Having a decent fire escape plan is one thing, having a means of showing this to people who need to know is another. I was asked to create a fire escape poster for a school.

The plan was created in Google Sketch Up, using the original hand drawn plans as a reference. After creating a 3D floor plan of the school complete with room names, I exported a 2D birds-eye image of the and added the red background and border in Photoshop. These plans have been printed and laminated, and are used throughout the school as part of the fire safety drills.

This is my second Google Sketchup ship.

The Banting Class Science Vessel was commissioned in 2284. A small ship, with a main saucer hull of 30 metres across, its overall length from bow to nacelle is a mere 50 metres. It employs the Oberth Class Warp Nacelles, specifically designed to shield its energy from interfering with the the ship’s sensistive scanning equipment.

The mission specific sensor plantform is slung below the aft part of the hull. In this case, it is carrying a small deflector array, long range sensor, and photorp launcher for defence and scientific equipment depolyment.

Being a small ship, it is not meant for long term missions, usually remaining within 3 months of the nearest Federation Starbase. With a crew of only 32, and a civilian science team from 12 to 30, it is still sufficiently comfortable to work in.

The first 12 Banting Class ships where commissioned between 2284 and 2288. There were 18 subsequent ships commissioned up until 2299. All 30, with the exception of the Banting, were phased out of service starting in 2309 with the last one in 2312. Due to their popularity, ease of function, and longevity, 13 ships were given to educational and research institutions for civilian use, and 16 to Federation member planets as ship training platforms.

The Banting is in the Starfleet Ship Museum.

(The ship under construction)

At the prudent advice of my fellow Trekkies, I re-made the saucer. I wasn’t happy with the number of edges on the rim, so I increased the count from 24 to 96. This is just on the cusp of what my computer can handle. Fortunately this is a simple ship!

Here’s the port shuttle deck. It has a workable space of 7 x 7 metres (5 metres high), or 22.96′ x 22.96′… The port shuttle deck has one shuttle. The starbord shuttle deck has 3 worker bees, and assorted EVA equipment. If required, the bees can be transported to the supply hold, freeing the deck for another shuttle.

Here is some more shuttle bay detail. I’ve increased the depth from 7m to 10m. I was planning to make it a through shuttle deck, but I didn’t like the idea of seperating 2 full decks in the saucer.

due beginning of class, Thursday, December 10^th

Turn in a CD with the following:

1. A folder containing the Digital Portfolio PowerPoint presentation, Project 6
2. A folder containing your .SKP and animation files from Google SketchUp, Project 5
3. A folder containing your multi-layer .TIF files from Layering, Project 4
4. Contents will be organized into folders by assignment and the files will be clearly labeled. CDs will not be accepted if not enclosed in a labeled jewel case or protective sleeve.
5. The CD must be Mac Compatible, and you MUST make sure your CD works on at least 2 different computers before handing it in to me. This is your responsibility. If I can’t read the CD or open the files your grade for the final will be a “0” (zero).

You do not have to turn in any printed work to me. Project 4 should be mounted for the Portfolio Reviews.

I will be grading the Final on:

1. Completion of the projects and objectives listed above.
2. Your progress from the beginning of the semester, and your effort put into taking the feedback from critiques and improving your projects.

Download PDF

For Tuesday, November 24th:

Create an art gallery of your work – from this class, other classes, and/or work you’ve created outside of school. You will import image files and place them in frames and on the walls of a gallery that you create.

Once you are finished, animate a “walk” through your gallery and export it as a Quicktime movie (medium size).

Email me the Quicktime file by the end of class. If the file size is too big to attach to an email, Export the animation again using a smaller Format size.

I am just starting out down the CNC road (more of that news later).  I have been researching the best CNC workflow to produce robust GCode.  To start with I envisage that the majority of my CNC work will be 2.5D (eg cutting flat shapes, with the occasional recessed area for a bearing, or screwhead).  The workflow below satisfies that:

Future refinements:

3D workflow

Linux-based workflow ( so I can use the same PC as EMC2 is using)

2.5D CNC Workflow:

1)  Google sketchup:

Create your object.  This software is great for really quick and easy modelling.  Set the accuracy to a helpful value (eg 1mm if you’re just doing something quick and simple, 0.01mm if it’s going onto a knee mill).  One limitation is that circles are modelled as segmented lines – increase the number of segments until your mill doesn’t notice anymore.

