[quote="Mike Lucey"]Shanna, you might want to check out http://2dplan.com/ They have a nice range of 2D furniture, people etc etc ... a bit pricey though!

@shannakae said:

@mike lucey said:

Shanna, you might want to check out http://2dplan.com/ They have a nice range of 2D furniture, people etc etc ... a bit pricey though!

I am currently doing a tutorial on producing 2D plans in SU with a few tricks I have come up with to give some impact. The below shows a trick I am using to give the (very plain) furniture a shadow effect. Its what I call, a dropped floor!

Nice, great effect! can you let me know when you are done with the tut? Any chance you are going to show a way to drop in windows and doors in the walls and be able to move them around? I think i just answered my own question when I was typing this... I recall seeing a tut on creating windows that automatically cut through the wall... I guess that would work the same in a top view.... I am going to test it out... but that would be a cool thing to show in this application don't you think? For example, create a top view window component that automatically cuts through the top view wall then you can easily re size it and move it left or right...

Great website...If i were to purchase one of the libraries in the link you sent me how would you suggest I go about using them? should I create shapes then just use the images as texture?

Thanks for the help!

@rich o brien said:

(builtbrand.com.au)

not released yet but from what I've seen it's gonna be pretty special

Perfect! So wish it were ready now

Should I be using layout for this type of creation in general? I have never even opened layout yet.... does it have advantages for 2d drawings?

Thanks!

Hi all, I am an interior designer, stager and realtor. One of the services I provide is a 2d floorplan of houses to help market them for sale or for quick interior design presentations. I have been using programs like floorplanner online for this but have found that it is pretty time consuming and not very customizable (specifically kitchen layouts). Since I already use Sketchup for 3d models and rendering my interior design projects, I have started to create my 2d floorplans in sketchup. There are some great advantages to doing this. First,it is very easy to create materials like wood flooring, carpet, etc... Second, creating kitchens is much easier as I am not limited to the library of cabinets etc... that many of the floorplaner type software have... Third, if i deiced that I want to make it into a 3d space it is fairly simple...

My question is if anyone out there is doing something similar and does anyone know where i might be able to get my hands on a library of 2d furniture, accessories etc...? Also, anyone have a good tut or advise of how I can create doors and window easily ie, drop them into the 2d walls (having to draw each line then offset with the ruler then erasing is quite cumbersome, especially when i need to widen the window or move the door location... see attached floorplan for example)

Thanks for any feedback and help! Maybe I need to create a library? but would rather not have to start from scratch...

In the attached floorplan I used 3d furniture pieces, but it can get to be a bit of a pain working between 3d and 2d and I would really like to be able to work with 2d pieces when working in a 2d space...

@mitcorb said:

And I thought that FredoTools was a bundle. My mistake.

Power of suggestion

@unknownuser said:

@shannakae said:

I was looking at the other plugins available and noticed that he has the library as a single download.

Shanna,

I don't think I released a bundle package. What is the name of this 'library as a single download'?

Fredo

Upon further review, I see that I was mistaken : /,
I was looking at the plugins library and the additional plugins folder... I was thinking the plugin library was a sort of "download all your cool plugins at once thing".

Would you mind telling me what the plugin library is so I can decide if I need to install it, (or maybe I already have it??), Also did you see my question about putting the additional plugins folder on my dropbox ? I am sort of new so please excuse the ignorance : ), Do you know if there is a way to put ALL of my plugins, not just yours, in that folder and have sketchup look there for the plugins?, I am assuming that is the point of the additional plugins folder, but wanted to get a better idea how it would work?

Thanks so much for creating these FANTASTIC plugins!!!! Love them, love them, love them.

@mitcorb said:

I think(?) the already installed ones will be overwritten, or you will be prompted to do so, since the bundle will deploy in the same destinations--that being the Plugins subfolder within the program.
All of the plugins are portable, whether by usb drive or other, so long as the extensions are preserved. Zipped files will need to be unzipped at their destination.
Be sure that you have the latest version of Libfredo, if that is not also part of the bundle. As a final caution, look in Fredo's thread to verify any of the above.

Ok thanks! really appreciate it.

Hey, I have a couple of the Fredo plugins installed already like round corners and curviloft. I was looking at the other plugins available and noticed that he has the library as a single download. If I install the library (which already has some of the plugins I have installed) what will happen to the ones I have installed? Will it mess me up? Do i need to remove the ones I have installed first?

Oh and I was also wondering about the additional plugins folder? Could I install this, on my dropbox drive, so I can share the plugins with my work computer? If so, would it support all of my plugins? If so, then I am assuming there is a way to tell sketchup where to look for plugins moving forward? (on both of my computers) This would be nice also because If I buy a new computer I wont have to re install all the plugins again.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

@unknownuser said:

Maybe at the end you will need something like that

Yes and I have been wanting to explore Sketch UV (I have it installed but have not really used it yet) Have not heard of roadkill yet...When I am done modeling I will see about using this tut to help me learn those two plugins. Thanks!

