Are there any options for converting Sketchup files to another affordable software platform that isn’t browser based?
Most Sketchup users I speak too, who don’t need the expensive access to the DWG format, are currently searching for an alternative to Sketchup that isn’t dependant on an internet connection.
It’s really a shame that Sketchup free has chosen a browser-based platform. It will be a deal breaker for many.
Many free users would be happy to pay for a version that didn’t force them to work online, and pay for an expensive DWG file format license fee.
SketchUp is still available for local installation on your computer. If you don’t want to use the browser-based version, you can install SketchUp 2018 Pro or for non-commercial use, SketchUp 2017 Make. There’s no reason at all to consider SketchUp Free a “deal breaker”. For many hobbyists it will do everything they need. If you need more go to an installed version. And if you are using it for something other than hobby use, yu need to be using SketchUp Pro anyway.
Sketchup Pro for non-commercial use? Where is this offered as an option? If you don’t want to experience mass abandonment of the platform, this option needs to be made more obvious.
SketchUp Make and SketchUp Free are for non-commercial use. It’s been that way for years. There’s nothing stopping you from using SketchUp Pro for non-commercial use, though.
As to CAD formats, DWG or DXF is the only one supported by Pro. There are DXF import/export plugins available for SketchUp Make. Most inexpensive CAD packages use or understand these file formats. Generally speaking, in practice there are no other widely used file formats to merit all application vendors to support them, so these have become the lingua franca.
Come on Dave, stop being obtuse. You said SketchUp 2018 Pro was an option, but that expires in 30 days.
It sounds like Sketchup Make 2017 is no longer going to be supported at some point, so what happens after that?
Will there be a version of SketchUp for non-commercial use, that isn’t browser-based, that a hobbyist would be able to afford, in the pipeline, or should I be looking for another software platform?
Who is being obtuse? SketchUp 2018 Pro is an option. The trial period expires in 30 days. Buy the license and it won’t expire, ever.
No. So what? Many SketchUp Make users are still using SketchUp 8. Most Make users are using versions older than 2017. So what? So what happens? Nothing. The fact that no versions earlier than SketchUp 2018 are currently supported makes absolutely no difference to most of the SketchUp Make users in the world.
Timble has publicly and very clearly stated that SketchUp Make 2017 will not be going away anytime soon. The browser based free version is getting frequent updates. Sometimes as many as three or four in a week. New features will be implemented as soon as possible. But if you can’t wait, use Make 2017. If that’s not good enough for you, you might as well get busy looking elsewhere.
If I’m not mistaking you have to fill out the name of your company and number of employees to but a Pro license, even if you just want to buy a single seat license. If you just want it as a hobby you’d need to make something up which not all users may be comfortable with.
Several years after I had started using SketchUp “Free” (as it was called before it was named Make) my dad actually told me he had thought about buying it for me for Christmas before there even was a free version. However one of the reasons why he never did was apparently the form requiring answers to these questions that didn’t apply.
I’ve later understood one single license cost more than I usually got for Christmas, all gifts combined. Maybe he thought it was worth the investment though, I don’t know. Also I’m not sure if the computer we had at the time would support it. However, as he have told me it was the confusing and nonapplicable questions that definitely stopped him.
I just wanted to point out that some of the confusion in the next few messages was because dchesney missed the word “or” when quoting DaveR. DaveR could have said “you can install SketchUp 2018 Pro, or for non-commercial use, SketchUp 2017 Make.”, and that might have been clearer.
