3D Warehouse launches feature enabling users to download materials (& more…)
TL;DR: We recently launched a bunch of new features for 3D Warehouse. Two new features have been added to the model details pages that allow you to browse and download In Model materials and components. You can also browse models that include the component you’ve landed on. Last but not least, we brought back contributors (finally!). Whew, that was the TL;DR version? Keep reading for more details or head over to 3D Warehouse now to check out all the new stuff.
So, tell me if this has ever happened to you...
You’re sitting in the office, or studio, late one night (okay, every night), trying to get a presentation together. At the last minute, you’re scouring 3D Warehouse for components to spice things up. You’re looking for the perfect sofa or window, but also materials, because let’s face it: some things are still better represented in 2D. As you search for materials like brick, tile, grass, etc., you find material samples as well as entire components with cool-looking materials. But in most, if not all cases, you likely end up having to download more than what you really need, and then end up having to clean up afterward.
Well, I’m glad to say those days are a big step closer to being over.
When viewing a model details page on 3D Warehouse, you can now browse the In Model Material library for that model and download only the material you want. To access the materials browser, click the new Materials stat in the info panel. If you’re using 3D Warehouse via your web browser, you can download the SKM file for a material and then add the file to your local SketchUp content folders. But downloading materials using SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse window is way cooler because you can import materials directly into your current project. As soon as you click Download, SketchUp activates the Paint Bucket tool with the material loaded and ready to apply to the surface of your choice! Here’s a short video that shows the whole process in action:
Note: This workflow is possible only if you’re using SketchUp Version 2017 (or newer). Upgrade to the latest version of SketchUp.
The ability to download a specific material is a first step toward our vision to more broadly support materials as a content type on 3D Warehouse — something a lot of us have been dreaming about for a long time. As we continue, we want to hear about your experiences using 3D Warehouse as a go-to resource for finding SketchUp materials. To share your feedback, visit this forum thread and let us know how these new tools are working for you.
Before I wrap up this blog post, here are some quick notes about a couple of other new features. On the model details page, you can click the new Components stat in the info panel to browse the list of In Model components. For now, we’re only showing the In Model components that were originally imported from 3D Warehouse. The Components list also gives a shout out to the 3D Warehouse authors who created those components. Not only is this a really fun way to browse 3D Warehouse for cool stuff, but it’s a way for us to help give credit where credit is due.
The ability to peek into a project file and grab various bits is pretty cool. But we’ve also added a new “This model is used in” carousel below the thumbnail. In this carousel, you see the other 3D Warehouse creations that contain the model you’re viewing. The carousel helps you check out the 3D Warehouse projects that other people have created using the models you’ve published and get inspiration from designers who have incorporated product models that interest you. For example from this faucet model, I found this pretty great model of a kitchen containing that faucet. From the kitchen model, you can browse all sorts of other great In Model components and materials (and so on).
The bad news? With all these new features, you’ll probably need to allocate a bit more time for browsing 3D Warehouse. #sorrynotsorry