Use of Google SketchUp

Use of Google SketchUp for Paper Models

[Notes]

To accommodate the limitations of cut and assemble paper models, you have to make some compromised in the fidelity of your Google SketchUp (GSU) model to the actual structure. In general this means that features such as windows, doors, and trims need to be made part of the surface image rather than separate features. To improve the strength and reasonable appearance of the paper models, sometimes features are attached to an incorrect structural component. For example, I have added trim boards to the roofs of my models that can be folded down and glued onto the face of the building. This clearly isn't how the building is constructed, but in the paper model world, it is effective in strengthening the model as well as gives a more realistic appearance to the interactions of roofs with the siding of the building.

Learning Curve: Any tool such as GSU has a learning curve and you will have to make this investment before creating models will be easy. I estimate that it took me 2 months of on and off work with GSU before I got good enough to create the simple models I need for paper modelling. This significant investment is well worth it since I think I can now, after learning GSU build a model in 1/10th the time it took me to both learning GSU and build my first model. The same statement applies to the other tool, Ultimate PaperCraft 3D that I use for unfolding the GSU model.

With that introduction, here are things to keep in mind when building a GSU model that is intended to be unfolded using Ultimate PaperCraft 3D.

Photographs: The first thing is to take digital photographs of the structure you want to model. I generally take overview photos so that I remember how the parts of the building fit together, and then I go around from left to right (I'm left handed) and take photos that are as parallel as possible to the face of the building that I am photographing. It is best if the faces of the building are lit by sunlight -- but this requires several trips as the sun moves around the building. These photographs will be used in several steps in the modeling process including keeping track of measurements as stretching them on to the surfaces of your building's model.
Measurements: It is extremely important to get the measurements of the buildings you are modelling correct. You will waste a lot of time if you don't have accurate value for the width, depth and height of each building, as well as the measurements of the peaks of roofs. I use three different measures: a 16' steel tape measure for vertical heights, a 50' tape measure for horizontal distances, and a Bosch Laser Distance Measurer for vertical points that I cannot reach using the 16' steep tape measure. I take the photographs I have taken in step 1, print them out, mark them up with all of the dimensions I want to measure before going out with my tape measures. A clipboard and a Sharpie marker are very useful for this in the field set of activities.

In general, you will want to measure (or calculate when back home) the width, depth and height of the rectangular box of each module -- without the roof. In addition you should measure any other objects of the building that you expect to model separately. One example is the width of trim boards. To keep things simple, I adopt one width for all trim boards. In my models I use this value when adding trim to roofs -- something that is not actually the way it is done on the building, but which I explain below.

To measure the height of the module if it is beyond your reach, you will need some way to measure the top of the box from the ground. In addition, you will need a way to measure the peak of the roof. This is where I have found the laser measurer is needed -- however it is possible to do this other ways and to approximate this measurement.
Modules: Factor (separate) the entire building into individual (rectangular) modules. Although this may not be the way the building appears, it is a good way to manage the complexity of your model. To create the assembled building, you may be gluing walls of adjacent modules together.
Footprint: For each module, create a rectangle on the ground plane of your model. Draw the width and depth approximately, then type the precise values of the footprint dimensions into the value box at the bottom right corner of the display -- such as 10'6",14' 7 3/4". Be disciplined and resist the temptation to make the boxes three dimensional before you have all of the footprints laid out. Give yourself room between modules do that you can easily move around your modules in GSU.
Three Dimensional Boxes: Once you have all of the footprints, use the push/pull tool to create a 3D box of approximately the right height from each footprint. Improve your approximate height by typing in the precise height of the box without the peak of the roof. Create these 3D boxes for all of the modules before you proceed.
Modeling Faces of Buildings: For each face of each module, find the photograph you took in step 1 of that face. Use the File->Import command to read in the photograph and assign it to a face. For faces that won't actually exist in the assembled model, you can leave it blank or apply a photo texture, color or other material with a material of your choice. Some faces will be partially visible. You will need to use a photo texture that represents the part of the face that is visible.

There is a difference between photo textures and materials you create out of your own photographs. Typically you use a photo texture once. Materials you create yourself out of your own photographs can be applied to surfaces multiple times. One example of such a material is clapboard siding. I frequently take a photograph of a representative piece of the building's siding noting the dimensions of this piece of siding. Generally the largest dimensions are the best so that you don't get too many visible repeating seams. You can then create a new material in the Materials window providing the image and most importantly the dimensions of this image in real life. Then you can use this material on any surface and it will be scaled correctly to match the dimensions of the surface.

