My SketchUp Twisting Tower

brian_b · #1 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 2:24 AM**

I'm starting out with SketchUp and enjoying playing around with it. Unfortunately, my computer is a little behind the times so I guess there is only so much I can do before it gets a bit too slow.

I decided to try a bit of Calatrava's twisting effect on a tower. This is not the Chicago Spire by any means...

Here she is, 144 floors of twisting:

And this is the X-Ray feature, which I thought gave it an interesting effect

Imperar · #2 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 6:13 AM**

Kinda repetitive, but nice work! It demonstrates well the twisting effect indefinitely

foxmtbr · #3 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 6:40 AM**

Nice job! That must have taken quite some time!

Patrick · #4 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 6:54 AM**

^I agree

Derek · #5 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 6:59 AM**

looks like a...blue and white candy cane? haha i like it!

Hayward · #6 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 9:02 AM**

Very nice!

malec · #7 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 9:14 AM**

Was wondering, how hard is it to add textures to twisting buildings, or and weird-shaped buildings in sketchup? I ask because I haven't seen anyone attempt a more adventurous building in their "google sketchup cities" yet. I know I always have to deal with difficult shapes since my model is of dubai but I've never attempted adding textures.

brian_b · #8 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 1:32 PM**

It took me a couple hours to do, but it was fun. I tried using a more detailed texture to simulate a complete curtain wall, but it did not turn out well. I'm not sure if it was a product of being a twisting shape or just my level of skill in creating textures. Anyway, with the basic solid colors the textures turned out just fine, though I think they slowed the machine down a lot.

I have a 2-year old iBook that was out of date when I got it, so that's going to be a huge detriment to me creating some really intricate designs. Well, at least I put the maximum RAM into it.

Bergenser · #9 Posted: **Jan 26, 2007, 7:41 PM**

Looks like hard work has made that!

I actully like it better than the Chicago Spire.

malec · #10 Posted: **Jan 27, 2007, 9:36 PM**

There's a quick way of making this tower. You make one floor, then for the next you copy the first and rotate it a bit. Then when you have 10 floors you select all together and copy them all on top and rotate the 10 of them together by 10 times the angle of a rotation for 1 floor.

Anyway, the really hard ones to do are ones where there's no pattern whatsoever so no copy and pasting can work. Here's one I just made for my dubai 3d model. Was insanely hard and still, my version looks strange:

Has anyone tried making such a tower for their sketchup cities?

bbeliko · #11 Posted: **Feb 19, 2007, 3:09 AM**

Quote:

Has anyone tried making such a tower for their sketchup cities?

i do but when i started adding textures i erased the tower

foxmtbr · #12 Posted: **Feb 19, 2007, 7:37 AM**

^ Yeah, the textures get screwed up on curved faces.

Aleks · #13 Posted: **Apr 14, 2007, 9:15 PM**

dont add txtures then just color it
thats what i do