Rob,

That is very interesting that you think that SketchUp is able to be a full-flown BIM program. I am aware that Synchro is able to provide the scheduling aspect, but what is available for estimating and producing QTOs? And how do you tell a component what it is, for example to tell a wall that is a CMU wall with certain insulation etc. Would you make a dynamic component out of it?

Hey guys,

I am a construction Management Student at Colorado State University. I am also on the Building Information Modeling competition team. We have a competition in which we will be competing against other schools on the 11th. We are given 2D plans and we are to complete 3 stages of completeness (Level 100 through 300.)
So basically level 100 is a masssing of the structure that we are to draw as well as the structures surrounding. I am thinking that SketchUp will be a great tool for masssings and for planning. Google earth may be a great asset as well to output a fly in video etc... Sandbox may help as well.

Level 200 adds a bit more detail and this is when we will start using Revit to draft.

My responsibility on the team is to handle level 100 and I am looking for some advice on the workflow. There are several parts of SketchUp that I think will be valuable; sandbox, google earth integration, easy massings, sunlight simulation, and LEED strategies.

IES has a toolbar for SketchUp that I would like to get my hands on. I registered for the trial version of the toolbar and listed my email and such and they did not offer a download on the website after registering nor did they send me an email. Has anyone gotten the trial of the IES toolbar? How did you go about getting it?

Anyways I was looking for your input on how I could implement Sketchup, Earth, and possible LEED analysis and planning.

Thanks for your help guys,

adam

Hey all,

So today was the hour run-down with the fourth grade class. Overall it went very well, the kids were absolutely pumped about the software. First of all I went through and explained why we would use software such as SU and what it is used for. Next I explained where you may use it in a job. We opened up the program and I showed them the basic tools (rec, line, circle, push/pull.) I taught they about the X & Y axis and used the push/pull tool to demonstrate the third, Z, axis. They were really pumped about the push/pull tool. I had them use these tools to create a cube and then add a roof. They were really excited about this. I really ran out of time and was hoping that I could have them put brick and shingles on the roof but it didn't work out. I showed them a couple things on the projector, like downloading a semi off the 3DWH and then scaled the house to fit the semi. This really showed them the importance of scale and measurements. I was hoping to have more time to let them loose.

I would say about half of the group of 18 was following really well and could have gone much faster. This was the toughest part of the class, challenging all of the students and meeting them where they are skill-wise. I finished off by showing them the Massive Black video which really got them excited.I told them that they draw all of their characters and vehicles using the same tools that we learned about and they were pretty surprised about that. They all wrote down the address to download it from and hopefully they will go home and play with it. I recommended them to keep their eyes open and try draw everyday objects that you may find in your house or outside and not to be afraid to play with it and, at times, fail.

It was a fun experience and makes my respect teachers that much more Thanks all for your responses and tips, really did help!

Chris,

That is exactly what I was looking for! You just introduced me to styles, I will need to play with these now. I would never have looked there, thank you!

Adam

Hey all,

I have seen several images and videos of section cuts people have made using a SU model and they highlighted the edges of the cut red or another color. Is this done in SU or in a 3rd party rendering software?

Thanks for the help,

Adam

Hey thank you all for your responses. I am teaching this coming Tuesday for about an hour. Thank you all for your help, this really does help me! I will let you know how it goes afterwards.

Hey Guys,

I am a College student and my mother is a 4th grade school teacher. Her and I were talking about how valuable coming in and doing a quick run-through of the program may be. I am brainstorming ways I could go about the training. Should I give them an assignment such as creating a basic house with a line drawn down the middle of the roof and then moved the line up to create a pitch? They are currently going over perpendicular lines, right angles, special triangles, angles and intersecting lines.

I know I would have been intrigued by the software if I was presented with it at this age. They can download it on their computers at home and run wild with it. I think SketchUp creates a very good platform to teach a wide variety of concepts because it is visual and you can see it changing right in front of you.

I am looking for some help with brainstorming from you guys about some basic concepts that I could teach through a basic assignment or project that we would go through together. Maybe we will spike some interest and get some SketchUper's started early

-Adam

This method of using scenes works as an effective way to workaround the lack of dimensioning in SketchUp. That is really interesting why they did not include this in LayOut; seems that dimensioning should be a cornerstone of presentation and print software. The idea of using a dummy scene is a great idea, thank you for the tip.

Thanks for the help guys!

Hey guys,

First of all I just want to say I am blown away by the community here. I have been playing pretty with SU seriously for about a year now and just recently found this great community.

I have two questions pertaining to LayOut:

1.) I have not found a way to effectively dimension models for shop drawings through LayOut. If I want to dimension an entire model, it ends up getting very unorganized and messy in a hurry with all of the dimension strands. Ideally I would like to have four different views, each having dimensions pertaining to that particular view. Is there a way to toggle on and off dimensions for use in different views of the same model? I would like to execute it such that if I go back into the model and need to make a change to the model, that the dimension strands in LayOut will be in sync.

2.) While drafting woodworking projects I would like to have a sheet in LayOut for each piece of the model. This way I can make a cut list and can dimension each piece individually and make notes etc. If I do not break the model down in LayOut it is very difficult to print all of the dimensions and see how the joints work together. Each of the pieces are their own component.

Glad to see others out there who love to play in SketchUp!

Happy New Year and thank you for your help!

-Adam