Stroke 13 - Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, 1964

For those who like cars the name Ferrari is something special, so I could not help shape one of these icons.

Stroke 12 - Virtual Tour (2)

Another house virtual tour, this one had a very rigid program that required some gymnastics to overcome preconceptions.

This animation allows to show why some options in this project are so important, which, with simple technical drawings would be difficult to achieve.

Stroke 11 - Return to the past - Delage D8 Grand Sport

Another 30’s sports car that gets new life with SketchUp, this time from a little-known and now defunct French brand, the Delage, and its D8 Grand Sport model, from 1932.

Stroke 10 - Simple but effective furnishings

To enrich the viewing of indoor environments is essential to have a good collection of furniture.

Although it is very easy to find furniture in SketchUp’s 3D warehouse, this does not always correspond to our needs, and usually increases the weight of the models.

To ensure that we get the desired results, it worth spending some time developing our own furniture.

Stroke 9 - Alternative technical drawings

Even if the presentation of virtual models is the best way to show a project to the client, for us, architects or other experts, the best are the technical drawings.

So why not combine them both, and submit technical drawings in a form understood by anyone, and perhaps, lead to improved reading of technical drawings.

Stroke 8 - Return to the past - Invicta S Type 45 litre

Another small British sport car that gains new life with SketchUp, in this case of a lesser known brand, the Invicta, and its model S Type 45 Litre Tourer, from 1931.

Stroke 7 - How to create components from photos (with video tutorial)

Having a good collection of generic components allows us to easily enhance a final presentation, the creation is very simple and the results are worth really.

In this case, people images components, transmit live and environment to increase the perception of reality and human scale.

Stroke 6 - UMM 4x4 Alter

This is a car manufactured in Portugal; the most successful so far, therefore, could not help modelling it in SketchUp for use with national pride.

The modelling was made from blueprints available on the Internet, as shown on the base model.

Stroke 5 - Virtual tour (1)

This is the best way to show a project in all its fullness, a virtual tour, perfectly conveys all the features that the building will have once built, the way they relate to all spaces and how they can be lived.

Of course there are programs that let you create these images with an aspect very realistic, but through hard work and lots of hardware power. As we move into the realization of video this work and need of hardware add even more.

Stroke 4 - Return to the past - MG Six 18/80 Mark II

There are images that make us want to know more about what they portray, as some cars that hardly we shall see in reality, or architectural works that make us curious about his spatiality.

With the help of SketchUp we can experience these images differently, as I will show in this and other strokes, with some examples of return to the past.

Stroke 3 - Study of shadows

We know that a correct solar orientation is as important as some architectural solutions, sometimes very simple, to improve the thermal performance of buildings in a passive way.

Not always the solutions we propose are understood by customers, its direct implication in this question.

A simple animation with the path of the sun and the shadows produced throughout the day help such understanding.

Stroke 2 - 3d Modelling from photos - Cadilac Urban Luxury

Normally car modelling is made from their blueprints, but, it turns out that in this case I did not have these drawings, only the pictures of a study from Cadillac, the Urban Luxury, which I found quite achieved taking into account its size.

Stroke 1 - Drawing by hand, or maybe not.

In this first stroke I will address the design by hand, the technique we used to give initial shape to our ideas, but not normally used in the presentation of a project developed further.

Here I bring the drawings of a micro-house, such as a "smart fortwo" resulting from the recovery of a stone rural ruin.

Presentation stoke

My entry into the blogosphere is intended to demonstrate that, also in the area of 3D modelling, the best things in life are the simple things, or, as the master Mies said, less is more.

We all know how important a virtual model is to effectively communicate our ideas, however, not always the effort expended to run these models is rewarded, especially when using complex programs for early stages of the project.

SketchUp has revolutionized this issue, not only because it is a program designed for users with no knowledge in this area, but, having capabilities that make it truly versatile, from an early stage to the final presentation, including animations, with an amazing quality.

If you dispense those super realistic images, and expensive, which are justified only in projects with some dimension, we can have it all without the need for other support tools, in other words, "SketchUp without additives."

That's what I intend to share in brief “strokes” with who pass through here, so, welcome.