Please make your brief introduction to the readers of SketchUp Ur Space?

Greetings to all readers sketchup magazine. it's nice to know that there is an important magazine about sketchup, and mainly people who use this unique 3D program.

When did you first discover SketchUp and why do you prefer it?

I started to discover sketchup 5 years ago, I was looking for a program 3d fast and versatile, with a simple interface that would allow me to work directly on 3D volumes. I did some research on the internet and found sketchup, it was love at first sight. the thing that surprised me the most was the ease of use of 3D. then over time, I found all the hidden potential of sketchup.

You work as production designer, costume designer and art director. How do you manage all these at a time out of your busy schedule?

I work as production designer in Rome, and vice president of the ASC Italian Association production designers, costume designers. I am a teacher at the Academy 's Art of Catanzaro in southern Italy. to all my students, I teach gladly using sketchup. Unfortunately, I do not have much time for myself, I realize that to achieve the goals you have to follow them with dedication. I do not know other solutions at the moment for a successful career.

You worked as a production designer in so many well known Hollywood films. Share your experience on how you utilize SketchUp in your work?

I've seen colleagues is production designer Americans who make extensive use of SketchUp. some use it to create 3D volumes, then they put the textures in photoshop. Sketchup is a very flexible program. in Italy we use both for design and layout. the interesting thing in SketchUp is the ability to create points of view in the 3D model, which correspond to the position of the camera in real set. This is a feature that really likes all the directors, because they have the opportunity to study the virtual shots. before the construction of real sets.

Tell us something about your upcoming film “Dracula 3D” which will be released in Italy very soon.

Dracula the film is currently in all Italian theaters, the film and shot in stereoscopic 3D, I designed all the sets with sketchup pro 8, and I created the render with "Renderin" and "Artlantis" I created some animations with points machine decided by the director. using sketchup for this film was decisive, because I had little time for the preparation of projects. really helped me a lot, I have to thank google and all developers of SketchUp.

You have completed so many projects with SketchUp. Which project you found most challenging so far now?

Now I'm working on a project for a film about World War 2, and I must say that this will be the most difficult job that I will do with sketchup, I have about 14 sets of design, and all are very well described in the script, so even the project must be very detailed, an important aspect of sketchup that is helping me a lot is the integration with google map. the possibility of directly imported into the model entire portions of land with elevations. With this function, we can see our 3d model correctly positioned as in reality.

SketchUp is a useful tool for creating visualization in film and stage. How do you find SketchUp as a most effective tool for visualization?

About the possibility of creating scenes and animations sketchup think it is unsurpassed.

What enhancements would you like to include in SketchUp for film professionals in near future?

I would like to better management best models very heavy, greater than 100 mb for example, without sacrificing resolution textures, greater control over the texture on curved surfaces, without the use of external plugins. the ability to draw even on irregular solids anything you want. I must also say that the plugins freely downloadable from the site of sketchup make the program complete.

Please tell us something about your upcoming projects in which you intend to utilize SketchUp?

I answered the question above (the film project on World War 2)

As a production designer, how did you observe the evolution of SketchUp from past to present?

Sketchup evolves, but I think it's already born with an evolutionary idea, he thought the younger generation, simplifying its tools and making a very pleasant has made ​​the program available to everyone, now google sketchup look at augmented reality, its evolution has just begun .... what a pleasant surprise there will still be coming? I'm very curious to see.

How do you see SketchUp as a designer tool?

Sketchup layout style builder together they complete a design tool, but it is much more if you think the integration with google maps, integration with Photoshop, all free plugins available, sketchup Phisics, and much more....

Please provide your valuable suggestions for the newbie production designers?

I would suggest to those who start using sketchup, to study the daily program, to use the tutorials that are easy to find on the web, so you have the exact idea of the potential that SketchUp offers. not merely a superficial use of simple volumes, but to experience the modeling of surfaces, curves, and irregular solids, then started a project to be completed, and studied all stages from idea to project the layaut. you should be able to bend the program to do what you want, and not the reverse. then you say "I design with Sketchup".

What opinions do you want to provide for the team of SketchUp Ur Space?

I want to thank the team of Sketchup ur Space, a special thanks to the editor in chief Rajib Dey, for all the work you do every day, your role is very important because it spread news about SketchUp and its users. Through your articles we have no way to share our work experiences, and to grow professionally. I hope that with our little help, we can help make great Sketchup ur Space magazine. thanks