Jeffrey Dunster

Several years ago, just after the initial release of Google Earth, I stumbled upon SketchUp. SketchUp is a 3D modeling program, a simplified tool for creating quick mock-ups of buildings and other objects, without any experience in CAD, Maya, or the other detailed modeling programs. While you can create just about any model, SketchUp is best suited to buildings and architectural analysis (for more info, see the Wikipedia article on SketchUp). I downloaded their free trial and used up the 10 hour time limit many times over on all machines available to me. Obviously, I couldn't afford the $400 price tag for a hobby, so I sadly had to put it away. But during that time, I created several building models and integrated them into Google Earth. Since then, Google has acquired @Last Software, the makers of SketchUp, and offers a free version of the program for personal use. Google SketchUp is amazing—fantastic even! I downloaded it within a day of release and immediately resumed my creative activities. Since then I have tried creating many objects. These creations, in various stages of completion, include:

• A covered bridge over the Yuba river
• Several floor plans of home past, present, and future
• Several chapels & temples
• Buildings at Brigham Young University

The buildings at BYU were converted from a large CAD file I requested from the Physical Facilities Office. That was a fun project, which is about 20% complete.

Google now offers a SketchUp Viewer for those who want to look at models without all the extra editing controls.

I have also added a set of plugins to enhance SketchUp. As I evaluate them, I'll rate them here.

UPDATE! Google is hosting a Build your campus competition, so I might just finish my campus models after all!