In this tutorial, you will learn how to manipulate sketchup to create automatically rotating vehicle’s pictures.
The goal is to obtain 37 pictures of a 3D vehicle. In another tutorial we learn to compose a complete frame with all the generated pictures.
First, download the free 3D software : sketchup
Advise : Try the different provided tools from sketchup : moving, rotating, zooming, camera…This will help you to place and modify your 3D model
I have made a script to rotate automatically a model and write png file every 10°.
- Download and install the provided script (see download at the end of the article)
- In order to install a script for Sketchup on MAC, copy the .rb file to /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/garmin/ It is important to put this in a subdirectory, otherwise, the script will be automatically called when sketchup starts.
- Then, launch Sketchup.
- Here, you are ready to import a 3D model : Click on “file” menu and “3D Warehouse“. A browser lets you select your model : choose one !
- When the download is over, you have to place your 3D model centered on the blue Z axis. It is important since the rotation is done around this axis.
- Move and center correctly your vehicle in the view, like in the following screenshot
- On your computer, create a directory called “vehicule” at the root of your hard drive. (You can change this in the ruby script)
- In “Windows” menu, select the “Ruby Console” and type load(“garmin/rotate.rb”)
- Verify that all the pictures are generated in the “vehicule” directory.
- You may have to position again (zoom or dezoom) your model, for the top view…and export it manually (80×80 pictures, png format)
Enjoy!
Download “rotate.rb” script for sketchup
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5th Mar 2011
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