Brightman - The SketchUp workflow for architecture modeling buildings, visualizing design, and creating construction documents with SketchUp Pro and LayOut

For my mom, Becky Yovich, in appreciation of her infinite love, support, and encouragement

Cover image: Courtesy of Michael Brightman

Cover design: Anne-Michele Abbott

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Brightman, Michael, 1980

The SketchUp workflow for architecture : modeling buildings, visualizing design, and creating construction documents with SketchUp Pro and LayOut / Michael Brightman. 1

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-29014-9 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-118-41982-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-42131-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-57229-0 (ebk)

1. Architectural drawingComputer-aided design. 2. Architectural designData processing. 3. SketchUp. I. Title.

NA2728.B75 2013

720.2840285668dc23

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Get ready to elevate your SketchUp skills and design workflow to the highest radical extremes of efficiency. The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture contains tips, tricks, and strategies for modeling in SketchUp, as well as methods to leverage SketchUp and LayOut during every step of the design process. Lets start with a few tips on how to get the most out of this book, how BIM plays a part in the SketchUp workflow, and how to effectively manage a PROJECT folder.

This book is the missing set of standards for SketchUp and LayOut. The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture provides a flexible, clear set of rules for organizing any type of building project in SketchUp: renovation, new construction, residential, commercial, high-rise, low-rise, industrial. It is up to the user to process these techniques and strategies, and then apply them to projects. In this chapter you will pick up a few tips on how to best absorb the information and get the most out of this book.

This book covers advanced concepts performed with advanced operations. These are not workarounds; rather they are clever ways to use SketchUp to expedite the design process. With The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture and some practice, you will be able to:

• Speak knowledgeably about Building Information Modeling (BIM).
• Organize and manage PROJECT folders in an efficient manner.
• Effectively use the Modeling tools and organization containers in SketchUp.
• Create and customize a timesaving SketchUp template.
• Tailor the SketchUp modeling environment to fit your professional needs.
• Create and organize collections for materials, components, styles, and templates.
• Find, install, and utilize valuable ruby scripts.
• Fully understand the value of LayOut and its dynamic links to SketchUp and other insertable content.
• Tailor the LayOut drafting environment to fit your professional needs.
• Create and organize collections for scrapbooks and title blocks.
• Create site plans and topographic surveys using Google Earth terrain and aerial imagery.
• Find or create building context models around a specific site.
• Efficiently document existing buildings and create extremely accurate as-built drawings using SketchUp Pro and LayOut.
• Transition a design model into an accurate 3D model.
• Create inspiring LayOut presentations that accurately represent your designs.
• Accurately model and organize various types of buildings in SketchUp Pro.
• Prepare, render, and post-process convincing photorealistic images.
• Extract information from SketchUp and LayOut in useful formats for use in other CAD programs.
• Compile and draft construction documents using SketchUp Pro and LayOut.

The term workflow loosely describes the collection of tools designers use and the order in which they use those tools to produce a final design. Designers use many different tools and software to produce their final products, which are typically new, built environments; some of many initial products are construction documents.

Many different workflows can be used to design and create construction documents; however, the best workflows minimize the use of several different softwares because something is always lost during translation between programs.

The workflow explained in this book uses SketchUp and LayOut for every phase of the design process. You can use other programs to supplement SketchUp, but SketchUp Pro and LayOut are at the core of this process. For example, you could use an image editor to post-process exports and modify textures, but you will simply be using the image editor to complement SketchUp. As another example, you could use a spreadsheet program for schedules, but keep all of your drafting in SketchUp and LayOut.

This workflow is not a regimented design process; you can adapt all or part of it and use the organizational and design tips. The process of moving from sketches to construction documents is expedited by The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture ().

The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture

The evolution of a clients vision to an actual building involves many small steps and phases. There is no right or wrong way to produce a design, but there are critics out there who will judge your designs. The most important audiences, however, are your clients. The more time you spend on the design, the better. The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture is focused on design and will ultimately provide more time for you to explore real designs in three dimensions.