Was your cab created with Sketchup? Get in here!

[Generic Eric]

Arcade Cabinet Projects Designed With SketchUp
Get in here, share a link to your project and any tips for Sketchup you might have.

[SavannahLion]

My cab is/was....

After a couple of false starts, I found it easier to start designing the cab from "known" dimensions. For example, rather than try to design that ultra cool cab only to find that the monitor of choice isn't going to fit, build a "box" to the dimensions of the monitor and design the cab around it. For a lot of cabs, this isn't really necessary as there's usually plenty of space internally. But for some, such as bartops or narrow uprights, this is something to consider. This is especially true for cabs where Control Panel space is a premium even if there is plenty of space internally for the brains.

Pay special attention to which side is "up" and which side is "down". The default white and gray (or blue and white... whatever). There's a difference and if you don't get it right, it'll bite you in the ass at the worst time.

Remember that there are two different measurements for lumber. One is "exact" and the other is nominal. Your classic zombie smashing 2x4 board is not actually 2" by 4", but rather 1-1/2" by 3-1/2" or something along those lines. 2x4 hasn't been a true 2x4 dimension for years. On the other hand, your 3/4" MDF is pretty damn close to 3/4". This makes a difference for some. Doesn't matter one lick for others (Ond cuts his own trees and fabricates his own lumber  )

Take advantage of Sketchups group or model feature to divide your cab into realistic cuts. There's been a few times I designed what I thought was a really cool cab but realized I couldn't cut it correctly using the tools available to me.

[eds1275]

I'm tempted to do a video start to finish of drawing a cabinet in sketchup... maybe I'll make some time over the weekend. I just drew up like 12 of them in blender the other day for the background in Wheeball, too bad this wasn't posted last week - timing is everything!!!

[keilmillerjr]

I'm tempted to do a video start to finish of drawing a cabinet in sketchup... maybe I'll make some time over the weekend. I just drew up like 12 of them in blender the other day for the background in Wheeball, too bad this wasn't posted last week - timing is everything!!!

Please do! I started making my cab in sketchup. I was going to do a little bit more work, and then maybe hire some one to finish it if I had to. A walk through would be so helpful! How does blender compare to sketchup?

[eds1275]

I used blender for like a year, and then one day I was like "OHHHHHHHHH NOW I GET IT!"

Blender is the most confusing software I have ever used, but a large part of that is the number of major changes the software has been through combined with all the outdated tutorials available. The only reason I ever got into it was because the models in blender are not suited for video games, and I have re-kindled my interest in making them. At first I was using blender models but then the poly counts were getting to astronomical levels when they really shouldn't have. You can do some really nice renders in blender though, so if you wanted to for example make a model in Sketchup you can export that to blender and have it rendered out to something pretty, for example my living room sans artwork or furniture:

[yotsuya]

One day, someone will make a version of Sketchup that doesn't make me feel like this after 5 minutes...

[eds1275]

Well I'm no sketchup wizard, but my advise is the always work with flat surfaces and then extrude (they call it "push/pull") and to always type in your measurements manually.

[elvis]

I'm embarrassed to say I've made a career out of working for 3D professionals (architects, engineers, and now in a VFX studio), and I still can't use 3D CAD to save myself.

All my cab designs are done in LibreCAD (used to be called QCAD, but LibreCAD is a new fork and now better maintained project)

http://librecad.org/

Good enough for what I need (and means I can get away with being a complete CAD spaz).

[Louis Tully]

.

[wp34]

Well I'm no sketchup wizard, but my advise is the always work with flat surfaces and then extrude (they call it "push/pull") and to always type in your measurements manually.

Great advice.   When I started doing those two things Sketchup became a lot less frustrating.   

I designed my Tron cabinet with Sketchup.  I built the basic cabinet myself and then "borrowed" parts from other models such as the joysticks and coin door.  Gozer's (KLOV) models are fantastic.

[HaRuMaN]

I do all my designs in Draftsight (free autocad compatible software).  I then use Sketchup 7 with a DWG importer and create my models that way. 

Model below created using that method:

[Nephasth]

The Troubleshooter was designed with Sketchup.

[yotsuya]

The Troubleshooter was designed with Sketchup.

[edekoning]

That video clip reminded me of the japanese table flipping game:


Anyway, I recently used sketchup for making a new 2d garden design, 3d kitchen design, and I used it for both my cabs. If you are just starting follow a few basic tutorials to get going. Some tips:

• Always type in measurements
• Make every part of you cab a separate component (this means every single piece of wood, controls, etc). Remember that if all instances of the same component are linked together, meaning any changes you make to one, will be reflected in all the others. Use 'make unique' from the context menu to break this bond, effectively creating a new component. This 'make unique' works on an entire selection.
• Literally start with a rough sketch. Do all the fancy component stuff and details later.
• Adding a texture to a curved surface is surprisingly hard to do, as you have to apply it to a dummy plane, and then project it onto the final surface. See here for an excellent tutorial:
• you can 'hide' one side of a face by applying a material with opacity=0

[Ond]

Where any complexity is involved in your build components 3D design packages are a great tool, to both plan and develop concepts with!  Pretty much any construction projects I undertake start off as pencil doodlings and then get drawn up on my PC.  I can't imagine trying to figure out or plan some of my more ambitious projects any other way.

[BGoulette]

I have yet to build a physical cab, but I've "built" a bunch (all variations on a theme) in Sketchup, some of which I've then modeled in Maya:

[Vigo]

My version of Sketchup:

[yotsuya]

My version of Sketchup:

AMEN! TESTIFY!! 

[Rick]

The last time I worked in Sketchup, I designed this:



I may just redesign this baby in Solidworks, and see what I can cut once my CNC shop is up and running...

[DaOld Man]

Is this what you guys are talking about? Yeah, Ive used it several times.

[TopJimmyCooks]

I use sketchup for everything.  I don't draw plans anymore, just take the laptop to the shop or print views and add/delete dimensions as appropriate.  I key in all the size information and make exact drawings.  If I mess with a design or part a lot, once I get it exactly like I want it, it's sometimes easier to just redraw it cleanly rather than clean up all the short lines and weird non-exact angles. 

[stripe4]

My cab was designed in SketchUp, too. The SketchUp file is attached to this post:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129541.msg1449632.html#msg1449632

Even if you may not like/need the cab itself, you're welcome to reuse the following components for control panel layout design:

• Ultimarc U-TRAK trackball
• Seimitsu LS-32 joystick
• Seimitsu PS-14-GN pushbutton
• IL convex start pushbuttons (P1 and P2)
• IL concave arcade pushbutton
• NovaGem CDR pushbutton
• Neutrik NAUSB-W USB feed through