Here’s an idea: if a 3DWH model hasn’t been downloaded in “X” number years or if it hasn’t reached a certain threshold of downloads it gets automatically removed. This way it let’s the SU community decide which models are of value. As a courtesy to the model creators, prior to automatic removal they receive a notification that their content is being removed from 3DWH. There are probably some models which may be exceptional but not meet the time/download criteria and would have to be subjectively vetted by Trimble which can be permanently on 3DWH. Lastly, only use the 3DWH flag or report feature for inappropriate content, violations, etc.
Don’t let me laugh, do you really think that the models that are most downloaded are the models of most value???
Most people download models that look nice on the warehouse without looking to their statistics.
Lots of people come here because their model stopped opening because they are filled with nice looking entourage that are completely inapropriate for their model. Overly detailed, details you can’t even see because they are on the inside or back… Rediculous big materials used, sometimes used on something as small as a bookcover!
Don’t understand me wrong, all of these models could be considdered good models on their own, in the right context… But to say that models which don’t look so pretty on the warehouse are “garbage” because they don’t have enough downloads is false. They too can be good models in other contexts!
Another "flaw"in your statement is that the 3DWarehouse is open to anyone (even malicious people who download models and sell them on other sites!), not just the SketchUp community…
Sorry @tweenulzeven but that is not what was said by @ch3ck5ix. Read carefully and you will notice the difference. He/she made a good point. It needs some refining for some good models may have the wrong keywords.
It’s still subjective, and it could probably delete good models and keep crappy ones, the 3DWH is out of human control now, it’s impossible to assume if a model is good or bad, you can find a chair with millions of entities, it could be a great model for someone trying to create a chair or make the chair the most important part of the model but it would be an overkill element for someone who needs just an asset for his/her project. Like it was said above, “One person’s garbage may be another person’s treasure” it’s up to the users wisdom and knowledge of every person how to use the warehouse.
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I am sure with all the talented contributors here we could come up with a rating system and user guidelines that quickly catagorised the appropriatness of a SU model…
eg
Render = high poly textured model for realistic renders
Construction = low poly / texture but dimensionally accurate for construction drawings
Schematic = low poly for sketch design only
Metric = using metric optimised dimensions
these could be simple tickboxes that any user or creator could flag ( with a count) similar to likes and hopefully it would be a filter option also.
Those are the catagories I find useful for my own components but I am sure others here have much more elegant definitions than mine!
Re @ch3ck5ix 's suggestion, I also think it is of merit… . especially if the models are not deleted but just set as private to the creator… the initial criteria might be quite low (eg less than 2 downloads in 2 years and progressively made more strigent over time…
Really though… LAYOUT is the area that needs attention… thats where time and effort needs to be focussed.
PS Sketchup help has a good article on what makes good 3d content for 3d warehouse… but is only for certified content!
https://help.sketchup.com/en/3d-warehouse/certified-content
Not sure who actually certifies the content though ? any of the Sketchup team clarify ?
And not sure it is enforced … a quick filtered seach of chairs models that had been certified came up with this
If fact an open search thru the entire 3dWH model database only comes up with 74 Certified models 
Maybe not literally but I agree to disagree…
I would hope manufacturers would at least tone down their ‘products’. Direct exports from solidworks with 120.000 edges for a chair are not that usable anywhere. I sometimes need some of them, even hundreds of copies in a plan for something, Making a component still does the file no good.
@gsharp Thanks for noticing! Certification is a new content program for 2024 and is a largely manual process during the initial rollout. As of this time stamp there are 689 certified models with more being added every week. Evaluation is based on a number of objective and subjective criteria that will be refined over time as we gather feedback from the community and consider options for process automation.
The Dino Rodrighiero house shows up in certified search results for “chair” because it is Certified per the current evaluation criteria and includes the keyword “chair” in the description. There are currently 85 certified search results for “chair” which you will find in the Products section. We look forward to more feedback from the community over the coming months!
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We can hash over where lines are drawn or not, what’s inappropriate or not from now until Pluto is restored to full planet status, or until Trimble just closes the 3DWH doors. But there should be some level of common sense that can be applied. I have flagged models where 3D people were totally nude, with males depicted in a state of arousal - nothing happened. I think for the most part, many of the decent modellers have stopped flagging inappropriate models, models that have been stolen, or Warehouses that are full of nothing but re-uploads of other peoples’ work. There are the models of excrement, signs with nonsensical messages, 2D scribbled cartoons (that I don’t believe were made by children), and other “garbage.” I don’t even bother to flag anything anymore. Everytime this comes up, it seems there are always reasons why the Warehouse can’t be moderated.
