From the Ground Up: It's about time ... and some stuff about SketchUp files

April 06, 2012

It's about time ... and some stuff about SketchUp files

It’s about time …..

Jack and Jill, sorry, John, have been badgering me (and not in a good way) to get my act together and connect with the ‘blogosphere’. So while they are busy fetching pales of water I shall oblige.

First up is a little gem of an app for AutoCAD and AutoCAD Civil 3D. Ever sat there day after day like me wondering where you could possibly get free 3D content for your design visualisation project? Things like buildings, cars, boats, dogs, nurses, fruit stalls, football stadiums, weapons of mass destruction? Well, worry no more. On the Autodesk Exchange for AutoCAD site you can download a free app that will allow you to download any free SketchUp content from the Google 3D Warehouse.

In this example I will show you how to download, translate and use .skp files in Autodesk Infrastructure Modeller. For those of you who are unaware of AIM, it is a very powerful 3D conceptual design tool and is, in technical terms, very, very cool. Find out more at: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=17276659&siteID=123112

Ok, it’s as simple as I am:

1) Launch Autodesk Exchange from your AutoCAD Application (top right of the menu bar)

2) Select the AutoCAD store:

3) Select the SketchUp Import tool to download

Capture

4) Install the app and follow the instructions as below using either AutoCAD or AutoCAD Civil3D

5) Once your 3D model has been imported to AutoCAD simply use the AutoCAD export tool to export to an FBX format file

6) You can now import your FBX file into Autodesk Infrastructure Modeller as a 3D Model! Below are some examples I made of London (England, for those of you in the States) using building and aircraft models from Google 3D Warehouse.

7) And just to prove that you can get almost anything on 3D warehouse (and some people really DO have too much spare time), here’s King Kong attacking the Gherkin. It’s a little known fact that pickled
cucumbers are a staple food of large gorillas!