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He looks like he swallowed a bug.
I agree with pretty much everything Justin says here. Especially the lack of bevel tool etc its been long over due and it stops people progressing from beginner to intermediate (the paid extensions feel like such a gamble when you are new to Sketchup)
I have also had discussions where when I have talked about my job and then mentioned Sketchup people have said âow yer, I did that at schoolâ and then they have this warped view that you are using a childâs toy as a professional. Or I have talked to teachers and they think because they have taught children how to use Sketchup that they can do my job easily.
The last three jobs I have had over the last 10 years I have come to them an advocated the use of Sketchup instead of something like 3DS Max. Employers do not know about Sketchup, when they google 3d modelling and rendering after deciding they need to bring it into their business they go put out a job advert with 3DS Max as the skill requirements not Sketchup.
One of the big benefits Sketchup has over its competitors is its price. Its easy to justify the price of Sketchup when its compared to any AutoDesk subscription (especially back when you could get a one off payment product but thatâs another conversation).
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No bug - itâs my SERIOUS FACE 
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THIS exactly. Iâm good with the web version in middle school, but if you keep students in the web version in high school as well, youâre contributing to the impression that SketchUp is âthe first 3d modeling tools before you move on to professional tools.â To me this is problematic
The toolset and the omission of some fairly standard features really doesnât help either.
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I havenât watched the video, but until Rhino completely revamps its user interface, SketchUp has nothing to fear. Rhinoâs advantage is that it integrates three types of 3D modelling (face, quad and NURBS surfaces). Its disadvantage is the workflow that has, I think, even more arcane commands than AutoCad. Make it as intuitive to use as SU, thenâŚ
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You were also using your âinsideâ voice. 
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I donât think that the description of a professional is about the ability to use increasingly complex tools. A professional is judged by the quality of the end product, not by the means used to achieve it.
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but you cant create like for like work if you are not given the same tools.
A student isnât going to feel like they can achieve the same results as a professional if they donât know they are missing tools.
I donât think itâs about the description of a professional, but rather the description (and capability) of the tools themselves.
And the impression of SketchUpâs toolset, especially coming out of colleges, is not great. This is pretty evident in the comments on that video.
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Can you make construction documents / shop drawings with Rhino yet? Every couple of years I take a deep dive into what is available - formZ, Rhino, etc⌠and I always come back to SKP and LO because of the integration of the model + documentation.
The documentation tools are definitely behind what SketchUp can generate. However, from what Iâve witnessed, for larger firms, theyâre not really using SketchUp OR Rhino for documentation, so it doesnât matter. Rhino is being taught due to Grasshopper and the larger number of modeling tools, so the documentation discussion doesnât seem to be factoring in.
My larger concern is the pipeline of new users and where they go after they graduate college (and what that means to the âpoolâ of SketchUp users overall). Iâm not advocating a switch for anyone, but it is a trend that Iâve been seeing lately that I find concerning.
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I was comparing the schools version to Sketchup Pro.
Sure. But I was commenting about @TazSavage comment about âlike toolsâ.
For me I need to document my work. Without an interlinked workflow Iâm just not interested, no matter how fast I can model a sea cucumber shaped glass parametric buildingâŚ
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Well then I misunderstood. I thought you were comparing sketchup to other software.
I think the point Justin is trying to make is how do you encourage a pipeline from the education system into the workplace where Sketchup is the tool people develop with and take into the workplace.
Hes not trying to get professionals with an already established workflow to switch to a different bit of software.
And your point about layout highlights this as School users wont be using layout and will be missing a powerful aspect of the software.
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In our part of the world and market the demand today is for people who master Archicad and Revit. A full BIM workflow is an industry requirement. SketchUp is an application that can be used in learning how to become a good architect by actually designing but most people entering the work market wonât have that kind of freedom for a long time if ever.
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SketchUp is software for designing that you can produce production drawings with.
Revit seems clumsy as fuck for designing, and I havenât used Archicad⌠but I get the sense that they excel at documentation and quantification - and in most cases the âeducation to work forceâ pipeline wants technicians and not designers*.
*I do believe that anyone going into architecture / design / engineering should be able to draw, old school, by hand, on paper - and they should also have a good grasp of basic design + color theory.
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Exactly. Revit and Archicad are in many ways similar. Designing âplain vanillaâ buildings is most cases quite fluent in both, but the âhigh artâ is a challenge despite their fancy marketing illustrations. But plain vanilla is perhaps 95% of all that gets built, and the documentation and revising parts are so important that I would get totally stressed out without these tools.
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I watched the video and agree with most of what heâs saying. In fact, Iâve been saying much same, but donât have the audience @JustinTSE has. Weeks before 3D Basecamp 2018 (the Palm Desert one), I attended a local AIA/CT seminar by Phil Bernstein just as his book, Architecture Design Data, was about to be released. From his perspective, his work as V.P. at Autodesk in charge of REVIT was done; the era of developing and evolving BIM was complete, and the new thing was parametric work with Grasshopper. He showed lots of work being done by his Yale students as examples. Again, this was 7 years ago, not just now.
When Live Components came along, it looked like Grasshopper to me on a first glance, but it really hasnât come through as a locally useful general tool like Grasshopper is in Rhino.
As to schools, I taught SketchUp to high school students for several years, mostly with SU Make, and once with SU for Schools. Even for HS students, I found SUfS lame, and had to go back to 2017 Make after that to teach Match Photo. I first got that teaching job because of the availability of SU Make, and now that itâs gone, so is that job and the class - no one is teaching SU at that school anymore.
As to college/graduate school, 8 to 10 years ago, while jurying master of architecture thesis students, I would poll the students what software they used, and almost universally, the A design students were using SketchUp and the B design students were using REVIT. In later years that softened somewhat. Expertise with REVIT certainly helped graduates for job prospects, but it didnât impress me as a tool for creating great designs. The fluidity with which one can think of design ideas, and flesh them out with SketchUp is the key feature to build on.
So, yes, Iâm with Justin here on most of what he has to say.
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