missing) or there are additional
internal elements to the outer surface.

The frst step then was to create the
frst vault and group those elements.
Once created the group was copied
and rotated 90 degrees.

After placing both vaults in the correct position the
Union tool was used. The two vaults were grouped
and at the same time intersected. Having obtained
this basic module it was copied once. Again, using the
Union tool they were grouped and glued together.
As explained in the beginning these vaults were intersected by a cross-shaped space that
concealed fuorescent lights. A cross-shaped volume was modeled separately and grouped.
The cross then was placed in fnal position intersecting with the vaults.
INTERIOR DESIGN
how to make a vaul ted cei ni ng
Using the Split tool, the individual parts of the overlapping geometry was obtained. Two
separately parts were the result: the cross above the ceiling level, and the cross below the
ceiling and visible from the interior of the vaulted ceiling. Each of these groups is identifed
individually in the Outliner.
The part below the vaulted ceiling
and visible from the interior was
deleted since the light box was on
the ceiling level upwards. Entering
into the edit mode of the vaulted
ceiling group I also deleted the
horizontal and vertical planes to
expose the light box geometry
from inside the room.
by Adriana Granados
USEFUL APPS
fi l esquare
In this edition of CatchUp I would like to
introduce you to FileSquare. I am a great
believer in simple apps that do one job well
and are easy to learn. I think FileSquare is one
of these and feel many of you may also agree.
How many times have you been working on a
design and wished you could quickly discuss
it with a client or colleague on the Net in
realtime? I have, but to date have not been
able to with ease.
Now this is possible with FileSquare. This simple
cloud app allows the user to upload multiple
images and share them with a shortened
URL. Its possible to annotate and comment
on your design projects to get feedback from
your client or colleague. The whole process
happens in realtime which can only speed up
the total design process.
The frst step is to sign up and open the
FileSquare page, give the Project a name and
then click the Upload button and locate the
image you want to share.
For the purposes of demonstration I am
uploading the current SketchUcation logo
with the new books.sketchucation.com advert
under it. BTW, this is our newest venture!
Once loaded we see the uploaded fle in the
FileSquare window.
Clicking the uploaded fle opens a new window
showing the image ready for annotation.
I have placed a rectangle (blue) around the
portion of the design and asked a question,
Should this be cropped or shown in total?.
www.sketchucation.com
USEFUL APPS
fi l esquare
To share the project all I need to do is send the
shortened URL to the client. Also my question
is now showing up in the comment area for
them to read and answer.
In this case I replied to myself, as can be seen,
but the app does allow for back and forth
discussions between users with the ability to
select parts of the image and add annotation.
To try it out go to, www.flesq.com The
developer, Ben Cheng, advises that the app
will integrate with Dropbox which I think will
be a useful addition to this much used facility.
Ben also invites feedback a feature suggestions.
I have a few in mind, like arrows and such but
not too much as I feel the app should remain
simple to use. Also I would like to be able to
save the project discussion sessions on line for
reference. The only way I can see to do this at
present it the save the shortened URL.
Once you sign up, Ben sends a welcome
message.
by Mike Lucey
books.sketchUcation.com
learn with the experts at your pace
If you are familiar with
rendering then you will know
that render engines sink or
swim based on two basic
principles - speed and output.
If it falls short on either then
the likelihood is it will sink.
It is fair to say that LightUp
is blisteringly fast from the
outset even on a basic enough
laptop. But what about
output? Well, that is where
LightUp needs a deeper
understanding to truly pass
judgement.
First thing of note about
LightUp is the rather sparse
toolbar.
Four measily buttons might
seem a tad low. But beneath
is a pandoras box of knobs,
dials, switches and levers that
adjust about everything in
your scene.
The preferences button
contains four main parameters
- Quality
- Lighting
- Viewport
- Resources
Probably the most important
aspect in any render engine
as it determines youre fnal
output.
Here you can control, with
complete precision, the
overall fnal result with the
most important factor being
Resolution.
The resolution is similar to
sampling. It allows you to
tell LightUp to determine
to lighting in your scene. By
default it is set to 4x but you
can enter any measurement
value here. For instance you
could tell Lightup to sample
every 6 in your scene which
then increases the render time
but gives superior results. So if
you want to quickly test some
changes using a value of 1x
will give near instant results.
