Creating a 3D design

When custom making furniture, the end user may want to have an idea of the product through a 3-dimensional image (Check out our 3D gallery of furniture). Besides serving this purpose, a 3D image is also useful to estimate raw material requirement, identify areas for additional reinforcements, play around with colors, and most importantly to arrive at a near accurate cost estimation. Having a 360 degree view helps plan for every possible requirement in advance as against learning and applying during the making process.

Creating a 3D image is easy if your basics on geometry, elevation, projection and perspective are intact. It is addictive and you can see yourself creating more designs - copied, inspired, original or otherwise. This coffee table was inspired by many similar designs and has been approved by the potential user. It is now work in progress and likely to be completed in another week. For this project, I used Google Sketchup.

Creating a 3D design of a room using Google Sketchup

Sketchup is a freely available Google tool that allows for creation of 3D models of furniture, rooms, and other design models. It is used by designers to play around with their designs and comes with a user friendly interface.   I created this 3D model of our kitchen for the SMALL KITCHEN COMPETITION @ APARTMENT THERAPY. Considering I have very limited background on design, you can imagine how much of an easy to use tool it is.

P.S. Linking in : In the Studio, Sneak peak, Kreative Korner, @ the picket fence, Colours Dekor, Lines Across my Face, todayscreativeblog

---

Over to you : Do you plan your designs prior to implementing them ? Be it decorating your room, or building a piece of furniture, do you visualize what you want and how you want through an interface besides your mind ? What tools do you use ? Or do you love the traditional way of capturing your visuals in a paper ? Share  your thoughts.

---

- Somu