2)  Export from sketchup to dxf using the ruby plug-in on this page:

http://www.guitar-list.com/download-software/convert-sketchup-skp-files-dxf-or-stl

3)  Edit the data (if necessary) in ProgeSOFT Smart:

Open the dxf in this free 2D & 3D CAD package.  The user interface is heavily based on AutoCAD, so you’ll be right at home here…  Free for non-commercial use, £240 for a licence.

http://www.progesoft.com/en/smart-2009#downl

4)  Import to CamBam, insert the machining data, then generate the GCode file.

http://www.cambam.co.uk/

5)  Load the .NC file into your chosen motion control software (EMC2, or Mach3 are common).  Machine away!

http://www.linuxcnc.org/

http://www.machsupport.com/

For Thursday, Nov. 19th:

Using 3D text, create a model of your first name. After editing the Component and “Exploding” it, use the Push/Pull, Offset, and other tools to make the text look more interesting and/or abstract.

Once you are finished, animate a “tour” through your text model and export it as a Quicktime movie (medium size).

Email me the Quicktime file by the end of class. If the file size is too big to attach to an email, Export the animation again using a smaller Format size.

Very interesting day. Doug and Brittney spent most of the shift working on the Veterans’ Day display. If there is something you would like to add to the Veterans’ Day display, feel free. Sigma Phi is checking out all 4 LCD’s tomorrow just so everyone knows. Brittney also began writing a review for Google Sketchup. The woman that called early today was having the skype problem earlier today was emailed but has not contacted us back yet. Also we are waiting for a reply on what are the current number of FHSU students currently in the military.

Staff Brittney, Doug

This was my second trial at using sketchup dynamic components for parametric form finding.  (for my first see here)

This time the component was based around an idea of a mechanical iris opening and closing.  So each floor of the tower is actually the same five triangles making up the same area.  The tower contract and expands like a mechanical iris the triangles rotating and moving in and out to maintain edge contact.  The basis of this movement is actually a fairly simple piece of trig’ (see below).  The amount any particular floor is unfurled (expressed in degrees of rotation of each piece) is controlled by the parameters in three ways, first a base unfurl added to all floors, second an incremental unfurl (the factor is multiplied by the floor number) and third using a sine wave to create a bulge/ bulges.  As long as the rotation of each piece stays below approx 85 degrees contact between all the pieces in maintained.

The sketchup file is available at the 3d warehouse. Please do download it, fiddle with it, see what it can make (by changing the components options), reverse engineer it.  If you find it useful please drop me a line.

As this was my second attempt I found less trouble working around the some-what odd way sketchup sometimes makes each instance of a dynamic component unique or the way you can only edit one level into a tree of components using the ‘component attributes’ tool.  Sketchup was however struggling at times to calculate these towers which I found worrying as I don’t consider them particularly complex models.  Also while I considered making a second version of this component which started by dividing a circle into n segments I could not work out how to get the dynamic component system to draw a segment of a circle or adjust one so that it would fill so many degrees of a circle.  This seemingly simple task completely beating my application of this system.  These frustrations mean that while I do still believe there is potential in using sketchup for this kind of work I will be saving up my pennies to get a copy of rhino so I can try out grasshopper instead.

This is one of a series of trials I carried out to investigate the possibilities of Google Sketchup 7’s new dynamic component feature.

This model of a neighbourhood is made of four top level components, the perimeter block, the street, the junction and the park.  The variation in each of these components is achieved dynamically, by altering controlling parameters (in component options) such as block depth, floor to floor height, or ‘funky factor’ or by simply scaling the component to a new size.  It would be easy to keep duplicating and slightly varying the pattern to create a large city. (although the resulting model’s complexity would probably quickly start to strain your sketchup).

You can access the model through the 3D warehouse at http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=df671992d5a8620f1b3b6fb11f3d476f please feel free to download it, play with it, explore it, use the components to make new neighbourhoods …

The park component splits a plane into ‘pixel squares’ and then positions these vertically based on sine curves to create mounds and dips.  The materials of each ‘pixel’ is a function of its height.

The perimeter block component is probably the most ‘useful’ of the components in this model.  It certainly has application in any situation where perimeter blocks need to be drawn.  Its basic control parameters included floor to floor height, slab depth, building depth. The extra parameter of ‘funky factor’  controls the spiky balconies which was an easy way to add extra variation for this trial but if set to 0  then these extraneous balconies are removed.

The streets are completely controlled using the scale tool the layout of lanes etc. is a function of the street’s width and the introduction of pedestrian crossings a function of its length.

The crossroads component allows any to street widths to be joined at right angles and it has a flip parameter to make sure the carriage way matches up as the street creates asymmetric patterns depending on its width.

The positioning of people within each street is an adaptation of Trainer Mark’s crowd control component.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my work.  Please do comment.

This is my second attempt at a Google SketchUp render of a Star Trek Shuttle craft, and this is my first serious attempt at making this a complex and detailed model. As I am of course, not an engineer, my attempt to show the plumbing of this ship is based purely on ideas I’ve come up with from Star Trek, and real life contemporary technology. In other words, I’m trying to put a little thought into what this little ship is about.

