New in Building Maker: Duplication

Endlessly repetitive buildings might not do wonders for the urban fabric of a city (Le Corbusier's Ville Radieuse, anyone?), but they present some distinct advantages for the average geo-modeling addict. Anyone using a computer who hears the phrase "repeated forms" should immediately think “duplicate.” After all, doing the same thing over and over again is what microprocessors live for.

Similar buildings in the The Hague, The Netherlands

Nearly identical apartment blocks in Berlin, Germany

In situations like the ones in the cities above, Building Maker's "New from current" feature really comes in handy. You use it to duplicate existing models for re-use elsewhere. With any saved model open, right-click in the center of the next building you want to work on and choose Start new building from current from the context menu that pops up. Here’s what it looks like in the app:

Model a building in Building Maker and save it.

Right click the center of the next building you want to model and choose Start new building from current.

Position the new building wireframe in multiple views.

Repeat a few times, and you end up with something like this. These models, incidentally, were made by Supermodeler Dan Nielsen (aka Dan2310) almost a year ago—without this nifty new feature. Think of how much time he could have saved!

Posted by Brian Brown, Software Engineer and Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist