Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Chapter 4 Using Plugins Effectively
This exercise was a short introduction to setting up a building model in SketchUp for
energy analysis using OpenStudio. As you can imagine, refining this model and analyzing it is
more involved and therefore beyond the scope of this book. It is well documented on NREL’s
website, though, and I encourage you to explore this further.
Your Turn!
The following tasks allow you to practice the topics in this chapter:
1. Make a Physical 3D Model of a Building on a Site
Create a 3D model of your house or any other building you like. Use the Slicer
plugin and SketchUp’s location tools to create an accurate model of the site. Then
make a textured 3D model of your house and use the Unfold tool to flatten, print,
and fabricate it. (See Figure 4.3 for an example and Figure 1.2 for the finished
house model.)
2. Make a Glazed Atrium Roof Shell
Model the rough outlines of an inner courtyard (e.g., of a museum). Use any of
the shell tools to create a glazed shell over it.
3. From Laser Scanner to 3D Printing
If you have access to a laser scanner (or at least, to its data), load a point cloud (e.g.,
of a small sculpture) into SketchUp and turn it into a “watertight” solid. For a lowcost
laser-scanner, give DAVID 3D a try (www.david-laserscanner.com). Then, preprocess
the object for 3D printing and send it to a printer. If you don’t have access to a
3D printer, give these online services a try: CADspan, i.materialise, Shapeways, or
Ponoko. Some of these accept SketchUp’s COLLADA files without modification. If
you need to use the STL file type, look for an exporter plugin.
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