Find out how artist Robh Ruppel used SketchUp in the game Uncharted 2
from the article:
The most interesting fact and actually the thing that caught our eye initially was the fact that Robh uses Google SketchUp extensively in his work. We talked to Robh about his work and his reason for choosing SketchUp as his primary modeling tool. This is what Robh told us….
I am trained as an industrial designer. In school I learned the real value of working in 3D. One of my instructors had us make simple sketch models from paper, foam and cardboard. The benefit was seeing or designing the main masses and experimenting quickly with different proportions , radius’s and curves. Just as in a 2D sketch you can try out several solutions,’ sketching’ in 3D was a way to design the form. I love drawing but I could see that design needed to be thought of in the round, as it were. So when one of my roommates in college had an early version of CAD, I got to play around with it and thought, “this would be so great to block out complex designs and perspectives”. Computers and software weren’t nearly as available as today so it was awhile before it became a main stream design tool. I heard an interview with Ron Cobb talking about his first experiences with 3 D and he had similar things to say.
It was a great way to work out a perspective on something and then move around to find the best view.
I started experimenting with 3D using programs like Bryce and moving up into Maya and Lightwave. The latter two being exceptional packages but also more than was needed for simply sketching out ideas in 3D.
