oh yeah. but it’s reddit. it’s a shitpost paradise. it’s not actually “bad press”, more like “users of other softwares (the other tribes and clans I mentioned) coming to bash another software for free”.
it’s kinda like going on twitter to get an opinion about anything. you’ll leave angry.
you’ll find the same arguments in apple vs microsoft or iphone vs android threads.
Sure, people have their (strong, quasi religious) opinions. but should apple care that “bryanUSA44” thinks their products are overpriced ? should I care that they think it’s for babies and “beta males”.
nope.
I’ve been using macs since 95 and pcs since 98, I’ve been confronted to this stupid debate since. and the best way to deal with it is to answer “yeah, you might be right, thanks for your input” and move on with your life.
Same here.
I don’t care that the guy in your screenshots thinks that I can’t do shop drawings or steel structures in SU. because I know people who are doing both on a daily basis.
Just because he is bad at it and has preconceived ideas shouldn’t impact me.
and considering there are more than 1M subscribers (go / pro / studio) and up to 40M active accounts a year (free, old pro, illegal, trials, LAB…) I thinks Sketchup is not worried about bryanUSA44 either.
edit : and changing name or branding won’t change their opinions. when it comes to softwares, OS, car brands, unit system… it’s a matter of belief.
I personally wouldn’t change the name. I think they sketch element perfectly encapsulates the speed at which you can prototype or rough out ideas and shapes. Yes things can be made more complex or detailed later on but for those initial ideas SketchUp does it best.
Youv missed the point from a figure of speech “bad press”… these so called people on the shitpost paradise are probably the many users in industry who are working in the field. Yes i agree there is a lot of ■■■■ on there but reading between the lines you can find some truths.
Like others have mentioned on here that you wont find SU much in industry… Why? is this due to old stigma etc? is it the name? I for one when i heard about Sketchup thought it sounds gimmicky its the same as FreeCAD etc, its just sounds like its will be a limited software. Im an engineer in industry from the UK so the worldwide perspective may differ.
I agree and disagree… If SU does not keep moving forward it will drop in users overtime. I know they do update the system which is great but like with anything it must keep evolving and keeping its credibility not just amongst hobbits if it wants to stay alive long term…
surely user feedback (gripes) is what is important?
I understand this is a pro SU user forum so I’m feeling like I might have ruffed some feathers but it was a genuine question as in my industry I feel like a silo using SU as no one I work with can relate to the software. The initial question about credibility has been on my mind for a long while on why? and why didn’t it catch on? knowing the power of the software myself I ask why didn’t it catch on? these are all genuine questions from someone who has invested into the software for many years.
I’m in the UK too and it’s never once crossed my mind that the name “Sketchup” sounds gimmicky.
At a previous company I used software called Alibre, which was then bought out and rebranded as “GeoMagic” - possibly the worst name for a professional piece of software.
When clients would often ask what software we were using I was fine in saying “Alibre - it’s like a stripped down version of Solidworks”
Telling them that we used “GeoMagic” always made me wonder if they thought I was using crayons and an etch-a-sketch.
Luckily it subsequently got repurchased by the original owners who reinstated the name.
in Vegas they announced that they just crossed the 1 million subscribers.
talking with staff, they said that between subscribers, student, schools, labs, classic licences, make versions, free online versions and illegal versions, it was several dozen million users.
SU is still on the rise. I wouldn’t worry too much about drop in users right now .
you’re in a bubble. many of us are.
for decades, architects in my region mostly used pcs and autocad. why ?
because the architects teaching in the local architecture school all used pcs and autocad. therefore they spent 5-6 years nailing in their students brains that that’s the combo they HAD to have to find a job. stuff like SU was just here to make pretty images. and these student then became architects using pcs and autocad. and then and then and then.
if you’re in an industry that uses specific tools and processes, making it evolve is quite hard. you’ll face a “we’ve always done this way” wall. or a “yes but everyone else does it this way” wall.
but drive 100km and you might find a totally different situation.
I spent my masters degree in germany in an international program.
17 students, 8 countries and we used : sketchup, autocad, archicad, revit, vectorworks, rhino and allplan, most of us using 2-3 softwares.
we were simply out of our local bubble I guess
The weird this is i actually do feel abit embarrassed to say i use Sketchup when presenting designs. When i upload models to Sketchfab if i remember i always removed the tag for Sketchup for this reason also.
