Eric Owen Moss-The Umbrella-SketchUp/Cheetah3D

Yes, it is...but remember, if you get an intel Mac, you can dual-boot into Windows and keep all your software & licenses...

Do you have a link to the tutorial? I can't seem to find it...

Are you downloading the Tutorial or Cheetah? Anyway, Cheetah is the easiest (and about the fastest) rendering I've ever used. HDRI & Radiosity & Caustics are all properties of scene Cameras, so you can have multiple GI set-ups in a single scene. No messing around with skydomes...Also the user forum is extremely helpful.

I agree with you that modelling a particular building is probably one of the most efficacious ways of studying it intimately. Because you have reproduce it you inherently get a good idea of how it was put together. This is something i want to start doing frequently but i have a question. Where do you get building information of the buildings, like blueprints and floor plans for all the buildings you have modelled so far? Or do you just eyeball the exterior and go off that. Thanks

Thanks for your observations. This one was largely eyeballed, although I did manage to find a plan of the glass sheet layout for the roof by googling. That helped enormously, but the displacements were all eyeballed. There's a tutorial on the Turning Torso model in issue 99 of 3D world, if you're interested.

This is very good. I love seeing when people push sketchup past its preconceived limitations. I recently posted a vid on youtube of a train and a station i modelled in SU and people were freaking out about how i did it. if only they saw what you were doing.

did u make the forms specialy the curved class canopy in sketch up? tnx

Yes, I used the Sandbox tools to do it (only available in the Pro version).