Google Sketchup

[bull]

Has anybody tried using Google SketchUp to preview set design concepts. How has it worked. I am considering trying it, but don't want to lug my laptop to the school tomorrow if it is crap. Who's got some war stories to share?

[maximillionx]

It's a great program!  We use it quite frequently at my theatre.  The designer usually sends me a 3D model and I can navigate around the image, to get different perspectives. I can even take jpeg images of those perspectives to distribute to others (if need be). Our lighting designer can take a jpeg of the top view of the set and lay a grid and lights over it (we are in the round so it's quite helpful).

If you have someone who is particularly proficient with the program, they can:
-Download furniture and people to place in the set and move around
-Give different surfaces textures and finished looks
-Take virtual tours of a finished set

All in all, it's a pretty nifty program.

[bull]

I started playing around with it tonight, spent about twenty minutes trying to make a periaktoi until i thought about searching for one to download one, and much to my suprise, there was one already made. Im still having some trouble, but I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually. I'm really excited to be able to use this for my lighting plots too.

[Maribeth]

Never used it for any theatrical purposes, but when I moved to a new apartment I did a little mockup of the new place and used it to figure out where to put my furniture.

It took me a few hours of practice and some online research but once I got the hang of it, it worked well for me. Can't say I have a lot of use for it most of the time, but good to have.