SketchUp Plugins: Model Clean-Up

An excellent plugin to remove unnecessary edges and clean-up imported geometry by Thomthom.
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CLEANUP (tt_cleanup.rb): Thomthom has an excellent Plugin to clean geometry, unnecessary coplanar edges and other features. The thread at Sketchucation has excellent pictures that explain the functionality of the Plugin, so i'll skip repeating all of it. See the thread here. Here I'll show you just a sneak peak I have from trying the plugin.



There are other Plugins useful to Clean up your model. You can find them follwing this link.


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SketchUp Plugins: 4D Construction Simulation For Free

A free Plugin to simulate the construction process
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Not so long ago I posted on a couple of commercial plugins to simulate construction. recently I came across a free option that might help in the future simulate construction using SketchUp.

The Plugin is called onTime5D. On the video below you can see a very brief preview of its functionality. The plugin seems to be in process of development, you can follow up on this on the author's website.


I am adding this Plugin on the Previous post that can serve as a reference on the available SketchUp plugins for construction simulation.


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Book of the Month: Building the Empire State

Learn How the most famous Skyscraper was built. A must read to know how things can be optimized and sped up to the n power
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Thanks to last month's "Book of the Month" I came across this great book called "Building the Empire State" Edited by Carol Willis and based on notebooks from the 1930s describing the planning and construction process.

If you consider that still nowadays the Empire State is the tallest Building in NY (of course after the fall of the World Trade Center) and the 3rd tallest building in US, it is more and more impressive to read how the building was planned and built in no more than 22 months, and that actual construction time was 11 months.

or or

The book is an easy read. The first 46 pages describe the construction process, the next pages (47-187) are the reproduction of the Notebook from the 1930s that describes the construction of the Building. This notebook has no signing author, its a compilation of notes from someone or from several people working for Starrett Brothers and Eken, the general contractor in charge of building the skyscraper. Together with the scanned (or reproduced) pages of the notebook, there are pictures of the time portraying the different constructions systems, machinery, etc and explanations about them.

On the Next Book review, I'll be talking about the book "SketchUp 7.1 for Architectural Visualization: Beginner's Guide". A book about how toCreate picture-perfect photo-realistic 3D architectural renders for your SketchUp models.



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AutoCAD: Format your Fractions

Control how your fractions are stacked in AutoCAD texts
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Lazy Drafter just published a quick tip on how to format your fractions in AutoCAD. One of this little tips that in case you need to use it is really useful. Sometimes this little things are the ones that make us waste a lot of time because we do not know how to do it, si memorise this tip for the day you work with fractions in AutoCAD texts.

When typing fractions on MText, AutoCAD will rpompt you asking if you want to "Stack" the Fraction. If you say yes, then you will be able to select that fraction and modify the way it is Stacked. To do this, select the fraction, right click on it and Select "Stacking properties". See below.


With the different options you will be able to change the format of the fractions.



Via Lazy Drafter.

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Blog Recommendation: BIM ThinkSpace

A very very recommendable Blog to read about BIM on scientific way
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I seldom recommend Blogs by writing an entire post about them, normally I just link to some specific tip I found useful, but today it will be an exception.

Not so long ago I randomly came across, thanks to Google Reader, with the BIM ThinkSpace blog. This blog is a true gem for those interested on BIM from a, lets call it, scientific or scholarly point of view. Almost every post is well written, interesting and teaches you a lot about what I would call "BIM Theory".

It is not the typical blog where you will find Revit or ArchiCAD tips, it is much more than that. You will get a great insight on the WHY the transition towards BIM. What needs to be considered, what are the challenges of the future, etc. It is also not the typical blog where you subscribe and wait for regular short posts, it is more like a book on BIM Theory published online. The post frequency is scarce, but that is because the quality of the posts is incredible. A must read for those who want to understand BIM, not only do BIM.

These are a few of my favourite posts from the BIM ThinkSpace.

BIM Capability vs BIM Maturity

Efects of BIM on Project Life-Cycle

BIM Data Sharing methodologies


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Free Online Mindmap Creator

Mindmaps are useful to organise your thoughts, see a free tool that allows yo to create and share mindmaps.
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I've been using mindmaps more or less regularly for some months now. Mindmaps are a useful way to sort of write down your thought in a hierarchical way. Somehow is like creating an index with chapters and sub-chapters of your thoughts/ideas with the extra feature of being able to interlink them to show relationships. Probably the leading commercial mindmap tool is Mindjet's MindManager. I used Mindmanager for a while at work and works pretty good.

But this post is to talk about a free tool called MindMeister. The great thing of it is that has nearly the same features as paying apps (even it allows more freedom on where to place topics than mindmanager), it runs on the cloud so no need to install any software in your computer, and you do not need to go through a registration process, you can use your OpenID to log in. Excellent free tool. I would work a bit more on the connectors , since there seems to be no control over their shape, only over their color.
Even better, the ability to share the map with some collaborators who can edit it too or with the entire worldwide web makes it an excellent communication tool. Below you can see a map with some quick thoughts about the current topics at CAD-Addict.com.



via Carlos Camara.

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SketchUp Plugins: Make Fur / Grass

A Plugin to generate Fur / Grass with a lot of control.
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MAKE FUR (fur_en_v1_2.rb): Is a Plugin to create Fur / Hair or Grass created by tak2hata. It is very easy to use. See the following images.




Once you have installed the Plugin. Yo can access it via Right Click. Select a Face or a set of faces, Right click and select fur_1.2!. There are two options, a web dialog and an Imput dialog box. Either of them works very similarly. You can also access teh Plugin via the Plugins Menu.

You can download the Plugin here.

Via The Daily CatchUp

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SketchUp: Free Course Certificate

Get a 3D Design certificate with SketchUp for Free.
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I just got my "3D Designing with Google SketchUp" certificate for free at AECDaily. They offer a free podcast training and an online examination for free. If you pass the test, you'll get a certificate.


To access the podcast follow this link. If you are new to SketchUp better follow the podcast, if you are an experienced user, you might be able to take the test directly. Just be sure you review the PHOTOMATCH technique since they are quite a few questions about it.

via SketchUpLinks.

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