SketchUp to Minecraft: Guest Post by Tadhg Murphy

After following the tutorial found on the Designer Dojo website here. I managed to successfully export a .skp file from SketchUp and then convert it into a schematic file which I was then able to import to Minecraft. After spending a little while texturing the model I felt that the transfer of the model from SketchUp to Minecraft was very fast and far more efficient than just building the model in Minecraft itself. Below is an image of my work.

Cork City plays host to San Francisco Mayor on Saint Patrick's Day 2013. Edwin Lee receives a 3D printed model of the Castle!

Mayor Edwin Lee visited Blackrock Castle Observatory Coderdojo on Saint Patrick's Day where he was presented with a 3D printed model of the Castle.

Mayor of SF Edwin Lee receives a 3D printed model of Blackrock Castle from Blackrock Castle Observatory Coderdojo participant.

This is what Blackrock Castle would look like if it was floating in space.... A preview of the BCO model before it gets uploaded to  Google Earth.

Thanks to Jim Barrett of C-CAD for his unwavering support and assistance in preparing the excellent detailed 3D model of the castle.

The first ever 3D physical representation of Blackrock Castle Cork, Ireland. This model was printed by Jim Barrett of C-CAD assisted by Viewsion Virtual Environments.

SketchUp to Minecraft Export

Minecraft is a compelling, creative 3D gaming environment for kids (and those who still have a kid's imagination.) At Coderdojo I see a lot of the kids interacting with it. Having tried it I can see why- It is immersive and very enjoyable. I have introduced it to my 5 year old son and he is now hooked (in a good way... I think!)

I had been told about a means of exporting from SketchUp to Minecraft and I wanted to find out more.. Having procrastinated for ages I eventually purchased a Minecraft subscription and then did a bit of eh... "research". After a bit of digging around I put together a post on how to export your SketchUp model into Minecraft (Google Doc) Thanks to all the individual contributors who are all linked there.

I still have some tweaking to do to get it working the way I want but it certainly looks very promising so far. Let us know how you get on with your SU>MC experiments and we will be delighted to publish your efforts: info@viewsion.ie

Enjoy!

SketchUp Activity Explosion in Ireland (TEDxTallght, 3DBasecamp, DesignerDojo & more..)

We literally can't keep up with the stuff that is going on with SketchUp in Ireland, but here's a quick run-through.

Last month I attended 3D Basecamp where we got to meet Bre Pettis of Makerbot fame, Trimble VP Bryn Fosburgh, all the great SketchUp people and discuss our new upcoming initiative: DesignerDojo which will be coming to a CoderDojo near you next year.

The cool retro cinema location in downtown Boulder
where the initial day's Basecamp presentations took place.

Last Thursday I presented SketchUp to a 150 person audience at TEDxTallaght. Thanks to Patricia Fitzgerald and all the great people at South Dublin Libraries for their help. It was a great evening and I was humbled to be amongst such great speakers as Jo Verrent, Maureen Gaffney, PRSmith, Michael Rossney, Catriona Crowe, and my good friend and fellow Nexus Cork Member, Cathal Garvey, Biohacker par excellence. It was great to meet our MCs Darragh Doyle social media guru and celebrated magician Shane Gillen

Paul going on and on and on about-
Guess what?... SketchUp.. at TEDx Tallaght...
....Blah blah blah blah blah...

 Here's the presentation I gave:

Be a 3D Superhero: Click here for the presentation.

What's next?? DesignerDojo.... Our new international initiative FREE SKETCHUP TRAINING FOR KIDS!!..... We will keep you posted....

The DesignerDojo skateboard: First project... of many.

Front Page News: SketchUpdate.

For a SketchUp Geek, this is the equivalent of seeing one's name in bright lights on Broadway. SketchUpdate has gracefully received my humble offering of a tutorial about creating a plan in SketchUp Pro. and given me a platform for my new book (See previous blogpost)

Image: Aligning the section view in SketchUp to be visible in LayOut.

Construction Documents in SketchUp Pro!

Why not maximise return from your hard work in SketchUp?

This step-by-step manual guides you through the processes of creating construction documents using LayOut (included with SketchUp Pro Software). This course is a great one for professionals who want to understand SketchUp more completely- specifically how Groups, Layers, Scenes, and Styles all come together to produce a supercharged 2D construction document. This course will be useful to any SU Pro users as they will usually need to show their 3D work as a conventional drawing.

Many thanks are due to Mike Lucey of SketchUcation, along with advice from Aidan Chopra, Mike Tadros, and inspiration from Bonnie Roskes and Daniel Tal

You can purchase my new book here or go to the library at SketchUcation.com

Please comment below or email me for more information.

How to support businesses/ venues with SketchUp & Youtube

SketchUp is good at so many things it can often be difficult to decide what awesome things to do with it. With little building going on, there is little demand for proposals.... but what about existing businesses and venues that want to increase their impact and show people more about what they do?

Here is an example of a SketchUp visualisation we just completed of Camden Palace Hotel, Cork City, Ireland

If you enjoy this video, please click the like button and pass it on!