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Game Room Layouts with Sketchup
Hey Guys,
I just wanted to post some info here on a tool that I know some of you may already use called Sketchup:
http://sketchup.google.com
It's a pretty powerful 3D rendering application, and its free. You can design just about anything with it, and it was pretty easy to figure out how to use.
Like many people, I am very close to being out of room for games. I have 20 games in my game room, and some more in my garage. I have some that I'd like to move into the game room but without some kind of layout software it was difficult to find a way to fit more. By modeling my entire arcade in Sketchup, I believe I found a way to fit at least 4 more games in and maybe even 5!
In order to get going with this program, download it from the above URL. After you install it, when you launch it for the first time it presents you with a dialog box that has some training videos that help explain how to use it. I watched about 6 or so of those short videos and was on my way.
I modeled my game room to scale and put some dummy model games in it that I found in Google's 3D warehouse. It has a layers feature that allows you to group particular entities (objects), similar to layers in most graphics programs (Photoshop, etc...). You can then show or hide the layers as needed. Here's the floor:
with walls added:
I have a column in the middle, with a heating duct running across the ceiling. Here it is with that:
My game room is also my living room, so unfortunately I'm stuck with furniture that I have no other place to put at the moment:
Google has an online 3D warehouse containing components uploaded by people all over the internet. There are thousands of objects out there that might be useful in a layout. The couches and TV you see above were obtained from that warehouse. I needed to get my entertainment center to scale so I just made that as a quick mockup from scratch. I also made the desk. To give you an idea of how you can zoom in and out to see more or less detail, checkout some closeups of my desk (which has never looked cleaner):
...and the stairs (click for more detail):
Here is the proposed layout so far:
I don't have that many Space Duels. :) I grabbed that model from the 3D warehouse so I'd have something to start with. I plan on modeling all my games to make sure the layout is just right before I start shuffling them around. Here's my Q*Bert model:
I just finished Mario Bros:
I uploaded all of these models to Google's 3D warehouse, so if you need them they are there for anyone to use:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?viewer=16023292783388...
For any games that share components, I've been making those as separate models. For example, Nintendo buttons, brackets, and 2-way joysticks:
Its a lot of fun seeing the games come together piece by piece. I plan on making a lot more of these so if you need them just keep checking the link above. If you have any models to share please let me know.
I just wanted to post some info here on a tool that I know some of you may already use called Sketchup:
http://sketchup.google.com
It's a pretty powerful 3D rendering application, and its free. You can design just about anything with it, and it was pretty easy to figure out how to use.
Like many people, I am very close to being out of room for games. I have 20 games in my game room, and some more in my garage. I have some that I'd like to move into the game room but without some kind of layout software it was difficult to find a way to fit more. By modeling my entire arcade in Sketchup, I believe I found a way to fit at least 4 more games in and maybe even 5!
In order to get going with this program, download it from the above URL. After you install it, when you launch it for the first time it presents you with a dialog box that has some training videos that help explain how to use it. I watched about 6 or so of those short videos and was on my way.
I modeled my game room to scale and put some dummy model games in it that I found in Google's 3D warehouse. It has a layers feature that allows you to group particular entities (objects), similar to layers in most graphics programs (Photoshop, etc...). You can then show or hide the layers as needed. Here's the floor:
with walls added:
I have a column in the middle, with a heating duct running across the ceiling. Here it is with that:
My game room is also my living room, so unfortunately I'm stuck with furniture that I have no other place to put at the moment:
Google has an online 3D warehouse containing components uploaded by people all over the internet. There are thousands of objects out there that might be useful in a layout. The couches and TV you see above were obtained from that warehouse. I needed to get my entertainment center to scale so I just made that as a quick mockup from scratch. I also made the desk. To give you an idea of how you can zoom in and out to see more or less detail, checkout some closeups of my desk (which has never looked cleaner):
...and the stairs (click for more detail):
Here is the proposed layout so far:
I don't have that many Space Duels. :) I grabbed that model from the 3D warehouse so I'd have something to start with. I plan on modeling all my games to make sure the layout is just right before I start shuffling them around. Here's my Q*Bert model:
I just finished Mario Bros:
I uploaded all of these models to Google's 3D warehouse, so if you need them they are there for anyone to use:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?viewer=16023292783388...
For any games that share components, I've been making those as separate models. For example, Nintendo buttons, brackets, and 2-way joysticks:
Its a lot of fun seeing the games come together piece by piece. I plan on making a lot more of these so if you need them just keep checking the link above. If you have any models to share please let me know.
Tags: sketchup
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by spacies on -
Man that is cool!
That room is gonna rock. Nice work on the rendering :D and I look forward to seeing the real thing.
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Whitney on -
Thanks! If I could get rid of my desk and the living room it would be much better! Someday...
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Permalink Reply by Spriggy on -
Nice work m8. Have been using Sketchup for a while. Gr8 tool as you stated. Definately helps you with that visual perspective of your project, rather then guessing.
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Permalink Reply by spacies on
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PS, you better put some kind of cooling in there too. Will get mighty hot with all those machine packed in.
Are you going to put some glow carpet?
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Whitney on
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Hey guys,
Thanks! Yeah, I've been hooked on Sketchup for a few days. Just finished my soda machine:
Are you going to put some glow carpet?
I'd like to someday, but won't be doing it anytime soon.
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Permalink Reply by Zach on -
I am amazed by your layout, That is extremely cool. And I think you will probably have about the best living room around.
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Whitney on
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Thanks! The plan originally was to move the living room upstairs so we could make this entire area the arcade. However, I'd love to put on an addition someday. Not sure if that will ever happen, unless I hit the lottery.
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Permalink Reply by Shane on -
Jamie Whitney said:Hey guys,
Thanks! Yeah, I've been hooked on Sketchup for a few days. Just finished my soda machine:Are you going to put some glow carpet?
I'd like to someday, but won't be doing it anytime soon.
Id like to have Coke please : ).... ya know.... Pepsi spelled backwards says IS-PE-P lol HAHAHA
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on -
Simple question. How do you do a duplicate array of objects. I've tried this and can't seem to manually type in a distance like they say;
http://blog.miragestudio7.com/2007/08/how-to-array-or-duplicate-obj...
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Permalink Reply by Jamie Whitney on
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Are you talking about this?
http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=94867
I haven't been in Sketchup in awhile, but I do remember having trouble doing that. I had to try it several times before I got it working. The steps do work, but for some reason it was a bit tricky to do. I went by a video tutorial...I think it was this one:
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on
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I haven't figured it out entirely, and I haven't looked at that video yet, but now I will. You just start typing for the measurement...but its a weird thing where you have to indicate the planar direction first...
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on
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Did you find a way to set up four standard quadrants to use standard orthogonal views like you would find in most other 'paid' modeling packages like Rhino or 3DS Max?
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