While Google serves me well, I always enjoy new forms of search - especially the mind-map format. One of those just crossed my paths. Give it a try:

So far I have used SketchUp for a lot of things, but a 50-minute presentation wasn't among those. Besides, one of the big no-no's for "classic" Powerpoint presentations is having too much happen on-screen (flying-in arrows and the like). Given the dynamic 3D interface of SketchUp I was curious if flying around inside its space would be too confusing for the audience. I just had to give it a try and see if it works.

The video below shows the exported (and sped up) version of a presentation I just gave at the 2008 UMass family weekend. The topic was mainly the Google Earth model of our campus that my students prepared but I also gave some background on 3D CAD. Originally, I started to prepare a Powerpoint presentation for this, but quickly realized that it would be too limiting and much more appropriate to actually do it right in SketchUp. All slide transitions and animations were done with the tabbed slideshow feature and I interspersed the show with some live model-building and a switch to Google Earth for a view of our campus.

Building a 3D World from Alexander Schreyer on Vimeo.

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One problem when exporting a SketchUp model that contains images as textures to Google Earth is file size. You do not want to have a building model that weighs in at more than 500kB. A 1 MB file may be justified for a very complex building, but anything beyond that will a) load slowly (remember that these models are streamed over your internet connection) and will b) reduce the chances that Google will ever include it in the 3D Building layer in GE. As a result, we have to put our models on a diet. Pardon the pun, but we are after anorexic models here.

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As if there weren't enough search engines out there already! Google, yahoo, Ask.com, A9 (or was it "8"? I forgot.) and - of course - whatever Microsoft calls theirs at the moment...

In any case, here is one more: A Timber Engineering-specific search.

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Now here's something. First, Google allowed everyone to contribute to their 3D Warehouse, a collection of 3D objects (components) for SketchUp, which got us used to everything from meticulously modeled buildings to the daily occurrence of an oddly shaped box named "my dream home". Then they convinced some manufacturers to add their CAD data (Marvin Windows for example). Now they topped it all and partnered with Sweets, a McGraw-Hill company to get their listed manufacturer's CAD data in the warehouse as well.

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