Gazoogle SketchUp?

[sizemore]

Anyone play with Google SketchUp? Me be thinking there may be some unhidden N scale booty in tharrrrrrrrr for mocking up buildings/plans etc. Bueller...Bueller...

http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/

The S.

[Philip H]

I've used it to sketch various shed configurations for my back yard.  Then the wife found a Rubbermaid shed she liked . . . it's a good basic 3-d rendering program.  If you have familiarity with CAD you should have no problem using it.  An dthere's a ton of free stuff on the web as completed projects, etc.

[RDG_Rich]

I have used it, but I don't know how useable it would be for mocking up buildings. I might be wrong, but I don't think the freeware version supports printing or exporting to useable files. IIRC I had to do a ctrl+printscreen to get a jpeg of a sketch I did.

Some folks have done some really incredible models on it though. Wish I had that kind of time.  :-\

[sizemore]

I have used it, but I don't know how useable it would be for mocking up buildings. I might be wrong, but I don't think the freeware version supports printing or exporting to useable files. IIRC I had to do a ctrl+printscreen to get a jpeg of a sketch I did.

Some folks have done some really incredible models on it though. Wish I had that kind of time.  :-\

That was my question, I havent had a chance to try it out or really read too much beyond the "brochure". I'll play with it this week...sometime.

The S.

[wm3798]

I haven't diddled with Sketch up too much, but from what I understand, It can do the nifty 3-d renderings and what not, but in order to useful things like scale plans you need to buy an upgrade.

I think it's more of a toy than a tool.  But I could be wrong... been wrong before.

I've got a fairly sophisticated architectural program from which I've built several models.  I draw the building in in full dimensional scale, then can print out the plans in 1:160, 1:87, 1/4" or whatever scale I want for the purpose at hand.

Lee

[Iain]

I've downloaded it to try it, but somehow I think that for most of what I do I will stick with Autocad.

[Zox]

From what I've ready, many woodworkers swear by Sketchup for designing furniture, since it lets them see their designs from various angles and tweak them for appearance and ease of assembly. But I don't have any personal experience with it.

[RDG_Rich]

I haven't diddled with Sketch up too much, but from what I understand, It can do the nifty 3-d renderings and what not, but in order to useful things like scale plans you need to buy an upgrade.

I'm pretty sure the pay to play version is very salty...in the hundreds of dollars range. 

I've already spent enough (too much) on Adobe CS3, and it does what I need it to do...I have drawn lots of buildings and rolling stock in Illustrator, and I can print it out, or export it to CAD files.

Sketchup is fun to play with, and you can do cool stuff like build your house in 3D and upload it to google earth, but as far as modeling potential I think it's pretty limited.