This is an interesting question, especially with the use cases in mind for which my.sketchup was designed.
For collaboration, Trimble Connect is certainly the best solution. But my.sketchup is already usable without registration, so new users can create models (probably stored in local storage), insert local skp files as components, save the result and download it to the local file system. It is not obvious how to load an existing skp file (from USB, email attachment or local file system) that is not a component. And people who are not completely new to computers will wonder about an “Open” function.
Another aspect is that not all models in 3D Warehouse are components (although components are the more reusable models). For example one could want to load self-paced tutorials which rely on scenes (the idea was to suggest this to users of SketchUp for Schools). But importing as a component does not preserve scenes.
This is probably an edge case and does not occur in regular workflows because Trimble Connect users are signed in anyways.
-
Do you think self-paced tutorials and other teaching material could be provided by some other means (a section that is integrated only in the SketchUp for Schools version)? Or is the focus on other kind of tutorials and materials?
-
Maybe shift the “registration barrier”: Allow new people to open an existing project and play around (in local storage), then display a friendly proposal to setup an account to save the model to Trimble Connect.