SU Podium Browser is a Google SketchUp plugin that lets you download 3D light fixtures (with SU Podium lights), 2D face-me plants, 3D plants and hundreds of high resolution textures from a web server directly into your SketchUp model simply by selecting and dropping items from the SU Podium Browser directly into your SketchUp model. SU Podium Browser works with Google SketchUp versions 7 and 8, Windows and Mac. SU Podium Browser can be downloaded as a free, independent plug-in to Google SketchUp but is also included in SU Podium V2.
Free and Paid Content. SU Podium Browser has a significant number of FREE 3D light fixtures, 2D face-me plants, high resolution textures and "Podium ready" 3D cars. The free content does not require anything from the user. SU Podium Browser also has a Paid content area which requires the customer to purchase a Paid Content license. The license can be purchased from the SUPlugins.com web store. You can view the Paid content by looking at the thumbnails in the Paid content folder. Paid content includes 3D light fixtures, 3D plants, 3D furnishings, 3D exterior items, and Podium Materials. Please read below about Paid content.
"Click and Drop" within SketchUp. You can click-and-drop 3D light fixtures and 2D plants directly into your model, and even drag-and-drop hundreds of textures onto SketchUp faces. With Light Fixtures and plants, click and drop means, click on a thumbnail but do not hold down your mouse button. This will invoke a download command of the selected component. Then immediately move your cursor to a position in SketchUp and wait a second or two. SU Podium Browser will download the component to where your cursor is in SketchUp. Avoid actually dragging thumbnail images into SketchUp. However, for the 2D textures, you need to drag the thumbnail images into SketchUp.
Free Content. The available free content includes over 300 light fixtures, a large collection of plants and trees, and hundreds of high-resolution textures, car models with Podium render ready materials, and Podium materials which are textures with Podium properties attached.
Light Fixtures - did you know? Did you know that all of the SU Podium V2 light fixtures are dynamic components? If you context click on the light fixture component and then pick Dynamic Component-->Component Options, you will see a Component Options SketchUp web dialog. You can turn off the point light by picking Off.
Cloud. Because the content resides on a Cadalog, Inc. web server, updates can be made without requiring the user to download and reinstall software. We plan to update content frequently.
Where is it? SU Podium Browser is included in SU Podium or can be download from the Download area of http://www.suplugins.com.
SU_Podium_Browser is a lightweight ruby application that will be installed to your Google SketchUp/Plugins directory. After installation, when SketchUp starts, the program adds an entry to the Plugins menu. Click on "SU Podium Browser" to launch the dialog.
The dialog shows the available categories on the left-hand pane, like the directories display in a file browser. Click an entry to see preview images of the available components or textures.
When you select an entry on the left, the right-hand pane is populated with images of the available components or textures. When you click one of the component images, the corresponding component is downloaded. You should see a progress indicator at the bottom of the Google Sketch up window. When the download completes, you are automatically switched to "insert" mode, and can place the component in your model. If the "Insert Mode" setting is "Multiple", you can insert multiple copies of the selected component; hit the Escape key or select another tool to complete the command.
When you click on a texture images, the corresponding high-resolution texture file is downloaded to your local disk, and a new material is created with that file as a texture. (You can set the download location using the "Save Path" setting). You are automatically switched to "paint" mode, and can place the new material on any number of faces in your model. (On the Mac, you have to click in the model window to enter "paint" mode).
Podium Materials The Podium Materials category has cubes with Podium "render ready" materials on each of the cube's faces. "Render ready" materials means that the materials have preset reflection, bump maps and other Podium properties. These materials can be applied to any face within your SketchUp model to make the setup of your rendering environment fast. The Podium Materials components are "clicked and dropped" into SketchUp like the light fixtures and plants. When selected, a cube with a Podium material is inserted into SketchUp. You can use the particular Podium material on other faces in your model. To use the Podium materials on other faces, go to SketchUp's Material dialog located in the Windows menu. From the SketchUp Material dialog, click on the In Model icon and then select a Podium material. Use the Paint bucket to paint SketchUp faces with the selected material. Also, you can use SketchUp's eye dropper to quickly paint Podium materials to other faces. There are several Podium Material cubes in the Free library and many more in the Paid library.
Settings. The settings button opens the settings dialog. There are two entries: License Key and Insert Mode. The License Key is only needed if you purchased a Paid content license. You can ignore this if you only want to access the free content. The Insert Mode has Single or Multiple options. Single will allow you to drag and drop, one component at a time. Multiple will allow you to insert the same component in multiple locations in your model.
Paid content categories contain advanced 3D plants, new light fixtures, advanced Podium Materials, etc. Paid content will be added frequently. You can view the Paid content images in the Browser freely. However, to be able to "click and drop" Paid content into SketchUp and use the content in your renderings, you will need to purchase a Paid content license.
To access the paid content, purchase a license from the SUPlugins.com web store or from your SU Podium reseller. After obtaining a license, enter the sixteen digit license in the SU Podium Browser Settings dialog. You can copy and paste the license key from your e-mail order receipt. You can also enter the license manually. After entering the license, click Save so that the license key will be saved on your computer.
Paid content categories have advanced 3D plants, additional 2D face-me plants, new light fixtures, advanced Podium Materials, etc. Content will be added frequently. To view what is in the Paid content categories, open the SU Podium Browser and click on Paid category. You will see the sub-categories under the Paid category.
SU Podium Browser is included in SU Podium V2.6 and later. If you are a SU Podium V2 user but do not have the SU Podium Browser in your Podium tool bar, please download the most current version of SU Podium V2 here. and install it. If you are not a SU Podium customer, you can download the Browser from the Download area of www.suplugins.com.