Mapping photo textures onto faces is an important part of creating realistic models and takes some practice to get right. Take a look at the GSU help area tutorials on how to do this and be prepared to practice before you get the hang of it. Here is a short tutorial on photo texture mapping in GSU.
Roofs: Although many buildings have simple roofs, frequently when working with older buildings that have additions you will find intersections between the simple roofs of multiple modules. Since modules are not necessarily placed at right angles to each other, the intersections of the roofs can be complex. But, let's not consider such interactions right now and keep it simple: model a roof for a module that is a simple two slanting faces on top of the 3D box of the module.

7.1 Create the roof by drawing a line on the top face of the box half way along the dimension that is not the ridge of the roof. If you choose the line tool and hover it over that line approximately near the midpoint, the cursor will light up with a blue mark when you are over the midpoint. Click at this point and then move over to the other side until you reach the other midpoint. Now choose the selection tool and click on the line just created. Now choose the Move tool, place it on the selected line and drag the line up. You should make sure that you are dragging in a way so that you remain on the vertical (blue) axis -- GSU will put up a hint if you are on the blue axis. Drag until the ridge of the roof is the right height. Then type in the precise height of the ridge. This height is the height above the top of the 3D box of the module, not the height from the ground.

7.2 Separate Roof from Module: I find that it makes unfolding simpler if I separate the roof from the rest of the module. To do this, select each of the two faces of the roof and cut and then paste the roof. I place the roof behind the module to keep the association when there are several modules

7.3 Enlarge (scale) roof by 5% to allow overlap of trim board. This is needed so that when you fold down the trim boards that are part of the roof in the unfolded model, you will form a cap that can constrain the tops of the building. If the roof and trim board structure wasn't enlarged, it would not fit on top of the roofless module.

7.4 Add trim board to roof: Although as I have said this is not how the building is constructed, it works out well for paper modeling. I add a trim board that is folded down from the roof that it effectively adds an edge to the roof to make the roof a cap on the structure. It is easy to add a box to the sides of the roof that are parallel to the ridge. Add each one matching the width of the side and approximate height of the trim board. Then use the dimensions box to type in the exact width of the trim board.

On the slanting face, adding the trim board is a little harder. The trick, that I learned from Ron Hall, is to use the tape measure tool to draw guide lines which are the width of the trim board. Then using the line tool, draw the lines needed to create the upside down V shape with the width of the trim board. This takes a little practice, but worth the investment of time.

Once you have a model of your building, the next step is to use Ultimate PaperCraft 3D to unfold the model so you can print it on an inkjet printer, cut out the parts and assemble the model.



