i want to play around with different layouts for a commercial space i'm thinking about buying for car storage and workshop. is Sketchup still a preferred tool for this, or is there something y'all like better? thanks!
i want to play around with different layouts for a commercial space i'm thinking about buying for car storage and workshop. is Sketchup still a preferred tool for this, or is there something y'all like better? thanks!
If you want to model a house specifically there are free tools that specialize in that, which let you easily lay out walls and furniture etc. such as Sweet Home 3D.
If you want something more general-purpose, Sketchup could be a decent choice, it's probably the easiest to learn of the general-purpose 3D modeling tools. Neither of these are CAD tools however. If you actually need free CAD, there's FreeCAD and OpenSCAD.
GameboyRMH said:If you want to model a house specifically there are free tools that specialize in that, which let you easily lay out walls and furniture etc. such as Sweet Home 3D.
If you want something more general-purpose, Sketchup could be a decent choice, it's probably the easiest to learn of the general-purpose 3D modeling tools. Neither of these are CAD tools however. If you actually need free CAD, there's FreeCAD and OpenSCAD.
Modeling of space is what i need. I mis-spoke by asking about CAD. Thanks!
I use Sketchup exclusively for my theatrical scenic designs. It's clumsy and a bit underpowered, but it gets the job done. The free version is usually just last-year's release. Hard to find on their website, so just google "free sketchup download" and it will take you to a page with dozens of downloads.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
That's impressive.
Does Sketchup let you texture and detail the various elevations, planes and surfaces (like wallpaper patterns or stone veneers), or does it only allow you to block out the basic 3D shapes and relationships between the components?
Can you make a 3D "rendering" which would let someone see what the set will look like from the audience, or is it better suited for the functions of how things will fit together?
I'm looking for something that would let me render 3D drawings of kitchens and baths quickly, but I want to be able to show wall textures (like a particular tile or flooring layout)
SketchUp has a good palette of materials available. It will never make a photorealistic rendering, but it absolutely gets the point of materials across. It's actually nice having presentation images be not too perfect, and there are a bunch of styles you can use to keep the picture be a little loose and sketchy.
You can have the camera either be perspective or orthographic, so the same model can show you in-space views or elevations.
There's a huge warehouse of pre-built, downloadable elements you can use. Like all open source things, quality varies. But some manufacturers even have .skp files of appliances, etc.
The learning curve on SketchUp is very shallow. But you can work to scale and move stuff around and look at it from any POV you want.
It has some idiosyncratic bits that make it easy to use once you understand them, but may be frustrating for the uninitiated. But there are drafting strategies that can radically reduce the frustration.
I've got over 20 years of SketchUp experience and I'll be happy to share some suggestions on how to work with it effectively.
In reply to Duke :
I would very much appreciate any suggestions.
I've started trying to learn it a couple times, but my 2D uninitiated brain falls quickly into frustration with the idiosyncratic bits.
Feel free to start a new thread or reach out to me directly if this would clutter AC's thread.
SV reX said:In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
That's impressive.
Does Sketchup let you texture and detail the various elevations, planes and surfaces (like wallpaper patterns or stone veneers), or does it only allow you to block out the basic 3D shapes and relationships between the components?
Can you make a 3D "rendering" which would let someone see what the set will look like from the audience, or is it better suited for the functions of how things will fit together?
I'm looking for something that would let me render 3D drawings of kitchens and baths quickly, but I want to be able to show wall textures (like a particular tile or flooring layout)
There are a number of textures you can add to surfaces like brick, curtains, woodgrain, etc. They are pretty poor representations, but you can also find an image on the internet and turn it into "wallpaper" for the surfaces.
For instance... Here is an unfinished scenic design I was playing with, and I wanted graffiti plastered on the walls. I just did a google search for graffiti, copied some images, and pasted them on the walls.
Here is another design I did for Cabaret. Notice the surfaces are pretty sterile. The doors on the left and right were one of the stock "woodgrain" options and it's pretty pathetic, but it gets the job done. I could have found a nice woodgrain photo online and used it, but lazy things happened.
I downloaded the free Sketchup program yesterday while recuperating from my cataract surgery. I used to have it downloaded way back when it first came out on another now dead computer and I remember coping and pasting a Sketchup racing driver in a lay down racing seat to stick in my 8 wheeled super car and super roadster I have been drawing off and on for the last 23 years or so. I was hoping to be able to find an already drawn Corvette C5 front and rear suspension to stick under my car body and soon to be frame and roll cage but one doesn't seem to exist.
Unfortunately, the free version also doesn't export drawing files including the DWG or DXF file I need for Autocad anyway, only the paid subscription does.
After several hours, I can't find any front suspension design layouts of any kind anywhere on the interweb for any drawing program. I could draw my own suspension pieces myself if I had a geometry to copy, such as a road course Late Model Stock Car but nothing seems to exist. Alas... Anything could fit since when I was figuring out the dimensions of the cars which have the exact same wheelbase and track width, I modeled it after the Lamborghini Countach LP 500 S which I mistakenly thought was 82" outside to outside of tire. My bad, the cars width is only 78.74" not my 84". LOL
I could always just wing it and draw up something that looks pretty but that seems like a waste of effort.
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