SketchUp + Agents - What’s Next for Toolmakers?

Extensions
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Well, AI sure isn’t slowing down - Google’s Gemma, Manus, and a wave of new AI Agents are making automation smarter and more adaptable. But what does that actually mean for SketchUp toolmakers?

For the folks that have changed the way I design and to the veterans who’ve built some of the best extensions and workflows—@thomthom, @Fredo6, @TIG, @Eneroth3, @DanRathbun, @ChrisFullmer, @Yoni (FlexTools), @Brightman_Designs (ConDoc Tools), @sonder, @Matt (MasterSketchUp), @JustinTSE (The SketchUp Essentials), @Daniel_Tal (PlaceMaker), @Whaat (Profile Builder), @Curic, @eric-s, and of course, @theonlyaaron and @colin (SketchUp) - just to name a few - where do you see the biggest opportunities?

Can AI Agents plug into SketchUp and Ruby scripting to speed things up, automate the mundane tasks, or unlock possibilities we haven’t even imagined yet?

More importantly, could Agents be the breakthrough that finally enables true interoperability allowing SketchUp to exchange data, information, and workflows and work share with other platforms and people in unprecedented ways?

Or is this still just a gauzy concept that hasn’t fully materialized? Disclaimer: I am a certified dreamer, so this post might be waaay off base :head_shaking_vertically: :thought_balloon:

Would love to hear thoughts, fears and opinions: what’s next for AI, Agents, and SketchUp development?

-Eric

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I see a huge opportunity :upside_down_face:

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We already have AI “plugged in” natively with SketchUp 2025, with the Material wizard that can make material textures more photorealistic and seamless.

Materials_panel_2025
Materials_panel_2025552×460 63.3 KB

Clicking on the wizard button brings up this dialog:

Generate_textures_with_AI
Generate_textures_with_AI583×655 14.5 KB

See the online User Guide:

There are already several rendering extensions that leverage AI. One of them is Trimble’s own Diffusion extension.

Well, despite knowing that AI could manipulate image data, I did not pre-imagine it being built into a Material texture wizard to make images seamless.

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This question is a bit vague. What data or information? What interoperability workflows?

The condition that these features has never happened before makes me wonder is it something that is even needed, since it has not yet been thought up? Usually, automation derives from the necessity to streamline some preexisting time-consuming manual process.

No not really. The SketchUp team and other extension developers are experimenting with AI currently.

The main fear I have is that AI still makes mistakes despite given clear directions. Each time I open Copilot there is now a disclaimer displayed at the top of the page: “Copilot may make mistakes. …”

With regard to Ruby (or coding in other languages,) AI still often makes mistakes. I have seen it make API method calls that do not exist just to solve a programming challenge. It may also not serve up the most efficient code.

Another thing it does is it uses code posted on the web in forums as gospel good code, when actually they are snippets that do not work and are posted for the purpose of correction by humans.
So, the main challenge I think will be what data the API model is trained upon for producing valid code snippets.
Again and again, I see AI bots not understanding that SketchUp’s Ruby process is a shared code space that requires code etiquette to keep code from affecting other extensions and keeping SketchUp’s API pristine.

There was a SketchUp ↔ AI demonstration recently at Trimble’s Dimensions conference November last. So more built-in AI “goodies” are expected in future releases.

For more information see:

Trimble Inc. - Trimble Showcases New Artificial Intelligence Innovations During Dimensions User Conference

The text below the logo lists several Trimble projects using AI.

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I have tried AI generated Ruby code in SketchUp about 10 times now. I have yet to get a result that did not contain at least one significant error. I can’t predict how this will evolve as more advancements are made, but for right now I’m not convinced it saves me any effort if I can’t trust it.

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Example: I just asked the Copilot AI how to start SketchUp in Test mode and it invented a bogus property and told me to add it into SketchUp’s "PrivatePreferences.json" file.

I asked for evidence that the setting actually exists or is honored by SketchUp and it admitted that the suggestion came from “general software behavior” and then apologized to me for “presenting it as a definitive solution.”

This is the kind of error where the AI most often fails. By inventing solutions and presenting them as definitive. Often it takes the absence of evidence as evidence itself.

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I have a work in progress for a SketchUp virtual assistant (it’s a remake of my plugin with the same name). This project is at a very early stage… Screenshots below are from May 2024.

SketchUp Virtual Assistant - Cube (WIP)
SketchUp Virtual Assistant - Cube (WIP)1920×1080 281 KB

SketchUp Virtual Assistant - Materials (WIP)
SketchUp Virtual Assistant - Materials (WIP)1920×1080 322 KB

Sure, large language models (LLMs) unlock new possibilities for human interface… but this tech alone is not enough to create smart AI agents; one have to orchestrate tools calls, query a knowledge base to augment the context (RAG), etc.

Things progress quickly in this field, and it can be a nice challenge too… but LLMs are not reliable for this moment, a new tech is probably needed to overcome this critical issue.

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I’ve known a lot of previous bosses and co-workers who would do the same thing.

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And here is another experimental extension leveraging AI … aka AI Explorer