Irish Architect's SketchUp collection now online...

I have been beavering away on a collection of images of my work in SketchUp along with some photos of the resulting buildings. I will be adding to this collection over time and reorganising, adding captions etc.

The image below is from a model of the Glucksman Art Museum in University College Cork designed by O'Donnell & Tuomey Architects, a Dublin practise that is producing some very important work. I have placed the model on Google 3D Warehouse (many thanks to José Manuel who has mentored me on modelling for Google Earth) I submitted it to Google Earth in the hope that it will be selected for the 3D layer, and so milluns and milluns of people from all around the world will gasp in awe at their computer screens when they visit Cork in GE.... OK so maybe I exaggerate a bit... Thanks also to Josh Reilly in Google for his assistance behind the scenes.

From viewsion aspire architecture portfolio drawings

Above: The Glucksman Museum UCC, Cork, Ireland.

 Below is a presentation of a recent project- an energy efficient dwelling in North Cork. I have found that SketchUp representation of a building is a great way to deliver exactly what you design, rather than leaving things to interpretation by the builder (or the client...)

Below is a sample of a an energy efficient dwelling project run entirely on SketchUp without the "aid" of CAD

From viewsion aspire architecture portfolio drawings

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Want to find work in these tough times? Learn sketchup!

Since Viewsion started offering official Google SketchUp training in Ireland, we have helped film set designers, landscape designers, architects, engineers, acoustic room specialists, building product manufacturers, medical education specialists, builders, and graphic artists, amongst others.

With SketchUp you can turn your hand to so many different areas that it can open up opportunities that you didn't even know were there.

The fact is that you can literally draw anything in SketchUp. Fast.

You can also draw things that don't have any immediately apparent commercial application, like this frame from the comedy series "Friends" by koen " jack sparrow " jespers
..... eh...... Thanks Koen....

Dynamic Components: Sheer SketchUp Magic

Dynamic Components represent a groundbreaking new development in SketchUp that allows you to do all sorts of things with components. For example, a window can be inserted that contains parameters for the maximum size of glass panes. The component can be stretched to fit, whereby the component with then auto-configure itself to the maximum pane sizes and resize the mullions and transoms to your settings (according to how the DC is designed/ controlled by you or the originator) The controls can be hidden or e.g. in the form of a pull-down menu.

Here are some tutorial videos

Here is a link to some tutorial drawings about how to use DCs

DCs can also be used to e.g. Configure stairs- Just re-scale a stairs component and it will reconfigure itself to your set tread sizes, risers, and even have the maximum 16 risers to a straight, angled or dogleg landing.

If you are carrying out multiple copies of detailed components, it may be well worth your while learning how to create dynamic components for SketchUp. Note: DCs can be used in the Free SketchUp version but may only be created in the Pro version.

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SketchUp: What can't it do?

More reasons to use SketchUp as a serious draughting tool:

Layout 2 (which comes with SketchUp 7) now allows SketchUp drawings to be converted into vector lines inside the Layout program. These lines can be controlled individually or collectively to provide the exact lineweights required. This tackles one of the last few barriers to replacing CAD with SketchUp. The drawing below is a sample detail drawing at 1/20 scale



In the drawing under, some of the lines have been converted into vector lines and new lineweights are selected for each individually or collectively (the lines are grouped according to the original groupings in the SketchUp drawing.) Note the thickness of the line delineating the foundation. This thickness was selected within the Layout program itself. Colour and linetype can also be controlled instantaneously.

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SketchUp 7 has arrived!

We are having great fun checking out what's in the brand new SketchUp 7 release. Probably the greatest innovation is Dynamic Components- components that incorporate automated functions much like the Wblocks in CAD used to do all those years ago, except now they are 3d SketchUp Wblocks that do far more interesting things. DCs can be created in SU Pro, but can be used in the free version.

Fair play to Mr. Obama

Barack, we wish you the best of luck in governing the U.S. for the next 4 (perhaps 8?) years. America- you did the world proud and showed the rest of us what a great country you really can be...

Barcamp II Report

Last Saturday 1st November the Webworks was host to probably the most exciting event in web / software developments and opportunities ever held in Munster. There were talks on everything from finding a job in "New Media....whatever that is.." to creating global web presence.

I did a presentation on SketchUp, showing how the Cork School of Music can be put on Google Earth. I have yet to place the model of CSOM I have prepared onto 3d warehouse, but it should be in place by the weekend. I will submit this model to be placed on the Google Earth 3d layer.

The networking opportunities that this event presented were extraordinary and all thanks due to the fantastic job done by Conor O'Neill and supported by Damien Mulley

I hope to again meet as many of the participants that I met there.

Fair play lads