I’ve got only a few hours left to play around with Sketchup before having to work on a ton of drawings for a book the owner of the ISBA is writting. I’m waiting on the mailman to bring me a package from him, containing “a few hundred drawings”, that I have to quote him on, then start on immediately. I’m hoping the stuff isn’t out of my capabilities, but I will attempt anything, even if it is. I did some more work on this chainsaw this weekend, and started a pinball machine. At first I was just going to model a machine and try and texture it with images of a real machine, but now I think I will attempt to model an entire play field and everything.

I figured out how to add a ton of functions to Sketchup last week using ruby scripts. I haven’t fully comprehended how to use all of them, but some have video or .pdf tutorials to help. There is a great online database of RS plugins for Sketchup here. Some of them just make shapes like onion domes, a helix, or pyramids, and others do things like transforming lines into tubes. There was even a package of timber framing tools, which do things like calculating cut and materials lists, or numbers of pegs or joints based on a drawing.

So my plan today, until the mailman gets here, is to play with this pinball machine some more, and respond to a butt load of FB messages I’ve neglected for a few days. If you’re one of those people who is waiting for a reply, sorry.