This means youre not wasting
time re-rendering.
One particular useful feature
is the Ignore Cache check box
which is of by default. This
allows LightUp to calculate
the overall scene once and
store that info so the next time
you render it has most of the
work done already so it only
needs to calculate any further
changes.
Under the Lighting
parameters you can adjust the
overall lighting in your scene.
Theres 4 primary lighting
modes - Direct, Lux, Realtime
and Ambient Occlusion.
These come packed with
sliders and input boxes
to adjust the lighting that
you can tweak within your
rendered scene. Its this level
of attention to detail that
make LightUp both a joy to
learn and master. Not needing
to re-render saves so much
time and seeing your changes
live makes this a killer feature.
The Viewing parameter allows
you to adjust the navigation
speed within your scene as
well as toggling gravity, inertia
and collision detection. You
can also toggle textures on/
of to create a clay like render
and import HDR images to use
as Skyboxes.
Finally theres Resources
which links to tutorials and
documentation.
PLUGIN REVIEW
l i ghtup
Its all well an good being able
to adjust everthing imaginable
but in the end it is output we
are interested in. Well LightUp
doesnt disappoint on that front.
But what I found interesting with
LightUp was how closely tied to
SketchUp it is.
Firstly, the output is in the same
viewport that you model in. So no
second window or exporting to
another application it sits within
the same comfortable space you
know and love.
There are other nice touches
that just make so much sense.
One being the use of Dynamic
Components. If it animates in
SketchUp it also animates in
LightUp. Other nice features are
that enabling fog in SketchUp
also creates fog in LightUp.
These small touches just add
greatly to the overall experience.
But LightUp doesnt stop there. It
adds a set of components to your
Library which makes to things
that much more easier to get your
scenes setup quicker.
Once you have your scene
setup you get to the nuts
and bolts. Simply clicking the
Tour Tool initiates the render.
Once complete youre free to
navigate around your scene
using a mixture of arrows
keys and modifer keys that
allow panning, rotating and
walking.
Whilst not the same
navigation that you are used
to in SketchUp it does not take
long to get familiar with it.
From within the scene you can
start to tweak your materials
by simply double clicking
them. Below you can see the
level of options you have to
adjust materials.
These fall under 3 main
headings
- Shading Properties
- Texture Animation
- Colour Animation
which are updated live within
youre rendered scene. The
animation aspect is extremely
useful. Basically you can make
your materials move, rotate or
scale via a series of waveforms.
This would be useful for things
like billboards to cycle adverts
or fickering fames in a fre
which you can also animate
its lighting to get a really
amazing efect.
You can also load in custom
bump and specular maps as
LightUp by default creates its
own based on the material
youve applied. In the
latest version you can have
procedural animated water by
simply adding watershader to
a material name. So realtime
rippling ponds are only a few
keyboard strokes!
Since all render applications
need good lighting to get
good results its no surprise
that this is where LightUp
really excels.
LightUp comes with various
components assigned to your
Library. These primarily focus
on lighting and irradiance. As
you would expect these lights
can have IES fles associated to
them as well as all the standard
features other applications
make use of. But its the Irr
cache component that really
blew me away.
In essence, an Irr Cache is a
local light probe. You basically
place an Irr Cache near an
object to let Light Up know
that you want this object
to refect its immediate
surroundings. This means
the normally slow process
of rendering refections on
curved surfaces is reduced
dramatically by leveraging
these local light probes
to calculate the neccesary
refections. Light doesnt need
to refect everything within a
scene just what is in its locality.
Lightup works incredible
hard behind the scenes so
users simply click materials
and adjusts parameters. This
approach is what makes
LightUp so unique in its
approach. Its not terribly
hard to get to grips with but
once you begin to tweak you
quickly grasp the concept of
what makes it tick. It is then
that fun starts.
It is the level of feedback the
LightUp gives you on lighting
that I found very helpful. the
Light Query tools work both
within SketchUp and LightUp
and to very good efect.
Lighting is a one click
operation by either inserting
a component or applying a
material. Click a material with
the Light Query tool and you
get the following box.