When i upload models to Sketchfab if i remember i always removed the tag for Sketchup
I have been guilty of this in the past as well then I realised if I want this software to be seen as more professional and more widely adopted in my industry I needed to let everyone know how I make my work. Now all my LinkedIn posts have Sketchup tagged and there has been an increase of its use in my industry.
and I guess it doesn’t help that you’re in an english speaking country.
for the rest of us, it’s just a “random generic english name”. like slack. or steam. or mail.
morality ?
move out of england, find a place where they use SU, preferably with coconut trees, and stay out of the comment section of reddit, it’s a dark place
The more I read this thread the more I think this is a ‘you’ problem.
Use the tools that you like, that let you make the work you want to make. Be the change you want to see…
End of story
But if all your potential employers use different software you cant use Sketchup. I have found this issue when moving job. I can do the work I just cant do it in cinema 4D or Miya
Not too sure if the SU Forum so far has provided you with a balanced insight to your topic as requested. Guess who provided the below SU insight ?
Yes, SketchUp is a credible and widely regarded software in the 3D modeling industry.
Here’s why:
Industry Recognition: SketchUp is used by professionals across various fields, including architecture, engineering, construction, and product design.
User-Friendly Interface: Known for its intuitive interface, making it relatively easy to learn and use, even for beginners.
Powerful Features: Offers a range of tools for creating, editing, and visualizing 3D models, including drawing, pushing/pulling, and texturing.
Large Community: A large and active user community provides support, resources, and a wealth of extensions and plugins to enhance the software’s capabilities.
Developed by Trimble: Backed by Trimble Inc., a reputable company known for its reliable products in the construction and geospatial industries.
While it may not be the most powerful or feature-rich 3D modeling software available, SketchUp’s ease of use, accessibility, and industry recognition make it a credible and valuable tool for many users.
But I admit I live in a bubble - I’ve been self employed for 20+ years. I integrated SU to the workflow before I left my last place where I worked for someone else and haven’t looked back.
Given the UK’s strong architectural and design industries, it’s safe to assume there’s a significant number of SketchUp users, shame though we don’t have many coconut trees… …
@Mill3r no ruffled feather here, I understand the spirit of the original post. Over the many years I have been using SketchUp as a professional tool (migrating from Vectorworks) I have interfaced with many project teams working in a wide variety of software packages, all those mentioned and a few others. I have certainly encountered the “SketchUp is a toy” attitude and been encouraged to “get a real modeler” so at the least I can attest that you’re not alone in having experienced this. Much of this attitude is uninformed prejudice, not using or understanding the program and its capabilities, for every roll of the eyes and derisive comment of “you use SketchUp?” there has been 2 surprised comments of " this is SketchUp?". People just don’t really know it and their associations with it are un-professional. There are a few reasons I have seen that people get this impression.
The SketchUp free version is used in schools and marketed as an entry level CAD system. This leads to its wide adoption by amateurs and hobbyists. Thats not a bad thing but it contributes to the impression that the program is limited to that demographic and chokes the 3Dwarehouse with useless models of half done school projects, badly modeled backyard sheds, and garbage.
SketchUp is a surface modeler. Collaborating on any project being developed in a NURBS environment with true curves can be tricky, managing this difference takes care and experience. The first time models are shared with a faceted curve, this difference is perceived as a simplification and inaccurate. I have developed ways of mitigating this difference but it’s a truth that is undeniable.
.DWG import and export still leaves a bit to be desired, and in trading files back and forth in a professional collaboration can still be tricky. For better or for worse this is still the most common file format for collaboration for me, followed closely by STEP files. It can be hard to preserve layer information which contributes to the sense that SketchUp can’t handle complex geometry.
The sculptural nature of the SketchUp tool/geometry interface means that the program can be used inaccurately. In many parametric based modeling systems it’s not simple to transform geometry easily by eye and make approximations. This is of course a strength of SketchUp and while we know that it is completely possible to be very precise and accurate in SketchUp, many people who only dabble in the program or have limited experience with the interface leave with the impression that the program is inaccurate because it is possible to be inaccurate.
To be clear, I don’t agree with any of these impressions, they are merely perspectives that I have encountered in the course of my career and use of SketchUp. Do I think the name contributes to the impression? Perhaps, the word sketch implies concept level doodling and inaccuracy to my ear. From the Oxford Dictionary: a rough or unfinished drawing or painting, often made to assist in making a more finished picture. However the name of a software is somewhat arbitrary I think and at this point there is so much market momentum that it’s hard to believe a rebrand would be beneficial. Perhaps a spin off of SketchUp Pro only into a fresh branded product category with a new name? Feels like a lot of work for maybe not much pay off. I do believe that the recent rebranding and icon changes are an attempt to modernize.
I have certainly seen a continual increase in the acceptance of SketchUp as a professional tool over the last 10 years, my anecdotal impression is that many more industries and individuals are ceasing to write it off without understanding it and beginning to recognize it as the powerful tool it is. I hope to see that trend continue.
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