Google SketchUp
Google’s SketchUp is an incredibly easy-to-use architectural and 3D-modeling tool. The Computer Science Club here at Mansfield has been talking about modeling the university for a 3D perspective in Google Earth, similar to what Google Earth provides for New York City and other metropolitan areas. Recently, I have been experimenting with SketchUp. A free version is available from the website and a professional version can be purchased for about $500. People enrolled in Universities can obtain the professional licenses for $50 a year. The $50 counts towards purchasing a full license, so after 10 years, it’s yours forever. Or, you can pay for the educational license for 3 years and pay the rest of the money up front.
At a first glance, SketchUp seems to be too simple to be worth anything. Upon further investigation, the simplicity seems to come from Google’s innovational perspective. Google has outdone themselves with SketchUp. It is amazingly easy to pick up and create simple objects. More complicated objects can be created with some practice. I have spent about an hour and a half working with the program. First, I watched the beginning tutorials. Then, I went straight into making objects and refining them. It’s amazingly simple. Just make a shape, pull it up to give it depth, draw other objects on it, and manipulate them. It’s amazingly simple.
In about twenty minutes, I was able to make the desk that I use here at school. Keep in mind that it isn’t 100% perfect, nor is it 100% to scale. I have never seen a program this simple. With an hour and a half of experience, I was easily able to make this (click to enlarge):
Here is the front of it:
From an angle:
From the side (notice the arches in the drawers):
And here it is next to a person:
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