01 May 2010

The American Gothic house is now on Google Earth



How cool is this? My American Gothic House is now on Google Earth and Google's 3-D Warehouse. Google Earth models are unattributed and this is about the coolest unattributed use of my work ever.






Thanks to you Mike at Igloo Studios, Mark at Kraftmaid and Chris from Google. That the American Gothic house is on Google Earth now proves the whole point of my KBIS presentation. Namely, that Google's SketchUp isn't locked behind a proprietary wall, it's integrated with the rest of the world. The world is changing Kitchen and Bath Industry, and embracing those changes is the surest way to guarantee a place for all of us.

16 comments:

  1. Well said Paul! Couldn't agree with you more. Embracing change is tough to do --especially when the changes are not always good ones. Like they say, "What doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger!" However, I think the changes you're talking about are WAY COOL improvements and will actually make our work MUCH easier. Chief Architect has embraced SU's non-proprietary format for a couple of years now. I've always been amazed at what the Chief users are able to do with SU --in fact can't do without it-- to be able to render with a different engine other than the crappy one that comes with Chief. Just being able to make symbols without having to pay somebody else to do it for an arm and half a leg (if you know what your doing) is well worth the investment in SU.

    I know there are many who could do just great with only SU in their design studio. I prefer to have as many tools in my toolbox as I can make use of. I even have 20-20 which I haven't touched since November. (I haven't renewed their service contract and am not going to.) I love it when my tools work together the way SU does with Chief. Makes me think of the 70's Coca Cola commercial theme song: "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony...."

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  2. Brava! Well said Pam. All information is moving to a place of more full integration and the people who put barriers up against it are going to be left behind.

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  3. Congratulations! That's excellent. I loved reading about that project and thought the idea was fabulous.

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  4. Thanks! I'm not kidding when I say it's the coolest thing ever to have a model end up on Google Earth.

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  5. And to think... this is just the beginning. Hold on tight, my friend, the ride's just getting started! I'm going to enjoy watching where this adventure is going to take you ...and where you're going to take SU & Google.

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  6. Oh man, no one's more interested to see where all this is headed than me! I will tell you this though, if you ever want to be popular instantly, stand around at a trade show with a couple of guys with Google listed as their affiliation on their nametags. Hah!

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  7. Barriers bad. Sharing good. Nice score Paul and your personal victories become wins for everyone with this kind of open approach. I wish I could take some training from you w/ SU. I need to get up to speed - so many exciting things to chase around...

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  8. Thanks Rich! I couldn't have done any of it had Google and SketchUp not started the whole thing rolling last year by sharing their software and know how with me. It was the gift that keeps on giving.

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  9. Hi Paul. congrats on the google earth. Very exciting. I have never used SU. Looks amazing. I have been using 2020 for the last 6 years and really looking for something else. Getting so tired of loosing work from all of the crashes. Pam mentioned that she uses Chief. This is a program I have looked at. I would love her input on how it differs from 2020. Also have ben checking out AutoKitchen and like what I see. I think it would be a great discussion of the differences in these programs and the pros and cons.

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  10. Sue, do you know Pam? She's one of the most savvy people I know when it comes to rendering software. We ought to arrange a round table or a conference call on the pros and cons of the different software packages out there. Anyhow, if you and Pam don't know each other, I'd be glad to introduce you. She's just up the coast from you, relatively speaking.

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  11. Thanks Paul. I don't know Pam. I would love to meet her and a round table or conference call would be great. I am sure there are a lot of other designers out there that are trying to figure the best software to use. I will e-mail you my number. Sue

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  12. Lemme see what I can pull together. I'm going to make an announcement on Twitter to see who else might be interested in this round table. No software reps I promise.

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  13. I'd love to be a part of the round table too! For those of you that didn't see my Sketchup presentation at KBIS with Paul, I could share that again with everyone as well....

    Consider it a free training offer from SketchThis.NET! :)

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  14. Wow Paul... where've I been?! How did I miss the rest of this conversation?! I'm really looking forward to our round table, Sue and the others who want to participate. Hope I can live up to your high praises of me! Glad it's going to be a users discussion... We don need no steeenkeeen reps! Just kiddin ;-)

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  15. You're the guest of honor! Actually, this is just a neighborly thing. No hassles. This will be fun.

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