[Stonehenge]

I saw an ad for this in one of my magazines a few months ago and finally remembered to have a look at it over the weekend.

It's from Google, and it's called Sketchup. The interface is pretty intuitive, so it's easy to learn.

May be of great use to those wanting to illustrate an involved hardscape design.

[Greensmith]

One of my nurserymen told me that the ANLA email chain has been discussing it lately. I haven't had a chance to get into it either. Like you I kept forgetting about it by the time I got back to my office.

[Lanelle]

If I remember correctly, our summer intern (LA student) used AutoCad for the initial design and then Sketchup for the 3D representations used for presentations. He had taught himself to use Sketchup. I like the 360 degree rotational viewpoint.

[Stonehenge]

They've got video tutorials of the program that walk you through most of what the free program can do.

There are limitations to the program, so I don't know that I would use it as a primary design tool, but for those situations where a project can really be conveyed well in 3d (or a client can really only understand in 3d), this would be a nice tool to use.

Plus, it took me about 20 minutes to learn it well enough to draw up a quick hardscape.

[trees]

I just used it to put together a small hardscape presentation and was impressed with its ease-of-use and final product.

I think its primary use for me will be for smallish areas that may carry a nice price tag (hardscapes primarily). I found that when I started adding a bunch of plant models, the program started to drag quite a bit (perhaps I need a RAM upgrade???). Plus, the CAD program that I use just came out with a plug-in that will allow me to pull Sketchup designs in to fully flesh them out, if need be.

I'd encourage anyone to take a look at it.

[trees]

Here's my first attempt...

The really neat thing is that you can rotate the image 360 degrees. That means you can even put sub-base into the drawing and fly through it below grade.

[trees]

Same plan... different angle (sans plants & patio furniture). Like I said before, with the plant models in place, my computer got pretty sluggish, so I saved a copy without the plants.

[Stonehenge]

Jesse - Do you have the full version or the freebie?

[trees]

Just the freebie for now. I'm going to play with it for a season and see how much I actually use the thing before looking at dropping the cash for the full version (it's no where near the cost of a CAD program, but it's still a few hundred bucks that might be better spent elsewhere). Maybe the full version wouldn't drag so much with models in it?

It is really quick to learn and easy to use. The design above, being my first, probably took about an hour to complete, but I was playing a lot. I bet I could throw that together in about 20-25 minutes if I were trying to crank it out.

[sdinenno]

The full version is not going to be any faster than the free version. The problem with 3D software is that the more objects you put in the scene, the more computing power it takes to render them in 3D. And the more realistic the models, the more power it takes to render each one.

I have used a program called Realtime Landscaping PRO which does 3D modeling and has a walkthrough feature. The problem is the same. Once you get many plant models into a scene, the software bogs down to the point where it becomes impractical to design with it. Their (partial) solution is to allow the user the option to hide objects that are in the scene. You can check and uncheck entire classes of models (such as plants) to show or hide them from the scene until you are finished with. The manual walkthrough feature becomes slow and jerky when there are a lot of models shown but you can also lay out a path for a camera to film a walkthrough video frame by frame and that plays back very smoothly.

The advantage of this software over Sketchup is that it uses what are called "smart objects." That is, you don't have to draw everything from scratch as you do with SketchUp. For example, if you want to build a house, you just draw the outline of it in the top-down view and a 3D house with a roof automatically pops up. From there you can change the roof material, add windows, doors, and other features. The downside is that it is not as flexible as Sketchup because it doesn't have as much capability for freeform drawing. But the company is developing a much more sophisticated version that will have many more smart models and also allow a much greater degree of flexibility in design.


Stuart

[sdinenno]

Let's see if I can post an image of a 3D design:

[sdinenno]

I posted some images on the following web page so you can see the kind of things you can do with the software I mentioned.

http://www.freewebs.com/sdinenno/plans.htm

[10west]

I am surprised, that given the simplicity, and artistic appeal of ShetchUp, that programs like Autodesk VIZ, and Studio3DMax, don't simplify in sectors. This app really took off, and part of the speed, is the "materials" are very basic, and lightweight for rendering, but also looser and artistically sketchier. It is the landscape designer niche feel. I know now, they could apply many "artsits" feels, to this.

[cadman]

Thanks anyway, but until there is a truly realistic rendering 3D imaging software that does NOT look cheesy, I will stick to to what I'm using. I do think, in the future it will be a good tool as the bugs are worked out.