Creating ruins (destructible structures)

ampersand

Hi there. i have a few questions involving sketchup and was hoping some could hopefully be cleared up for me (i have searched the forums and google but not found what i was looking for) So i was hoping i may be able to find the help here
ok firstly im primarily a texture artist that often makes use of sketchup on simple levels to create fairly low poly models, rendering in vray with my textures applied. This has worked very well for me on the best part. but im finding the need to have to create a lot of buildings in various states of disrepair. with sketchup being a fairly user friendly tool that ive become pretty accustomed to more recently, id like to stick with it and try and get the best out of sketchup for the uses i require.
now as I mentioned I use it on a very basic level, previously my textures did most of the work along with my render options, but as my artwork is starting to require a lot more flexibility, im finding that i am having to create more and more in full 3d. i do manage to create half decent ruins, but i feel i am missing out severly as this seems to become a massively lengthy process for me.
as i mentioned, i use Vray, and vray is the only plugin i have installed.
also im wanting to create as much freeformity to my buildings as possible to make extra use of them, collapsing certain areas where needed to create variation in levels of ruin.
so my questions

what plugins would be best suited for me for the required job at hand? i dont like cluttering of unused plugins and such and much prefer a streamlined toolkit to do so.
ive searched high and low for any tutorials on this but have so far not been able to find any specifically for the task at hand. is there anything in particular i need to be looking for?
as im fairly inexperienced when it comes to the whole community of sketchup, are there any terms and such i might need to know that might aid me? i tend to often work very much out of the loop so to speak so most abbreviations and such just go way over my head.

im sure i may have more questions later on but hopefully im not asking for too much information as a first poster. but any help would be massively appreciated
big hello!
thanks in advance
&

iichiversii

Iv created an old afgan ruin in the past and i added a little tutorial to the post on request view topic http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=333&t=45200&hilit=+old+ruin It may not be the best technic but it worked for me, hope this helps

Rich O Brien

Can you post an example of what you currently do?

Nothing is impossible but some things are not sensible in SketchUp.

dale

Pay special attention to "groups", "components", and "layers", these are tools that will allow you to accomplish the collapse of structures without a lot of hassle.

ampersand

sorry currently i cant post anything (at work)
but what iichiversii has showcased on his thread is pretty much exactly what im looking to achieve.
currently everything i work on is in 2d renders of my simple 3d creations in a top down view, so you can understand how limited my previous usage would of been with sketchup.
but with the 3d aspect becoming a much stronger field to work in im having to find the need to create much more fluidly in a 3d aspect (various camera angles required and such)
previously also being much more relient on my usage of photoshop for the simple top down views i havent had the need for materials (seeing the usage of displacement and bump maps on that afghan shack?)
so this is also something i would be looking to add to what i make.

currently also these are all prototyped ideas. as id like to have that fluidity to my creations to be able to render in any angle if and when needed. and im using unity 3d as a placeholder for the 3d version of my scene. ill be happy to show how this pans out when i have more 3d to show (im not sure anyone is going to be interested in the 2d at the moment)

but all in all iichiversii's thread is exactly what im hoping to achieve.
my aim is to find the best tools and workflow needed to achive pretty much exactly that

again thanks so far guys but i still feel i need to find out more as per my original questions

cheers

pilou

Maybe random selection by Tig can help you for some destructive functions
and random delete also by Tig

kantiano

My favourite technique comes from the fantastic plugin: Fractal terrain erode. Just select the face, plugins ) Erode, be careful with the iterations (the more it will take a lot of time and can be buggy...)