My house: Inner structure complete

My SketchUp model of my house plods on. But, with the major inner structures now complete the model does begin to look very interesting. As you can see in the following picture I have added the interior doors, and this gives the model a peculiar dolls house effect.

I have the exterior 'shell' to apply now, including the window frames and front and back door. I have noticed quite a few nice windows available from component resources like 3D Warehouse and Form Fonts.com that look similar to those of my house, so I will give these a try.

My mind is also turning to doing a couple of different versions of my house model. A simplified version - without all the extra walls and parts I have included in this model - which I will texture, and also my fully modular animated version.

Link: Barnabu.co.uk - London skyline in SketchUp

Here's a nice SketchUp site with some lovely models of buildings that make up the London skyline and some interesting Google Earth animations.

I've yet to really get to grips with Google Earth implementation for SketchUp models - though this has a lot to do with the fact that my home town is one of those in the UK that is not covered in detail by Google Earth. But I hope to move into this area soon.

Barnabu.co.uk is a wonderful showcase of just what can be archived, as well as showing some beautiful pieces of architecture. The Google Earth animations are well worth a peek too.

Link: Barnabu.co.uk

My house: Ground floor stairway

Added the lower stairway to my SketchUp model of my house. Stairways are easy enough to make so I won't go through the process, but it's probably a good idea to save any stairways like this as a component. You never know when they might come in useful for another house project.

This concludes all the major structural parts of the building, now I have to create the windows and doors. And, again, these can be added to a component library for re-use.

No. 6's residence - progress to date (film set ceiling)

My SketchUp model of Number Six's apartment from the TV series 'the prisoner' has taken a bit of a interesting turn. Originally I simply wanted to make a model based on a floor plan published in the book 'The Village Files', but now I have started to think of the model in terms of it's function as a reconstruction of the film set.

Above: The 'film set' ceiling is complete. High and open, this 'false ceiling' is what I assume the original set must have been like to accommodate lighting and cameras. The red area is my latest addition, a sloped ceiling as I imagine the original set to have been like.

The fact is, that although my 'assumptions' are based on what I can see from the DVD footage of the series, without actual firm reference and schematics of the film set I am stabbing in the dark. Although, so far, I have been unable to find out if a technical drawing or photographs of the original set construction are available.

I'm not even sure if there was just one version of the set - as sometime you can see the rooms with ceilings, and sometimes there are hints that the walls in some sequences are much higher (perhaps with no ceilings to accommodate cameras and lighting rigs).

I am sure, over time, as I collect more data a third and forth model will be made!

The Prisoner: No. 6's - version 2

I was a little unhappy with some aspects of my SketchUp model of The Prisoner's apparent! So I started from scratch again. I'm happier with the proportions this time, and I've also been able to work in some minor detail which I missed out on my first attempt.

In this view you can see two interesting features. First of all there is the two levels of the apartment, interesting because the top level doesn't actually exist in the real building as it exists in Portmeirrion.

This section only existed as part of the set built for the TV series, 'The Prisoner' (the real building is called 'The Roundhouse', and now serves as a shop selling 'Prisoner' memorabilia).

The second feature I have added is the very small balcony on the lower level (you can see slightly protruding from the door on the right of the model). This does not appear on the floor plan I based this model on - taken from the book 'the Village Files'.

Oh! And one more thing I have done, having started afresh, is to build the model in a modular format - like I used when building the model of my house. The walls are wholly separate entities, which can be stripped away to reveal the floor plan - rather like a film set. This adds a little more polygons to the model, as usually walls would be part of the building 'shell'.

Above: Here you can see the model's floor, the red outline marks the outer wall thickness, the wall having been constructed as an independent object to allow the apartment to be taken apart.

As is my practise now, I am building a Flickr album to show the progress of my project in pictures: Flickr set - No. 6's residence

More SketchUp student work

I mentioned a while ago that I had found a series of blogs done by students of architecture who are using SketchUp as part of their course. I've revisited some of these blogs, and found some really nice renders which I think are worth mentioning.


I really like this style, in particular the semi-transparent figures. These have been done in Photoshop as post production work. The renders have a nice West Coast USA feel about them - though I am still not sure which college these students are from.

I'll be trying to emulate this technique myself, and will report on the results in a later post. In the meantime, enjoy more of these wonderful renders at: http://stephenvarady.blogspot.com/

And here's the link to the my original post about the students' work: SketchUp class online work journals

The Prisoner: No. 6's residence

Inspired by Go-2-School's videocast tutorials on making a house in SketchUp, I decided to attempt a very quick project myself. As it so happened I had a floor plan I could scan in a book right next to me so I used that. It is the layout of No. 6's residence from the 1960's cult TV series 'The Prisoner'.

No messing around with this one! Taking a leaf from the Go-2-School videos I tore through the initial build-up, using some of the tips they showed. I did have to take a guess at the height of the rooms (as the book I had - Tim Palgut's 'The Village Files' - didn't give any scale. But a quick search round the Internet found me a 'standard' height for rooms of 8 feet - so I tried this.

