Interesting. Thanks for the pinter. I already have VMWare installed for the occasional foray into Windows for apps that don’t exist for OS X. I can also use that for two different versions of OS X as long as there isn’t too much speed loss. Windows runs pretty well so I guess another OS X would too.
Ho hum …
You could always check out form•Z free. Perhaps it is suited to your needs?
Looks interesting, especially as it will import existing Sketchup work (reasonably well) … and I will definitely try it out for a while … but I am not sure I want to have to learn a new app at this point. Thanks for the tip.
I agree. I tried Sketchup free today and it is… Useless! An affront to what Sketchup should be.
I tried to import some of my own models into it, and as I wanted to test it’s horsepower I went for a 165Mb model…and it crashed. Then I went for a 45Mb model…and it crashed. Then I went for a 31Mb model. It got imported and then it crashed and I gave up. I am guessing wildly here, but I think Trimble have seen that Sketchup has something like 40-50 mill users world wide, but only 1-2 mill of them are actual paying customers. So then they’ve decided to make an abysmally sh#t free version with next to no functionality from now on, in order to force those free users who really need it into paying, and then squeeze out the rest so they end up with a fraction of their earlier market share, but an increase in only paying customers. Nice. I never thought I’d say this, but I really, really hope Sketchup free is a catastrophic failure and that EVERYONE sticks to Make17. Sketchup Free is a giant slap in the face and it has in no way been designed to be anything other than a fatal degredation. I am seriously considering migrating to Fusion 360.
Have you tried running the Windows version of SketchUp with it, by any chance? I have Parallels, which definitely doesn’t run SU, and wondered about switching to Fusion. I’ve had students in my class run the Windows version of SU on the school’s iMacs with Bootcamp, so, even thought it’s not officially supported, I’ve seen it done.
Never tried.
I wish I could give your post a dozen “thumbs up”, because it perfectly summarizes the situation.
Its warm tone, we feel like user feedback is valued but its like paint over moisture. It is indeed a beautifull paint but sketchup is wet and rots. But I admire the way Sketchup hides this. It’s not easy to cover up the transition from “look at this free tool we design for you” to “you are addicted and can’t stop using our product but we want more money”.
Hi Mark
When I sent you on April 18th of last year the list of Sketchup Free dysfunctionalities which make it unusable for me you replied as follows: “That’s a good, thorough short-list of issues* we can work on in SketchUp for Web (the modeler in both SketchUp Free and Shop). I can assure you it will be read by product managers and engineers on our team. If our software doesn’t work well on computers and operating used by lots of people, it’s definitely our problem.”
I think it fair to point out to you Mark that eight months on from that reply not one single one of the issues reported has gone away. Sketchup free is still completely and totally dysfunctional in the ways described in my post eight months ago…
Sketchup Make flies and is solid as a rock as it always was. And I shall continue to use it as long as equipment and OS are compatible.
When I pointed this out eight months ago you replied “We understand that ‘generous’ and ‘affordable’ are relative ideas based on who you are and where/how you live. So, while SketchUp Make is the right desktop product for you right now, we’ll consider your feedback a vote for the ability to purchase our desktop modeler in a more affordable way.”
Eight months on it seems clear that there is absolutely no intention of making “a more affordable way” available or something would be in place or at the very least announced by now.
With absolutely no change whatsoever to Free’s inadequacy to perform even the simplest tasks let alone even load and display more complex models I am faced, as a seventy six year old retiree who models for pleasure, with the prospect of a a very hefty bill to be able to even load my existing models - let alone continue to create new ones.
I was upset and disappointed then - so I hardly need to tell you that, under the circumstances, I am unable report anything but even deeper disappointment now.
How desperately saddening …
David Mac
I already have Make. I have used Sketchup since the very original Sketchup pre-Google. My problem is that sooner or later Make will become obsolete by virtue of hardware/software upgrades and then I will have no alternative but Pro by reason of Free’s dysfunctionality. But I neither need anything more than Make (which have for as long as it continues to function) nor can really afford Pro.
for macOS this might be true already yet but on the Windows platform the endless backward compatibility of Windows should ensure several years to go.
And if it really breaks someday you can still run an older OS by e.g. a dual boot or on another system.
Hi David,
I am saddened that you are desperately saddened!
That’s tongue in cheek, but I’m one of the product managers I mentioned would see your post(s), so I sure don’t shrug off feedback like this. Indeed, I did read your feedback very carefully, and many of the issues you mentioned are bugs that we have documented or even worked on in some cases. So yes, I also recognize there are several issues we haven’t got to yet.
Yours is an honest opinion which I’m hearing and accepting as a challenge to our team working on SketchUp for Web. Per our original conversation around the affordability of SketchUp Pro, we did have a very generous promotional offer around the holidays, but maybe not what you had in mind. What can I say? Stay tuned!
Mark
Thanks for replying Mark. I am disappointed but I am not trying to turn knives in wounds. This was more in the nature of an update. If we don’t report back from time to time then we cannot expect people like yourself to operate from a properly informed perspective.
This year will almost certainly see major hardware and software upgrades on my part. I shall just have to wait and see where that leaves Make in terms of continued functionality.
Please seriously consider releasing Make again, but with a reasonable price tag for the non-professional user: ($100 - $200 range).
a commercial product would automatically imply that it can be used for commercial purposes which in consequence will eat up Pro sales besides stripping functionality down to a level you wouldn’t be interested in (e.g. by removing the plugin interface).
If you are on Windows then you shouldn’t have problems (providing you purchase adequate hardware). I’m running a 5 year old computer with Windows 10 and a new laptop with Windows 10. Both of these machines run all versions back to SU 7.
Furthermore my computers run software compiled as far back as the early 1990’s without any problem. Of course that is Windows backward compatibility.
If you run Mac OS then all bets are off !!! That is just the nature of how Apple works.
On Windows I would be surprised if you couldn’t keep running SU Make 2017 far into the future.
Yes … well … I don’t want to get into the age old Windows/Mac comparisons. I have a feeling you are quite right in terms of backward compatibility. Obsolescence is very much part of the Apple philosophy.
But I left Windows about 15 years ago for a number of reasons. Both systems have their drawbacks and advantages and I still run Windows on a virtual machine when needed without problems. But let’s just say it doesn’t ring my personal bells very loudly and, as yet, I am not tempted to return permanently.
However it is certainly a dual boot option along with keeping an earlier OS X if it becomes necessary.