For quite sometime now, we had been searching for a software that would help in 3D modelling. Maya and 3D Studio Max 9 come as the obvious answers to these needs. But these are licensed (not for OpenWorld :( Though there are trial versions available and also there are free versions available with lesser functionalities).
Continued on this endeavour and found scores of free softwares lined up for 3D modelling. Search was narrowed down by asking for softwares that are recommended for Architectural use. Found some softwares called Animor, etc etc. I dont even remember now. Downloaded them few days ago.
But finally, the search had to stop at SketchUp, to be precise, Google SketchUp. It has grown from what it was about half an year ago, when I had first downloaded and tried out. But, the way in which people have used it, I am amazed. Some Architectural sites like this, are hosting tutorials for Google SketchUp (Unimaginable!!!). They believe, its the most easiest and most capable software to create simple to complex structures. An Architects' Blog containing tutorials on SketchUp also exists.
Google itself has provided lots of tutorials, video tutorials to understand and learn using GSketchUp. It has now got a huge repository of additional 3D models that can be imported directly in GSketchUp. There are also some additions to SketchUp created by third-parties (fans). One such is V-ray by asgvis.com. Plus there are Ruby Scripts that can be used to add required effect provided by GSketchup themselves, available here.
There are two versions, Google SketchUp 6 and Google SketchUp Pro 6 (paid version available for US$495) with 8 hours trial version availble for trying out.
Google SketchUp 6 (free version) can be downloaded from here.
First Edit : Forgot to say about Video Tutorials. One can download video-tutorials (compatible with Macromedia Flash Player) at this site (Sketchups' homepage). To download from Googles' site on Sketchup, following jugglery is required.
- The SketchUp 6 videos are available on this page. Open it in any web browser and view the HTML source code.
- You will see filenames like V6_PhotoMatch_1.swf, V6_Styles.swf, etc. These correspond to the various tutorials that you see in step 1. Below the filenames, you'll see a "path variable" that shows the location of the web server where these tutorials are located.
// path to where videos are hosted (with trailing slash)
var path = "http://download.sketchup.com/videos/gsu6videos/"; - Just create the full path of the file by appending the file name to the above path (like http://download.sketchup.com/videos/gsu6videos/V6_Text.swf) and paste this in your download manager.
- Now the real trick - Once you have downloaded the tutorials in SWF format, rename these files to .FLV and play them inside any the free Riva or FLV Player.
