New project taken from start to finish in SketchUp and LayOut. Construction details were a pleasure to model and annotate – and I’ve gotten comments that this has been an easy (and simple) set of drawings to work with and understand. I had the pleasure of working with the esteemed Fire Tower Engineered Timber on this project.
Another great SketchUp session at the Heartwood School. Add in a single speed mountain bike ride, catching up with an old friend who took the course, dinner with my hosts, and a group outing to the Dream Away… just a perfect way to spend a few days in the Berkshires.
Taking a project from concept to presentation using SketchUp and LayOut. After some stumbles, some test plots and some thought about work flow – I have to say I’m happy with the results. These float somewhere between traditional CAD drawings and hand work – and I love being able to add some color and 3D elements to otherwise lifeless building section details. I published these to a PDF set of drawings and tuned the textures, line weights, and fonts to work as color or black and white prints. Full size is 24×36 – and these are JPGs from PDFs.
Virtual joinery, shop drawings, and the core of using SketchUp for timber frame design.
I’ll be teaching a SketchUp preconference workshop at the Timber Framer’s Guild Eastern Conference. I’m stepping in for Clark Bremer who had some last minute plan changes and will not be able to make the trip. The course is filling fast – sign up with the TFG – I hope to see you in Saratoga!
This is a test post using the SketchUp Web Exporter. Pretty simple way to embed ’3d’ SketchUp into a website… and there’s more in the works with a simple hack to replace the images generated by the script with images saved as scenes. Currently it seems to run a bit cleaner in IE and Google Chrome. FireFox gets ‘stuck’ and it sometimes lurches between images…
SketchUp for Timber Framers and Designers 2008 class photo.
There are still a few seats remaining for the SketchUp for Timber Framers and Designers at Heartwood May 25-27, 2009. Contact Will (will (at) heartwoodschool (dot) com for more details, or visit the Heartwood website.
Traditional joinery and shop drawings...
...and tricks and tips for modeling compound joinery.
A project on the boards for a small office located in Brecksville, Ohio. The building is sited in a flood plain and overlooks a wonderful creek – so we will be creative with the landscaping and what will appear to be a massive native stone foundation. I’m working out a timbered deck for the creek side of the building, and we are discussing solar on the south roof. The building will feature a timber frame core and loft with a series of work rooms under timber trusses. We’re planning a SIP roof and conventionally framed walls with cellulose insultation. Lots of stone and wood on the exterior and a collection of built in furniture and work stations throughout.
I’m working through the bulk of the project in SketchUp in an attempt to integrate as much of the drawing and detailing as I can into the live 3d model of the frame and shell.
I made a quick YouTube screen capture of some dynamic timber components I’ve been working on. SketchUp Pro V7 adds new functionality to create parametric components – in this case timbers and joinery that can change size from an option menu as opposed to editing the geometry. Displayed in the video are: dynamic gable shell creator, dynamic posts and timbers, a dynamic rafter, and examples of dynamic joinery. I’ve detailed two small frames using a combination of the dynamic components and Clark Bremer’s TF Rubies. The components need a bit of work – but in all they are a great first step to creating a parametric based timber modeling package.
I will be teaching SketchUp for Timber Framers at the Heartwood School May 25-27, 2009. Check out the course description – and sign up soon – our last class at Heartwood booked solid!
The view from our wonderful accomodations.
Returned from teaching an intense two day introduction to SketchUp workshop in Tamworth, New Hampshire. We had a small class and focused on using the software for timber frame design (but the techniques can be applied to furniture design, woodworking, and other general construction tasks). The group had a wide range of skills – so we started with the absolute basics and worked our way into compound roof design, shop drawings, and even took a quick look at exporting materials lists for estimating and job site coordination. In the right hands and with a bit of creativity SketchUp can be a powerful presentation, fabrication, and estimating tool for designers and builders. Special thanks to Jon and family for putting us up in a wonderful rustic farmhouse with an amazing view of the White Mountains.
Basic workshop frame including joinery design.