Why I still use the Old Google Sketchup Component Library Pack (Download link)

Searching for Sketchup components in 3Dwarehouse is a real pain, you may find yourself scrolling thousands of items in the search results, downloading inspecting, testing, purging and cleaning, I honestly hate this process esp when I'm looking for a basic simplified 3D model, this is why I stick to the original Google Sketchup component library pack (The Sketchup 6 Components Bonus Package). I used to see these components in the 3Dwarehouse, and they used to appear in the search results whether from the browser or from the built-in warehouse window but not anymore. (Google User is replaced by Sketchup and it is posting some weird stuff)

In this post I will share my experience, why I still use this Library, and why you too should have this package installed along with the Sketchup Bonus SKM Materials library.

Google Sketchup component library Pack Preview

1- Compatibility:

These are SKP V6 components, it means they are compatible with any Google Sketchup Verison (esp V7 V8 & V13) and they will be always compatible with any future version of Trimble Sketchup, and can be shared with any Sketchup user, you wont ever find a single component library package that is universal like this one, I always keep a zip file of this library in my flash drive and I share it with every Sketchup guy I meet, it's the best free gift you can offer to a Sketchup newbie.

2- It's made by Google and it's Free: 

This is an incomparable quality package that I can't match with any collection offered online, it was made by Google as a bonus package and it cannot be rubbish, things offered for free by Google never disappoint anyone, NIK collection is a big example and it is still being downloaded until now.

2- Variety of components: 

With over 2500 components (72MB total size) that cover all the default categories and subcategories you find in the components menu, including; Architecture, Components Sampler, Construction, Dynamic Components Training, Film & Stage, Landscape, People, Symbols and Transportation,  I rarely find my self missing anything or searching in the 3Dwarehouse, so no matter what you are doing in Sketchup from a quick layout draft to a scene reconstruction, you can find and put in place what you are looking for in a single click.

Google Sketchup component library Pack content

3- User friendly: 

Suitable for Sketchup beginners and new users, for someone who is not familiar with Sketchup, downloading and using components straight from 3Dwarehouse may end up in a mess, make the model heavier to handle and potentially ruining the user experience, these components will not cause any problem when you place them in your model even if they are used in mass or multiple copies.

Sketchup Bonus component library Pack Preview

4- Low in size: 

These components have a low poly count, most of them are painted with colors only, no textures or materials, the models are light weight, I personally use em for drafts and to create quick floor plans drawings easily add furniture, quickly create external scenes add trees and landscaping, you can create very large exterior scenes with terrain and vegetation and remain below 50MB in size.

 

Quick Floor plan Layout Draft

5- They are Assorted: 

It's not always about size, size matters but quality matters too, using Sketchup with components copied or imported from multiple sources / authors ends up with a scene that looks clownish and unbalanced in terms of style, content and colors, and it's ugly ! these generic models are assorted and in the same style, and work well together, they may look rubbish at first but don't worry you will be able to make use of them, you will find 2D face me vegetation and 2D people silhouettes both colored and all black, and all you need to create wonderful scenes to finish later with shadows and an artistic style of your choice.

6- 2D and 3D Aesthetics: 

They look great in both 2D (plan elevations/sections) and 3D perspective views, whether in colors or monochrome, if you use Sketchup as a BIM software or have your workflow to draft in both 2D and 3D at the same time, these are suitable to prepare beautiful drawings and perspectives, you can create PDF documents and scenes directly from Sketchup or send your SKP file to Layout to add title blocks anotations and hatches, the Sketchup elevations and sections scenes can be also exported as DWG to AutoCAD to add the same stuff, this will save you a lot of time searching for AutoCAD blocks in both Plan and elevtation viewss, and you can even create your own 2D blocks (Plan and elevation view) from these component to use em in any software you want.

2D section example

7- Efficiency and speed: 

No more time wasting searching for a street sign, furniture, electronics, or whatever you want to insert in your scene, for quick drafting these can be used as place holders to be replaced and swapped later at any stage once you are happy with a more detailed component just by right clicking the desired component and hitting reload this will replace all similar components with the one you chose, this way you will avoid redoing the same work from scratch.

Replace and swap the component with different one

8- Suitable and work well with Styles:

Sketchup styles are a bit slow to render with complex geometries, and may require simplified meshes with edges to work properly and give acceptable results, this library package won't deceive you if want to create hand sketch or water colors style effects either in Sketchup or Photoshop.

Sketchup scene with styles

9- Suitable and Work well with AI: 

As you can see from this example (I used Vizcom desktop App with a very basic prompt: Kitchen photo realistic render, with decoration and kitchen hardware), and I noticed that the more your model is simplified, low poly and monochrome the more AI is able to interpret it and use it as input reference, depending on what AI tool you are using, these components work well and the output results are more than acceptable.

10- Dynamic components / Components sampler examples and lessons included: 

If you are new to Sketchup and never had a chance to explore the dynamic components, there are a few examples in the Component sampler and Dynamic Component Training cetegories folders, you can check experiemnt and learn functions from these examples, interact to see animations or options to change color scale to other parameters or even use these components on your Sketchup models, turorials can be found here.

Conclusion, Less is more:

Less is more until you decide otherwise. Sometimes I receive SKP files from students and clients looking for help. I keep wondering and imagining if they had this library installed and used it in their work, I think this library is a must-have and a plus to your Sketchup add-ons. You should be able to make use of it, and anytime you feel bored or ready to use and mange more heavily detailed components you can go for more from the 3Dwarhouse, other sources or even import 3d model in different file formats.

Download & Install:

Download the Google Sketchup Componenets library Pack zip file, unzip and move the content to your default Sketchup components folder (the components folder location can be found in the preferences > Files > Components) you can choose a different location and you may need to restart Sketchup for the changes to take effect,

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