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!

Irish School uses SketchUp to supercharge their learning experience..

Saint Gerald's College, Castlebar, Co. Mayo participated in our pilot scheme with SketchUp Pro, and the results were extraordinary....

One very notable piece of feedback was where SketchUp was a deciding factor for a student to actually take up a particular subject.  Does your school have good experiences with SketchUp? Why not share them with us?

Cork Star Pupil appears on Google Earth

One bright spark student from St. Angela's College Cork has become the first person to challenge our position as most prolific Google Earth Modellers in Cork City, Ireland. Niamh Shanahan, (who received minimal training from us as part of a work experience week) has produced 3 excellent models (so far) of old shop buildings in Cork. We love the competition. Keep it up Niamh! Check her models out on 3D Warehouse and Google Earth... (Make sure the "3D buildings Layer" is switched on in the left hand side panel.) Learn about the 3D building layer here

Check out the full Cork City & County 3D buildings collection here

Black Tie Building, St. Patrick's Street, Cork City.

Falvey's Chemist, Bridge Street, Cork City. 

Music Store, St. Patrick's Street, Cork City. 

Switching on the 3D Buildings Layer
in Google Earth

Good Move Trimble!

This is a good thing- it needed to happen. SketchUp is foremost an AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) tool. Though Google is not an AEC company, it is understandable why Google wanted to buy it and turn it into a Google Earth-model-making-machine, and with SketchUp 8 integrating not only Google Earth and 3D Warehouse but also Streetview they have done awesome work.

But Google Earth modelling is only one tiny part of SketchUp's capabilities. There is so much more potential for this platform. Google was not the right company to take it to the next step.

(Note: Lovers of free software need not be alarmed as free SketchUp will remain free.)

Authorised Training Centres hope to get a lot of support to spread the goodness that is SketchUp in their own countries/ regions. I get the feeling that Trimble, with an understanding the AEC market, knows the importance of this. We are very curious to see how interaction with Tekla, their BIM (Building Information Modelling) platform will play out. This could be very very big....

SketchUp is a great brand. The people who work there are awesome and we hope they will grow in strength with their new owners. We are behind you!

This is a great day for Irish schools...

Google SketchUp Pro is now available for free to all primary and secondary schools in Ireland!! 

This could be a huge boost to education in Ireland and even help contribute to the struggling Irish economy in years to come, by preparing students to geomodel, 3D print, plan buildings, cities, create games and who knows what else?

Above: Map showing locations worldwide where
Google SketchUp Pro has been made available to schools.

Schools can obtain licenses for Google SketchUp Pro
from the Galway Education Centre (click here)

This initiative was organised by Allyson MacDuffie in Google and Bernard Kirk of the Galway Education Centre. Hats off to both of them!

Check out our Irish Schools SketchUp Training Portal for great free resources for learning this deadly sofware.

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