Hi there! I’ve seen that many questions have been asked regarding SketchUp for Schools for homeschooling families, but I haven’t quite seen the answer I need. I have a 13-year-old who is very interested in architecture and design, and I would love to sign him up for SketchUp. That said, we are home educating and don’t have access to a Google or Microsoft education emails. I’m wondering a couple of things:
Is it possible to still utilize SketchUp for Schools without that? I would love to understand more about the “why” (just out of curiosity).
If it’s not possible, what are our alternatives and what are the pros/cons of those?
It may be possible for you to get the desktop version of su pro for a discount. There is another thread in the forums that a person had yhe same question as you for homeschooling and they were referred to the 55$ a year pro desktop version which is far superior than the web version.
You could aslo google search for the 2017 sketchup make version and use that as a practice run. Even though yhe 2017 version is not supported anymore, its still decent and can accept some plugins
Hi @hsdisarro, thanks for the post. Unfortunately the SketchUp for Schools version does require a Google or Microsoft setup to deploy the app. There is no way around that. Thankfully there are plenty of alternatives that are available these days.
As mentioned by bmike, there is always the free version we offer although that one does lack some of the features of SketchUp for Schools. The core features are all the same and most of the free SketchUp for Schools curriculum is usable with it without any adjustment. I highly recommend giving that a try to see if that meets your needs.
If you find that you need more features like extensions or don’t have a reliable internet connection, I know our reseller partners offer discounted student licenses for the current Pro version. I personally prefer the Pro version when it comes to working with SketchUp but I will admit, I have a bias. If you end up looking to go that route, you can find your reseller partner here: Find a SketchUp Reseller – Connect With a SketchUp Partner | SketchUp
Additionally, if you are looking for other things to learn that are architecture or 3D design adjacent, I recommend learning about creating/editing textures for models and rendering. There are a number of programs out there that can do both of these things and some are even free. Last I heard, Twinmotion (a rendering app) still had a free version for students and is a great program to start with, if your computer can meet the requirements to run it. I also know that GIMP (an image editor) is free and can be used to create custom textures for SketchUp.
Of course this is all just scratching the surface. Each part of 3D design can be an entire semester long college level class if you dig into it deep enough. I would say the sky’s the limit with 3D design but I hear they are 3D printing rocket parts now so I guess space is the limit now!