3D-tastic!!

There's not many things that make we go Wow! anymore, but after stumbling across Googles modeling tool Sketchup, I was gobsmacked to find that give it away for free (yep, that's f-r-e-e, free!). They can continue in their quest for world domination as long as they keep giving spunky apps like this away as far as I'm concerned.
Granted, there are limitations in the free version that don't exist in the £315(!) Pro version such as you can't export or import models to or from other 3D modelers but that's it. All other operations are fully functional and for the part time modeler like me who just want to see how his kitchen would look re-arranged it's a fantastic tool.

So, what is it? Well, it's a 3-dimensional modeler aimed at anyone from professional architects to games designers right down to the occasional DIY enthusiasts looking to conceptualise their latest project. I've played around with other modelers such as 3Ds Max, Blender (also free) and various other 'home designer' programs but have found them either requiring too much time investment to learn how to use or limiting in what you can do with them. This is not the case with Sketchup. Within minutes of the install finishing I was up and away creating models with Sketchups easy to use drawing tools and patented Push/Pull technology to manipulate surfaces creating 3d objects. There are also a vast array of styles you can render your models in within Sketchup such as blueprint, watercolor, pencil etc which can give even the most basic of scenes a funky final touch.

The following picture gives you an idea of what you are able to produce with Sketchup:


However, it doesn't stop there. Sketchup supports scripting and plug-ins for third party development and this is where I found my next Wow! piece of software: Podium a photo-realistic rendering engine for Sketchup.

Podium fits snugly into the Sketchup menu system and although its interface is very simplistic looking, the results it produces can be stunning. You simply tell Podium which parts of your model have reflections or lights and then hit the render button to see what were once sketchy 3d models turned into great looking pictures. There can be a bit of trial and error with getting the lighting correct and setting the quality slider high on Podium can lead to long rendering times but the wait is worth it. Best of all it's free, or at least in that there is a monthly free version that is fully functional but only lets you render at 640x480 which is more than sufficient (at the moment) for me. At $180 (around £100) it's a little more than I would like to pay for a piece of software but I'm so impressed by the results that I may well end up buying it for the larger rendering capabilities.

Currently I'm using it to re-design our tiny kitchen and you can see how it's going so far below. And this is with only using Sketchup/Podium for around a week!

Original Sketchup renders:



Rendered by Podium:




Conclusion: If you have a little spare time, a creative mind and the urge to trying something new, then download Sketchup now!