Burt's WIP

bupaje · 27 Mar 2011, 19:13

I hope this is the right way to do this, but I wanted a single thread to post images of stuff as I am learning.

This is day two with SketchUp for me and I am pretty excited. I decided to start out with a medieval cart of sorts to figure out how everything works. I can see I have a lot to learn.

Here is the wagon so far. I'll probably trash this at some point and start fresh as I can see I should have set up and organized several things differently.

PS. Wagon contents from the library.

KiraNL · 27 Mar 2011, 23:22

For two days of sketchup i think its a fine model already. ^^

SketchUpNoobie · 28 Mar 2011, 00:29

Yep, waayyy better than what I had in two days. Good luck learning SketchUp. Hope you enjoy every (well, almost every) part of it.

bupaje · 28 Mar 2011, 05:17

Thanks. I am having fun.

designerstuart · 29 Mar 2011, 14:32

out of interest, is this model made in two halves as components so you only need to model half of it?
same with the wheels etc. or is it just copies of linework?

good model, especially for 2 days!

bupaje · 1 Apr 2011, 03:03

@designerstuart said:

out of interest, is this model made in two halves as components so you only need to model half of it?
same with the wheels etc. or is it just copies of linework?

good model, especially for 2 days!

Sorry for the delayed response. I guess I forgot to check 'notify me' -will do that now.

It was two sided. I couldn't figure out if SU had some sort of mirror function. I could have cut half but then wasn't sure if point needed to be welded and so on. The wheels are componets as are the 'handles' and hardware to pull the cart though I realized afterwards that I need to put more thought into that.

On other news I postponed the ship hull I was working on -too ambitious for me it seems. All those curves had me going batty. I tested all the methods in the forum posts I was pointed at but it will be some time before I can handle that.

I decided to stick mainly to basic tools and blocks for a week or two so I don't feel like a loser.

I decided to try a quick set piece. I wanted to work with components, terrain, textures and other basic stuff. I will try that fur plugin I saw for some grass and maybe debris. May see about lofting some vines and also look at rendering and lighting too.

I am interested in knowing if there is a plugin of some sort that I can use to add noise, random movements to the brick components along the red and green axis? It would be cool if this exists, if not I'd add it to the suggestion pile. Give the wall and instant run down appearance.

axeonalias · 1 Apr 2011, 08:54

Nice work and that wagon is great for your 2nd day on SU
That last pic could make and interesting render

SketchUpNoobie · 1 Apr 2011, 12:03

@bupaje said:

I am interested in knowing if there is a plugin of some sort that I can use to add noise, random movements to the brick components along the red and green axis? It would be cool if this exists, if not I'd add it to the suggestion pile. Give the wall and instant run down appearance.

I remember seeing a plugin like this. It looked pretty useful for stuff like this. It would randomly move components along the green and red and blue axis and rotate according to parameters you set up. I looked in the plugin directory and couldn't seem to find it. Anybody have any idea of what I'm thinking of? I believe it might have had the word "component" in the name.

SketchUpNoobie · 1 Apr 2011, 14:58

Hmmm. I still can't find it. Does anyone have any ideas as to what it might be. I remember seeing an explanatory image of a couple of desks placed slightly randomly. You could try Sahi's Copy Brick plugin though. I haven't tried it either.

bupaje · 1 Apr 2011, 15:25

Ah, thanks for pointing out that cool plugin. I will be testing it at work during my lunch break (now you know I'm hooked).

bupaje · 1 Apr 2011, 23:10

Wow, so many cool plugins. I think the Scale and Rotate plugin http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=139946 might do it but the Brick one you mention, several other random rotation, drop objects and even component spray just boggle the mind with possibilities.

I must be addicted because instead of going out for lunch at work I spent my time trying components.

SketchUpNoobie · 4 Apr 2011, 11:17

Very nice for a first render.

It's kind of dark though. Maybe you should put a moon somewhere to light up the scene a little bit. I know you want it to be dark but it's pretty hard to see much of anything. It may just be my monitor though.

designerstuart · 4 Apr 2011, 16:08

also, in response to above, there is a mirror command in skp but it's a little unintuitive. slect whatever you want to flip, right click, flip along.....
so to make something symmetrical, make half as a comp, copy it, flip the copy and snap it back into place. now you can edit both sides of your car / spceship / face simultaneously.

bupaje · 4 Apr 2011, 16:52

Ahhhhh! I saw the 'flip along' but didn't think to make it a component - thanks!

bupaje · 5 Apr 2011, 07:08

Actually may be me. I am using an 11 year old system here at home and not sure the monitor is calibrated. Looks normal on my monitor but might be dark. I'll have to look at the image at work.

bupaje · 5 Apr 2011, 07:08

Spent hours tinkering with the Kerkythea rendering engine - pretty amazing. I was just doing the baby monkey turning the dial at random thing. Finally ran out of time so I Photoshoped a quick light sphere for visual interest.

Baby steps.

bupaje · 17 Apr 2011, 18:45

Two more I started working on. Just jumping around trying to get familiar with everything. Unfortunately my pc is at its limit. I tried to render some 3 sided wires on the robot legs using Lines 2 Tubes,but the computer keeps crashing - can almost hear it chugging when it is trying to render them.

bupaje · 18 Apr 2011, 06:24

Poked at this a little more. Think this is as far as I'll go with this one. I want to start over with a bit more of a plan and see what I can do.

designerstuart · 19 Apr 2011, 16:49

nice one burt, i have a couple of tips i think you might like
1 make some lines hidden (entity info box) like where you use two components back to back, like at the feet / knees. hide the joins so it looks like they are one
2 intersect the sphere (select - right click - intersect with model) at the 'pelvis' with the leg bits - this will show the joints here rather than the white blob look you currently have

hope these help - keep it coming!

bupaje · 19 Apr 2011, 18:53

Ah, thanks for that. I didn't quite get the purpose of the intersect operation before. Will get back to work as soon as I get home tonight. Spent last night watching sketchupbasecamp videos - fairly certain I am addicted now.