While hovering over a light will
show you how it is emitting
along with any info that might
be concerned with that light.
Used in conjunction with the
Lux Contour lighting mode
you can interactactively take
lightmeters readings to see
the result your lighting has in
a space. LightUp also come
with a Lightmeter dynamic
components that can display
the readings in tandem with
the lux contours.
Finally, you have got the
export options. this can be
accessed via Capture button
on the toolbar and like the
other tools you get a glut of
options to play with.
The Adjust Color parameter
allows your output to be
given further loveliness. From
bloom efect to DOF it is all
controlled by sliders that make
it foolproof.
You can either export still
images, cubic maps or
movies. as standard with lots
of resolution options. But
the most notable option is
to export your scene so its
viewable via a free LightUp
player. This means you can
show youre clients fully
navigable scenes without the
concern of sharing a model
and with the added bonus
that your scenes can look
incredible.
Overall, I think it is remarkable
what the LightUp team have
achieved. Taking time to
learn how LightUp works is
where you will get the best
output. Understanding how
it approaches lighting and
geometry is the secret to
getting stunning results. I
found both the developer,
Adam Billyard, and their
forums a super resource in
getting to grips with LightUp.
Theres literally tonnes of
tutorials and examples fle to
pour through.
If you have not tried it out
I recommend giving the 30
day trial a whizz. you wont be
disappointed.
by Rich OBrien
Importing Floor Plans
When using foor plan illustrations for modelling (as opposed to CAD fles) its important to ensure that all of
the elevations and foor plans are in scale with one another. When downloading images they can be subject to
cropping and resizing that can throw of the alignment.
I usually import the fles into a single Photoshop document and overlay them, scaling and adjusting them until
Im satisfed that everything is correctly aligned. You can then create new individual fles that are of equal size:
making it easier to import the images into SU.
VILLA
david hier
Using Layers, Parallel Projection & Scenes
When you import your drawings into SU, its a good idea to keep each floor plan and elevation on a separate layer.
That way you toggle the visibility of the plans, which is especially useful when aligning your modelling with the
elevations and preventing first floor plans from obscuring the modelling of the ground floor.
It can also be useful to set a keyboard shortcut for Parallel Projection as it makes it much easier to switch to 2D views
in order to lay out the house walls and align wall heights with elevations. Usually you can use SUs Views tools to
switch between elevations, but if you are dealing with an irregular or large site, its a good idea to create a scene for
each elevation you need to use.
Working to Scale
Its important to establish a correct scale at an early stage in the modelling. It will help with the accuracy of your model
and allow you to make educated guesses when it comes to modelling details that are not found in your drawings.
Since most render engines use physically accurate calculations its also important to use a real world dimensions - a
1m x 1m house will render very differently to a 100m x 100m house.
If your floor plans dont have a scale guide, you can usually infer certain sizes from elements common to most builds.
For example, single course interior walls are usually somewhere between 15cm & 20cm thick. In the case of the
Villa PM I also needed a size for double cavity walls and using the interior walls as a guide a 50cm thickness seemed
appropriate. I then used 15cm x 15cm and 50cm x 50cm modules as a guide when drawing out the walls.
VILLA
david hier
Keeping House
You can now use your elevations to Push/Pull the walls and start
work on the 3D structure of the ground floor. At this stage its very
tempting to just crack on with your modelling, however there are
some things you should keep in mind that will prevent you from
having to backtrack and tidy up your model once it starts to get
more detailed.
I like to start out working in Monochrome mode and leave the
texturing until later. This helps to prevent problems with reversed
faces (easy to spot in Monochrome mode) and textures applied
to back faces.
Start grouping geometry and using layers as soon as possible.
This will help to prevent problems with intersecting geometry
and make it easier to modify your model and add details at later
stages.
Remove any hidden internal geometry as you go along. This will
keep file sizes down and prevent texture and geometry problems
when rendering.
Photographic References
If available its useful to have reference images to hand. If you are
modelling an existing building this will help you to see details that
you could miss when only working from plans. These images
will also give you something to aim for when rendering your
model. If you are working on a model of something that has yet
to be built, find images of something similar that can be used as
a reference.
