Same SketchUp you love, a new way to buy

You are right, 300$ per year is not enough for new functions as create empty group or modifying invisible object.
I think 999$ or 1499$ per year is better for professional as you

Consider that you have 2/3 years to learn another application to banish SketchUp.

There is Blender with new version each 3 month, and improved UI and Rhino with Grasshopper that is half the price of SketchUp in 10 years. Grasshopper balance the Rhino UI I dislike and improve productivity by x100 compared to SketchUp.

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Ultraviolet got everyone on board with the digital license and provided a backbone to allow other companies to access your library to provided streaming and sales platforms and with little to no notice they closed their doors and we are now reliant on the streaming services to play nice and share licence info but it would be quite easy for movies anywhere, vudu, fox studios or universal to stop sharing the license info between services and we are stuck using multiple services that may not work on all devices. Then one of the services shuts down and you have lost a huge library of movies it’s why is still buy physical copies even though I mostly stream the movies I buy.

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Of course all of the talk about if Trimble decides to abandon SketchUp we’re all out of luck is just hyperbole, let’s take a moment to consider.

If Trimble ever DID want to get rid of SketchUp, it would be because it didn’t align to their business interests or wasn’t making them money. I would argue that the subscription model would actually ensure that it’s continued existence with Trimble… the more money that goes to the company, the more they want to keep it. That’s just business 101.

Now lets consider if for some reason Trimble went crazy and just decided to shutter what is arguably the best 3D modeling application for the everyman. Again, Trimble is in the business of making money… they would not just drop it if there is one last way to make money from it, aka selling it to another interested party. I personally would put my money into a kickstarter/indiegogo/gofundme to buy it back into private hands and I would bet there are plenty who would step in as a lifeline. That’s presuming there wasn’t company that wouldn’t wish to purchase it.

For my personal software needs I dislike subscriptions but I don’t think this is the beginning of the end nor do I think that any SketchUp user will be left in the lurch with an end of life for SketchUp software.

I’ll keep saying it both to the community and to myself, TRY the web version for your needs. If you can’t afford it or if you don’t wish to pay for a subscription the Web version is still the same base SketchUp code. With the exception of Extensions, it has most of the same functionality as the Desktop version and the only “problem” is that it’s a bit different interface. The Web team is amazingly talented. They’re not using the Web version to test things for Desktop… they’re making a product alongside Desktop. Sometimes features popup for Web that Desktop looks at longingly (have you tried the Omnibar yet?)

Anyway, good to see the conversation continues. I’ve seen the notes that Product team is taking as they read this, you’re not ignored. The SketchUp team isn’t a faceless, heartless beast and your voices are heard.

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What is the relative performance (or subjective usability) between the Web and the Desktop versions when handling large models - millions of edges and faces, say? This is what worries me about SketchUp for Web - can it host serious models?

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Right now… not awesome. Though I suppose it depends on what you mean by “large models.”

I’ll try to grab the ear of a Web dev or pm and see about spinning up a new thread.

Edit: Just added a link to the new thread for SU Web discussions.

@jody I appreciate your contribution to the conversations, and the reminder that there are real people who care behind SU, and not simply a faceless corporation.

While there are other ways to increase SU revenues, (including higher M&S fees, which I would have supported), I understand the rationale for Trimble to go subscription only.

I accept that it is their choice to make, and that they’ve modelled the impacts on overall revenue, such that they believe:

number of people who convert to subscription times +$180
minus number of people who actually quit SU over the issue times -$120
equals a net positive number

Whether we, as users, agree with this decision (and the assumptions that underpin it), or not is now a moot point — the decision is made. Our only choice as users is what we do from here individually.

I don’t rent software, period — so my choice is made for the long term. But I’ll be happy to spend another $120 for one last round of M&S and one last upgrade cycle, then ride SU for as long as it continues to function for me.

I don’t believe that SU has done a good job of listening to it’s (pro) users needs over the past few years — at least not in a way that’s demonstrable. Corporate policy (lack of transparency re dev priorities/product roadmaps) and a very slow pace of visible development have stretched user trust to the breaking point.

