Introducing a new kind of SketchUp object: Live Components

SketchUp Labs Live Components Discussion
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Today, we are extremely pleased to introduce a new type of configurable object for SketchUp: Live Components. Live Components are built on Materia, a new modeling platform that aims to deliver smart 3D content to Trimble customers. Materia is the result of Trimble’s acquisition of MatterMachine, a New Zealand company specializing in Computational Design. We are ecstatic about the new ways of working that Live Components and Materia will unlock for the SketchUp Community over the next few years. You can start configuring Live Components now to see what we mean.

Before we get more into the what & why of Live Components, we also want to mention that Live Components is the first “feature” being released under a new program called “SketchUp Labs”. SketchUp Labs program represents a big shift in the way we develop and release features. Labs means that a feature is still under development but we feel that it would be valuable to our user community in its current state. The Labs program allows us to collect your feedback earlier so we can better prioritize development. Features that are part of Labs may be less polished, but we figure that’s well worth providing new features to you faster and being able to test them earlier in real workflows. Please join us in conversations in our forums that will help shape the direction of these features.

So, back to Live Components… As of today, you can configure and preview Live Components on 3D Warehouse. When we say configure, we mean that you can control a wide array of settings and options for each component. By preview, we mean that you can view the 3D object in real time as you configure it. Once you are done, you can download the skp file and insert into your models.

Parametric Bookshelf
Parametric Bookshelf1850×1402 354 KB

And as long as Live Components are in Labs, you can also configure a Live Component by double clicking on it in SketchUp itself!

We invite you to explore configuring Live Components into highly customized objects that add a new dimension of richness to your models. Though we only have several dozen objects available now, they represent millions of permutations.

Some of our Live Components can even be made into assemblies (check out the park bench or the stud wall!).

And rest assured: we are working on a solution to allow you to create your own Live Components. You can try an early version of this out here.

In the meantime, we are also developing more pre-built Live Components for you to use in your SketchUp models. We’ll announce here when new batches of Live Components are released.

How to find Live Components?

There are a a few hundred Live Components on 3D Warehouse right now.

There is also a Live Components filter in 3D Warehouse search.
To use it:

  1. Do a search on the 3D Warehouse
  2. Click on Filters, and then turn on the Live Components filter under Specialty filters
  3. Redo the search with the filter on if necessary

Have feedback or ideas you’d like to discuss?

For now, we’ll be handling all discussion around Live Components in our forum under a new main category: SketchUp Labs and a dedicated sub category: Live Components Discussion. Please post feedback questions, ideas, etc, in this forum under those categories. Again, we are very excited to bring a feature like this into the community where people can participate in the discussion and future direction. We’ve also set up another Labs subcategory called “Live Components Content”. Please use this for reporting content related issues or for posting requests for specific kinds of content.

Want to check out our Live Component documentation and frequently asked questions on Live Components? Visit our help center articles for all the details on working with live components. We’ll be updating these from time to time so they point to all the info we have on Live Components.

Thanks and we hope you enjoy Live Components!
Bryce and the entire Live Components Team

28 Likes
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Great, worked for me… But I’d prefer Components in LAYOUT! much more productive

5 Likes
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so you are going to launch the components, but not the construction of them?
We can use, but we can’t do? For years?

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7

This is really exciting. They are working well for me!

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8

Cool, could replace VizPro in the long run

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Looks promising. Is this in some way an answer to Grasshopper, or not even close? Or more like improved Dynamic Component?

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More like the latter.

Although it remains to be seen what the authoring interface will be like.
(A step towards “Grasshopper-ness” would be nice.)

3 Likes
11

We intend to launch authoring tools for Live Components sometime next year. Being able to author Live Components is just the beginning though. Those apps/tools will expand over the next several years to offer new ways of modeling in conjunction with SketchUp.

6 Likes
12

What if it was both?

6 Likes
13

That would be fantastic! :smiley:

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Hi, this looks like a fantastic tool but trying to open it in Safari (14.0) and the page does not load, I can see the sliders but no model. I’m running OSX 10.15.7.

I look forward to trying this when I can :relieved:
Dan

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Awesome work guyses, great to see this in the wild.

7 Likes
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This is parametric modelling so would appear to be a long awaited update of Dynamic Components.

DCs were never too hard to use once created but creating them could be a right pain. I usually found it faster to reinvent the wheel each time. We won’t see whether (what we will no doubt be calling) LCs have significantly improved things for creators until next year but it would be really disappointing of they haven’t. I can’t see developers spending lots of time on this if it is not a leap forward. Exciting!

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I am hoping that the promised new tools will have an interface worthy of SketchUp. I have used some parametric object creation tools (the dynamic components in AutoCad, the Family Editor in Revit and the GDL editor in Archicad and the Dynamic Component system in SketchUp) and IMO they are all pretty awful, something between application programming, filling a tax return and drawing ASCII art. People praise Grasshopper, but even that looks more appealing to a mathematician than an architect.

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I have the same issue, Safari Version 14.0 (14610.1.28.1.10) Can’t see the model and it won’t download.
Works fine and downloads on Chrome.

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welcome back…

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21

:rofl:

3 Likes