Coder Dojo- Above all: Be cool

James Whelton is cool.

James Whelton, a programming enthusiast, started a programming club in school. Inspired by the interest he received regarding all things code, James came up with the idea of providing a club for kids to learn coding skills... for free. Hats off, James.

With the support of Bill Liao, a gifted Social Entrepreneur an incredible new concept was born: Coder Dojo

Bill Liao is cool.

I have attended the CD workshops on two occasions* and both were mobbed with enthusiastic kids. Last time, I even gave a hand to someone who need a little help with HTML... I never thought of myself as being able to teach that subject, but it was just the basics so I was able to be of assistance... Just goes to show that its always worth just turning up at events like these.

*December 17th last, I gave a demonstration of SketchUp and the MakerBot to the kids of CoderDojo. We printed off a model of Shandon, a landmark building in Cork City, in the Rebel County Colour: Red

Coder Dojo was an idea waiting to happen. If you wish to contribute, there might just be one near you. There are now Coder Dojos in London and San Francisco!

Below are some images of the model as printed at Coder Dojo

Is SketchUp BIM coming of age?

In June 2010 I published an article on this blog entitled SketchUp: A Natural BIM platform This was an expression of desire to see BIM produced using a low cost/ free resource. The high costs of many software systems makes them a perfect target for low-cost clones/ replacements.

Earlier this year I gave a presentation to a Group of Learned Gentlemen (and Learned GentleWomen) entitled "SketchUp to BIM". The Group seemed not to grasp entirely the point of the presentation,  some instead preferring to question whether I should be giving it in the first place*.... Not a great place to start, but as Le Corb would say: "What are you doing????!!... You are an XXXX!!!" (Words blanked out for the sake of propriety.)

However, even since the presentation I have discovered other equally aberrant souls who would also like to see SketchUp perform some BIM functions.

To find out what I have learned, please check out my website SketchUp2BIM for links and resources. If you have any suggestions for further inclusion, I will be delighted to have them.

Here is a user video for a new plugin I have been testing from D-E-X called SketchUpBIM:

Enjoy!

*Perhaps an alternative talk should have been scheduled for the people who didn't get the presentation. Please send your suggestions for topics to info@viewsion.ie

3D Navigator- Doing the Business

In my extensive experience with the Nav I find that this little device is great for getting around large models.*

The Navigator is easy to install and relatively intuitive to use. The control panel does require a bit of fine-tuning out of the box but that is to be expected- even welcome- with a powerful piece of equipment such as the Nav. (e.g. I have to reverse most of the zoom/ orbit actions to imitate the orientation of the mouse.) The speed of orbit/ zoom is astonishingly fast and one of the great features is that the Nav doesn't require you to "knock on the door" to get through a wall like the mouse scroll-wheel does**. It just whizzes on through like a ghost on speed.

Overall, as far as I'm concerned the Navigator is a definite buy for professionals, especially for those working on large models***

* More so than small models/ details as the speed of zoom is not always suitable for the particular task- sometimes the mouse scroll-wheel is required to provide fine zooming and orbiting.
** I understand that this is so for a good reason and am not saying it is "bad"!
*** No enticements were offered to say this- Not my style.  Just note that when a SketchUp upgrade comes out it usually takes a while before a driver is produced for the Nav : ( but its just about worth waiting for.)

Using SketchUp and Makerbot to Model my Home Town.

I recently experienced how Professor Frankenstein must have felt* when he brought his creation to life. I basked in glory (just for a minute) when I realised that, having mastered SketchUp I now had control over a Makerbot and I could make them talk to each other!

Doctor Evil, eat your heart out! (Check out his evil laugh right now on YooChoob. Its great.)

However, when you think about the fact that we have been replicating documents at lightning speeds for decades, it makes you wonder why this has taken us so long! Anyway it's here now and its awesome. Thanks to my buddy Cathal for use of his wonderful machine.

Below are some photos of my first purpose-built model of Shandon, Cork City.

"Watch zis space" as Le Corb would put it...



*I know he's fictional. What do you think I am? Some kind of raving lunatic....? Just go with it willya?

Exporting STL Files from SketchUp

We are getting excited about 3D Printing. Recently we joined up with Cork Hackerspace who are a bunch of technology enthusiasts in Cork. I hadn't seen any examples of printed objects but one member has a 3D printer.

Below is a great new development published on the Ponoko website that will make 3D Printing easier.

I also have a plugin called Sculpteo. Its a 3D printing service that plugs right in to SketchUp.

I haven't used their service yet but hope to give it a go soon.. 3D printing is so beautifully geeky its bound to become the norm.

Making humans (virtually)

Cool!

Making humans is now easier than getting agreement from a consenting adult.... Except these humans are virtual. This is an intriguing blog post by Johnj about an open-source body-generating system called "Makehuman". If you happen to have Blender installed (to export to .3ds) you can import your humans to SU.

Making "paintings" of humans is about to get really interesting. Carravagio eat your heart out!

Excellent online magazine for SketchUp Enthusiasts!

Just in case you hadn't downloaded any issues yet of SketchUp Ur Space, you can download the latest issues here

This is a great magazine full of features. The May issue introduces all the Authorised Training Centres around the world.

May 2011 Magazine

SketchUp4Architect (who create the magazine) do some great models on their website also...

Its great to see this initiative from the SketchUp4Architect team in West Bengal, India. It reminds me how small the world has become! We hope to contribute soon with some articles..