Remember when this whole site was about travel? The good old days...
At least I can promise no more politics for a while, I voted. I'm done. From here on out I'm avoiding the news about the candidates: it can't affect my vote, just my blood pressure. Ok, one last comment- please go vote. Please.

On to software!! (whoo, hoo, the fun never stops around here).

I've been fiddling with Google Sketchup 6 recently and I'm having a blast. It is like a video game, but actually serves a purpose. Ok, if it were a game it wouldn't probably sell very well.

Here are some snaps from a model I've made of our house. This was a learning project for me, and took about 12 hours of "work". Much of that was taking and confirming measurements, then forgetting them, then taking them again. Tip: draw a very rough sketch on paper and write your measurements there. Tip #2: decide how you are going to handle door openings, then be consistent (I choose to measure to the inner edge of the jamb, if I decide to actually model the jambs later, I'll have to make some changes). Tip #3: Use a mouse, not your laptop touch pad. It goes much faster with a mouse and the added scroll-wheel makes life a whole lot easier.

You can click (on mouse or scroll pad) here and here for two slightly different perspectives.

If you've got Sketchup installed, you can actually load this skp file and take a look around our house. If you haven't installed Sketchup yet, you can get it for free at http://sketchup.google.com.

Obviously, I've got a long ways to go before this is done. My next challenge is to build the staircase to the upstairs area, and remember to keep the 2nd floor in it's own layer so that I can still see/make changes to the downstairs. I'd also like to figure out how to apply textures to surfaces such that I can import a photo to apply as texture. Among various other things I need to learn still.

I sure hope that the rains let up soon so I can go surf.

Labels: news, software, weather