Installing Make when you have Pro

I’ve been asked to teach a course using SketchUp Make.
To do this I need to familiarise myself with the differences between make and Pro so I’m not asking people to do things that can’t be done.

However, although I download the installer that says “Make” on it it installs as Pro and it automatically taps into my license for Pro 2016 so I just end up with two installations of Pro.

I can’t figure out how to instal Make without damaging my installation of Pro which I need for work and Trimble’s licensing system isn’t so robust I’m keen to try uninstalling any license in case I can’t get them back.

Does anyone have any ideas?
I’m on a Mac.

Thank you.

Instead of going to all that trouble, just use the Pro installation you already have and don’t teach the Solid Tools, making Dynamic Components, using Advanced Camera tools, the various CAD import and export options, LayOut, or Style Builder. All of the basic tools work exactly the same.

That was Plan A, and maybe where I end up, I’m just not sure those are the only things Make doesn’t do!

What will it take to make you sure? My experience isn’t enough? What else do you expect it not to do?

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(1) You cannot install both Pro and Make on the same computer. Both use the same registry hive on Windows, and the same plists on Mac.


In addition to what Dave mentioned:

On Make editions, the Dynamic Components’ “Component Attributes” dialog will not open (as this wizard dialog" is a Pro only feature.) The students may get a “Sorry, this is a Pro only feature” messagebox, if the button for it is even clickable in Make. (The button may be greyed out.) But the DC InteractTool and the “Component Options” dialog will still work.

Other Pro only extensions may not come prepackaged with SketchUp (Advanced Camera Tools, etc., or will only work during the Pro trial period,) and Pro only extensions installed from the Extension Warehouse will fail to load under Make, or their toolbar buttons will be greyed out.


The Report Generator (found on the File menu) is a Pro only feature.


There is generalized feature comparison table on this help center page:

There is a specific file format import / export Make/Pro feature table on this page:

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Your easiest solution will be to install Make on a fresh computer (if you have access to one). Otherwise, as @DaveR and @DanRathbun have pointed out, you will have to use Pro and pretend it is Make.

No, I don’t have lots of computers.
I have one.
It’s a worry teaching something I can’t be sure is correct.
Might be better to cancel.

That seems rather drastic.
If you’re teaching an introductory course, you would focus on core tools and elemental methods, not advanced tools and features of Pro.

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I agree with the others that you may be making too much of this. While teaching, simply don’t use any Pro-only features! On occasion you may open a menu that includes Pro features greyed out, but if you don’t click them the worst case is a student will ask why that item is not live on Make. Just tell them it’s Pro only. In fact, I think it is useful for students to know about Pro vs Make so that they can make an intelligent choice about which version they want for themselves.

I agree. Just take a look at this thread and don’t go into the Pro features. Still plenty to cover with just the basics!

That’s the plan but the idea is to be able to help people achieve certain goals which may require plugins and things and I like to be able to test things first.
I imagine plugins are OK, I just don’t want to accidentally explain a method of solving a problem that doesn’t work!

Depending on how much memory you have, you might try setting up a new virtual machine to install Make on the same physical computer

I was wondering about that.
Thank you, I might look into it.

SU isn’t ‘supported’ on a VM, but it does usually work, I believe. Graphics performance won’t be of the best, but that’s not likely to matter too much for your students .

Oh the students will be fine, we will set them up with what they need in the classroom, it’s just for me while I’m I’m working out the lesson plan.
Thank you!

Sorry, I phrased that badly. I meant that your students may not at this stage be making such complex models that you testing copies of them, or checking test cases in Make will require high graphics perfornance in the VM.

Oh no!
No worries and thank you for your help.
VM’s do usually behave like ordinary machines, at least on a Mac, and there’s the Mac Bootcamp option I’ve used before which skips the VM and sits straight on your Intel processor and behaves just like a PC.

I just don’t want to look a fool in front of paying customers is all!
Trimble have explained how to deactivate the Pro demo for the people on the Make course but I can’t do that on my computer without losing my Pro licences.

I’ve been looking at it this afternoon in more detail though and I think I may be OK.

Huge thanks to everyone for their help!

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