I *think* my build speed with SketchUp is increasing with every model, but I still have a long way to go in learning about styling the model and - ultimately - perhaps rendering it.

Scarborough Campus: Accommodation complete

Finished the accommodation block of my SketchUp campus model. The buildings are nearly all there, just one small block - Music Technology - to make and the diorama, of course.

I have a bit of detailing and cleaning up I want to do - including some further optimization (getting rid of some internal construction and guide lines). A process I will be talking about in a later post.

As you can see, no windows or such-like. This model is a simple directional map of the campus - although, I have included fairly detailed models of the disabled access ramps. As these are important points that will be highlighted in the final map.

All the buildings have been 'cut' ready for the diorama (base on which the model will sit), illustrating - simply - the various slopes the buildings sit on. Of course, SketchUp includes a very sophisticated 'sand box' tool set that allows you to model realistic terrain very accurately. But for this model a simple geometric impression of the terrain is all that is required (see bellow).

Above: The red line shows how I have 'cut out' a section of a building so that it sits on the base I will be making, giving the impression of slope in the terrain. For a more sophisticated and accurate model I would have probably attempted to create the terrain first using SketchUp's sand box tools, and then stamped a foundation for my buildings into the terrain, thus avoiding cutting into my buildings.

Scarborough Campus: Unexpected accurate results

Little whoop of triumph for me and my 'brick counting' method of determining my dimensions for my SketchUp building projects (where detailed schematic measurements are not available).

The red line in the above screen shot illustrates an - unexpectedly - accurate alignment of two points. Who'd have thought! LOL

Of course, statistically, I guess you could say that I eventually could get an accurate dimension using my method simply by chance - but I prefer to pat myself on my back and say it's skill! ;)

You will also notice that my SketchUp construction method is not perhaps to usual practice of drawing a buildings 'footprint' and then using the pull tool to make a 'box'. I am working around the outside shell of the building, making the faces of each block one at a time.

I am gambling that my 'brick counting' method will have the ends of my construction meet perfectly at the end - which is why I was excited with the above alignment!

Small things! ;)

Scarborough Campus: Accommodation block

Started off the student halls (outlined in red). These are a little tricky as they are built on a series of small slops that run both north to south and east to west. I'm working my way round the face, and if my calculations are correct I should meet up nicely at the end.

What's the chances of that coming off? LOL

Scarborough campus: raising the first level

As discussed in an earlier post - Campus geography - this SketchUp model of the Scaborough Campus is on three distinct levels. Today I raised the first level of the model in order to start the second level - the I.T. block.

Above: The red arrow marks the new base level of the model. This is the 'bridge'
between the Theatre and I.T. block.

The above picture shows - I hope - how I have raised the first block of the campus up (about 1.5 meters in actual scale). But, as usual, this wasn't without problems - as I couldn't seem to get the building to move up properly using the move tool on my Mac.

I solved the problem in the end - as you can read in this thread on the SketchUp Help forum - but I have some misgivings about the coordinate entry function on the Mac version of SketchUp. I will report more on this if I can understand what is going wrong.

Scarborough campus - problem roof

Building a SketchUp model from photos of a building is great - when you can get shots of all the angles. But I have a sticky problem, I just can't tell from the source photos I have what is going on on that darn roof! LOL

The problem is that there has been so many ad hoc building 'improvements' done to the building over the years that the place is now a bit of a rabbit warren. No more so that the roof - which is a jumble of extensions and modifications.

At the moment my model has a large hole in the main roof, and while I did find a top-down aerial photo, it seems to make things more confusing!

Can you make out what's going on? I can't LOL

Unfortunately, for heath and safty reasons I am not permitted to go up to the roof and simply take some reference photos (the easiest solution). So, I am left with the option of 'winging it', making my best guess from the reference material I have.

SketchUp class online work journals

Quite by accident I found what appears to be a college or university SketchUp assignment online. What makes this extremely interesting for the SketchUp enthusiast like myself is that there isn't just one of these assignment blogs, rather it looks like the whole class has to document thier lessons using a blog as an online work journal.

Above: SketchUp Section Perspective - credit: Kody Nathe

I wish I knew what college or university these bloggers belonged to, and what course they were doing (I presume, naturally, it's a architecture course of some sort).

But what really gets me excited - I'm easily excited! - is that they are using SketchUp in combination with my other favourite graphics package, Adobe Illustrator.

Above: Illustrator Section Perspective - credit: Kody Nathe

Check out some of the assignments:

• Kody Nathe - Assignment 3 - Focus on Section Perspective
• Eugene Locals - Perspective Section
• Molly Petersen - Isometric for subtraction
• Erin - Assignment 3
• 21 Jump St. - Spatial Variations

The last one - 21 Jump St. - is particularly interesting as it relates an assignment brief. The class were provided with a 'kit' of 2D part and then had to create a 3D model out of them in SketchUp!

Scarborough Campus part 3 - geography

Never having had to build geography in SketchUp before I perhaps got a little more stressed about it than I needed to! Especially as the geography for this model is relatively simple - just three shallow inclines.