Adding Detail
Once you have modelled the basic structure of the building
and surrounding landscape, its time to start adding detail. Since
a lot of things can change during this stage of the modelling
avoid texturing for the time being. However, working with a
monochrome model can be difficult, so I will normally create
plain colour materials for each of the main textures that will be
used in the final model.
VILLA
david hier
VILLA
david hier
a lot of things can change during
this stage of the modelling so avoid
texturing for the time being
Mind the Gap
When adding fittings and fixtures try to avoid
modelling directly on to or up to faces. In reality there
will always be a small gap between any touching
objects. This gap will often be imperceptible to the
naked eye but for the purpose of rendering we need to
exaggerate this and add small gaps between touching
objects. This kind of detail may seem a bit excessive,
but the rendered results will speak for themselves.

When modelling windows I will usually start by creating
a plane to fill the window opening and then offset it by
0.5mm to 1mm - creating a gap. I will also do the same
thing when adding railings, furniture or any item that
sits on a surface. If you are planning on creating renders
with lots of close-up detail I would even suggest adding
recessed gaps where two planes meet e.g. walls and floors.
Bevels
Depending on the level of detail and look you want for
an image its often a good idea to avoid sharp right angle
corners. You can deal with this by selectively adding
either chamfers or round bevels to the corners of your
model.
Unevenness
Very few surfaces are completely fat and for the
most man-made materials any unevenness can be
simulated using bump or displacement. Organic
landscape elements are a diferent matter and
even something like a fat lawn will have some
unevenness. Tese imperfections may be subtle,
but its important to add them as something like a
perfectly fat lawn will break the illusion you are
trying to create in your fnal render. SUs Sandbox
tools or a plugin like Artisan can be used to add
subtle undulations that will add realism to your
model - just be careful not to overdo things.
VILLA
david hier
Note: In my illustration
you will notice lighter
patches of grass.
These are unrelated to
the organic modelling
added to the lawn
and have been used
to defne areas where I
can use diferent types
of instanced grass
when rendering.
Texturing
Once you are happy with your detailing you can begin
applying textures to your model. For my Villa PM model
I mostly used standard SU texture mapping tools. Since I
wanted the building to look slightly weathered I mapped
a single dirt texture to the main building structure:
resizing, scaling and positioning the texture as possible.
Doing this, rather than applying a plain stucco texture
and adding the dirt during rendering, allows you to
accurately position the weathered texture. The only place
I couldnt do this was the wedge shaped wall that forms
the sides of the driveway.
My solution was to accurately draw the wall face
in Adobe Illustrator in order to create a template
for use in Photoshop. I then used the template to
create the unique texture needed for the drive:
painting and cloning the weathering where it
was required. Tis takes a fair amount of time,
but since I knew that the driveway wall would
feature prominently in my render, I decided that
it was worth the efort to achieve a more realistic
result (A= Illustrator template. B= Final texture).
VILLA
david hier
VILLA
david hier
Q&A
What is your
background?
Afer studying art and product
design I went on to attend a
BA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths
University (London). I
eventually set myself up as a
freelance designer in 2003,
establishing my own company
(Arts Ablaze), working mostly
in the felds of graphic and
website design.
Troughout my education
and diferent career paths Ive
always maintained a strong
interest in all forms design.
Architecture is especially
important to me as I wanted
to become an architect from a
very young age. Unfortunately
I didnt have the right maths
qualifcations - this was before
computers could be used to
do the grunt-work. One of the
great things about Sketchup
and 3D visualisation is that
its allowed me to fnally work
with architectural design. In
many ways its really satisfying
to have come full circle and
returned to the area of design
I fnd the most fulflling.
When did you start
using SU?
I frst discovered Sketchup
towards the end of 2007, whilst
working on a personal building
project - a modern villa design
for a family home in Portugal.
It was a challenging venture
as it was my frst real-world
attempt at architectural design
and I had to fnd a balance
between the contemporary
design Im passionate about
and the rustic style that the
local authorities required for
the exterior of the build.
