Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Alright so I finally downloaded Google SketchUp Friday. I have to say it has been immensely helpful in arranging my room. Particularly with cages I have yet to build.

It's allowed a unique vision at the space that pen and paper take awhile to accomplish, The image below of my north wall is about a half hour of work. Of course the objects themselves (cages) were built as separate files. They took some time as well, some more than others.

Needless to say it is a very handy tool, if you can get beyond the learning curve.

The above image was an expansion on the concept of cages in racks, so that units can be removed individually. By adding two shelves and a pair of mobile racks, it appears to work well.

Obviously it isn't built but at least I can see a visual representation of a various ideas. The one above being only 1 of dozens of concepts.

Hopefully you find the tool as helpful as I have.

Cheers
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

I have been thinking of what you mentioned below about highest top of a tub" 64" top of tub chin level" as the most comfortable height.good point. A display cage at that height might be nice and I can also add more with a step stool at a later point if I were to change my mind and want to go a few higher.

(not me in the photo, just an innocent bystander at the 08'expo about my height )

>>I have been thinking of what you mentioned below about highest top of a tub" 64" top of tub chin level" as the most comfortable height.good point. A display cage at that height might be nice and I can also add more with a step stool at a later point if I were to change my mind and want to go a few higher.
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>>(not me in the photo, just an innocent bystander at the 08'expo about my height )
>>
>>

Yeah the other wall has The ARS on it I did it in Sketch up but I pretty much have my mind set on that one...

It ends up being two ARS racks 40" or so tall and displays directly on top. Brian says the casters can hold 200 each, so when I get stuff built we'll see what happens. I may have to swap out casters but I can't image this thing weighing 800 lbs.

I'm 6'2"...have yet to use my top row in my rack...but the GM style display in the image posted and the displays on my ARS, will be at the perfect viewing height.

hey Jeremy nicely done! Sketch up is pretty great tool once you get the hang of it huh. it took me a while to get used to it but i have been playing around with it a lot and just designed a whole room for myself.

i did the same thing as you in the i drew each cage, rack, tub, as their own file then save them as a component, on top of that you can go into the "3d warehouse" and download just about anything you can think of its great here is my latest...

so again the components that i drew are the cages, started with one box then into a stack, then 4 stacks... i drew tubs too did a little research and those are a sterilite 12 qt and the iris CB110s from those i drew a rack for around them... i also drew the rolling cart, and the shelving rack. i downloaded the stuff on the shelves, the the washer/drier stack, slop sink, refrigde, and desk... some of them had to be altered slightly but no big deal

the other thing i like about this is that everything is to scale... this room is 16' x 20' and is my wishfull thinking "future herp room"

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-Stephen-

0.1 Fiance (Babe)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer)
1.0 norm corn (Jake)
1.0 col redtail boa (Switch, formally known as Dixie)
0.1 ball python (Bella)
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Torpaz & Saphira)

Must be nice to have all that space....LOL

At first only the first image showed up...I tell you I felt like an idiot after trying to grab and rotate the image...

I must have spent to much time on Sketchup cause I did the same thing at work, point click hit M and try and move an object...

Looks great is that your floor? My wife complained that mine wasn't accurate, while the floor is close the paint is slightly lighter. And of course I only guessed at the trim, I wasn't about to mimic it exactly.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

lol i do that constantly now too try to rotate even the web browser and hold the shift key to pan...

"Must be nice to have all that space....LOL"

lol yeah i wouldn't know that set up is just my brain child inspired by wishful dreaming... the only way i could have a 16x20 room to dedicate to reptiles, is by hitting the lotto... in which case i would likely pack it a little more full with cages and already have them half filled!!

that floor was just a default wood floor that came in the paint selections. im pretty sure you can get in there and make your own textures and custom adjust colors i just haven't bothered with that stuff. i have seen pictures of your room and that looks pretty close to me, i wouldn't worry about too much detail when your just trying to get a rough feel for size and shape
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-Stephen-

0.1 Fiance (Babe)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer)
1.0 norm corn (Jake)
1.0 col redtail boa (Switch, formally known as Dixie)
0.1 ball python (Bella)
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Torpaz & Saphira)

You guys did a lot better with SketchUp than I did. Those room drawings look great.

Jeremy, your ideas on removable cages are great. I like the idea of taking a cage out for maintenance w/o messing up the entire stack.

I'm still looking for a drawing program that is easy and adds dimensions. I tried using S/U but had trouble seperating the components.
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Larry Stroud - Fort Pierce, Florida

>>I'm still looking for a drawing program that is easy and adds dimensions. I tried using S/U but had trouble separating the components.

There is another individual I associate with fairly frequently that is a Herper *Cough Cough* and posts here fairly frequently that doesn't like it either.

Sketchup has high learning curve fortunately everyone and their brother has made how to vids on youtube. I've found that pinnacle in working through the bugs. I'll admit I've had my fair share of screaming at the screen because the program was allowing illogical object movements...

I also believe some people have a knack for it, it is an art form, and I have a aptitude for 3 dimensional. That being said I have no imagination or a shallow imagination that is held back due to my understanding of the laws of physics and nature of science.

Either way its been a great tool for me...addicting.

The easiest way is like both of us said to build each item as a separate model then enter it as a component within the master build. Also Sketchup has a layer feature I have yet to utilize that for example allows foundation, framing, drywall, paint and decor, to be added viewed individually or all at once. The concept is neat but not exactly what I need for my current tasking.

The one thing I have yet to figure out, is how to build a light and make it work. All the tutorials refer to a button I don't have so it may be a Pro item only, which sucks as I had a couple ideas that would be cool to see lite first before I built them.

Alas the shelf concept is coming soon, I spoke with my Father in Law, and he's going to fab me up some F brackets. Inverted and attached to the wall studs they will be more than capable of taking the expected load. Currently looking at 12 sheet metal bent into c channel. One piece will be 44" long the other 2 20". The shorter pieces will slide into the recess in the longer pieces so they could be welded along the flange giving additional support. So long as I maintain 17" between them and 25" between the ceiling it will work.

I plan to build floating shelves to slide over the metal brackets, creating a clean look.

Cheers
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.2 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

the way to get around everything sticking together is to draw thep separately and make them either a "group" or a "component"... first select everything you want to group together and right click and choose "make group" or "make component". now component and groups are similar, but the main diff is that when you make changes to a group it will only change that one, but if the same changes where made to a component the program will auto change that same component every where else in the drawing

example

here i drew a cage and copied it once, the one on the left was made a component and the one on the right was made a group

now the can easily be selected and copied from here like this

again components on left and group on right. now if say i want to go in and change the knobs to match the color of the hinges thats easy to do, just right click on one of them and "edit component" now select the paint bucket tool and holding the "Alt" click on the hings to get your color now you can paint the knob.... and you will notice as you do that all the other component cages will change the same.... now do the same to the group and just that selected cage will be changed

and if i where smart i would have made each part of the cage a component like each door and each knob but im still learning myself lol

anyways what i was getting at before i got side tracked is that once something is made into a group or component they can be moved rotated scaled all as one and you can now also put them together without having them "stick"... also in the picture above i now have a stack of three cages, i can move any of those thee but i cant move them together unless i select all thee and make a component. now those three cages act as one stack...

it takes a bit of getting use to but the videos do help
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-Stephen-

0.1 Fiance (Babe)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer)
1.0 norm corn (Jake)
1.0 col redtail boa (Switch, formally known as Dixie)
0.1 ball python (Bella)
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Torpaz & Saphira)

I'll have to give it another go. Thanks for the advise guys. Great thread.

Jeremy, the cages on shelves/brackets idea is going to drive me crazy wanting to change all of my plans now. The idea is too good NOT to do. It would make cage maint. so much easier. Dang it.
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Larry Stroud - Fort Pierce, Florida

The cage and shelf idea is what i am planning too. What i had planed on doing was using shelfing standerds those are the ones you attach to the walls and they have slots you can put the brackets in. then attach the brackets to the counter. It's not as neat as putting the brackets in the wall but this option allows you to ajust the height if you change caging with out tearing the walls down to studs plus i dont have a welding shop in my back yard.

Rick