As you can see from the above simple diagram, the campus sits on three 'steps'. Unfortunately, my mind-set imagined that I would have to build my virtual model as I would a physical model - from the ground up! This meant - in simple terms - building the buildings around the ground, as a builder would (if you see what I mean).

However, once I thought about it - what would be simpler would be for me to build the land around the buildings!

I would begin by making each of the three levels of buildings on a flat plane in SketchUp - then raise each section up before building the next section on it's own plane (see below).

So, I build the main block, then raise it to it's final elevation, then the next block and so on. Finally, I would create the ground around these buildings - much easier!

Complexity of model...
My next decision would be about how complex to make the model (level of detail).

Because the output for this model would be for print and small scale on a webpage I could not include too much detail. Detail at this scale would just merge together and become a messy 'blob'. So furniture like doorframes and windowframes were 'out' - as they just would not help in what is a 'map' of general locations on campus.

The above picture show just how much detail I will be ommitting - quite a lot! But this is neccessary in order to produce a crisp, uncluttered and easily readable diagram of the campus. However, these simplified models make a good basis for more complex and detailed models, should I decide to elaborate later on.

Finally, my progress so far...

Next: Hopefully I will be able to show you two of the sections in thier 'elevated' position.

Scarborough Campus model: Part 2

I was going to start the diarama for my Scarborough Campus model, but I just wanted to clarify how I quickly 'guestimated' dimensions (mainly because I have been spending a lot of time time today converting my measurements).

Here's a photo of the area of the front of the main building that I'm using as my key sample measurement. In particular, I am concentrating on the bay window sections.

And here's a scan of my rough sketch I did on the day - all initial dimension done in 'BW' (brick width) and 'BH' (brick height), in other words, the number of bricks that make up particular sections of the building.

Finally, I created my first 'building block' in SketchUp based on my brick measurements. This, and a half dozen other 'key' measurements from around the site, will be my measuring rules by which I will infer the respective dimensions of the rest of the buildings on the campsus.

Above: This building block will in turn be used as a measuring stick by which I will create the rest of the building. And, in turn, this finished building will be used to produce the relative measurements for the building next to it, and so on and so forth.

So, for example, the width of the bay window was 10 bricks. Using the guide from my last post - this equates to 1o x 215mm, with 8 gaps (morter) of 10mm each = 2230mm.

This might all seem a little hit and miss, but it suits the needs of my brief which is to produce an illustrative and not an archetectural model of the campus.

Next: The diarama. My very first attempt to model geography.

Sketchup: A new beginning!

Right, started a new Sketchup project today, so it’s a good time to kick-start ‘Electric Draughtsman’ again!

The reason I’ve been holding off – apart from the scarcity of Sketchup projects recently – is that this new project is an excellent opportunity to document an architectural Sketchup model from start to finish.

THE BRIEF
Having already created a Sketchup model of our main university campus, I have been tasked to create a 3D model of our Scarborough campus. This is a much smaller campus, but has a very interesting and picturesque main building and on-site student accommodation halls.

Additionally, an interesting twist is that I will be attempting to prepare this model with ‘Google Earth’ integration in mind.

FIRST STEPS
As with my last architectural project, my first steps in preparation are to do a photographic site survey. These reference photos back up any architectural drawings or schematics I have managed to gather.

NOTE: I use Sketchup NOT as an architectural CAD. My models ARE NOT completely accurate. I use Sketchup just as it’s name implies – as a ‘sketching’ tool, but in 3D rather than 2D. Sketchup’s greatest strength is it's ability to create a quick ‘IMPRESSION’ of an architectural original.

As a graphic designer, I often simplify pictures in order to make them CLEARER and easier to ‘read’. Other purposes might demand other strategies.

Another reason I base my models on – principally – photographic reference rather than CAD drawings is that, on a rambling institution like a university there is almost always redevelopment and ‘improvements’ being made, at the behest of individual departments. This sometimes is not reflected back in the centrally held architectural drawings! Or drawings may be slightly out-or-date.

INITIAL SURVEY
I find what floorplans I can – mainly for orientation – then I survey the campus, taking descriptive shots of architectural details. I take ROUGH measurement of the KEY characteristics of a building using the ‘brick count’ method (see bellow), as often I have to work alone so using a long rule is no good to me.

Above: The 'brick count' method of quick measurement. Thanks to the modular system used in modern brickwork, a fairly accurate measurement of buildings can be made from counting the bricks which make up a wall. Thereafter, you can infer the measurements of other dimensions based on this sample.
Picture credit: A.J. McCormack & Son, http://www.pavingexpert.com/

This sample measurement allows me to INFER relative dimensions for my model, just as I would were I doing a pencil sketch of a building! (As an artist I don’t actually measure with a ruler a subject to determine dimensions – I use rule of thumb, then make judgements about other dimensions based on my sample. In other words, I approximate.)

Obviously, you have to make decisions about how accurate YOUR Sketchup project is going to be – but if, like me, your model is for ILLUSTRATIVE purposes only, you might find my method useful.

PART TWO: In part two of this series I will make decisions about the level of complexity and style of my model and also start to build a 3D diorama to sit my model on.