to help architects in a hurry get a client-worthy render. As I usually am given very little time for my design/model/renderings, I relate well to others who need results quickly, without a lot of fuss. Happy clients are my goal. When SketchUp alone is not enough, I use Kerkythea.

CatchUp: So when did you actually get involved with SketchUp?

Fletch: I have used SketchUp for several years (somewhere between Sketchup 4 and 5). A talented intern in our firm proved to me how powerful SketchUp could be. I watched the online video tutorials and off I went. I had been looking for something that could fill the electronic void of Schematic Design and to this day, I’ve seen nothing better for me to create great communication of schematic design for my clients. I have now trained many SketchUp users in our firm. I am addicted to the Ruby area of the forum – the generous script-writers there are the lifeblood of SketchUp.

CatchUp: What direction do you see Kerkythea heading in the future?

Fletch: I found that using Kerkythea together with SketchUp allowed me to skip what I thought to be a very painful and archaic process of using other “professional standard” modeling and rendering products to communicate design. Namely, creating realistic materials / setting up animated cameras / getting realistic-looking lighting were all painfully cumbersome for me using other products.

With Tomasz Marek’s wonderful ruby script ‘SU2KT’ I was able to hit ‘export’ with my models and hit ‘render’ in KT, and get something better

than a scanline render without really any effort and very little extra time over using SketchUp alone. Truthfully, it was so fun it became addictive. I found with a little effort on the materials and lighting extremely realistic images were possible without spending $1000 or more for one of the more ‘popular’ engines.

In the future you will see a much greater degree of sophistication in SU2KT, and a much closer ‘partnership’ of Kerkythea and SketchUp. It will be simultaneously even easier to use, yet have all the advanced features a professional expects.

One interesting bit of trivia - We have seen an explosion of KT usage on campuses all over the world. The fact that Kerkythea and SketchUp are both free and lightweight programs with short learning curves and unlimited potential have a lot to do with this.

CatchUp: Last question for this interview: Can you tell us about any new features which will be introduced in the future?

Fletch: Wish I could, but I am not at liberty to disclose this information. J I can say that Kerkythea’s internal build is already more powerful than the KT 2008 Echo release. I am sure that Kerkythea users will not be disappointed. There is a ‘Wish List’ area of the KT forum, and the development team listens closely to the users who contribute to the forum. You will continue to see robust development in various render methods and contexts.

Support for Kerythea is hosted by our friends at the Kerkythea forums.