Get a whole new perspective on 3D modeling
Build your house in 3D, do some remodeling, and share it in Google Earth
Developed with architects and other design gurus in mind, Google SketchUp is the fast, easy way to build 3D models of anything you want — buildings, furniture, or your own unique creations. Best of all, it's free! You don't have to know anything about 3D to use this handy guide — just download SketchUp, fire it up, and you'll be modeling in no time.
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Create models from photos
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Master the interface and 3D tools
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Animate a walkthrough of your model
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Arrange furniture and decorate your space
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Try out landscape designs
About the Author
Aidan Chopra has always had a thing for computers — his parents thoughtfully sent him to Apple camp instead of hockey lessons like every other eight-year-old in Montreal — but he learned to draft and build physical models the old-fashioned way, working for his architect father. These days, Aidan is a Product Evangelist at Google, where he’s been since that company bought SketchUp in the first part of 2006. In the three years since he graduated with a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University, he’s done a lot of writing and lecturing about the way software is used in design. Aidan writes the SketchUpdate, a monthly e-mail newsletter that reaches a half million SketchUp users worldwide. He has taught architecture at the university level and, at Google, works on ways to mediate between power and usability; he believes the best software in the world isn’t worth a darn if nobody can figure out how it works. Aidan is based in Boulder, Colorado, even though he is what many would consider to be the diametric opposite of a world-class endurance athlete.