After a long hiatus, we are finally back on Day 7 of My 30 Days of Architectural Design In SketchUp Challenge! This is a challenge where I spend at least one hour every day doing architectural design in SketchUp. On Day 6, I added some stairs and railings, leaving just a few final touches before we start rendering.
Day 7 – We Are Back
It’s been a long few weeks of being sick, but I’m happy to say I’m back. Apart from the runny nose and occasional cough, I’ve mostly recovered and am ready to continue this series.
Undoubtedly, the cold threw this challenge entirely off the rails. It took me a little time to get back into my work before I was used to using SketchUp again. Luckily, it was just a moment, and I got back into my workflow smoothly.
About To Start Rendering
Things are starting to get very exciting. There are only a few modeling elements left before we start rendering and creating the ultrarealistic models I’ve always wanted to build.
Day 7 was dedicated to exploring some of the plugins I had installed for SketchUp and gaining additional modeling skills. One of the first things I did today was create a parametric jaali wall.
Using tools like the Bezier Spline plugin and the Slicer plugin, I could create very interesting shapes that would be tedious to make using the native SketchUp tools.
While I don’t see myself creating parametric jaali walls often, tools like the Bezier Spline plugin can greatly help me create other shapes that I’m more likely to develop, particularly those with a flowing effect. If you look at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (pictured below), those curves are complicated to model without using these plugins in SketchUp, but if I want to be able to model stuff at the next level, I need to be able to do things like this.
After creating the parametric jaali wall, I moved on to modeling the site and had a little introduction to landscape modeling. I could make a site and model things like hills using the Sandbox plugin. This is important because there generally isn’t land that’s completely flat and perfect for building. How your buildings fit in with nature is a huge part of good design.
With these things done, all that’s left is placing some trees before we start getting into the V-Ray rendering stuff.
Building New Momentum
Catching a cold was undoubtedly unexpected and undesirable, but I’m glad I’m finally back working on architectural design in SketchUp. It’s time to build new momentum and continue progressing through this challenge.