Six free sketchup plugins to improve your design skill

SketchUp is a powerful 3D modeling software specifically useful for architects and interior designers. It also gains popularity among the maker community.

Plugins stand for the tools which are created by members of the SketchUp user community who prefer to improve the native tools by adding more features. Most are free and accessible in the SketchUp Extension Warehouse or in the Sketchucation Plugin Store.

Given below, the detail lists of 6 free sketchup pluigns :-

Soap & Skin Bubble: Josef L is the developer of this sketchup plugin. It can be applied for modeling curved surfaces, like the roof of a stadium. Initially, the plugin facilitates to produce a skin that is just a mesh formed with a closed edge loop.

It can be performed by clicking on the Skin button after choosing the relevant edges. Just put a subdivision value and press Enter. If the value is increased, the surface will be smoother if you ?inflate? it.

Click on the following link to download it extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/soap-skin-bubble

Tools On Surface: fredo6 has developed this sketchup plugin. This toolset facilitates the users to employ several native tools like line, arc, circle, rectangle or offset but on curved surfaces. It?s very suitable when it is required to divide faces and utilize various materials.

Click on the following link to download it sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=ToolsOnSurface

Curviloft: This powerful plugin is developed by fredo6. It can produce complicated geometries from contours or lines in a more perfect way than the SketchUp sandbox tools. This tool can also be used to create organic models. It offers following three functions:

1. Loft by Spline: It can create a surface by attaching several contours with smooth splines. (A spline belongs to a curve divided into parts.)
2. Loft Along Path: It facilitates attaching several contours or 2D shapes along a specified guideline to generate a 3D shape.
3. Skinning: It produces a surface from joined contours or lines.

Click on the following link to download it extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/curviloft

JointPushPull: fredo6 is the developer of this plugin. With this plugin, it is possible to extrude curved surfaces. It is a modified of SketchUp?s native push and pull tools. It comprises a toolset that can extrude any curved surface with various parameters and styles. It also facilitates creating several extrusions at the same time.

Click on the following link to download it extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/jointpushpull

Flowify: Anders L has developed flowify, the most powerful plugins developed for SketchUp. It facilitates the users to bend any group or component made in SketchUp along a ?target geometry?. The initial surface should be a ?quad surface?, that means it is confined to four vertices.

Initially, align the preliminery surface perpendicular to the quad surface. Then, it?s an easy process of choosing both geometries and pressing the Flowify button.

Click on the following link to download it extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/flowify

Slicer: TIG has developed this exclusive plugin. It can be used for transforming models to the real world. It?s a tool is specifically created for digital fabrication ? production by a computer numeric control (CNC) machine. The plugin facilitates you to slice a model into several pieces, provide them thicknesses, and make them ready for cutting.

For instance, you have a 3D model of a chair and it is necessary to make it for real. The plugin allows you to slice the model and set up the pieces to be cut with a CNC mill.

Click on the following link to download it sketchucation.com