CAD

SketchUp Pro 2013 Released Today

May 21st, 2013 by Millie Smith

SketchUp Pro 2013 LogoGreat news for all CAD enthusiasts and professionals! Trimble Navigation is going to announce the release of SketchUp Pro 2013 today at 18:00 UK time.

Details on the new release are still scarce but the new and improved SketchUp Pro 2013 is meant to be more powerful and versatile than it’s predecessor. The new version will provide an easier access to the universe of plug-ins, add-ons and extensions that have been developed by the SketchUp community throughout the years.

SketchUp Pro 2013 will include Extension Warehouse (Beta), which would mark Trimble’s efforts towards making this excellent design tool even more customizable and fun.

SketchUp Pro 2013 is going to include a new and improved version of LayOut, featuring speedier vector rendering, better zooming and other improved functionality for easier documentation, sharing and presentation.

The Trimble team definitely has very exciting news to share today but the most interesting bit seems to be the fact that the free version of SketchUp is going to be distributed under a new name – SketchUp Make. We are still unsure whether new features will be added to SketchUp Make, but one thing is certain – it will remain free.

Software Paradise is an authorised SketchUp reseller. For more information about the new SketchUp release, please contact our certified sales representitive Iva – iva@softwareparadise.co.uk .

 We can source any software for you! Please email us for more information or call us at +44 (0)1962 659168. Quotations submitted within an hour!

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Rendering in SketchUp: From Modeling to Presentation for Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design by Daniel Tal

April 16th, 2013 by Millie Smith

Rendering-in-SketchUp-Cover2Daniel Tal, SketchUp expert and author of “Google SketchUp for Site Design”, has published a new book. Tal’s latest publication “Rendering in SketchUp” provides instructions for creating 3D photo-realistic graphics for SketchUp models using integrated rendering programs.

“Rendering in SketchUp”, a 640 page book, is both a beginner’s manual and reference guide to rendering in SketchUp. The author describes the rendering processes step by step and provides SketchUp users with insights into the universal approach to rendering various SketchUp projects, including architectural, interior and site design models. The book is accompanied by a website and free, downloadable companion chapters.

Readers who have purchased “Rendering in SketchUp” on Amazon testify that:

“The book is a must buy for anyone who wants to learn rendering techniques for SketchUp”

“The author has shared every secret and workflow with no hold back”

“If you are new to rendering, this book will enable you to fast track your learning curve and make the entire learning process a much more enjoyable experience”

“I have been using SketchUp on a regular basis since the release of Version 4 and I consider myself to be “very proficient”. However, I have found in this book useful modelling tips and workflow shortcuts that I never knew existed”

Software Paradise is an authorised SketchUp Pro reseller, offering free support and competitive pricing - best UK price £245! For more information about SketchUp, please contact our certified SketchUp Pro sales representative Iva at iva@softwareparadise.co.uk or call her on 01962 280 270.

We can source any software for you! Please email us for more information or call us at +44 (0)1962 659168. Quotations submitted within an hour!

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Style Builder: Add an Arty Twist to Your SketchUp Pro Models

April 12th, 2013 by Millie Smith

The most important part of delivering a presentation and conveying your idea is to be able to stand out of the crowd. If you are a designer, coming up with a great idea is not enough. Sometimes presenting your concept in an engaging, accessible and unique way could be more important than the idea itself!

A smart way to add an arty boost to your final design presentation is to use one of SketchUp‘s great features – Styles. Styles is a collection of pre-defined display settings that can be applied to your model and the drawing area.

If you are a SketchUp Pro user, you should try the Style Builder to create custom non-photorealistic (NPR) Styles for SketchUp. These NPR Styles will give your models a very unique look – hand drawn, hi-tech and anything in between. SketchUp Pro lets you apply a Style to any design quickly.

You can create Styles, save and share them with others. This can be especially handy for artist who work in a team and would like to share custom styles with one another.

Scan in, photograph or draw the strokes you want to use. Sketchy-edge Styles can be based on anything: wavy pencil lines, quick pen strokes, marks from a fat stick of graphite. Anything you create, can be a Style. Applying Styles to a SketchUp model takes just a click.

SketchUpArtists – one of the biggest SketchUp resources on the web – has compiled probably the largest visual library of free SketchUp Styles available for everybody to download and use.

