SketchUp 8: Full Building Maker Integration

We have just fallen in love with Google SketchUp all over again, we are slightly late to the table on this one but Google Building Maker is now fully integrated into SketchUp 8. It has the genius ofCanoma with the addition of all the editing functions that come with SketchUp and its free:

Combine this with the free version of Unity and you have a very powerful toolset. Talking of which, we have just downloaded Unity 3.0 to further develop our agent based modelling exhibition space, its good to be back….

A new SketchUp record!

Two weeks ago, we issued a free maintenance release that eliminated the much-loathed Shadow Bug (among other things) — and the SketchUp community went bananas with paroxysms of delight. We felt like Oprah on one of her “Favorite Things” episodes. More of you downloaded SketchUp 8 in the seven days after the M1 release than had ever done so in any one-week period in history.

Some of my favorite quotes from around the social web:

Great work for all SU users! It’s SU9! — GENKI via the SketchUp Blog

My first full day of work with M1. halleluja! Not a single crash in SkU or LayOut. And no more subtly changing layout view to avoid the shadow bug! Thanks for such a fantastic update. My work life is so much better now. — Hendrik via the SketchUp Blog

Congrats to the SU team. Now we can finally lurk in the shadows…hehe — NVizeon via the SketchUp Blog

What’s left for us to complain about now? — Thomas via our Facebook page

To make sure you’re running the latest (and most certainly greatest) version, open SketchUp 8 (free or Pro) and choose Help > Check for Update. If you’re on a Mac, choose SketchUp > Check Web for Update. Let’s see if we can break the record for 30-day downloads, too!

It’s Groundhog Day!

Today is the 125th anniversary of Groundhog Day – a tradition in the US and Canada when a weather-predicting woodchuck named Punxsutawney Phil tells us how long winter will last. Every year on February 2, a group of local dignitaries hold a ceremony at Gobbler’s Knob, about 2 miles outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Just after sunrise, Phil emerges from his burrow in front of thousands of spectators. The legend states that if Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. No shadow means there will be an early spring.

Punxsutawney Phil in Google Earth

This year, Phil emerged at 7:25 AM and did not see his shadow! Despite the major winter storm stretching across 2,000 miles of the continent, it sounds like we’ll be enjoying an early spring!
You can check out Gobbler’s Knob by entering the coordinates 40°55’48.65″N, 78°57’27.53″W into Google Earth or by clicking here to see the area in your browser.