@rv1974 said:

Sorry but my impression is that this stage architecturalmodelling in Blender is a refined torture. The more Blender promos I see , the more I appreciate SU existance (with all its bottle necks).

I have not shown the Architectural addons for Blender, which make things much simpler. Also, Blender's modifiers can cut through a solid wall, whereas SketchUp can only cut through a surface. This becomes most problematic in SU when trying to insert doors and window components but is a breeze in Blender.

For now I'm focusing on just the basics. I use SketchUp for much more than architectural 3D and so I don't require as much from Blender in terms of architectural prowess. Still, you should look at some of the amazing Architectural addons for Blender. They can do a lot!

Here's a new tutorial on rendering inside of Blender with Cycles, a free non-biased renderer like Thea.

New Tute-- this one is about taking the lines (edges) created from the blueprint of the last tutorial and converting them magically into walls. ning:

New video showing you how to accurately create dimensioned drawings and models in Blender using their version of the pencil tool and a background template.

Thanks Limshigan for your great architectural modeling review for Blender. Very helpful!

@rv1974 said:

$.02: To reset group scale\rotation use TT's 'Group to component', then reset scale\rotation easily (there're at least 3 plugins)

That's a great tip! Not sure why it's not found somewhere in the standard interface?

For now at least I'm trying to work with vanilla Blender and not trying to compare SketchUp plugins vs Blender addons. It's just too big a job-- though I may use some of the obvious ones to make a point (like Fredo's radius tool).

Like SketchUp, I know Blender also has a whole community devoted to different addons to do unique things.

Here's the Edit Mode, Objects and Groups in Blender video.

To answer some of your questions will require I talk about the next tutorial which has to do with objects and groups. But a quick answer for how to move a face to another face, you can just move with a snap mode set:

And as far as numeric control goes, it's just exactly like SketchUp, while you're in the move, rotate or scale mode, you just type in the number you're wanting it move/rotate/scale the object/vertices/edges/faces.

And moving vertices is easy in Blender (as is move faces and edges)...just Ctrl-Tab into vertex mode and select (Ctrl+right mouse button to lasso) and move. Note to select hidden vertices, you need to be in wireframe mode-- or check a setting which allows you to select hidden vertices. I prefer toggling back in forth in wireframe mode by just tapping the Z key.

My friend Jerry did this quick anim to show you moving to verts. Keep in mind, in Blender you DON'T WANT TO SCALE your base object unless you have to as it's easier to work in Edit mode. In SketchUp terms, you'd rather NOT scale Groups but the stuff inside a group. It will be explained in the next video.

and

New tute: Some really cool Navigation tricks. This one is short: 2 1/2 minutes long but has two great tricks!

Another video, this one on the Scale tool. While it's a bit more difficult than SU's, the new Blender 2.8 (coming this fall) has a scale tool just like SketchUp. It also has palettes with buttons like SketchUp as well. Still, learning this version is good as all the shortcut keys are pretty much the same. Most translates.

Jerry (aka masterXeon1001) just showed me some truly amazing boolean stuff where they put objects onto/into very curved Blender surfaces and automatically adjusted the normals so that there is zero artifacting. Amazing!

and this one is especially cool because at the end of the video, he deconstructs the object back into a cube!

Rotate tute now up and available:

Thanks. I'll keep posting. New video on using the Move tool.
I really want to get the basics out of the way so I can start to work on modeling strategies and how they differ from SketchUp to Blender. I'm really fortunate to have a friend who is one of the top modelers in the Blender world: https://www.artstation.com/jerryperkins1447

While it might not be everybody's cup of tea, he does know all the ins and outs of the application. And he's also creator of HardOps and BoxCutter, two amazingly cool tools for modeling.

A new tutorial on how Blender's navigation is almost identical to SketchUp's.

BTW, are these videos of value? I was planning on creating a whole series based on SketchUp's current interface and how it maps to Blenders. If they are offending anyone, then I can just post them on YouTube and not here.

@alpro said:

As someone who works with other Trimble software and hardware everyday I feel pretty confident that you will not see the pro version of Sketchup heading online anytime soon, that doesn't fit with any of their other professional tools.

So, perhaps you have an idea why they are spending a significant amount of their development time creating a free cloud version and not improving SU Pro? And you think Trimble is in the business of maintaining two code bases? If they had no intention of eventually going to the cloud, it would be much simpler keeping Make free-- or even crippling it. Makes zero sense to spend so much time creating a hobbled free version for browsers.

