Google Sketchup 3D Design

This was another session that I attended at the Upstate Technology Conference. The presenter was Michelle O’Malley. First I downloaded Sketchup Make which was the free version and is for Mac or PC.

In the presentation, she gave the link to video tutorials and a handout of a quick reference card for the tools.

Blue line is your vertical; y-axis; X is the red line; Z is the depth area

1.     You make floor plans. Draw your ideal house and then can calculate the perimeter and area.

2.     You can import Google Earth as an image and build on the flat page.

3.     You can add furniture.

4.     You can see from the top or the side.

5.     Can build a town. Give them measurements, criteria (roads, 5 buildings and the height of the buildings)

6.     Import things from the warehouse which is free

7.     Easy tessellations

8.     Can teach one-point perspective

9.     Create simple machines for Science

10.  New species of animals for Science (science adaptations)

11.  Recreate Ancient civilizations and artifacts for History

12.  Build Bridges

It looks like a fun program but I feel it has a steep learning curve. She went through making an object pretty quickly and it was nice to see what she could do with it. I think I will need to spend time working with the program before I could have students use it.