			Use of Google SketchUp for Paper Models [Notes] To accommodate the limitations of cut and assemble paper models, you have to make some compromised in the fidelity of your Google SketchUp (GSU) model to the actual structure. In general this means that features such as windows, doors, and trims need to be made part of the surface image rather than separate features. To improve the strength and reasonable appearance of the paper models, sometimes features are attached to an incorrect structural component. For example, I have added trim boards to the roofs of my models that can be folded down and glued onto the face of the building. This clearly isn't how the building is constructed, but in the paper model world, it is effective in strengthening the model as well as gives a more realistic appearance to the interactions of roofs with the siding of the building. Learning Curve: Any tool such as GSU has a learning curve and you will have to make this investment before creating models will be easy. I estimate that it took me 2 months of on and off work with GSU before I got good enough to create the simple models I need for paper modelling. This significant investment is well worth it since I think I can now, after learning GSU build a model in 1/10th the time it took me to both learning GSU and build my first model. The same statement applies to the other tool, Ultimate PaperCraft 3D that I use for unfolding the GSU model. With that introduction, here are things to keep in mind when building a GSU model that is intended to be unfolded using Ultimate PaperCraft 3D. Photographs: The first thing is to take digital photographs of the structure you want to model. I generally take overview photos so that I remember how the parts of the building fit together, and then I go around from left to right (I'm left handed) and take photos that are as parallel as possible to the face of the building that I am photographing. It is best if the faces of the building are lit by sunlight -- but this requires several trips as the sun moves around the building. These photographs will be used in several steps in the modeling process including keeping track of measurements as stretching them on to the surfaces of your building's model. Measurements: It is extremely important to get the measurements of the buildings you are modelling correct. You will waste a lot of time if you don't have accurate value for the width, depth and height of each building, as well as the measurements of the peaks of roofs. I use three different measures: a 16' steel tape measure for vertical heights, a 50' tape measure for horizontal distances, and a Bosch Laser Distance Measurer for vertical points that I cannot reach using the 16' steep tape measure. I take the photographs I have taken in step 1, print them out, mark them up with all of the dimensions I want to measure before going out with my tape measures. A clipboard and a Sharpie marker are very useful for this in the field set of activities. In general, you will want to measure (or calculate when back home) the width, depth and height of the rectangular box of each module -- without the roof. In addition you should measure any other objects of the building that you expect to model separately. One example is the width of trim boards. To keep things simple, I adopt one width for all trim boards. In my models I use this value when adding trim to roofs -- something that is not actually the way it is done on the building, but which I explain below. To measure the height of the module if it is beyond your reach, you will need some way to measure the top of the box from the ground. In addition, you will need a way to measure the peak of the roof. This is where I have found the laser measurer is needed -- however it is possible to do this other ways and to approximate this measurement. Modules: Factor (separate) the entire building into individual (rectangular) modules. Although this may not be the way the building appears, it is a good way to manage the complexity of your model. To create the assembled building, you may be gluing walls of adjacent modules together. Footprint: For each module, create a rectangle on the ground plane of your model. Draw the width and depth approximately, then type the precise values of the footprint dimensions into the value box at the bottom right corner of the display -- such as 10'6",14' 7 3/4". Be disciplined and resist the temptation to make the boxes three dimensional before you have all of the footprints laid out. Give yourself room between modules do that you can easily move around your modules in GSU. Three Dimensional Boxes: Once you have all of the footprints, use the push/pull tool to create a 3D box of approximately the right height from each footprint. Improve your approximate height by typing in the precise height of the box without the peak of the roof. Create these 3D boxes for all of the modules before you proceed. Modeling Faces of Buildings: For each face of each module, find the photograph you took in step 1 of that face. Use the File->Import command to read in the photograph and assign it to a face. For faces that won't actually exist in the assembled model, you can leave it blank or apply a photo texture, color or other material with a material of your choice. Some faces will be partially visible. You will need to use a photo texture that represents the part of the face that is visible. There is a difference between photo textures and materials you create out of your own photographs. Typically you use a photo texture once. Materials you create yourself out of your own photographs can be applied to surfaces multiple times. One example of such a material is clapboard siding. I frequently take a photograph of a representative piece of the building's siding noting the dimensions of this piece of siding. Generally the largest dimensions are the best so that you don't get too many visible repeating seams. You can then create a new material in the Materials window providing the image and most importantly the dimensions of this image in real life. Then you can use this material on any surface and it will be scaled correctly to match the dimensions of the surface. Mapping photo textures onto faces is an important part of creating realistic models and takes some practice to get right. Take a look at the GSU help area tutorials on how to do this and be prepared to practice before you get the hang of it. Here is a short tutorial on photo texture mapping in GSU. Roofs: Although many buildings have simple roofs, frequently when working with older buildings that have additions you will find intersections between the simple roofs of multiple modules. Since modules are not necessarily placed at right angles to each other, the intersections of the roofs can be complex. But, let's not consider such interactions right now and keep it simple: model a roof for a module that is a simple two slanting faces on top of the 3D box of the module. 7.1 Create the roof by drawing a line on the top face of the box half way along the dimension that is not the ridge of the roof. If you choose the line tool and hover it over that line approximately near the midpoint, the cursor will light up with a blue mark when you are over the midpoint. Click at this point and then move over to the other side until you reach the other midpoint. Now choose the selection tool and click on the line just created. Now choose the Move tool, place it on the selected line and drag the line up. You should make sure that you are dragging in a way so that you remain on the vertical (blue) axis -- GSU will put up a hint if you are on the blue axis. Drag until the ridge of the roof is the right height. Then type in the precise height of the ridge. This height is the height above the top of the 3D box of the module, not the height from the ground. 7.2 Separate Roof from Module: I find that it makes unfolding simpler if I separate the roof from the rest of the module. To do this, select each of the two faces of the roof and cut and then paste the roof. I place the roof behind the module to keep the association when there are several modules 7.3 Enlarge (scale) roof by 5% to allow overlap of trim board. This is needed so that when you fold down the trim boards that are part of the roof in the unfolded model, you will form a cap that can constrain the tops of the building. If the roof and trim board structure wasn't enlarged, it would not fit on top of the roofless module. 7.4 Add trim board to roof: Although as I have said this is not how the building is constructed, it works out well for paper modeling. I add a trim board that is folded down from the roof that it effectively adds an edge to the roof to make the roof a cap on the structure. It is easy to add a box to the sides of the roof that are parallel to the ridge. Add each one matching the width of the side and approximate height of the trim board. Then use the dimensions box to type in the exact width of the trim board. On the slanting face, adding the trim board is a little harder. The trick, that I learned from Ron Hall, is to use the tape measure tool to draw guide lines which are the width of the trim board. Then using the line tool, draw the lines needed to create the upside down V shape with the width of the trim board. This takes a little practice, but worth the investment of time. Once you have a model of your building, the next step is to use Ultimate PaperCraft 3D to unfold the model so you can print it on an inkjet printer, cut out the parts and assemble the model.