Right up until the beginning
of construction I was unaware
of the possibilities as far as
3D CAD was concerned. I
was working with a basic
2D CAD programme and
assumed that 3D was only
accessible to large businesses
and Hollywood special efects
companies. Consequently
I struggled with the tools I
had available: creating very
basic visualisations that
outlined what I expected
from the builders when it
came to structural details
and the fnal fx. With my
background in graphic design
I turned to Adobe Illustrator
and Photoshop to laboriously
create NPR isometric
projections and printed
vector artwork that I used in
conjunction with foam board
to construct 3D room models.
Producing these drawings and
models was extremely labour
intensive and I knew that
there must be a better way to
achieve the results I wanted.
Fortunately I stumbled upon
Sketchup and was astounded
by how user friendly and fun
the programme was to use.
I remember watching all the
ofcial tutorials in one go and I
was modelling my villa design
before the day was out. I was
amazed by the way I could
easily appreciate structures
in 3D and change my designs
on the fy - I was hooked!
Looking back I can see a lot of
mistakes in the model, but Im
still blown away by what I was
able to achieve in the frst few
days of using Sketchup.
How has your last/
previous profession
infuenced your
approach to 3d?
An understanding of the design
process and a familiarity with
manufacturing methods and
good design really helps when
it comes to modelling. Even if
you have plans to work from,
you still need to understand
how the design works in both
terms of its mechanics and
aesthetics. Ergonomics are
very important and its easy
to get things wrong if you
forget how an object is going
to be used and how people
will physically interact with a
design.
When considering the
function of a design, its
important to remember that
visual appeal can ofen be as
important as any practical
application. Viewing a design
as a piece of sculpture assists
you in seeing how the lines and
forms fow together, which
ultimately helps you to create
more accurate models. My
background in Fine Art really
helps, as years of life drawing
and trained observation gives
you an amazing attention
to detail (being a little OCD
helps as well). Tis is even
more applicable when it
comes to rendering, as the
process of compositing a
VILLA
david hier
scene and recreating materials
and textures is very similar
to the process of painting
landscapes, portraits or still
life scenes. Even if you are
working on something that
has yet to be built, it helps to
have images of similar objects
or scenes to hand, so that you
can observe the kind of details
that help to make a high
quality visualisation image.
What advantage has your web
design skills brought to 3D
visualization?
For me, HTML coding is
mostly just a way to get graphic
design into a particular
format; its probably the least
rewarding stage of the design
process. Using CSS is however
a bit more creative and
does have some parallels to
modelling with components:
reusing common elements in
clever ways to reduce fle size
and create a more elegant and
paired down design.
Considering the graphic
design side of things, sofware
skills are certainly transferable
and come in extremely handy.
I will ofen use Illustrator
to create complex shapes or
logo designs that I can import
into Sketchup as DWG fles.
I will also use Illustrator
when it comes to material
creation: ofen producing
template structures for use
within Photoshop. In turn
good Photoshop skills have
really helped when it comes
to texture creation and post-
production.
What are your must
have plugins?
Although I used to download
every plugin going, experience
has shown me that you can
easily overcomplicate things
if you rely on them too
much. With a bit of thought
Sketchups native tools can be
really powerful.
Having said that, there are
some key plugins that are
important to my workfow e.g.
Round Corner, Fredo Scale,
Tools on Surface and Joint
Push Pull, as well as Weld and
Bezier Spline. Artisan is also
an absolute must. It lends itself
to so many tasks that it has
become indispensible and Ive
yet to really get to grips with
what its really capable of.
What advice would
you give someone
c o n s i d e r i n g
freelancing?
I cant really ofer that much
advice when it comes to the
question of whether or not
you should go freelance. I
know that a lot of peoples
agonise over the pros and cons
of working as a freelancer,
but in my case I didnt have
much of a choice. I was made
redundant and afer being
unemployed for 6 months I
was told that I would have to
start seeking unskilled work
or retrain through the New
Deal programme. Te New
Deal scheme provides a short
course for start-up businesses
and support for the frst 6
months of trading, so I opted
to start up as a sole trader.
I do however think that you
need certain qualities to make
it as a freelancer. Youve got
to be highly motivated, as
there isnt anyone to push you
to deliver a good service or
improve your output. Its easy
to fall into the trap of doing
just enough to get the job done
and ultimately your work will
become just a job rather than
a vocation.
