In the past five years since Google purchased SketchUp (and then made it free), we’ve seen it receive a ton of improvements. Last fall saw the release of SketchUp 8, which added a bunch of great new features, and last month they released another update that provided SpaceNavigator support and a very helpful bug fix.
Despite all of that, there is still one feature missing that users are wanting — animation. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to animate your models from within SketchUp? Thanks to developer MorisDov and his “Proper Animation” plugin, now you can!
Check out the video below for a brief sample:
The plugin works by allowing you to create various positions for your model, and then those model moves to those various positions, creating the animation. It’s a very useful plugin, and I’m sure many SketchUp modelers will be thankful to MorisDov for creating it.
To get started, head over to his site, read this SketchUcation thread, or head over to the Google SketchUp Blog for a nice walk-through.
Have you tried this plug-in yet? What do you think of it?
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
Morisdov deserves a lot of respect for this plugin. I use it a lot and, despite some quirks, it is very powerful with a very simple interface.
What a useful tool! I can’t wait to try my hand at it both with work related and ‘fun’ projects.
Only problem with his plugin is that I wanted to rotate a panel that I created along a defined hinge point (like have a door swing open on the hinges). The plugin doesn’t maintain the articulation point that I used but it appears to go from the center of the group.