 
SketchUp High Speed Road Style
 

SketchUp Cartoon Style

 

SketchUp Styles Splatters

 
SketchUp Render Style 3
 

SketchUp Grundge Style 1

 

We can source any software for you! Please email us for more information or call us at +44 (0)1962 659168. Quotations submitted within an hour!

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New Plugin for SketchUp: Learn the Latest SketchUp News on the Spot

April 11th, 2013 by Millie Smith

SketchUp Pro News PluginRecently we posted about some great plugins for SketchUp that expand its functionality and increase the compatibility with other 3D design tools. One of SketchUp’s great advantages in comparison to most CAD solutions is the abundance of free resources, tutorials and quite good ready-to-use models. The SketchUp community is so vibrant that sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the news on the program and Trimble. But not any more.

CAD/BIM Expert Alex Schreyer recently released a new plugin called SketchUp News. As the title suggests, the plugin follows a variety of SketchUp web resources – the official Trimble website and blog, SketchUcation and SketchUpArtists – and pulls out the latest tutorials and news, so you could stay in the loop without even leaving SketchUp.

This small plugin adds a news browser directly within SketchUp – to the Help Menu. It also pulls out Trimble’s Facebook posts and Tweets, mentioning @sketchup and discussions from the SketchUcation forum. Pretty handy!

All you need to do is download the the RBZ file, open SketchUp (v.8 M2 and above) and navigate to the Preferences dialogue. On the Extensions tab, select “Install Extension” and browse to the file.

The developer has included all sources that provide reliable information and have an accessible RSS feed. If you know or own a good blog or website that you think should be included in the feed, you are welcome to suggest that on the developer’s website.

Software Paradise is an authorised SketchUp reseller, offering free support and competitive pricing - best UK price £245!

 We can source any software for you! Please email us for more information or call us at +44 (0)1962 659168. Quotations submitted within an hour!

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Plugins for SketchUp That Expand Your CAD Functionalities

April 8th, 2013 by Millie Smith

Trimble SketchUp LogoSketchUp Pro is one of the most popular 3D modelling tools on the market. Trimble’s CAD solution has several advantages in comparison to its competitors – affordable pricing, versatile functionality and a very short learning curve that allows users with little or no experience in CAD to create impressive designs.

While SketchUp Pro is great quality for the price, most advanced users often need to expand its functionality and use Trimble’s tool in combination with other CAD programs. Trimble and other companies have developed a variety of plugins for SketchUp that extend its functionality and make it more compatible with other CAD tools.

One of these plugins is V-Ray for SketchUp. It works within the SketchUp environment allowing users to efficiently render their models with superb quality and realism, without having to leave their current workflow.

The Import and Export functionality is one of the leading reasons why users upgrade to SketchUp Pro. The import and export of .SKP files to and from AutoCAD is not an option in the free version of SketchUp but is available in SketchUp Pro. Just click the “File” menu and select “Export” or “Import”. A few years ago Trimble developed an optional plugin for SketchUp, compatible with both Windows and Mac , that enables the DWG/DXF importer.

IRender nXt is a powerful plugin for rendering high-resolution images right inside SketchUp. IRender nXt is fully-integrated with Sketch Up materials, lighting and components for complete control of interior, exterior, daytime or night-time scenes for stunning results like this car design by Alan Krupp:

The SketchUp Vue Exporter Plugin is a Ruby-based script application for SketchUp, which exports Sketchup models, sun direction, and cameras into Vue format. The plugin is available directly in the SketchUp’s “Plugins” menu and creates a Vue.VOB model file featuring full Sketchup model geometries, components, groups and materials along with a Vue Scene Settings Python script file for automatically importing the model, sun direction, and camera.

sketchup to vue plugin

Another interesting plugin for SketchUp is Product Connect which allows the users to visualise real products in their SketchUp models and export product schedules into the next step of the design workflow. Users can search product models, such car makes and TV brands, in the Product Connect collection on the 3D Warehouse and download them into their SketchUp models. Once the design is complete, the Product Connect plugin can be launched and its Report Maker tool can be used to export organized product schedules in .csv format. These product schedules include information such as name, description, SKU code, manufacturer, dimensions, URL and more.

The full list of plugins is available here. For the latest SketchUp plugin – SketchUp News, please click here.  Software Paradise is an authorised SketchUp reseller, offering free support and competitive pricing – best UK price £245!

We can source any software for you! Please email us for more information or call us at +44 (0)1962 659168. Quotations submitted within an hour!

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