SketchUp Plugins

[Scott Hopkins]

This was news to me - SketchUp now has a Plug-in available for both ArchiCAD and ADT. Still haven’t forked over the money to buy SketchUp, but if they come out with a Plug-in for Revit I may be convinced. See article below,

The SketchUp Plug-in for ADT

One of the critical shortcomings in current building modeling solutions is their lack of support for conceptual design tasks such as programming, space planning, conceptual sketching, and massing, as I discussed in my recent A-E-C Automation Newsletter article. One step towards a solution to this problem has come with a new SketchUp plug-in for Autodesk Architectural Desktop (ADT), which was unveiled at Autodesk University by @Last Software. SketchUp is an easy, intuitive, and fun to use application for 3D design exploration, which has continued to gain in popularity in the architectural design community since its release in Fall 2000. (See my previous articles on SketchUp in Cadence AEC Tech News #102 and #80.) The availability of this plug-in should be welcome news to those using ADT for building modeling-the 3D design concepts they develop using SketchUp can be intelligently imported as building objects into ADT, giving them a head start on design development.

The plug-in allows SketchUp data to be translated into ADT in different ways, depending upon the configuration and complexity of the SketchUp geometry. The simplest mode is automatic, in which all vertical surfaces become walls, all horizontal surfaces become slabs, and sloping surfaces become roof elements. Windows and doors also translate directly into ADT objects. If the 3D model configuration doesn't allow for a good translation using this method, specific surfaces can be differentiated with materials and an exact method of translation based on material can be specified. For a complex model for which neither of these methods works well, another more roundabout method is available: it uses section slices from SketchUp to convert lines to walls or curtain walls in ADT. While the plug-in does not guarantee a perfectly seamless and flawless translation for each model, it works well enough to save the time and tedium involved in developing the ADT model from scratch. More importantly, it is a great example of integrating diverse applications and workflows into a more coordinated design process.

http://sketchup.com/plugins/

[Kroke]

Ironic, I just ran into that on their site last night. Thinking "Cool, it's free! Oh wait, I dont use Ottocad anymore..." Oh well

[Cathy Hadley]

I talked to them some at AU, where they introduced this ADT plug-in. I was telling them how something similar would be really great for Revit.

His answer was ... something to the effect of... know any Revit Programmers who'd be interested on working on it with us?

He wasn't too encouraging ... but maybe its just a matter of numbers...

CZH

[beegee]

I'd buy SketchUp immediately if they had a Revit plug-in.

The file transfers seems to be the only stumbling block to using this great program.