Now I know that I have talked about Lightup in a previous article and noted its differences from other 3d rendering plugins that are available for Sketchup. I just wanted to show you a couple of other things that it can do.

I have tried nearly all of the available rendering plugins for Sketchup and when it comes to architects and designers who do the occasional render now and then, I rate Twilight Render as the best rendering plugin for Sketchup in terms of being the easiest to use straight off the bat, balanced with cost and overall rendering output quality.

If you have thought about creating physical models from your Sketchup files, it has never been a better time and it is actually very easy!

This is a bit more of a practical tutorial compared to some of the recent tips that I have been creating. One of my previous Sketchup Modelling Essentials students who is an engineer, does a lot of swimming pool design and she came to me with a section profile of a pool wall and shape of the pool, wanting to know how one would go about creating this particular model.

I was going to use the two above mentioned plugins for Sketchup on the modelling of this odd shaped desk in the photograph below as a demonstration of how to create objects that have a curve in two direction. However after having a good look at it, I have realised that the hood curves only in one direction and you can easily model the desk with the basic Sketchup tools without too much trouble.

 Virtual reality has been around for a while and the technology has always been fairly inaccessible until more recently.

I have been talking about it for a while now, and after countless hours of production, editing and testing, today is the official launch day of the new online Sketchup Training School! 

Being able to open doors and windows interactively inside your Sketchup model can give you a better understanding of sightlines between internal rooms while delivering that extra “wow factor” to a presentation. In this tip I show you how to animate objects like these in your 3d model with a simple click of a button by using embedded commands inside your components.