Furthermore, do you really think they are going to expect developers to maintain two different versions of their plugins: 1 for the cloud and another for the desktop version? They have already stated they want to eventually enable plugin support for the cloud version, and that there will need to be changes to the current plugins codebase.

@alpro said:

Thanks for the videos.

You're welcome. I plan on creating more.

As I mentioned in the video, switching isn't for everyone, and point 5 states you may not want to consider switching if you are an architect. I doubt Blender can compete with SU and/or Revit or other architecture specific software.

@pbacot said:

What are the blender output options? As limited as it is, LayOut has helped me use SU in everyday practice, as solid output portal. I can make pdfs, dwg, or png as needed. From SU or LayOut I can also just take screen shots to mail to associates on the fly for discussion (whereas so far Blender doesn't look very good to me on screen for this sort of thing). LO output is easily translatable to the working drawing format. Does Blender get there somehow? The movement toward real-time rendering is exciting. So are all outputs via raster images? If I can get a scale image out I can do the rest of the "paper space" work in CAD... If vector linework can be exported as well, all the better. Thanks for this discussion!

As said in the video, Blender has no Layout option. There is no 2D equivalent to Layout in Blender.

w/regard to creating a SU style rendering, I believe it's possible, but I haven't done it. I did do a similar style in KeyShot as evidenced in this video explaining it, so I believe it's possible in Blender-- I just haven't figured it out yet.

As I show in my second video on installing and configuring Blender, you can set unit size to metric or imperial. Certainly that's not as good as SU, but it should be good for import and export (though I haven't spent much time going back and forth from Blender to SU).

You can use the FreeStyle SVG Export to export Blender to vector.

@rv1974 said:

May be I missed something but what is the ground for this exessive alarmism about Sketchup heading to Cloud ONLY? It'd be suisidal for Trimble do it in following decade ~+-
P.S. Well with all my respect this Archimesh add-on a bad joke. I'd end up living under the brige trying to 'work' this way.

Yep, I suspect you did miss something. Over on the Sketchucation forum there's a VERY LONG thread talking about all this, and several comments from SU devs saying how great the cloud is for application development. They point to other apps, like Onshape, which reside totally in the cloud.

And if you think about it (and know something about software development), it's a huge lift to create a cloud version of SU-- and just for free? Based on the meager feature gains over the past few years, and the MAJOR infrastructure gains in the cloud, they can't be planning anything other than moving everyone to the cloud. There are several advantages to SU in the cloud when you match it with Trimble's other businesses.

Remember, SU is not Trimble's only product, and it's easy to see it takes a back seat to many more lucrative businesses. I don't think they mind losing users as they certainly haven't spent any time trying to make SU compete with other modelers.

@cuttingedge said:

Thanks there Chippwalters... I agree SU needs major rewriting if it wants to stay in the game..But If I want to shift to a more "serious modeling" tool and dive to that steep learning curve... Why not 3ds max or Maya? Has Blender overtaken the two as the industry standard.. I mean if I am to continually pursue a career in ArchViz?

All good choices, as is Modo and/or Lightwave. My choice of Blender is somewhat personal. I've been working on a huge project for the past 18 months (http://alamoreality.com) and while I've created 95% of the architecture in SU, 2 of the other 3 modelers use Blender-- and they do so much faster than I (and I thought I was pretty fast) b/c they have a more optimized workflow using Blender with it's UV mapper and visualization capabilities.

Plus, if you follow Blender, you see they are way ahead in some of the modeling plugins (HardOps, Decal Machine, BoxCutter) and the commercial guys are trying to play keep up-- not to mention EVEE.

@srx said:

1 Can Blender be precise? Does it have dimension input on the fly while transforming objects with constrains active?

Yes, Blender can be precise. There are several Architectural addons for Blender, some of which are free. One, Archimesh, is included with Blender.

@srx said:

2 Layout replacement? I use Autocad LT instead of SU Layout. Is it possible to export 2D drawings (sections) from Blender to AutoCAD with layers?

Blender does not have a 2D drafting package.

@srx said:

3 Structuring information trough layers, nesting containers... Attaching information to objects (properties, IFC...) for making reports and for exchange- building BIM.

It's a big community. Perhaps there is a plugin that does exactly as you say. A quick Google search of Architecutral Addons for Blender shows a lot.

Here's a video I just made to help people get started by showing them how to download, install and configure Blender.

There's a built in add-on (plugin) to Blender called Archimesh which does some pretty neat architectural things. Plus there are also some commercial architecture add-ons that also can do some fairly amazing things as well.

Archimesh: