January, 2015 | Google Data

Archive for January, 2015

Kythe: a new approach to making developer tools

January 27th, 2015 | by Open Source Programs Office | published in Google Open Source

Building development tools that support multiple programming languages can be a real grind. Doing it well takes a lot of work, and historically each tool has done it largely from scratch for each language it supports. It would be far easier if that hard work could be done just once in a reusable fashion that any tool can make use of. That’s the idea behind the Kythe project: by using a common structured format to represent source code in varied programming languages, Kythe-enabled tools are able to work with code in any supported language. Support for new languages can be plugged in as needed.

The name Kythe means “to make visible”, specifically, making the structure of your code visible. It’s early days and we’ve just opened up our project to the community, but we aim to build up a community of developers around these ideas. We’ve had a lot of experience building and maintaining similar cross-language tools inside Google and now we want to share the benefits of those tools with software developers beyond Google.

Kythe is open source and currently supports source code written in C++ and Java. (Support for Go is in progress.) It also includes a proof-of-concept source code browser that demonstrates how the pieces fit together. We have documentation available and invite you to join our mailing list for questions and discussions.

There’s much more work to do and we look forward to evolving Kythe with the open source community’s help.

by James Dennett, Kythe Team

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Introducing Trash Can: Data Recovery in Google Analytics

January 27th, 2015 | by Adam Singer | published in Google Analytics

We all make mistakes, but the damage might seem irrevocable when accidentally deleting crucial reporting information from Google Analytics. Thanks to feedback from our users, we’re pleased to introduce a new feature to provide a safety net each time you delete a view, property or account from your Google Analytics account: the Trash Can.

To get started, navigate to the Administration tab, select an account, and click the Trash Can feature on the left-hand panel. Check off what you want to reclaim, click “Restore,” and voilà! Your view, property or account is now just as it was before you deleted it. Once 35 days pass from the day you originally trashed it, however, you’ll have to say a final goodbye as the data will be removed from the Trash Can and will no longer appear there.

This feature will be rolling out to all Google Analytics accounts in the coming weeks, but don’t worry–anything you’ve deleted starting today will still show up in the Trash Can once you get the feature update in your account.

Many people rely on Google Analytics to collect, analyze, and report on data in order to make good business decisions. We hope that the Trash Can is just one more way to ensure that you have all the information you need when you need it. To learn more details about the Trash Can feature, please read this Help Center article.

Posted by Chris Cahill, Michael Masukawa, and Dan Morenus

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Android Wear & QR Code: Putting Users through the Fast Track

January 27th, 2015 | by Android Developers | published in Google Android

Posted by Hoi Lam, Developer Advocate

Rushing onto a train, entering a concert, or simply ordering a coffee, we have all seen users (or ourselves) rummaging through their wallets or mobile app trying to get the right boarding pass, ticket or loyalty card. With Android Wear and a few lines of code in your mobile app, this can all work like magic.

What’s new in the Android Support Library

While QR Code images could be attached to a notification since the first release of the Android Wear platform, developers have asked about two situations which they would like to see improve:

With circular displays, it is hard for developer to know if the QR code is displayed in it’s entirety and not cropped.
To conserve battery, Android Wear switches off the screen after five seconds of inactivity. However, this makes it hard for the user to ensure that the QR code is still displayed on their wrist when they reach the front of the queue.

With the latest support library, we have added two additional methods to WearableExtender to give developers more control over how background images are displayed in notifications. These new APIs can be used in a number of scenarios, we will focus on the QR code use case in this post:

Ensure the image is not cropped – setHintAvoidBackgroundClipping(true)

With this new method, developers can ensure that the entire QR code is always visible.

Wrong: `setHintAvoidBackgroundClipping (false) // this is the Default`	Right: `setHintAvoidBackgroundClipping (true)`

Ensure the QR code is still displayed when the user gets to the front of the queue – setHintScreenTimeout(timeInMS)
This new method enables developers to set a timeout that makes sense for their specific use case.

Design Best Practices

We have experimented with a number of customization options with QR codes and here are some of the lessons learnt:

Dos

Do test with your equipment – Before deploying, test with your QR code readers to ensure that the QR code displayed on the wearable works with your equipment.
Do use black and white QR codes – This ensures maximum contrasts and makes it easier for the reader to read the information.
Do display only the core information in the text notification – Remember that less is more. Glanceability is important for wearables.
Do test with both round and square watches – The amount of text can be displayed on the notification varies especially dependent on the form factor (square and circular).
Do brand with icon – On the main notification in the Android Wear stream, developers can set a full color icon using setLargeIcon to brand your notification.
Do convey additional information using background – To achieve an even better result, consider setting context sensitive backgrounds through setBackground, such as a photo of the destination for the train or a picture of the stadium.
Do use QR codes which are 400×400 pixels or larger – In line with other background images, the recommended minimum size for QR code is 400×400 pixels.

Don’ts

Do not brand the QR code – The screen real estate is limited on Android Wear and using some of this for branding may result in the QR code not working correctly.
Do not use anything other than grey or default theme color for notification text – Although Android Wear notifications support basic text formatting such as setting text color, this should be used in moderation with the color set to default or grey. The reason is that the Holo theme for Android 4.x has a default background of black whereas Material Design theme for Android 5+ including Android Wear has a white background. This makes it hard for the colour to work for both themes. Bold and Italic are fine formatting choices.

Android Wear is for people on the move

Using QR codes on Android Wear is a very delightful experience. The information that the user needs is right on their wrist at the right time in the right place. With the new APIs, you can now unlock more doors than ever before and give users an easier time with check in on the go.

Sample code can be downloaded from this repository.

Join the discussion on

+Android Developers

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Retailers: Three Insights to Drive Q1 Results

January 26th, 2015 | by Adam Singer | published in Google Analytics

Now that we’ve survived the holiday season, it’s time to get the year started with some Q1 insights from Google Analytics! Over the holiday season, retailers are inundated with data about the best shopping days, when to start their sales, and predictions about which items will be popular. But what to do once the furor dies down? How can retailers make the most of Q1?

Here at Google Analytics, we delved into our Q1 data from 2013 and 2014 in the US to provide some insights to guide you in the first quarter of 2015. In particular, the weeks around Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl provided some notable trends. Our analysis encompasses millions of businesses large and small who are using Google Analytics. See the end of this article for more about our dataset.

The Day of the Big Game: A Low Point for Online Shopping

We took a look at the first big marketing event of Q1: Super Bowl Sunday. The day of the big game, we saw lower numbers across the board. Sessions were down 11% compared to the average for the quarter. Similarly, transactions and conversion rates were down on average 16% and 5% respectively. In both 2013 and 2014, the sessions and transaction numbers for the day of the Super Bowl fall into the bottom quartile for the quarter.

Clearly, on the day of the game, online purchasing is not a priority. However, as we see later on in this post, this period of time serves as the turning point for transactions and conversion rates in the quarter. The brand advertising that is such a big part of Super Bowl Sunday may help businesses capitalize on increased consumer buying behavior later in the quarter.

Best Romantic Shopping Day: The Sunday before Valentine’s Day

We also delved into the second big marketing event of Q1: Valentine’s Day. In particular, we evaluated the week preceding the big day to find any pre-holiday patterns. It turns out that in both 2013 and 2014, the Sunday before Valentine’s Day sees the biggest spike in week-over-week transactions with an average bump of 10%. The same holds true for conversion rates and sessions, with an average increase of 6% and 4% respectively. Besides a week-over-week increase, we also see that transactions are 5% higher on that day than for the average Sunday in the quarter. The bump in transactions could indicate that consumers are using that Sunday to find and purchase their gifts, making it a good opportunity to invest in getting consumers to your site for some Valentine’s Day shopping. If you plan to invest in advertising for this holiday, one way to prepare for Valentine’s Day is to adjust your bids.

Between the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day: The Q1 Turning Point

Unless you’re lucky enough to sell items for diet, exercise, or other big new year’s resolutions, retailers often see sales slow in Q1 as consumers reduce gift-buying. The chart below shows that for most of January, transactions are indeed below the average for the quarter.

When should retailers spend marketing dollars to bounce back from this holiday hangover? We see that transactions in both 2013 and 2014 start to ramp up as the key marketing dates approach: Valentine’s Day and Super Bowl Sunday. In particular, the week of February 5th (also known as the week after the Super Bowl and the week before Valentine’s Day) marks the first time that transactions hit the average or above for the quarter.

The graph below shows that in 2013 the week after the Super Bowl was above the average, whereas in 2014 that week was at the quarterly average. In both years, this week has the highest week over week growth in transactions and conversions rates for Q1 at 6% for both metrics. Sessions, however, display only a 0.4% increase week-over-week, not even close to being the highest for the quarter. Based on this information about sessions, it’s clear that the uptick in buying behavior is not simply a function of consumers spending more time online, it’s an indication of increased intent to purchase during the time they do spend online. If we look at average conversion rates before that week compared to the average conversion rates for that week and the rest of the quarter, we see a 6% increase.

So, as you plan your budgets, promotions, and campaigns in Q1, keep in mind that consumer activity will tend to increase throughout the quarter. In particular, transactions tend to get a big bump during the week between Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day. We know it’s hard to get back in gear after the holidays, but we hope our insights will help you think clearly and creatively about your marketing plans in the first quarter.

About the Data & Charts

In order to perform this analysis, we looked at billions of sessions from authorized Google Analytics clients who have shared their website data anonymously (read more).

Posted by Jocelyn Whittenburg and Daniel Waisberg

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Targeting views with DoubleClick

January 26th, 2015 | by Kelly Cox | published in Google DoubleClick

With over half of ads measured not viewed, it’s more important than ever for advertisers to be able to act on viewability measurement. That’s why we’re happy to roll out new product updates we announced at CES, that make viewability more actionable for advertisers using the DoubleClick platform.

As we heard from Neal Mohan earlier this month, “when it comes to impact, having your ad seen is not just important, it’s fundamental.” It’s why we’re investing heavily to help make viewability a common currency across the industry. Over the last year, we’ve enabled advertisers to buy only viewable impressions across the Google Display Network, built Active View viewability reporting into our DoubleClick platforms for display and video, and today we’re building on this even further with two launches that will help advertisers act on these viewability metrics.

Viewability targeting in Doubleclick Bid Manager. Clients of DoubleClick Bid Manager can now measure and target impressions globally based on the historical viewability of an impression. By programmatically targeting viewable impressions, marketers are able to improve the performance of their campaigns, in real-time, eliminating the need to manually reallocate spend to find viewable impressions.
Viewability data in DoubleClick Ad Exchange bid requests. Ad Exchange clients can now see the historical viewability percentage for every impression when available. With this signal, programmatic buyers can make smarter decisions about the value of impressions before they place their bids on Ad Exchange.

Viewability reporting has given marketers the data to understand how many of their ads were seen. Now they can use that same data to programmatically increase the viewability of their campaigns. For brands like TalkTalk Telecom Group, using viewability targeting on DoubleClick Bid Manager has driven strong results.

TalkTalk generates 94% more viewable impressions
TalkTalk Telecom Group, a leading TV, broadband, mobile, and phone provider in the U.K., was eager to boost the viewability of its ads while maintaining costs. Having already implemented programmatic buying to reach potential customers at the exact moment they’re ready to commit, TalkTalk wanted to then ensure its ads were actually being seen by targeting viewable impressions. To do so, the company deployed DoubleClick Bid Manager with Active View. TalkTalk generated 94% more viewable impressions, increased CTR 133%, and lowered CPC by 40%.

“Being able to target by viewability with Active View is groundbreaking. Active View enables us to measure the viewability of our ads, and Bid Manager’s viewability targeting feature provides us with a solution to increase the number of viewable impressions we buy.” – Rich Bailey, online marketing manager, TalkTalk Telecom Group.

To learn more about the team’s approach and results, check out the full case study here.

Stay on top of new updates by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on Google+ and Twitter.

Posted by the DoubleClick Product Marketing team

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Kicking off 2015 at FOSDEM

January 26th, 2015 | by Open Source Programs Office | published in Google Open Source

2014 was a monumental year for all of us in the Google Open Source Programs Office as we celebrated the 10th instance of Google Summer of Code and the fifth year of Google Code-in. As we start 2015, we are excited to continue spreading the word about open source.

One of the highlights for our team in 2014 was our February trip to FOSDEM where we had a table dedicated to our Google Summer of Code and Google Code-in programs. We are thrilled to be back this year for FOSDEM 2015 held on January 31-February 1 in Brussels at Université libre de Bruxelles. We look forward to chatting again with some of the expected 5,000+ attendees at this energetic, free to the public conference. Having the opportunity to talk face to face with some of the thousands of former students, mentors, and organization administrators about their experiences with the program and seeing the difference the programs make in people’s lives and careers is a true reward for our team. And if that wasn’t fun enough, we also have the opportunity to spread the word about our programs to hundreds of interested students and teachers by chatting with them one on one at our table.

Googlers will be speaking during the conference at the sessions below:

Saturday, January 31

13:00 Brad Nelson, X11 on the Web:Using Native Client to run X11 applications in the Browser

16:00 Jeremy Allison, Why Samba moved to GPLv3: Why we moved, what we gained, what we lost

16:00 Pete Williamson, Emacs and Elisp on the Chromebook

Sunday, February 1

On Sunday there will be a Go Developer room from 9:50 – 16:30 with talks including a couple from Googlers.

12:15 Brad Fitzpatrick, HTTP/2 for Go: Overview of HTTP/2 and the design of Go’s support for it

13:50 Ben Smith, Desktop Software on the Web: Bringing FOSS Desktop Software to the Browser

15:30 Andrew Gerrand, Go Lightning Talks: The Go community on Go

15:50 Brad Nelson, LLVM on the Web: Using Portable Native Client to run Clang/LLVM in the Browser

If you are attending FOSDEM, be sure to stop by our table and say hi!

By Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs Office

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Through the Google lens: Search trends January 16-22

January 23rd, 2015 | by Google Blogs | published in Google Blog

Here’s a side of search trends to go along with your Friday. Read on to find out what got people talking–and searching–this week.

Deflate-gate and other scandals
Super Bowl drama is already here, and it’s not even February 1. After the New England Patriots dominated the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 to win the AFC Championship, news broke out that 11 out of the 12 balls used by New England quarterback Tom Brady were under inflated, which is a no-no in the NFL. The league has strict rules about the air pressure in game day balls since alterations could give one team an advantage. Both Brady and head coach Bill Belichick are singing Shaggy’s greatest hit “It Wasn’t Me,” so we’ll all have to wait and see how the mystery unfolds.

On the other “football” field, U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team goalkeeper Hope Solo is back in trouble with the law after she and her husband, Jerramy Stevens, were pulled over for suspicions of driving under the influence. The kicker? This all happened while Stevens was driving the U.S. team van, which promptly resulted in a 30-day suspension for Solo. This event comes just seven days after charges of domestic violence were dropped against the athlete.

The last laugh
On Tuesday, President Obama delivered his sixth State of the Union address to outline his legislative agenda for the year ahead. Then, on Thursday, the President took questions about his remarks from YouTube Creators. While topics like education, the economy and foreign relations got people searching, the Internet had a field day after Obama dropped the proverbial mic at the expense of his Republican counterparts during his speech. In the midst of his talk, Obama stated “I have no more campaigns to run,” generating applause from some of his opponents. But Obama — not one to be the butt of a joke — responded as smooth as butter: “I know because I won both of them.” Burn.

Not what you expected
Search left people salivating after news that milk’s favorite cookie, the Oreo, was getting a new flavor inspired by Valentine’s Day. Confection-maker Nabisco decided to bring cupcake and cookie together in holy matrimony with the launch of a red velvet version of their snack on February 2. And as some people tried to satisfy their sweet tooth, it looks like Tiger Woods may have lost his…literally. The famed golfer made an appearance at his girlfriend Lindsey Vonn’s World Cup skiing race in Italy sporting a missing tooth, causing a stir on the web as people tried to find an explanation for his gap-toothed smile.

Meanwhile, things took a turn for the worse at the happiest place on earth. Disneyland was linked to an outbreak of more than 50 cases of the measles. Health officials are declaring the park safe for those who have their immunizations, but the situation has drummed up more controversy around the anti-vaccination movement.

Tip of the Week
Still sticking to your diet resolution? If you need a little help knowing the number of calories you’re eating just ask, “Ok Google, how many calories are in an avocado?” to stay in tip-top shape.

Posted by Jenise Araujo, Communications Associate, who searched for [hope for hope] and [all scandals that end in -gate]

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Google Summer of Code Wrap up: SciRuby

January 23rd, 2015 | by Open Source Programs Office | published in Google Open Source

Today’s Google Summer of Code (GSoC) wrap-up comes from John Woods at the SciRuby Project, an open source collection of scientific libraries for Ruby coders.

The SciRuby Project aims to provide Ruby with scientific capabilities similar to what the wonderful NumPy and SciPy libraries bring to Python. Our goal is to provide a complete suite of statistical, numerical, and visualization software tools for scientific computing. This was our second year participating in Google Summer of Code and four students worked with us over the summer.

Rajat Kapoor worked to flesh out Claudio Bustos’ numerical Integration and Minimization gems. Integration now includes thirteen different quadrature algorithms (among them Gauss–Kronrod, Simpson’s three-eighths method, Milne’s method, Boole’s quadrature, and open trapezoid). He also implemented a series of unidimensional optimization methods in Minimization (including Newton–Raphson, golden section, Brent, and quad golden), most of which can also make use of Ruby/GSL for faster execution.

Lahiru Lasandun also contributed to the Integration and Minimization gems. He focused on multidimensional optimization/minimization algorithms, implementing Powell’s method, Nelder–Mead, and conjugate gradient. Lahiru also experimented with OpenCL framework support for parallel execution of integration tasks. This strategy works particularly well for large computations.

Magdalen Berns created a Ruby wrapper for FFTW3 (a fast Fourier transform library) with a focus on implementing support for transforms on NMatrix objects. This gem was written almost from scratch in the C and Ruby languages.

Naoki Nishida created Nyaplot, a clever interactive plotting client–server library that is compatible with IRuby. He continues to work on Nyaplot, which has already spawned additional open source software components: extensions for map visualization (Mapnya), circular plots (Bionya), 3D visualizations (Nyaplot3D), and a dataframe library (Daru).

SciRuby is immensely grateful for the opportunity to participate in Google Summer of Code for a second year. We thank our students, mentors, and other contributors for working to develop scientific computing infrastructure in the Ruby language, and we thank Google’s Open Source Programs Office for its support.

By John Woods, Director of the Ruby Science Foundation (SciRuby)

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Format code the easy way with the codefmt plugins for Vim

January 22nd, 2015 | by Open Source Programs Office | published in Google Open Source

There are several wars in the world of programming that never die. Emacs vs Vim. Cuddled vs Non-Cuddled Braces. Tabs vs Spaces. Today we settle all of them… if you’re a Vim user. Google is pleased to release codefmt, a set of open-source plugins for automatically indenting your code in Vim. The default plugin provides support for C++, JavaScript, and Protocol Buffers via clang-format and for Go via gofmt. Additional languages are trivial to add by using codefmtlib to register them. Try it out and enjoy the freedom of never having to manually reflow your argument lists again.

by Matt Kulukundis, Search Infrastructure Team

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Protected sheets and ranges improvements in Google Sheets

January 21st, 2015 | by Jane Smith | published in Google Apps

We’re launching several improvements to the protected sheets and ranges functionality in Google Sheets, providing faster and more granular control when locking down sections of content in spreadsheets.

Key changes include:

Ability to lock down all content in a sheet except a particular cell or range
Faster set up with the ability to re-use the same permissions you previously chose on a different set of cells
Ability to quickly lock down a sheet or range to only a single person, a small number of people or a domain

Release track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

For more information:
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

whatsnew.googleapps.com
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

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New versions of the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps on Android and IOS

January 21st, 2015 | by Jane Smith | published in Google Apps, Google Docs

New versions of the Google Docs, Sheets and Slides apps are now available on Google Play and the App Store. New features include real-time spell-checking in documents (new for iOS only), inserting links (Android only) and hiding rows/columns in spreadsheets, and grouping shapes in presentations. We’ve also added support for Touch ID on iOS, so you can unlock Docs, Sheets and Slides with your unique fingerprint.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
(New) Google Docs blog post
Download the latest Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps on Google Play and the App Store

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

whatsnew.googleapps.com
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

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Updated mobile apps for Docs, Sheets and Slides

January 21st, 2015 | by A Googler | published in Google Docs

With Google Docs we want to help you work better, everywhere you are. So today’s Android and iOS updates for Docs, Sheets and Slides make it easier to get things done while you’re on the go.

Doing, not just viewing
You’ve asked for more editing tools on mobile, so today’s improvements include real-time spell-checking in documents, hiding rows and columns in spreadsheets, and grouping shapes in presentations.

Keeping your content safe
Online security is really important, so we offer functionality like two-step verification to protect your Google account. Starting today, Google Docs supports Touch ID on iOS, so you can unlock Docs, Sheets and Slides with your unique fingerprint.

Making everything more accessible
If you’re blind or have low vision, we have improved support and performance for TalkBack on Android and VoiceOver on iOS to create, edit, and share files in Docs, Sheets and Slides. The updated apps also respond well to screen magnification, in case you need to zoom in for a closer look.

These updates are rolling out now, so look for them on Google Play and the App Store (Docs, Sheets, Slides), and download the new versions as they become available. For even more news and tips, you can now follow Google Docs on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.

Posted by Jude Flannery, Engineering Director

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Transit Directions Improvements

January 20th, 2015 | by Maps Devel | published in Google Maps

Today we released a set of improvements to transit directions in the Google Maps APIs. If you use transit directions in your app, you can now show fare info and give your users the same mode and routing options as the Google Maps Android app.

Spe…

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Google Trusted Stores: Now it’s even easier to help shoppers buy online with confidence

January 20th, 2015 | by Rob Newton | published in Google Adwords

There’s nothing like shopping online knowing that you’ll get great customer service, on-time delivery and free purchase protection. And because we want this experience to be everyone’s, today we’re rolling out a set of improvements that will make it even easier for merchants to join Google Trusted Stores, our program that has helped thousands of merchants gain their customers’ confidence.

Win the trust of new shoppers

Google Trusted Stores is a free certification program to highlight that you offer a consistently great shopping experience. Once qualified, your store will be recognized with a badge that is displayed on your site and on Google Shopping. Your customers will be offered free purchase protection by Google after making a purchase on your site, covering eligible orders up to $1,000.

Applying to become a Trusted Store is now simpler than ever. You only need to create an account and add two snippets of code to your website. You no longer need to submit shipment and cancellations feeds, and you’re now able to specify a custom position for the Trusted Stores badge on your site and display it on HTTPS pages.

New Google Trusted Stores badge showing seller ratings and purchase protection

Highlight your Trusted Stores status in AdWords and qualify for seller ratings

Reviews collected through Google Trusted Stores help you qualify for seller ratings, which show on your AdWords text ads and Google Shopping. This integration provides shoppers with helpful information, while giving you a free way to earn the rating you deserve.

You can also enrich your AdWords ads by displaying your Google Trusted Stores status through a review extension. Review extensions are displayed on a separate line in your AdWords ads and may increase their clickthrough rates.

Show your seller ratings and add a review extension to your AdWords ads

Many partners are already enjoying the benefits of participating in the Trusted Stores program. For example, John Fitzgerald, Director Digital Marketing at Beau-Coup, told us “Our participation in the Google Trusted Stores program has resulted in increased traffic to Beau-coup.com as well as higher sales. The Trusted Stores review extension highlights our status in AdWords, bringing more customers to the site, and the Trusted Stores badge gives shoppers confidence resulting in higher conversion rate overall.”

Get started with Trusted Stores

We made these changes available internationally in the UK, Germany, France, Australia and Japan a few months ago and hundreds of merchants have become Trusted Stores in these countries already.

The Google Trusted Stores program is free and easy to set up, making it ideal for any merchant, large or small, interested in boosting shopper confidence. If you want to join the Google Trusted Stores Program, apply here.

Posted by Michaela Feller, Product Manager, Google Shopping

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Introducing 3D Warehouse Detailed Collections

January 20th, 2015 | by SketchUp Team | published in Google SketchUp

Remember Component Bonus Packs? 2D and 3D trees, furniture and accessories, wood joists and roof details: these components, authored by the SketchUp team, have been a consistent staple of 3D Warehouse for years. With the release of SketchUp 2015, we’ve greatly expanded and improved SketchUp’s standard component collections.

As of today, more than 2,800 individual detailed pieces of new SketchUp-authored content are available on 3D Warehouse. As you browse the new Detailed Collections, you’ll find that many standard components, like this theater light, have been improved with a much greater level of detail.

Find more Film and Stage models here.

Similar to their predecessors, the updated and improved components are generic in nature. These new, detailed components have been uploaded alongside the simplified counterparts; the titles of new components end with “Detailed.” For example, the search result for “HMI Light 4000Watts with Barndoors” will display both the simplified and detailed versions of the component. It’s important to note that these new detailed components are typically more “geometry heavy” (a.k.a. higher polygon count), which means you should consider how they’re used in your SketchUp model. You may consider using simplified components as proxies and replace those with the detailed versions when appropriate (just take note of component insertion points).

Several side-by-side examples of the simplified generic content vs. their detailed counterparts.
(Note: 2D Crocodile Hunter tribute model, by 3D Warehouse user jw_n_mo, not actually included in detailed glass door component.)

You can access this treasure trove of content by browsing 3D Warehouse Detailed Collections via SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse window (File > 3D Warehouse > Get Models) or via your web browser. You can find all components and collections created by the SketchUp team by visiting our 3D Warehouse profile.

In addition to visual improvements, these components are also jam-packed with all sorts of useful information, including IFC attributes. Try exporting to Tekla BIMsight or Trimble Connect – both accept IFC files. You’ll see that the IFC metadata transfers too!

Detailed version of a 2 inch ball valve showing IFC classification data in the Entity Info box.

The release of this content provides a great excuse to browse 3D Warehouse in search of new components to include in your projects. We’ve taken special care to include relevant tags in each component so users can search and find exactly what they need. There are collections for Seating, Electronics, Jibs and Cranes… and many more! We hope you’re able to take advantage of this new content and that it helps you more quickly and more accurately express your ideas.

Keep tabs on recent activity by following 3D Warehouse on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+

Posted by Ryan Ghere, SketchUp Team

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Google Data