Rather than calculating how long it would take to go thru all the models currently in the 3DWH, why not (as examples):
- Develope criteria that would be applied - eliminating bias as much as possible - including some of @gsharp 's suggestions (even tho inclusion of such rules would probably wipe out my Warehouse…but rules are rules
) - Then begin moderating with the new uploads
- As is the case with many forums, do not allow models to go public immediately - they would have to be approved. This often discourages those who’s only intent was to wreak havok, or knew they’d be breaking rules had they been able to upload something with no one watching
- Such a restriction could be lifted after it appears the uploader is not here to trash the place
- Put a limit on uploads per 24 hours (STOP the MASS uploads)
- Eliminate the “garbage” as it is encountered - filtering won’t filter out the garbage if the system picks up words/terms/categories you’ve used in your search
- Eliminate the Warehouses that are nothing but copies of other peoples’ work - you can use all the filtering you want, a search will still be bloated with all the copies of stuff
- Eliminate the uploads that were not categorized properly - it’s been my observation that many models miscategorized appears to intentional because they are usually stolen and presented by the thief as being their own work
Just my 2¢
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@SketchrUppr Which of your recommendations do you think would save you the most amount of time finding what you are looking for on 3DW?
Hey @Jake_from_SketchUp …
Did you mean to direct your Q to me? I am one of about only two involved in this thread that is not using a pro version of SU. I think I would be safe in assuming that a good number of the pro users are professionals who use SU in their business or employment. I’m sure they can better field such a question as conditions in the Warehouse can adversely affect them much more than the casual artist/hobbyist.
I just like SU, I like creating things in SU. I do try to create my own components…but occasionally I will go to the 3DWH to find something I want but have no idea how to build it. Or I need something with a really small file size. I’m retired and have no deadlines to meet. I can spend hours cruising thru the Warehouse looking for what I want, if I want to. It is during these expeditions ( 
) that I run across what some of us deem as “garbage,” and is why I sometimes join such threads.
Perhaps some of the professionals in this thread can offer recommendations on what would save them time in their work when having to search the Warehouse for anything. As for me, time is not a factor… my recommendations are simply suggestions for how to possibly make a more user-friendly Warehouse, whether it results in more productive searches or just better work to choose from. And besides, I do not think any one suggestion would be affective all on it’s own.
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Oh thats a can of worms…
Maybe some database wide houskeeping would be best at the server end for starters…
buy no means a comprehensive list… maybe some actions for consideration…
delete = delete or remove from public access (I prefer the later)
1: delete all models that have not been accessed based on some inactivity period… eg say 10 years.
2: delete all zero file / zero pologon files … see image
3: separate SU pro contributors from Free SU users (assumption is Pro users know what they are doing
) alterative give uses a filter option on this4: add a dislike flag for users… files with more than x dislikes are reverted to private access only
5: only allow pro users to upload models
6: delete models with no image
7: delete any duplicate models… only the original is public and editable by the creator
8 Provide filter option to search only by Title and/or content
9: use AI to delete obvious mismatches
10: make flagging so much easier… why all the data entry… we are already logged on?
11: Filter by file size granularity is very coarse… 0-5MB is huge… my criteria for model selection is in steps of 50KB. anything over 1MB is huge
of course you need to warn your customers of any changes and give them an easy way to archive their contributions to their own PCs
I am sure Trimble has the resources to prepare a list of possible actions based on historical user suggestions and your own internal team knowledge of the issues… and survey your users on what they prefer…
You seem to have already gone down this road with your certifified content initiative… and AI could probably define your action list in an afternoon after trolling through all the user comments on the topic and your own internal discussions…
Think of the benefit to the planet of the reduced database size
"The long journey begins with the first step "
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considering the warehouse was moved to new servers in 2014, you won’t find files older than that 
. but yeah, I see the point too. there could be a ratio, the older the model, the more downloads / likes it needs to remain relevant.
and maybe not delete, but rather depreciate.
I’m against your proposition 5, but I agree with 3. not all pros are good, not all free users are bad. granted. but many, many of the really bad / useless models I’ve found over the years come from accounts with 1 upload, I highly suspect highschool students on that one.
“uploading a model to the warehouse” is a classic exercice, most of them will either reupload something or simply upload whatever was on their model.
Could be nice to have this as a search filter
yep. completely
The problem right now is that the relevancy search mode is bad, always has been, because it’s nothing more than a hierarchy of priorities :
if I look for “Table”, I’ll first get result from an account named “Table”. bad models. then I’ll slowly get actual tables.
