3D Modeling for Everyone
"SketchUp is the finest (and most innovative) tool available for anyone designing anything from coffee pots to skyscrapers."
– McCall & Associates
What is Sketch Up?
Sketch up is a fantastic design tool that allows you to build any 3D shapes into building or designs. It is an easy to use program that can be used by anyone including kids. The simplistic tool bar looks and feels just like the tool bars found in other common programs such as Microsoft word and paint. The program allows you to imagine and model any 3D shapes. You can build anything from simple polygons to castles and even cities.
What Can You Do With It?
You can model anything you can imagine. Sketch up has no limits to how big or how small you want to build your designs. If you can imagine it, you can build it. Since this program is super easy to use, sketch up makes designing and building a fun and engaging activity. You can start from scratch or use the templates that are already there to be used. People all over the world are uploading and sharing their designs and you can pick theirs and design from it. Sketch up also allows you to choose the designs to be in any type of measurement such as feet, kilometers, centimeter or inches. You can build your design on sketch up and then have the measurements to build it in real life.
Sketch up has several new features to enhance you building designs, such as...
- GPS- you can add your geo-location to any of your projects
- Color and real life effect- once you add the geo-loctions, snapshots gives you the actually data concerning that location including terrains.
- Photo match- you are able to track more then one picture during your design
- Real live connection-with snapshot and the geo-loction, you are able to model buildings off of real building around the world.
How To Get it?
IT'S FREE!!
Sketch up is a safe and easy to download. The best part of it all is that it is free! With the free download you can, re-imagine you living space, model building for Google earth, and use sketch up for all your students.
GO PRO
However, if you free that this program will be something you can use all the time. Google does offer a version where you can get more for a low price. With Pro you can exchange files with other software, create compelling design documents for you classroom and generate PDF’s
Download Google's Sketch Up 8 here
How Do You Use it
Sketch Up can be used by children of all ages. All they need to know is how to drag and click. The more you use the program the easier it will become to use. The best part of Sketch up is that you can use it just to build simple 3D polygons to whole cities with skyscrapers. The program is so versatile that any age can use it.
Here are some videos to get you started.
Sketch up Example
This Example shows how elaborate you can make your home
http://dws.editme.com/files/CADaboutFB/bh1.jpg
This shows how Sketch Up can be used for simple ideas
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs37/i/2008/244/e/d/Sketchup_Example_by_Duvik.jpg,
http://designer-info.com/3d/sketchup/why-google-bought-sketchup.html
Lastly, this example shows that if you can imagine it, you can build it.
Sketch Up in the Classroom
Sketch Up is a fantastic tool to help students learn and apply their knowledge of geometry. In this program you can incorporate this into lessons smoothly. Students can become active learners and using high level thinking skills to apply evaluate and create their buildings and structures.
Here are some Lesson Plans Google Education come out with that using this design tool
Concepts in Geometry
Advance Concepts of Geometry
Geometry at Work: Architects
*Google Education also come out with some activities you can integrate into any geometry lesson. To see this activities go here.
Sources
Google For Educators
Google Sketch Up
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