@alvis said:

Hello Shanna, as far as I can remember, this model I made ​​mostly just with CurviLoft plugin.
Chair similar to Cane Line

Nice!Exactly what I am trying to do...let me give it a shot and I will post my attempt when I am done : /

@d12dozr said:

Some free hints here: http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=40151&hilit=alvis+chair

...and more chair tutorials by Alvis in the shop

Thanks! that is what i was looking for!

Anyone have any idea how I would go about creating this Chair? Not sure where to start? Which plugins? etc... I dont see a line tool that will let me draw curves other than the arc so I guess, the first thing i need to know is which plugin I need to draw organic shapes. Freehand seems too messy. I have teh Bezier curve plugin but think i need a vector type continuous drawing tool. (probably something super obvious that everyone is already using but this will be the first time I am creating a more complex organic shape from scratch.

I guess beyond the organic drawing tool I need to know how to go about creating this... soap skin? Curviloft? any other Vertex tools? I really dont know where or how to start this one????

Thanks!

@box said:

One way to look at things using your interior design background

Build in a sensible structure to your project:

Start with an overall house design file, a simple ground plan to give you a full layout.

Create the individual rooms that you will be working on as files/components.

Work on the individual parts and save them as components.

You can work on each room or parts of rooms etc etc

Then on your overall project file you can bring them all together to render.

Another huge benefit of this sort of structure is if something bug splats it's not the whole file.

You can work this sort of hierarchy down through many levels, it all depends how detailed you want to go. eg: you could have individual tassels on individual cushions on different sofas in different rooms.......

P.S. you may need to sort out your Local Component Library if you haven't done so already. That is telling SU where you want to keep the files.

Great stuff! I have been concerned about just this... I am working on the entire house. I am designing it room by room and do need to be able to see the other connected rooms when I render but dont want to be working in a new room with all the materials and other components that are in the other spaces! Great workflow... I think I understand what you are getting at and it makes so much sense. I am going to go back to my model and try separating it out like this and see how it goes... I think that will make a big difference and you are right it is pretty stressful working on the same file... not to mention it gets rather large...

@unknownuser said:

Beautiful Work! I'm guessing the drapery & the pillows are taking quite a bit of memory.

Thanks!, everything is super fast now that i turned off shadows.

@pbacot said:

Whoa, looking good there. First V-ray render? Maybe you should slow down

Ha, no way im slowing down, having to much fun!

Well, here is my first model render with Vray. I have been playing with sketchup for a few years now... but just in the past month committed myself to becoming a sketchup expert. I am already seeing an increase in my interior deign projects due to my rendering/modeling skills. Very worth it. Just wanted to show it off as I have been working pretty hard on it. : ), I could not have gotten this far with all of your help, so thanks!

@tobobo said:

@box said:

Using components effectively can help in many ways.
Not only does it help speed up the program it speeds up the modelling itself.
Plus you can work on components as a separate model and just update them in your full model.

That is exactly how I work on my larger models, like the external reference system AutoCAD uses. I have a main model but save out my components into separate files. Work on them individually and reload them. Plus I work in monochrome until I need to texture. It is the last job to do with the models before rendering.

I have a few components imported this way... but I dont think i have been doing it right... I think i have been editing them inside of my model. I think what you are saying is to create or edit them in their own model space then update my main model? How does that work? Do I have to re import the component when after I edit it? How do I "up date" it? Thanks!

@mrossk said:

Have you turned off shadows, and do you work in "Monochrome", and in a default line style? Any visual "effects" slow you down...

This is what I love about this forum! Thanks so obvious but I was working with shadows on and in shaded mode! What a big difference! I am going to look into the other suggestions as well as I am sure there are additional things to speed things up, but this was huge. Thanks for not assuming I knew this.

HI, I have been working on a Family room model and it is getting pretty detailed size is, 33.2 mg. As it gets more and more detailed it seems each action I take is slower and slower.... I have seen threads out there giving tips on cleaning up registries etc... to speed up the modeling experience but cant find anything on the subject right now...

I have gone to Model Info and purged un-used. My computer is plenty fast with a 3 gig graphics card, 16 gigs of ram and a ssd, so I dont think it is my computers fault.

I am assuming one thing that will help speed up my model would be to turn off layers that I am not using... which I will do, but I am pretty sure I am missing some other things that could help me speed things up as well... any help or insight into this would be much appreciated.

@jolran said:

@unknownuser said:

and when I add the component into my model it also brings in all the new generic colors that further clutter up my materials library..

I hate to ask. You do do know you can purge unused materials ?

In case not. In the Materialpalette, click the house to get to modelmaterials.
The icons furthest to the right(blueish) click and choose purge unused.

Otherwise there is maybe this:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17587

or this ?

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48933

Take care.

Thanks, i will look those up. I do know about purge un-used (but I did just learn about it the other day so you are not so far off )Thanks! I will look up the two topics and see if there is something there that works for me... I was looking at the open or create a collection section... and was going to explore how that might work for what I am trying to do...