Thursday, June 10, 2010
20% Discount on SketchUp Pro Licence Offered to all IES VE Customers
A new enhanced version 3 of the IESVE SketchUp Plug-in is available today. This plug-in strengthens interoperability and is the first development to be released following the recent formalization of the IES and Google SketchUp™ partnership. The new plug-in incorporates ‘Groups and Components’ functionality for both the Free and Pro SketchUp platforms and specific ‘Thick Wall’ features for SketchUp Pro users.
This enhanced IES SketchUp plug-in will be available with the release of V6.1 of the VE software, and all IES customers, including free VE-Ware users, will be eligible to 20 percent off any new purchase of SketchUp Pro. An exclusive promo code is received when IES customers download this latest software and plug-in. In addition, IES are currently running a special 60 percent off offer on their VE-Toolkits; which assist architects in designing more sustainably by enabling performance analysis at the earliest stages directly from architectural models such as those created within SketchUp and SketchUp Pro.
The new ‘Select Groups’ and ‘Select Components’ buttons within the IES VE SketchUp plug-in are available on both the Free and Pro SketchUp platforms. They improve functionality by allowing the user to quickly and easily identify Groups or Components in the model and set their analysis type (as either room surfaces, whole room(s), shade, door, window, excluded) before running the IES room identification tool. This speeds up the ‘Identify Room’ process and gives users more control over what model information is included in the IESVE analysis and how elements are identified and edited.
‘Thick Walls’ is a modelling preference within SketchUp that allows users to represent walls as double lines indicating thickness; creating more realistic building models. The new IES VE ‘Thick Wall’ analysis capability is available to all SketchUp Pro customers, and enables them to undertake analysis from this ‘Thick Wall’ model.
Two new IES plug-in modelling buttons, related only to ‘Thick Walls’ have been introduced:
- Build a Thick Wall Storey from a Floor Plan
Similar to the SketchUp Push/Pull command, it enables automatic extrusion of walls and enclosure of rooms to create new storeys with a user specified height and slab depth. Not only is it quicker but it also creates more spatially accurate models.
- Push-Through Windows and Doors
o For accurate performance analysis any windows or doors need to have an opening in both faces of the ‘Thick Wall’. This tool applies any window or door component from SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse to the surface and punches it through both faces.
For more information visit www.iesve.com/Software/Model-Building/SketchUp-plug-in or read our in-depth SketchUp and IES Whitepaper.
