SketchUp 7 and Google Earth

I used to teach a course in engineering drawing when I was student at the University. I was responsible for running the CAD (Computer Aided Design) lab and would help students with their practical labs. Essentially the lab section of the course was building 3D wireframe models with Autocad.

I haven't used Autocad for a while, but I've always liked to play around with 3D modeling software. One of the problems with such a hobby though is it is tough to get you hands on such software.

I was interested in some 3D modeling I have seen on done in Google Earth. What is neat about the google earth model is that anybody can build a model of a building as an example, and submit it to the global model repository. The building models that are submitted can then be downloaded and viewed by anyone.

As I was reading more and more about it I learned that you could build the models using the free version of googles Sketchup software package.

I downloaded the software and after watching about a hour of various tutorials I was up and building models. For someone with CAD experience it was really a snap to use. I am hoping that I can build a couple of models of the buildings around Baden and submit them to the repository since there are currently no models of the town. Lets see if I actually can commit to doing it.

It seems like a fun and easy way to keep up the skill.