Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Chapter 4 Using Plugins Effectively
This chapter presents some of the more common plugins. Due to the large number of
available plugins (and the small space available here), you are encouraged to keep browsing
plugin repositories and following new plugin announcements—especially when you run into
a problem that SketchUp alone can’t help you solve.
By default, SketchUp does not have a Plugins top-level menu item until one plugin adds
a tool to it. Don’t worry if your SketchUp installation does not show this menu item—just
install a plugin and it will appear.
TIP
Getting Plugins
Before you can use any plugins in SketchUp, you obviously have to acquire them. While SketchUp
made it very easy to find (and share) user-generated 3D SketchUp models by providing the 3D
Warehouse, they didn’t do the same for plugins. At the time of this writing, there is not one central
repository (or even an all-inclusive index) available. There are, however, several community-based
websites that feature very extensive plugin indexes and repositories. Each one of them has benefits
and drawbacks, and finding the appropriate plugin might require you to browse several of these sites.
Use the following collection of links as your starting point:
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SketchUp’s Plugins Page [1]—A page on the official SketchUp website that lists some
(mostly commercial) plugins. www.sketchup.com/intl/en/download/plugins.html
SketchUp’s Ruby Scripts Page [2]—This page provides an introduction to Ruby scripts
(which are essentially plugins) and lists some of SketchUp’s demonstration scripts.
www.sketchup.com/intl/en/download/rubyscripts.html
Ruby Library Depot [3]—This site has been collecting and indexing plugins for a long
time now and might at this point have the largest index of freely available communitysupplied
plugins. http://rhin.crai.archi.fr/rld
Smustard [4]—A site that provides many free or low-cost plugins for daily tasks.
www.smustard.com
SketchUcation Plugins Forum [5]—This forum is a venue for plugin authors to publish
and discuss their plugins. You can find many community-developed plugins here. Register
to be able to download plugins. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewforum.php?f=323
SketchUcation Plugins Index [6]—This topic in the same forum features a list of all
submitted plugins. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=250026
SketchUp Plugin Index [7]—This site provides an index for commercial and freely
available plugins. Plugins can be rated and discussed and then downloaded and directly
installed using a Plugin Browser Plugin. http://sketchupplugins.com
Extend SketchUp [8]—A site similar to the preceding one with a focus on communitydeveloped
plugins. You can also rate your favorite plugins. www.extendsketchup.com
SketchUp Plugin Reviews [9]—This blog publishes reviews of commercial and communitydeveloped
SketchUp plugins. http://sketchuppluginreviews.com
Jim’s SketchUp [Plugins] Blog [10]—A blog on SketchUp plugins. http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com
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