Wouldn’d it be great if SketchUp users could render their projects using Blender Cycles? This is acctually possible, and I even published an article a few months ago showing how to do that using COLLADA. If you want to check out another procedure to convert SketchUp models created on the free version of the software to OBJ, which can be easly imported to Blender, I found an interesting tutorial produced by an artist called Sixthlaw showing how to do that using the free FBX Converter from Autodesk.

Euclid is a free and open-source extension for SketchUp that makes it easy to create and modify the geometry inputs for building energy models. Euclid builds on the Legacy OpenStudio extension originally developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Because NREL no longer supports Legacy OpenStudio, Big Ladder Software has taken over maintenance, development, and support of the extension–now renamed as Euclid.

OpenStudio® is a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux) collection of software tools to support whole building energy modeling using EnergyPlus and advanced daylight analysis using Radiance. OpenStudio is an open source (LGPL) project to facilitate community development, extension, and private sector adoption. OpenStudio includes graphical interfaces along with a Software Development Kit (SDK).

SketchOSM is a plugin for SketchUp that lets you create 3D buildings parametrically for adding site context to your model. Buildings created with SketchOSM can then be shared with the world by publishing directly to OpenStreetMap (OSM), an enormous database of freely accessible and editable geo-information used by millions.

We are going to try and achieve a fake or ‘Quasi – Clay Style’ effect in this tutorial.

ally fast renderings for studying building forms. Materials are not necessary in the 3-D model which is the case many times early on in the design process.