So, the plan is to leave areas of the shuttle open so that the viewer can see some critical componants. This includes the helm, main compartment, engine room, main landing thrusters and RCS, and some power transfer and contol information conduits.

This is what I’ve created this morning. The dimensions are intentional, but for now, all you need to know is that it is 10 meters long, and the door is 2 meters high. So it is a fair sized shuttle. It’s primary purpose in this case, is for inter-system transport with low warp abilities, though the basic spaceframe does have modular abilities, allowing for other mission specific based purposes.

Aft section/ RCS and IMPULSE

Google starts Building Maker, a crowdsourcing project to create 3D models of every structure on Earth; http://j.mp/PprGn

Lynda.com – Google SketchUp Essential Training | 01 CD

with: George Maestri

Architecture, design, and media professionals all over the world are using Google SketchUp to create detailed 3D models efficiently and quickly. In Google SketchUp Essential Training, design expert George Maestri teaches the foundations of SketchUp’s drawing, design, and rendering tools. He covers the fundamentals of the application, the interface, and the Sandbox extension, which is used to create realistic organic shapes and terrain. George also discusses how to model and texture objects from existing photographs and export models to Google Earth to visualize how buildings fit in a real landscape. Exercise files accompany the course.

Released on: 11/21/2008

Table of contents

http://movielibrary.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=612

Introduction
	Welcome	1:41	4.5 MB
	Installing SketchUp	1:31	1.4 MB
	Tips for Mac users	2:32	2.5 MB
1. The SketchUp Interface
	Interface basics	5:54	4.6 MB
	Navigating in SketchUp	3:28	12.0 MB
	Walking around in SketchUp	4:21	11.1 MB
	Creating camera views	4:36	8.3 MB
	Shading faces and edges	6:44	23.9 MB
	Creating shadows and fog	4:35	6.7 MB
	Creating scenes	2:24	6.3 MB
	Selecting and moving objects	6:45	11.3 MB
	Scaling and rotating objects	4:14	8.3 MB
	Manipulating faces and edges	3:55	7.3 MB
	Advanced selection tools	4:26	8.2 MB
2. Drawing in SketchUp
	Line tool fundamentals	5:25	6.2 MB
	Using the Line tool for 3D drawing	4:50	8.2 MB
	Using the Rectangle tool	4:55	5.5 MB
	Creating circles and polygons	3:33	3.3 MB
	Creating arcs	3:46	3.7 MB
	Pushing and pulling faces into 3D	8:11	12.4 MB
	Using the Offset tool to create outlines	6:14	10.6 MB
	Using the Follow Me tool	3:49	6.7 MB
	Creating text	2:44	3.9 MB
	Softening round edges	4:19	9.3 MB
	Using construction tools to create guides	4:49	6.0 MB
	Creating sections	1:31	3.6 MB
3. Organizing Scenes
	Grouping objects	4:54	11.7 MB
	Creating components	6:37	13.3 MB
	The Component window	5:51	7.3 MB
	Working with layers	4:26	6.3 MB
	Creating layers	4:31	6.8 MB
	Using the Outliner	6:29	9.4 MB
	Hiding and unhiding objects	4:22	7.5 MB
	Locking and unlocking objects	1:44	2.1 MB
4. Creating Textures and Materials
	Using the Materials palette on a Mac	1:50	2.4 MB
	Applying materials	4:25	13.8 MB
	Editing materials	4:22	10.9 MB
	Creating materials	2:21	4.5 MB
	Mapping images	3:39	8.1 MB
	Applying bitmap images	2:21	3.6 MB
	Mapping curved objects	4:13	8.3 MB
	Projecting maps on curved objects	2:54	5.0 MB
5. Rendering and Animation
	Applying styles	3:07	6.3 MB
	Creating styles	6:57	15.0 MB
	Outputting 2D bitmaps	3:51	6.8 MB
	Basic animation	4:33	26.1 MB
	Advanced animation	7:58	14.8 MB
6. Creating Terrain Using Sandbox
	Contours	6:15	11.6 MB
	Creating terrain from scratch	2:56	3.8 MB
	Sculpting with the Smoove tool	2:21	5.5 MB
	Stamping and draping objects on terrain	5:54	21.3 MB
7. Photo Match and Google Earth
	Using Photo Match to align cameras	6:56	16.4 MB
	Modeling in Photo Match	5:54	10.1 MB
	Exporting models to Google Earth	5:03	12.6 MB
Conclusion
	Goodbye	0:15	0.3 MB

Students are to continue to add details to their building and finish their models.

I have taken some parts from various student’s work and put it in the model I am making.  Special thanks to Hyung Muk, Leo, Nicky, Tenchiro, Khun and others.

Click on the thumbnails below for a larger image.

Students are to continue to add details to their building and finish their models.

I have taken some parts from various student’s work and put it in the model I am making.  Special thanks to Hyung Muk, Leo, Nicky, Tenchiro, Khun and others.

