I think GPT-5 will be like steroids for developers. GPT-4 already is, but the speed and capability will probably be on a whole new level with 5. You plug it in, and boom — what used to take hours will take minutes. If it takes five years to build SketchUp without AI, a smart team with the right tools could rebuild or even improve it in a year. Maybe six months.
Now, about those cubes. At first, I thought — who made this decision? Was it someone from the Minecraft generation? Maybe they grew up stacking blocks and thought, “Hey, let’s bring that into SketchUp!” Totally out of touch. SketchUp isn’t a game — it’s a professional tool. We need clean, inspiring visuals, not something that looks like it came from a sandbox mod.
Ive also thought of using AI to code but for SKP plugins since i dont know ruby but i dont think its here quite yet, or my ability to wield it is lacking, but AI will be able to do these things soon as in terms of a likely a few years. The world will likely be unrecognizable in 10 years from where we are now. Its rapidly advancing in every direction and quite impossible to keep up with all of it.
In the world of software, it’s not about who got there first.
It’s about who gets it right now.
Trimble wants to move into rendering? Fine.
But D5 and Twinmotion won’t just sit and watch.
They’ll come for modeling—and they’ll come fast.
It’s one thing to expand SketchUp.
It’s another to drift into a market already mastered by others.
These aren’t passive players.
They’re full-stack ecosystems with teams ready to pivot.
If they feel encroached on, they won’t just push back—
they’ll build their own modeling tools.
SketchUp can “dabble” in rendering.
But don’t think D5 or Twinmotion won’t notice.
And if they decide to “dabble” in modeling?
Let’s just say—it won’t take them five years to catch up.
— The market doesn’t care who was first. It rewards who gets it right.
I think SketchUp should double down on what it’s always done best: modeling.
Instead of trying to be everything, why not aim to be the undisputed master of 3D modeling?
Maybe it’s time to split into two focused tracks:
SketchUp Classic — for those who want the familiar, lightweight workflow.
SketchUp Next Gen — with preloaded top plugins most users end up downloading anyway.
Because most users don’t want to browse plugin stores, guess what works, or troubleshoot extensions. Most users don’t want to assemble their toolbox.
They just want to build.
If SketchUp did that, it wouldn’t just stay in the game—it could dominate it.
— Power isn’t in having options. It’s in knowing which ones to keep.
This kind of thing makes you wonder if it was tested thoroughly.
Take a look at the roofing textures—those seams are clearly broken. For many of us, SketchUp is used during client meetings to communicate ideas quickly and clearly. If the textures cause visual noise, it becomes harder for the client to focus on the actual design.
It’s a small issue with big consequences.
At some point we have to put out new features. Sometimes those features will need to be adjusted/fixed/updated. One of those things that is for sure on our radar is the ability to preview materials on different shapes. The reason we went to the cube is that we didn’t want to “cheat” the UV on shapes that SKP can Not paint natively like the typical sphere. Now does that mean we are going to stay that way. I dont think so. So we appreciate all the feedback.
Thank you for clearly stating what you would like us to work on.
Is being sorted for sure.
This was a very lengthy internal discussion. We decided that we rather keep the installer size down. It may be in the future we decide to ship with more materials, but for now it comes with only 15% of the materials that we created for this release. We understand that all the materials we chose are not useable always. As we move forward we plan to offer more ways to get and create materials for your model. So thank you for your patience.
I changed the title of this topic, because there are a lot of useful comments, and replies from Cassidy, and those were starting to be missed because of the original title sounding like the post was only a comment on the way Trimble works.
For a couple of posts that were a bit off topic (I mean, now that I renamed it…), those posts are hidden, you should be able to read them if you want.
There are other posts I would hide if I could, but those haven’t been flagged by anyone.
This conversation reminds me about my days working with Transit Agencies on Transit-Oriented Development projects - which is where I found out just how many of the transit planners and operators (I’m in California so perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising) don’t take transit to their jobs - which their job is to make public transit work better and increase ridership.
During my tenure at SketchUp (all good things to say btw), I noted something similar. How many staff use SketchUp, or recently came from an environment where they are daily power users? And to move into rendering, baby steps as it might be at this point, same question - how many came from or are currently immersed in the the Viz world?..‘Proper Viz’ (a term I just coined), is an art and a science, as it should be. It takes years to understand (ex: what’s albedo, turbidity, refraction? and how do these affect light and materials in my scene?)…and even longer to master.
Kudos again for to SU for making the leap (15 years too late maybe) but the reality is, if you don’t live viz…breath viz…dream viz…there’s no way you can anticipate the effect of seemingly simple decisions (render preview on a cube?) has on workflows. And I know some staff DO have that experience but I’m betting it’s a minority and as most of you know, pushing major software updates is a huuuuge effort involving, product, engineering, marketing, training, sales, support, etc). Not all the best ideas get heard let alone implemented.
I for one will, and encourage others, to offer Trimble, well SketchUp to be more specific, more support in helping them make their new features the best they can be. After the product has shipped is a little late to make suggestions. Joining the Beta testing pool may be the best way but if SketchUp has other means to allow our voices to be heard in advance, by all means share them and I will be as squeaky a wheel as you’d like me to be to get a little oil on these features so everything runs a bit smother for the next release.
Maybe time to leave them all out, and use a common/Trimble/mat location for this?
Think about the saved resources it would have had, since the ‘old’ materials were never changed since 2006 ( apart from one glass gold in the glass and mirror collection)
What???
What are you talking about? This is way too complex - not all of us are computer boffins. I’ve grown up through pencil drafting and watercolor - CAD is fantastic especially 3D, BUT keep is simple
Why not just reinstate the previous version of Materials?
