The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[blah]

Great program. I play with it all the time. I hardly use it for reference, that's a good idea though. But I don't think I've scratched the surface when it comes to using the program efficiently. Very powerful tool.

[spidertour02]

Just a head's up: Google SketchUp 7 is now available. I'm downloading it now.

Use the link in the first post.

[Suicidal95]

Looks awesome, good job!!

[spidertour02]

Wow, somebody necro'd an old BludNet thread!

I guess this is a good opportunity to follow up ... I use SketchUp pretty regularly now, using it to create stock backgrounds that I've expanded over time. I usually make these to satisfy just one shot in a pinup, but for sequentials I make entire rooms, city blocks, etc. to ensure that I can "shoot" multiple angles. It's extremely useful, and the flexibility is great.

My only problems with SketchUp are that (1) because of the mathematical extrapolation SketchUp uses, it's impossible to create shots with advanced lens properties, i.e. a fish-eye shot, and (2) most of the advanced drawing tools (especially for drawing curves and importing certain surfaces) are locked to the insanely expensive professional version. Still, though, I can accept not having these features in a free program.

[EGADComics]

Heh, looks really useful for all the tedious stuff.

[shannonh]

I've tried sketchup and also the paths tool in photoshop to make building faces. I feel its much easier to rough out what I want, pull some perspective lines, and freehand the detail. sketchup looks stiff and distorted to me and hand drawing looks more natural.

Next thing you know, comic artists will trace 3D figures as well. Who needs to learn perspective and anatomy, right?

[J.M. Hunter]

I've tried sketchup and also the paths tool in photoshop to make building faces. I feel its much easier to rough out what I want, pull some perspective lines, and freehand the detail. sketchup looks stiff and distorted to me and hand drawing looks more natural.

Next thing you know, comic artists will trace 3D figures as well. Who needs to learn perspective and anatomy, right?

Agreed

[blah]

I've tried sketchup and also the paths tool in photoshop to make building faces. I feel its much easier to rough out what I want, pull some perspective lines, and freehand the detail. sketchup looks stiff and distorted to me and hand drawing looks more natural.

Next thing you know, comic artists will trace 3D figures as well. Who needs to learn perspective and anatomy, right?

You don't have to trace to make use of the buildings in your art. You can make a nice accurate model of a building you like and play around with the perspective, copying it, can't you? I think I'd do that.

SketchUp is great. If you're a student, you can get the Pro license for very cheap for a year. Maybe Autodesk Revit Architecture is good too, and you can get it for free only if you're a student. It's definitely an extremely powerful architecture tool, judging from a few models, including one I made for a project.
The same goes for all Autodesk software--you can get any software for free if you're a student. I really like Revit. It's so much better than AutoCAD and AutoCAD Architecture. I'll check out 3ds Max later, but I am learning Rhino now in class. Making a duck using Rhino.

[blah]

http://sketchup.google.com/industries/edu/students.html

http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=download_center
Register using your .edu email and get the programs for free. The only difference is that whatever you print will have "Made for Educational Purposes" on the sides, but you can cut those off if you want.

Adobe is the annoying one if you're a student. I think the student version of Photoshop is around 1000 dollars or pounds or something--yikes. Now that's expensive to students.

[blah]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CFVl5M9fx7c/S ... _1500W.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tBu62tHWHcw/T ... tupper.jpg

http://upload.nhietlanh.vn/files/06-201 ... ull_35.jpg

http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2009/10/17/2308934/21.jpg

http://api.ning.com/files/sLwMLMAGdjItK ... ve.jpg.jpg

[blah]

And I think I can use SketchUp for a lot of graphic design stuff, like logos, especially with the styles editor feature that comes with Pro. The Pro versions are on campus though. I will probably save up a little and buy the Pro license if it turns out that I use SketchUp a lot for design.

[shannonh]

Look how UN natural this sketchup model is that you linked us to...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tBu62tHWHcw/T ... tupper.jpg

Your natural eye does NOT see perspective in this way. It's very distorted. But if you don't practice perspective on your own, you wont know the difference.

I'm specifically talking about using models for comics, Not graphic design. I went to school for graphic design so I understand they teach you it is ok to trace and copy. I would say 90% of people with graphic design degrees cant draw there way out of middle school. Much less draw a city superhero scene straight out of their head. So my problem is not using it for graphic arts.

But, for COMICS I think its MORE tedious to use 3D/ PS for those of us who grew up learning the traditional methods. I can bet that pro's dont use it as much as you want to believe either. They will all tell you it's a tool not a crutch. So if you rely on reference too much, you'lll never get a book done on time. Practice your craft and don't always go for the easy route.

[blah]

i'm not talking about tracing. i am talking about drawing screens or pictures. the picture you posted is not of a sketchup model, but is of an autodesk revit one. i don't practice perspective though.
what i was talking about specifically was this: say i like a building and i want characters in front of that building, but i want the characters to be featured in a specific place relative to the building, so i can make the model of the building, play around with its perspective, and draw it from the computer screen instead. but a problem here is that i would need to actually study the building and i think that's too detailed for you comic artists, so, better to take pictures instead. or maybe i can just make a quick model to help with the perspective. another problem is that sketchup's model's would be inaccurate from the real life building no matter what, so better to draw it from life if i want it be really accurate. that's all assuming the perspective is right.

i don't know perspective, but it seems correct to someone ignorant like me, and i imagine that a lot of people don't know perspective either. i think the major problem is that sketchup models need to be based on study if you want them to be accurate to the real life buildings, so that takes time. but if i do get a model with perspective, that would save me a lot of time if i want the building to be represented accurately. if you want to make things off the top of your head, go ahead, it will save you time. i think it does make sense to save time by just coming up with things, but that doesn't mean that sketchup can't be used by some artists for some fantastic stuff. i mean, what if i want to paint a building and i can't spend my time being close to it everyday or find any good pictures of it from the view i want and i can't get to it? people can make models and send them to me so i can paint them off the screen, i guess, or they can just send me specific pics instead. if i have the exact image set in mind, then i can just request a picture or try to take one for myself.
i don't know if comic pencillers use sketchup, that's not what i was thinking.
i'm just saying that it seems like a decent tool for graphic design. i played around with it for a logo i was working on, and i think i can take the sketchup model into PS and make something nice out of it. whether the graphic designers are good draftsmen or not isn't what i was talking about.

i don't want to be a comic-book artist, you guys work way too quickly and i think that takes the enjoyment of experiencing forms out of drawing, and that's important to me. at least i can't draw so quickly and really experience things around me. i would rather be a cover artist only, i guess.

i don't actually use sketchup or any of the programs much. i would use photoshop to paint if i had a tablet though

[blah]

i think i would just take pictures for my painting i guess. making the model requires too much information i probably can't get. but i guess sketchup would be useful as a tool for learning perspective, if it is that accurate.

[blah]

i am looking at a model in sketchup now of a very long box and it looks realistic. i can't tell if the perspective is wrong.