Click on the thumbnails below for a larger image.

Mr Richard will come around today and pick up a copy of your model building. The midterm marks are due at the end of this week.  Students are to continue working on their models.

Be sure to include details from the 3D Warehouse, such as trees and plants.  We will soon finish this unit.

Today is the due date for your model buildings.  Most students have not completed the model.  So, we will at least check out progress so far.  We have time before mid-term break to complete our work.  Our next unit of study is coming soon.

Today is the due date for your model buildings.  Most students have not completed the model.  So, we will at least check out progress so far.  We have time before mid-term break to complete our work.  Our next unit of study is coming soon.

O Sketchup foi desenvolvido pela At Last Software, uma empresa americana com sede Colorado, mas foi adquirida pela empresa Google e foi anunciado dia 14 de Março de 2006.

Por Nicola Parra e Rodolfo Davanço

Atualmente, encontra-se na versão 7 e está disponível para os sistemas operacionais Windows e Macintosh.

O software hoje ocorre em duas versões: gratuita, para uso privado e não comercial e o profissional.

Para adquirir o Software profissional o usuário precisa entrar em contato com um revendedor autorizado pela empresa.

Segundo o site de suporte do Sketchup (http://sketchup.google.com/support/) os valores das licenças são:

- Uma licença – US$: 495,00 cada uma;

- De duas a cinco licenças – US$: 455,00 cada uma;

- De seis a dez licenças – US$: 420,00 cada uma;

- De onze a 20 licenças – US$: 405,00 cada uma.

A versão gratuita pode-se fazer o download do programa no http://sketchup.google.com/download/

A grande facilidade do Google Sketchup é sua modelagem, contudo o software exige maquinas robustas, pois o mesmo consegue fazer a visualização de texturas, luz e sombras em tempo real.

Assim é exigido a seguinte configuração mínima:

-800 MHz de processador;

- 1 Gb de Memória RAM;

- 15 Mb de HD (Hard-disk);

- Placa de video com 256 Mb, com compatibilidade OpenGL.

A configuração recomenda:

-2GHz de processador;

- 2 Gb de Memória RAM;

- 500 Mb de HD (Hard-disk);

- Placa de video com 512 Mb, com compatibilidade OpenGL;

- Mouse de três botões.

A versão 6 gratuita tem algumas limitações, entre as quais:

- Não permite a exportação de modelos 3D para DWG, DXF, 3DS, OBJ, XSI ou VRML;

- Não possui a caixa de ferramenta “Sandbox”, que faz a modelagem de terrenos;

- Não exporta imagem bitmap com resolução superiores;

-Não permite que exporte animações em .AVI ou .MOV.

Contudo, a única restrição do da versão 7 é de não exportar modelos 3D para DWG, DXF, 3DS, OBJ, XSI ou VRML.

Conclui-se que o software Google Sketchup foi desenvolvido visando à modelagem fácil e com acesso a todos (versão gratuita) sendo ele utilizado principalmente na arquitetura, engenharia mecânica dentre demais áreas onde a utilização do software 3D possibilite uma visualização completa e dinâmica do objeto.

Today is the due date for your model buildings.  Most students have not completed the model.  So, we will at least check out progress so far.  We have time before mid-term break to complete our work.  Our next unit of study is coming soon.

  Google SketchUp is a free, easy-to-learn 3D-modeling program with a few simple tools to let you create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects, and even space ships. You can add details, textures, and glass to your models, and design with dimensional accuracy. You can place your finished models in Google Earth, share them with others by posting them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies.

  This is a program for you to create, view, modify and model construction and 3D ideas without complications and which has as main characteristics:

• Help Center and video tutorials.
• Interaction with Google Earth and YouTube and other Google services.
• Several features based on edges and faces.
• 3DS files, DXF and DWG.
• It also works with JPG, PDF, PNG and TIFF.

  It is easy to create models using this program and recommend it to anyone from the hobbyist, for experimentation and fun, to the professional, who can use this application for preliminary concepts for larger projects.

Download Google SketchUp 7.1

What’s New in Google SketchUp 7.1

Google sketchUp es un programa gratuito creado y subministrado por google, dedicado al diseño tanto de exteriores como interiores, de obras públicas y privadas, y pequeños proyectos personales. La utilización es muy sencilla y aun nos la facilitan más con la ayuda que el programa tiene a nuestra disposición solo iniciarse.

Con él se pueden crear ambientes de lo más diversos, crear muebles, plantas, piscinas… y descargar complementos o estancias directamente de internet con un acceso directo que tiene el programa.

Algunos de los proyectos que he hecho yo, con elementos propios y descargas, son:

This is optional extra credit, due beginning of class, next Tuesday, December 1st:

Figure out how to create a sphere. Email me the .SKP file.