This is the new version: sped up as suggested in the comments
I think it is actually much better, thanks.

[flash=510,412:112x0jli]http://www.youtube.com/v/Ni6TDPpKqw4&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:112x0jli]

(You may watch it in HD on youtube).

JHuman and Huggkruka,
thanks for your comments.
I'll be soon uploading a new sped up version, as suggested in various comments.
I've already sped it up and it is actually much better
(For some reason I didnt thought about it immediately).

About imagination:
I just started by thinking that Sketchup is easy, fun and 3D and that therefore
it was a good tool for studying and visualizing solids in school.
Then the students loved it and the ideas grew up.

@caddict said:

great models and physics and video!
when i was a kid one of the best parts of building a car was crashing it afterwards
(i hope that wasn't just me)

Thanks,

Only after making the video I recalled the many afternoons I spent when I was a kid
building ramps and watching my big collection of cars going down, hoping for my favorite to win ...

Thanks Dylan.

@mr s said:

Thats really cool.
I wonder if you speeded things up and added the Wacky Races theme music to it whether a whole new feel could be created. 13 year olds should love that.

I think those are two good ideas (yes, I know wacky races).
When I finished the animation I didnt thought about speeding it up, maybe I'll do another version.

Some students did want to learn Sketchyphysics and are now producing their versions ...

Thanks,

Exactly same problem here ...
the control panel doesnt show up on vista
(it works for me on windows xp)

any ideas ?

Sono un professore di matematica alle medie,
nella nuova scuola dove mi trovo adesso, ho fatto usare sketchup per 8 settimane,
1 ora a settimana:
alla fine ho montato questo video con sketchyphysics 2.0, mi sembra carino:

"Our big jump"

[flash=510,412:3ug0oifk]http://www.youtube.com/v/enVhHnAhjG0&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:3ug0oifk]

(Potete vederlo it alta definizione su HD youtube).

Tutte le macchine sono state disegnate dai ragazzi.
La mia unica aggiunta, su loro insistente richiesta, sono stati gli ammortizzatori del monster truck.

Per maggiori informazioni vedete il post in inglese.

I'm really glad that with your help I solved the problem,

THIS wouldnt have been possible otherwise.

Thanks everybody.
guzman.

@unknownuser said:

That is incredible. I watched it three times.
... there is beauty in the learning for the kids-- and also a certain beauty in the film.

I wish I could have done stuff like that when I was a kid.
Thank you

Thank You.

@rayochoa said:

you know im like 14 years old right now and if you check on ma site you can see some of the earlier work i had done when i was the same age as those kids i think that since they alredy got the hang of sketchup they will use it in the future.

I know your works, they're really good stuff.

@rayochoa said:

By the way did you mention they could upload their cars to the warehouse? It would be pretty cool if there was a whole collection of "soap cars" made by 13 year olds

All the models made by the students are
available in the 3D-WareHouse,
here are the cars,
and here's the model used in the video

thanks for your comment

You know Phil,
I somehow needed to share this with you all 'cause the emotional tension
of showing in the classroom the result of their and my work
doesnt losen up easily ...

(hope my english makes sense)

@unknownuser said:

I'm imagining a room full of thirteen year old kids Laughing incredibly loud. That proud laugh ... and saying the Italian equivalent of "way cool dude" or "dude did you see the bus crash"...

That's exactly it, Phil !

Thanks Pilou and Solo

For those who dont know me: I'm an italian math teacher.

I've been working with a new class of 13-year old students for two and a half month's.
As work on solids, I made the students use sketchup one hour a week, for 8 weeks.
I made them draw many things of increasing complexity (chairs, houses, tetrahedrons, ... cars).

I then collected all their cars and made an animation by using SketchyPhysics,

I find the result quite nice and wanted to share it here:

[Edit] This is the new version: sped up as suggested in the comments
I think it is actually much better, thanks.

[flash=510,412:2spkvl21]http://www.youtube.com/v/Ni6TDPpKqw4&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:2spkvl21]

(You may watch it in HD on youtube).

All cars were drawn by the students, even the blue convertible. The only thing I added, after being repeatedly required, are the shock absorbers of the monster truck.

Comments are really wellcome and appreciated.

[Edit - New Stuff - Google Earth]
I coudln't resist and I made the students' cars work inside Google Earth.
I did not write the code (it was written by someone at Google),
I only changed it to make it work with the students cars.

Accept to install the plugin if required, it's great fun ...

Drive your car in Google Earth

hope you like it.

In case anyone has the same problem:
I finally find the solution (in my situation).

The computers I was trying to install SU on,
had an Integrated Graphic Processor AND a video card.
I finally discovered that by desabling the IGP
(from system->hardware->devices->video cards)
SU works fine.

Nice renderings Pilou, thanks.
Contributions are always wellcome.

The command for connecting two faces in TopMod
is actually really useful.
Btw, are you a developper of TopMod?

guzman.

@tim said:

You might enjoy making models of some of Bathsheba's work too -http://www.bathsheba.com.

Here's a model inspired to [url=http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/metatrino/:3dwc88vc]Bathsheba's Metatrino[/url:3dwc88vc] (I didnt model many details but it has the same structure: the cube and its dual, the octahedron)

If anyone wants to try, the [url=http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/metatron/:3dwc88vc]Metatron[/url:3dwc88vc] could be fun.

metatrino2.skp

Thanks plot-paris for your comment,
et merci Pilou pour le tutorial, c'est très bien fait !

guzman.

Wow jzer7, that's actually a very cool script, thanks.

Hi Kevin,

Hope you dont mind,

I've seen your new cars, and your tutorial in the 3DWH,
car
car tutorial
you're really getting better !

About the tutorial:

• you still need to align the blueprints: wheels in the side, front and rear view should be at the same height, but the idea is correct and the result is not bad
• you could use scenes to make it easier to use

Hi Stewy,

1 - If edges are not coplanar then the face does not actually exist and there is no way to make it appear, unless you change your edges in order to make them coplanar or you add some edges to obtain a triangulation where you want a face to appear. If you add edges you wont get one single face, but many faces that connect the original edges.

2 - If instead the edges are coplanar (and enclose a region) but the face is not there, just retrace (with the line tool) any of the edges and the face will appear,

hope this helps,

guzman.

fantastic !!!!!!!