Skip to main content

Book of the Week – Google Sketchup for Dummies

By Book Reviews, SketchUp, YouTube

As readers may know we are big fans of SketchUp, firstly for being available in a largely fully functional free version and secondly for being so refreshingly easy to use.

Despite SketchUp’s ease of use it does take a while to fully appreciate its range of toolsets and how best to use them. While we normally shy away from the ‘For Dummies’ books, Google SketchUp for Dummies is generally useful.

Written by Aidan Chopra it fully embraces Web 2.0, intergrating 62 ‘how to’ movies on YouTube.

Embedded below is a sample detailing Googe SketchUp’s photo modelling function. Running at over 6 minutes the tutorial is both effective and informative:

Combining the book with the YouTube movies gives you everything you need to master SketchUp and refine your workflow.

You can buy the book from our Amazon Shop for $14.99 (discounted from $24.99) and the full set of movies are available to watch via Aidans YouTube page. We really cannot recommend this enough, how refreshing is it to see 62 tutorials online free of charge?

For more info see http://www.sketchupfordummies.com

Global and Local Data – Representing Geography in Second Life

By Second Life

The end of our third day colonising the skies above Second Nature Island in Second Life and we now have a number ways to visualise both local, city and global data sets.

Pictured above are two datasets for London complete with a key and information point which when clicked display additional background information on the data provided. While early days it does lend itself to a simple representation of data sets within the collaborative environment which is Second Life.


There are now six ‘Urban Bubbles’ on Second Nature Island, each with a staircase leading to a viewing platform. These panoramic spheres provide a quick way to visualise local locations, data points can be subsequently mapped inside the scenes to access any relevant information.

Finally pictured above we have Global Gross Domestic Product mapped onto a globe. Using an alpha map along with fake shadows on the display table it makes for a simple but visually compelling way to look at global data sets. We hope to add various layers to the globe over the coming weeks.

Drop in and see us in Second Life – http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second Nature/232/169/116

Global and Local Data – Representing Geography in Second Life

By Second Life

The end of our third day colonising the skies above Second Nature Island in Second Life and we now have a number ways to visualise both local, city and global data sets.

Pictured above are two datasets for London complete with a key and information point which when clicked display additional background information on the data provided. While early days it does lend itself to a simple representation of data sets within the collaborative environment which is Second Life.


There are now six ‘Urban Bubbles’ on Second Nature Island, each with a staircase leading to a viewing platform. These panoramic spheres provide a quick way to visualise local locations, data points can be subsequently mapped inside the scenes to access any relevant information.

Finally pictured above we have Global Gross Domestic Product mapped onto a globe. Using an alpha map along with fake shadows on the display table it makes for a simple but visually compelling way to look at global data sets. We hope to add various layers to the globe over the coming weeks.

Drop in and see us in Second Life – http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second Nature/232/169/116

Geodemographic Data in Second Life

By Classroom Geography, GeoDemographics, Second Life

Day 2 on Second Nature Island in Second Life and looking into ways to import map data into the virtual environment.


Pictured above is the Output Area Classification for London (see the OAC user group for more info on the data). Second Life works remarkably well for importing representations of geography, indeed it is looking like it would be useful in the class room environment.


As yet there are not any real-time shadow’s in Second Life so the only option is to ‘bake’ textures in 3D Max and import them back into the world, our first attempt is pictured above.

If you have Second Life installed and would like to pop by to see what we are up to then you can visit our evolving cityscape by clicking on our SLURL… that’s a Second Life Uniform Resource Locator or Second Life URL:

Visit us in Second Life – http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second Nature/233/159/116

The blog will get back to normal in a few days with more architectural visualisation posts and our HDR tutorial. We are aware it been rather ‘Second Life’ heavy this week but the environment holds distinct potential and one that if you haven’t already is well worth a look.

You can read more about the build so far at Joanna’s Nature Network Blog.

Close Menu

About Salient

The Castle
Unit 345
2500 Castle Dr
Manhattan, NY

T: +216 (0)40 3629 4753
E: hello@themenectar.com

Archives