You also need to be highly
organised. On a day to day
basis this will help you
organise your time, manage
diferent clients and and
keep on top of deadlines. Te
chances are that you will have
to do your own book keeping,
so good organisation skills are
must when it comes to your
accounts and tax.
Personally I think that all of
the hard work is worth it and
the pros certainly outweigh
the cons. Tere will be the
inevitable periods of self-
doubt, fnancial uncertainty
and the occasional client from
hell, but other than working as
part of a small studio, I really
cant imagine working for
someone else again.
www.davidhier.co.uk
www.artsablazedesign.co.uk
www.davidhier.deviantart.com
D
avid has also shared this
model for people to play
with. So go get your hands on
it here.
If you are a Tea user, you
can also grab some exquisite
materials and this scene all
ready to render here.
Finally theres Davids
masterclass in creating
seamless textures in
Photoshop and using these to
create high quality materials
in Tea here.
T
hey sat in their studio
Noses to laptops
When out in the street,
Came a cry from the rooftop.
Whaat! cried the Artisan,
Yeay! yelled the Mayor,
As he opened the door
Boofredlay was there.
We need you. He said.
Theres no time for rubies,
We must get these plugins
To all of the newbies.
So off they rotated
And joined in with the gig,
There was Fredo6, Solo,
ThomThom & TIG
OBrien called Wait!
Dont leave without us.
And running behind him,
The guru named Gaieus.
And they flew-through the Google Earth
On a Bezier spline.
Their workflow was such,
It didnt take time.
The people below,
In great jubilation,
Blessed their good fortune
For the team at SketchUcation.
So our thanks to you all
For the endless assistance,
For sharing your knowledge
And keeping your patience.
And for SUs creation
So loved round the nations,
Supported by thousands
too many to mention.
Lets all raise a glass
To toast everyone here
Merry Christmas you guys
And a Happy New Year!
by Emerald15
1
This scene was originally rendered out from Maxwell with an alpha channel to allow
for the sky insertion. As this is a tutorial on Post Processing, I wont go into detail on
the render side of things except to say that you must ensure you have refections on your
ground plane and some on the building alongside some internal lighting in order for the
following efects to work.The 2 trees in this Raw image are from OnyxTREE BROADLEAF
which allows you to create windblown versions of their preset trees.
2
Original layer duplicated, gaussian blurred, colour saturation increased and screen
blended at 75%-this gives a nice soft efect to the lighting.
there's a storm
brewing...
FEATURED MEMBER
davi d hennessy
3
Be careful that you use a sky that sits well with the original render. This sky(which
I recieved from Roger, a frequent contributor to the forum, thanks again Roger) was
originally a dark blue but I desaturated it to get the mood I wanted but also to allow for the
bright orange lighting of the house to really stand out.
4
This background tree was sourced from the internet and scaled accordingly. It wasnt
very hi-res but because I was using it for background it didnt matter.
5
The same tree rescaled and repositioned. I also lightened these trees to suggest they are
further away with reduced visability due to the rain.
6
I like to place small elements in my images such as insects,birds etc.I try to keep them
unobtrusive but if someone looks closely,they can see them.These people elements
also added a sense of movement to the image.
7
Here I copied a part of a waterlogged feld image,distotred it to match the perspective
and overlayed it on the original grass, blended NORMAL at 37%. This image had some
small areas of water which, while not refecting the actual raw render, help to give the efect
of heavy rainfall.
8
Here, I overlayed a rain image with ground splashes at 11 %. Because I didnt want this
rain layer to dominate, in fact I wanted the splashes.
9
I duplicated the bottom half of the rain image. This was then overlayed again to intensify
the splashes.
10
Here I began to notice that the original house refection from the raw render was
beginning to disappear so I copied the original, fipped vertically and overlayed it. I
also used a motion blur flter moving downwards to extend and distort this image.
11
I added some foreground elements. All of my renders incorporate foreground planting
and rocks etc. By layering these elements and adding gaussian blur to suggest depth
of feld, you can begin to build up a more natural efect. You need to be careful that the
lighting on these elements matches the render or they can look out of place. Here I added
some motion blur to a couple of these plants in order to again suggest movement.
