I spent a few hours in it a few years ago, and while I love the idea of sketchup on an ipad, I just didn’t hit stride with adjusting to the tablet form factor.
The biggest blocker for me is I use the VCB constantly to type in dimensions and distances as I model, and that feels like an extra step on the ipad.
I’d like to hear from anyone who is a long time user of sketchup desktop (who goes back to the google days, or even the at last days?!), who has really embraced sketchup for ipad.
Does sketchup on ipad augment, or replace your desktop usage?
Any tips for becoming really fluid and reaching flow state on the ipad?
I suspect I am in the minority, but SketchUp for iPad is the only one I use, and yes, I am fast.
I downgraded my subscription this time to only iPad because in the last year I never even opened the program on the computer once.
I work for theaters, designing sets and props. Mostly I use a combination of SketchUp and procreate… Sometimes nomad, or dreams.
I have a system going between procreate and SketchUp where I can print pages in scale to any printer with a wifi connection.
My absolute favorite part is working in the hammock, or in a theater seat during rehearsal, or anywhere really.
I have been a hand drafter for so many years… This is a great step up from that.
If you’re switching from desktop, I know the pencil and dragging lines is a hard transition. It helps to not think of it as “proper SketchUp”. It is a new thing, with new ways of getting places. Let it be a new thing.
I am in the same boat. I have it for my iPad Pro but I rarely use it. To me it’s just not as fast (fluid) as I prefer or that I get on the desktop. That and I don’t have access to my plugins. Yes, I have been using SU since v3. It’s nice to have and I am glad that it is included in my Pro subscription.
Yes, plugins.
I used to really use them heavily, but lately I’ve been trying to keep it all stock (not necessarily related to using the iPad).
I’m also interested in the scan to sketchup feature on iPad…
Yes, I’ve tried the scan to SU a few times with some success. This might be a reason I keep at it. Now I have had some success using the iPad app with a BT mouse over the Apple Pen. Just easier for me.
Procreate is just a drawing program that has the functionality of Photoshop. I take screenshots and images and draw on top of them. Using the canvas sizing, PDF functionality and drawing guides I can easily size the screenshots to fit a certain way on the page, making them in an actual scale when printed. The setup was the hardest part, but like layout, I’ve only had to do it the once. There isn’t any auto text, so you have to change entries each time, but it works for what I need.
I use SketchUp on an iPad very often, however I’m not terribly fast at it. I use it to reference very large complex models, I drag my ipad around at work in a harsh environment constantly pulling it out to check tolerances and fit or answer process questions, or develop assembly plans. It’s invaluable to have a relatively full featured suite of tools and visualization options with me at all times. I love it. Occasionally I do some light modeling to describe a concept on the fly or end up trying to modify my master model and it’s often slow and sloppy for me. That’s most likely due to my limited muscle memory and practice with it. But I haven’t used the icons (old or new) to select tools for years and it takes me painfully long to search through the fly out menus to find the icon I’m after, then select copy modifier button, then lock the tool to an axis, it’s three precision moves for my fat fingers before I even begin to model. And for me the precision with my Apple Pencil is maddening. I’m constantly selecting a point 1/8” away from the point intended, especially when completing and action when the tool is finalized by lifting off the screen, a last second jiggle while lifting off leaves me with an unusable operation because the inference jumped around. For the way I use it the iPad version is like a super full featured viewer that I can model on in a pinch. But after years of SU pro, with shortcuts, modifier keys on the fly and a three button mouse, even without considering extensions, there’s no comparison to how fast and how precise I can model, organize and produce documentation on SketchUp Pro.
I’m in a very similar use pattern, though one difference for me is that I seldom use a mouse. I’ve been using pen tablets (Wacom until recently) since 1993 – before SketchUp even existed. Even with the desktop version, I found it not particularly friendly to a stylus, but at least it’s familiar territory when switching to iPad. The stylus suffers an interface problem that’s also shared with any touch interface including your finger on an iPhone: If you skid at all when you try to click, you get different results that what you intended. The offset tool in particular almost never works the way you want either stylus on desktop or Apple Pencil on iPad. One thing I would like is for Apple to make it’s own desktop tablet that uses the Apple Pencil.