This decision has caused some users to lose that last strand of faith in SU’s future. They may be wrong and there may (finally) be great things in store just-around-the-corner with the next release. If so, I’ll happily adopt it as my final perpetual license version.

But Trimble hasn’t given me, and others like me, any path forward to continue to pay money to use SU. Seems like a net loss to me.

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I’m a hobbiest woodworker I do the vast majority of my design on the road as an otr driver. I have made exactly 0 dollars off the program to date. However spending 200 a year just so that I can have access to it when I don’t have wifi or trying to manage with the latancy of a web app is just a no go we need a lite version that is downloadable for the thousands of hobbiest that have supported it throughout its development. Web apps are great if your just looking at something but with the requirement of having an internet connection that is stable your cutting out alot of people and a sizable section of the world.

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I wonder if LayOut will get to the web since, we are discussing the web version is included with Pro–though the web version is definitely not the Pro version, especially without LayOut and then maybe LayOut may work faster with a render farm?
So… .plugins on the web version and a faster LayOut on the web. I guess that’s a tall order.

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It made me to switch totally from Mac to PC. No working web browser, for instance, was available for OS9, and none of my older applications would have worked in OS X.

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After pondering these last few days, I have decided to renew my M&S, see what 2021 has to offer, and then live with the better of 2021 and 2020 for a while. When SketchUp has improvements that I really want, maybe I’ll subscribe. If I ever do subscribe, I will save every project in the old format to esnsure that I am not locked out of my own work if I let the subscription lapse.

This approach, it seems to me, is the wisest for those of us with a permanent license. If we all do this, though, it is going to be a financial disaster for Trimble, which will be bad for SketchUp. So I want all you other people to subscribe. :slightly_smiling_face:

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:smile:

Honestly, this is a sound and logical approach. I, without opening myself up to attack I hope, encourage everyone to hold us accountable to the statements made in the original post here. I want SketchUp to be as awesome as anyone and feel that the subscription model is more empowering than it seems for “speaking with your wallet.”

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If we are renting, we are paying for something in advance, it’s only fair to know what we will be getting. I’d like to know what to expect as far as upgrades and new features we are paying for, cannot expect blind trust as the last few years have been a let down.

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I’ve been thinking along these lines but the version I have works fine. My worry is I am seeing a thread stating that the latest version of Layout is a bit of a dog’s dinner isn’t it? If so, a bit of a rock and a hard place but another example that causes so much frustration and an unwillingness to blindly chuck money into a pit and hope that earth-shattering upgrades follow!

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Certainly there are many who are having serious issues with Layout but there are others for who it is working quite well…

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As @PaulMcAlenan said, some might not like it, but some do. Presuming you have a Pro license now, you can try LayOut and then it won’t be “blindly chucking money into a pit” as you’re creating your opinions based on your experiences rather than a frustrated thread on a forum somewhere. Remember that you’re not everyone else and should make your decisions or choices based on your own experience.

but what happen if IOS upgraded and sketchup not compatible with the new IOS?

Apart from the SketchUp Viewer, SketchUp has never ran on iOS. If you meant an update to macOS broke SketchUp, then you’d either have to stay on the old OS, pay the subscription, or give up SketchUp.

Hi Medeek,

I note you saying SU Layout needs to be more robust & some others I note not getting on with SU Layout. So can you clarify what the issues are in your opinion that could be improved. SU Layout for me seems to work ok, I don’t have any real issues even with very detailed construction type Architectural Plans.

However, although I like using SU, I don’t use it as much these days as SU HQ confirmed a few years ago they weren’t going to develop any basic parametric architectural tools for walls, roofs, windows/doors, stairs etc & these you would need to seek extensions for those elements. Although I acknowledge this & have various extensions, I prefer some basic in-house tools for continuity & think SU would struggle to compete with other proper architectural CAD programmes that have these parametric tools.

I’ve therefore now invested in such a programme & doubt I’ll need SU Pro in a year or two when I get up to speed.

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I seem to remember difficulties going from 68xxx to PowerPC.

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