12
A layer of rain drops added, layer blended NORMAL at 22%. This was created using a
technique I found on here, very simple and very efective.
13
This was achieved using a Rain Brush for photoshop. I painted a new layer along the
top of the building and the low walls and then played around with the opacity.
14
A new layer consiting of wind blown leaves with some motion blur added.this was
then copied and rotated around the image.
'layering these elements and adding gaussian
blur to suggest depth of field'
15
I wanted to bring the main house image out a bit more so darkened the top and
bottom, this also helps with a more ominous feel.
16
This was an extra that I originally didnt have on the image I uploaded to SketchUcation.
Here I Layer blended LIGHTENED at 90%.I also changed the colour of the lightning
which was originally a red colour as it didnt work with the sky colour.
17
Again,this layer is optional. When I frst started this image, I was looking for a mood,and
I will normally sacrifce detail if I have to in order to get this mood. By inserting an
image of windblown rain on glass with Layer blending OVERLAY at 43%, I got the efect I
was looking for.
David, and his brother James, set up Hennessy
and Associates in July 2007 in Tramore, Ireland.
Their background is as Architectural technicians,
originally working for Murray OLaoire architects
for 10 years, both in Ireland and abroad.
Currently, we do a lot of outsourcing for other
companies and have worked on projects in Moscow,
Saudi Arabia and South Africa amongst others.
We also do our own projects,one of housing,
extensions etc.
We do both technical drawings and 3D
modelling,using Sketchup to model and Vray,
Maxwell and Twilight to render.
www.hennessyassoc.com
Check out
SketchUcations
Post Processing
forum where
youll fnd more
stunning tutorials
by David
FEATURED MEMBER
davi d hennessy
Use the
Scale tool to
resize similar
components
to ft the re-
quired fram-
ing
Composite
girder set
fush to sill in
beam pocket
Lengths of
composite
members to
be trimmed
later
Cantilever
rim joists
over the
girder
Start mul-
tiple copies
with Move
tool and Ctrl
key
Cantilever
joists to
match width
of entry deck
Use a
Plug-in to
calculate the
volume of the
backfll
Triple-click
to select the
backfll and
group and
name
Rectangle
matches the
bottom of
the excava-
tion
Push-Pull
the rectangle
to the top of
the excava-
tion
Resize the
top of the
backfll with
the Scale
tool
Use the
Ctrl key with
Scale to re-
size from the
center
Use infer-
ences to
match the top
of the slope
Form the
base of the
backfll with
the Rectangle
tool
Key-in
spacing then
the number
of copies
Resize
rim joist to
width of foor
joists
CONSTRUCTION MODELING - Step 5
PLUG-IN*
Volume Calculation
Fill cells and bolt sills to stem walls, check level before placing backfll in preparation
for rim and foor joists. Resize blocking, fascia, and subfoor components to ft framing.
*SketchUp V8 also shows the vol-
ume in the Entity Info dialog box
Fascia
ties ends of
cantilevered
foor joists
Use compo-
nents to add
visual scale to
screenshots
Add multiple
copies with
the Ctrl key
and Move
Move-copy
blocking
over face of
the girder
Move-copy
blocking along
both sides of
the guideline
Use the
Scale tool to
resize the
blocking com-
ponent to ft
Organize
framing mem-
bers in nested
groups
Add stock
subfoor from
a component
library Resize sub-
foor compo-
nents with
the Scale
tool to ft
Outliner is a
materials list
for quantity
take-offs
Drag along
the Red axis,
key-in spacing,
and number of
copies
Double fascia
for deck per
revised draw-
ings
See the Think
Out of the
Box blog ar-
ticle for more
on construction
modeling
U-TUBE
Videos from our books.
Backfll Volume
Scaling Components (Again)
Setting Blocking
books.sketchUcation.com
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Next Edition.....
Were starting the new year with
even more CatchUp as we plan to
turn it into a monthly release.
So that means more tips, tricks
and reviews for you to pour over.
As ever, were alredy beavering
away at Januarys edition and if
you read the editorial you know
weve something very exciting on
the horizon that we know youre
going to love!
So its a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year to all our
members and readers.