SketchUp is (also) a very nice tool for taking a 2D concept and bringing it into the third dimension! In this case I speed painted a weapon concept in Gimp (last two images of the post) and I brought it as an image into SketchUp, tracing and extruding and so on. The final model is still quite low poly and could receive more work here and there, I just need to find a minute to keep working on it

I didn't render the model, since I doubt Kerkythea would add any interesting spot to such a low poly model; the first image of the post is just a bunch of different SketchUp screenshots mixed in Gimp.

Here are 2 speed paintings for the concept:

I hope you like it and that I'll sooner or later update this model and make it a bit more interesting! Have a nice time and keep making this forum as great as it is

the 2 original posts about this project can be found on my blog, if you are interested : http://blog.andreabianco.eu/?p=22 and http://blog.andreabianco.eu/?p=23

@honoluludesktop : thanks a lot, now I got it

Thanks for helping me understanding this, people. This forum is never ceasing to amaze me

@SketchupNoobie : copy/paste/scale was one of the solutions I tried, but with it I lose the UV texture I am projecting on the mesh -- I actually copy/paste/scale the texture too.

@honoluludesktop : I'm not sure I got what you mean

Hi there, I have a little question for the gurus in this forum

I noticed that the Offset Tool is sometimes giving weird results. I attach an image that should make the issue clear. After a certain amount of offset something goes wrong. It happens especially with complicated perimeters, but also with a simple one like this rounded square.

Why is it happening? Is there a way I can avoid it?

Thanks in advance,
Andrea.

Thanks for the nice feedback James & ken28875

@Pilou : I'm basically a 2D artist, most of the time I use 3D packages to make it easier composing a correct perspective if the subjects are complex or if I don't have enough time. Creating a simple 3D model and repainting it is quite a common time saving task actually By having this ship as a 3D model I can take as many screenshots as I want, in various light/shadow/fog/perspective/camera settings, and paint over it creating in very few time an effective concept for the subject. SketchUp is very good for that too

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback

Thanks for the comment

It was quite a fast concept so I didn't save the steps and I kept overwriting the same file. I just have a screen-shot of the project I took when I was starting working on values, here it is :

Have a nice time!

Hi there, it's a while I'm not posting here because I sadly had not enough time to spend on SketchUp. I just installed the release 8 and I did this fast concept for warming up and trying to remember shortcuts etc. I then painted over the model using Gimp.

That's basically my usage of SketchUp, a way for laying down the base for paintings -- but I'll probably have to start using it for architectural pre-viz soon and it looks like a fascinating topic! I'll take the time to browse through the forum, I'm sure it's stuffed with useful info and resources

I hope you like it, have a nice time people!

Original post with more images: http://blog.andreabianco.eu/?p=35

The whole thread is stuffed with great models mate, I especially like your last one. I saw you are featured on some mods and u truly deserve it

@tridem : thanks mate! Well I'm not an advanced KT user, I just use it from time to time for creating basic renders of my models & scenes, for testing/painting purposes. I would like to spend more time on it, KT has a great potential! Ciao

@Pilou : I saw his illustrations in conceptart.org, he has a very interesting style and he also published some kind of step-by-step in ca.org forums.

thanks liam! this is my true first test with a finished SketchUp model, I hope I can post something new soon by the way I checked your art and you have some great stuff online, keep it up! (about the slots on sides : two similar slots are under the side engines, but they are covered by them -- I wanted to show that in the concept sheet but I forgot )

thanks a lot ecofeco and artysmedia !

@Pilou : thanks mate that will do the trick

@Simon B : yes that blog is stuffed with amazing art and it's already in my Google Reader Thanks for the feedback & the wishes! Coming from 3DS Max & Blender I found SketchUp to be radically different -- it bothered me at first but now I am slowly understanding it and I like it a lot

Thanks for the feedback Pilou! I tried embedding Vimeo in my post but the preview of the post was still showing code instead of video and so I dropped it, how did you manage to do it?

I'll explore SketchUp animation plugins, they look promising!

Hi there, I recently decided to bring SketchUp into my creative pipeline and I joined this forum because it's truly the best online resource for it -- here I found a lot of info about features and plugins and I can say I like SketchUp a lot more than how I did in past, thanks to this forum

Here is my first try at using SketchUp for my illustration / concept art purposes (scaled down version, the high resolution one can be found following the link posted below):

I created the model in SketchUp, rendered some stills in Kerkythea and composed 'em in ArtRage, where I also painted all the details, textures and worked out the overall presentation of the piece. If you are interested you can find more info and a turntable-like animation of the model (and an high resolution render) on my blog at http://http://blog.andreabianco.eu/?p=49. Thanks for reading and watching and have a nice time!

Thanks to both, I'm taking a look at both the scripts.

I have a little question about Repeat Copy, before I buy it : will it use the normal of the receiving face for orienting the pasted component?

I also tried "Component on face" by Chris Fullmer and it's quite useful though not exactly what I was looking for (some manual tweaking is required).

Thanks again

Thanks for the answer Gaieus, I'm spending more time on Component Spray plugin and trying to get it to do what I need; I'll post about that on the plugin thread you linked to. In this post I was actually meaning to ask if there is some alternative technique I can use to accomplish the same task

Hi there my name's Andrea and I'm trying to improve my SketchUp skills and hopefully include it in my creative pipeline. I'm working on some models and while detailing one of them I started wondering if there is a fast and efficient way for creating copies of elements snapped to the face of another component -- keeping them correctly oriented. Something like 3DS Max "Advanced Painter" plugin.

I'm giving a try to "Component Spray" plugin but I can't always get it to do what I need. I would need to decide which face of my component will have to snap to the face of the other element for instance.

I hope someone can help me and I thank all of you people, this forum is a massive source of inspiration, resources and help!