I have been a long-time SketchUp customer and am increasingly concerned about the lack of innovation relative to the cost of annual subscriptions. Since SketchUp was acquired from Google, visible progress on core capabilities feels minimal, while subscription costs continue. Specific gaps that are…

[image] mcclmark: I am asking directly: what is the roadmap to close these gaps Trimble doesn’t publish roadmaps.. [image] mcclmark: why are these fundamental capabilities still missing Maybe they are fundamental to you, but that doesn’t mean they are to a lot of people. There are AI …

AI Assistant The AI Assistant () brings access to AI-powered workflows without leaving SketchUp. To get started with AI Assistant, open SketchUp AI () and select AI Assistant or from the menu by selecting Extensions > AI Assistant. Not available yet: https:…

[image] mcclmark: No native photo-to-3D model capability with full color, despite tools like Microsoft Copilot already offering this class of functionality [image] full_moon Turn Images or Video to 3D with the new SketchUp Gaussian Splat extension🌕 SketchUp Labs …

Some of this criticism is a bit like buying a diesel car for efficiency, torque, and lower running costs, then criticising it for not performing like a petrol performance engine or asking why it can’t simply run on a completely different fuel system. You choose it for a specific set of strengths, an…

[image] mcclmark: Since SketchUp was acquired from Google, visible progress on core capabilities feels minimal, while subscription costs continue. personally, I think innovation stopped around when google bought sketchup from Last. since then it’s been new icons, new tools, new engines, bett…

[image] Elmtec-Adam: SketchUp follows the same logic: it’s built for fast architectural modelling and clear design communication That may be so but if they keep that mind set and don’t expand then people will move to other programs, like rhino TheSketchUp Essentials had done a couple of good…

All I mean to say is it is a specific tool for a specific thing, so if it turns out the tool you chose isn’t the right tool for that job.. then maybe a different tool is in order. Perhaps Rhino in that case

[image] Spoon: TheSketchUp Essentials had done a couple of good YouTube vids on the limitations of SketchUp And sometimes, I wish he hadn’t because now every couple of weeks someone comes around and announce that “everyone is gonna move to rhino because it’s better”. and yeah, if that’s what…

[image] ateliernab: And I wish he hadn’t Well.. to be fair, he raised a few valid points and none of them was “Sketchup needs more AI” or STEP/Parasolid, neither “switch to Rhino, is better”.

I can’t imagine McNeel is committing any resources to generative AI integration lol

Sketchup and lack of innovation

SketchUp

ryan.moore April 26, 2026, 1:47pm 4

I see this is a feature request post, but I see no specific feature requested… I won’t waste a vote on ‘general improvement required, pull up your pants’, although the sentiment is probably a fairly common one lol.

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Sketchup and lack of innovation

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