SketchUp for Film and Television

People who design for Film and Television use SketchUp Pro because it lets them work as fast as they can think. From storyboards to set designs, SketchUp Pro is a simple but powerful tool for exploring and presenting your ideas in 3D.

Meet tight deadlines (Is there any other kind?)

SketchUp isn't just quick to learn - it's quick to use, too. Once you get rolling, SketchUp can help you work out your ideas, solve complicated spacial problems, and produce convincing visuals faster than any other digital drawing tool out there.

Work with realistic cameras and see your shots before the shoot

The free Film and Stage plugin for SketchUp lets you view your model through realistically-configured cameras. You can choose a lens/aspect ratio combination, make focal length and position adjustments, and "look through" your camera to preview your shots. You can even perform tilt, dolly, truck and pedestal moves to simulate the action of a real camera. Once your cameras are set up, it's easy to find the precise height, tilt angle and focal length for each one.

Create storyboards in LayOut

SketchUp Pro includes LayOut, a brand-new tool for creating 2D presentations from your SketchUp models. Of course, you can use LayOut to draw storyboards, but you can also use it to add titles, callouts, graphics and other information to your model views. LayOut lets you print multi-page documents on any size paper, export to PDF, and even go full-screen for digital presentations.

Send your work to other programs

The Pro version of SketchUp allows you to export your model data into several different formats so you can use it throughout your software workflow. With the exporters that are built into SketchUp Pro, you can send 2D views and 3D models to programs like Vectorworks for further design development.

Build models from photos

Need to model a specific location? You can use SketchUp's new photo matching feature to build models based on photographs.

Share information with Google Earth

You can use SketchUp Pro and Google Earth together to get instant context information for your project's site. Import aerial imagery, 3D terrain and geographic location data for any place on earth by clicking a single button in SketchUp Pro. Clicking another button sends your model back to Google Earth, where you can view it in the context of the rest of the world. It's really that simple.

Check out how SketchUp is being used in film and television

Make your work look hand-drawn

With the latest version of SketchUp, you can choose to view, present and even print your models using visual Styles that make them appear hand-drawn. This is handy for communicating that your design is still in process - when some people see "computer drawings", they assume the project's done.

• create endless iterations while meeting tight deadlines
• represent your ideas quickly, accurately and attractively
• create professional presentation documents to communicate construction and other details
• view plans and section cuts of your 3D model
• ease communication between the different teams
• take a 3D walk-through of your model
• access the world's biggest repository of building components - for free
• access the world's biggest repository of entourage objects - figures, cars, trees - for free
• create professional communication documents with LayOut
• make quick animations
• carry out live, accurate shadow studies
• save pre-set views to show during presentations
• get aerial imagery and terrain for your site from Google Earth
• produce drawings of your model that appear hand-drawn
• apply materials and colors to surfaces
• build models of existing structures from photographs

Next steps:

Take a look at Film and Television Case Studies
Check out the Film and Television Gallery