Maybe a depreciation system ? you upload a model and start at 1000 points, every day you get a download you get 10 points, every day you don’t, you loose 1 point, every upvote or downvote counts, stuff like that ? that way old stuff gets slowly forgotten unless it’s good, and our voices matter more than simply “dropping a like” on a model ?
Right now, if you download 10 couches, and only keep the last one, you’re incentivized to give it a like.
but maybe you’d also want to give a “dislike” to 8 of the other 9. and that’s important information.
And because of the way the in-sketchup warehouse works, it’s quite difficult to go back and give your opinions on things you’ve downloaded earlier.
Also, in browser, since you can open several models in several tabs, you can keep models at hand and like them. and if you need, well your browser has an history so you can quickly go back to the pages.
In Sketchup, it’s not. Because after every download, you have to restart the warehouse, and you can’t go back, so the only model you can grade is the last one. (reason why, in my opinion, the in-sketchup warehouse is inferior to the browser one)
Could be nice to have a short term history maybe ?
Think Amazon, when you’re there, bottom of the page, it shows you the last 10-20 things you’ve looked at.
Could be nice for us to have this possibility, to see the things you just checked. and it would give us the ability to rate (like or dislike) or comment models even if it’s not THE LAST ONE we’ve checked.
Right now everything is built around that, you’ll dig, explore, try a dozen models, and finally find a good one, and drop it a like.
then move on.
Sure, it allows good models to slowly rise up to the surface.
Allowing us to downvote all the ■■■■ we find would make this process quicker. Plus, many models are not worthy of a like, some are just adequate.
These would start rising up if we had the ability to sink down the bad ones.
Rather than disallow uploads by all but professional users, I’d rather see a couple more “sections” added to the Warehouse to keep everything sorted. This could help with searches IF searches can be confined to specific areas of the Warehouse. Of course this would require that each user stay in their lane when uploading to the Warehouse…like (for a perfect example), not allowing verified users to upload to both Products and Models with the same content. The one I’m thinking about is also a mass uploader…but I digress.
Products
Models
Catelogs
Collections
ADD SketchUp for Schools
ADD K-18 (Non-School Projects)
The 3D Warehouse will be the death of SketchUp as a serious Pro modelling application…and quite deservedly so. My company refers to it as the 3D Warezhouse. It’s now way beyond the stage where it can be cleaned up, as everyone recognises the fact that it’s now full of grotesquely bloated junk…much of it pirated commercial content (both appropriate and, complexity-wise, wholly inappropriate) posted and reposted so many times that even using it as an advertising platform is now completely pointless. What’s the point of uploading anything of quality when it gets immediately buried under a ton of sub-standard copies and rip-offs?
As for reporting illegal content, I’ve simply given up. The reporting process consistently fails and simply tells you to contact the site administrator…for whom no details are apparent anywhere. I was a guest speaker at the first Base Camp in Boulder. Those early years were full of optimism and enthusiasm, but I’m finding that many of those early developers and content creators have simply moved on. Even ‘fanzines’ like Sketchucation are now echoing shells of their former selves. How SketchUp expects to survive when Pro users can’t get hold of decent entourage content for love…nor even money, is beyond me.
I’m planning to put sets of quality made-in-SU content on Turbosquid and other such sites in the not too distant future, but it’s going to be a smash and grab operation…getting as many sales as possible in as short a time as possible, before the pirates get hold of it and post it to the Warezhouse.
This entire scene is only 30 MB…plants and equipment included. All the human figures have under 3000 faces. On the Warehouse 30 MB will only get you a very few awkwardly posed Poser or iClone rip-offs of people doing nothing in particular…that or amateurish attempts that barely look human. Ho hum! such is life.
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True, but saying this is shouting to deaf ears. On this forum, someone posts daily a link to a model that has went out of control. The latest champion had managed to add stuff worth of more than 180 million edges to a model of a medium sized apartment. There weren’t even people in it. I have always used your work as an example of how things ought to be done.
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Very true, Anssi, and thanks for the compliment. This kind of proves my point…that the proliferation of really bad models out there is killing the reputation of SketchUp amongst serious professional users. Happily, at my age, I’m past caring.
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Totally agree with AlanF’s comments. Sure way to kill your business is undervalue your product or give it away for free. Freebie Warehouse a terrible idea from the get go.
All of the above Jake !
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This survey lists Sketchup Forum user suggested actions to be implemented in Sketchup 3DWarehouse by Trimble to improve the quality of its models and improve searching efficiency. I did review all posts on the forum and tried to extract any suggestions and happy to add anymore as they arise. It is anonomous and by no means complete… I am happy to add anyone to a editor role and the Sketchup Team is more than welcome to take over this task.
You can change your responses as needed later and question order is shuffled to avoid list biase.
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