Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Architectural Design with SketchUp
NN
Oblique aerial imagery. While mostly available only for cities and major urban areas,
these images provide angled views of buildings showing all facades. At this point,
oblique imagery is accessible only using Google’s Building Maker tool, but building
models created with it can be reimported into SketchUp.
You can access Building Maker here: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwh/buildingmaker.html.
Figure 3.21: Geo-locating a model using the Add Location tool
You can exchange data and building models from SketchUp with other software in a
variety of ways. The free version of SketchUp allows you to export 2D images, 3D models
(as COLLADA DAE or Google Earth KMZ files), and animations. The Pro version adds to that
AutoCAD DWG and DXF export as well as some generic 3D formats like 3DS, FBX, OBJ, XSI,
and VRML.
To import 3D models into SketchUp, you can use either 3DS, DEM, DAE, or KMZ file
formats in the free version. The Pro version adds to this AutoCAD DWG and DXF import.
Beyond these formats, many 3D software packages now include direct SKP file import,
which makes it even easier to use a SketchUp model in another program. If this is not available,
then a good file format, which is universally accepted and supported by all versions
of SketchUp, is the COLLADA format. This is also the format Google Earth uses (in its KMZ
files) and the one in which models in the 3D Warehouse are stored (besides the original
SketchUp file format).
Example 3.4: Program Planning with SketchUp’s Dynamic Components
When laying out a space program for a building, a common approach is to use rectangular
“blocks” to represent spaces (offices, auditoriums, etc.) and then arrange them visually to
outline the total space requirement and relationships among them. In this example, we will
use simple rectangular Dynamic Components to help us with this task.
If you don’t have SketchUp Pro, you can still do this example. Simply download the Space
component from the companion website and insert it into a model. Skip to step 7 to start
using this component.
74