What do you mean by that? SketchUp is as precice as you want. It displays to a millionth of a millimeter…
I don’t know where this particular “myth” comes from. Almost every time I’ve had someone complain of a lack of precision, it’s been due to user error or poor modeling practices.

Almost every time I’ve had someone complain of a lack of precision, it’s been due to user error or poor modeling practices.
I wonder if the default increment might be partly the cause. anyone trying SU for the first time will use a default template with length snapping enabled, and if that person doesn’t type each and every dimension while drawing but relies on manually-drawn lines, that will often result in incorrect results.
but yeah, if you type in the dimensions you need, I don’t see how you can end up imprecise…
Many years ago, I had an argument with someone who insisted SketchUp wasn’t a vectored program; that it only produced raster images and therefore was worthless for accurate CAD work. I was dumbfounded how wrong that was, but perhaps they never figured out how to get anything beyond raster output from it into another program like AutoCAD.
Nail centre on head, Box.
Wow, lots of comments here!
I’ll add a few:
SketchUp is a direct, surface modeler.
That, paired with amazing UX, is why we use it.
It’s also why other branches of the CAD family tree are “more professional.”
At some point, the value of using SketchUp to create solid bodies and organic 3d shapes diminishes so Blender, Fushion, Solidworks, etc… are a better fit.
At some point, creating detailed 3d models of homes/buildings is just more efficient in parametric modelers like Revit, Tekla, etc…
I wouldn’t get too strung up about “a name”, Sketchup is a perfectly good name, stick with it. For me in the early days, my big surprise was that in order to produce professional commercial drawings I needed Layout, and that’s not a seamless union. To improve its market “perception” Trimble needs to improve the “performance” of the product/products. It’s not a marketing or branding thing. Trimble is just one option in a marketplace that has many other options - and many of them are very very good. The Sketchup+Layout community is huge, if it wasn’t so well supported i would have bailed out ages ago - but I will persevere. I’m a sole trader so my commercial pressures are different from others. Back in my days of running large multi-disciplinary studios, all I would care about is high level seamless performance. The time it takes to put together a “well organized Sketchup model” is uncommercially long and its transition to Layout is a full of problems. Don’t fob off your users and investors with a marketing or branding shuffling of deck chairs - listen to your community and improve your product performance.
When i mentioned the “lack of presition” i do now mean of how many 0,000 you can do, i dont think presition is directly related to that fact, i work in millimeters and sometimes when it comes to very small dimensions the surfaces start to do weird things, doesnt recognice angles, or arcs, or makes wierd lines. for example like in the image below, i cannot fix that angle, the line goes wrong no matther how many times i redraw it, like it was some king of programming issue, and wuote this as a simple example, maybe with some extension or plug in can be fixed but it should be always some external programmer that comes to solve inner problems.
When it comes to mecchanical modelling sometimes i hesitate if i think its the best choice
ANYWAY i have to say that its an honour to get an answer from you as i am a huge fan xD @JustinTSE
It’s a long known feature / bug with SketchUp - it was designed for architecture sized projects - so if gets wonky really small and really large.
For small there is always the issue with tiny edges and faces. Model cm as meters, keep your segment count for circles and arcs reasonable and then scale down as needed or apply a custom scale in LayOut.

for example like in the image below, i cannot fix that angle, the line goes wrong no matther how many times i redraw it,
This image does not prove anything about SketchUp not being precise.
We don’t know how this was created. Without the model itself (or even that isolated detail) it is hard to say if it can’t be corrected easily.
When I draw my glass structures I always set the precision to 0.000000 which on one hand is crazy as the manufacturers only work to +/- 2mm, but on the other hand it helps me to spot any modelling errors straight away.
I like to see measurements like 2100.0000000 or 5400.500000. If I see something like 2100.235475 or 5400.53412 I know I have messed up and always go back to fix it.
Perfectionism is a pain in the a**
Hi All,
Just saw this topic and felt I wanted to add to the conversation.
I got back into CAD after a 23 year break doing other stuff, my career took a different turn.
Back in 2019, I decided I needed to do something more creative with my time.
Trained as a Mechanical Engineer back in the day when 3D solid modelling software first appeared on the scene I started using Euclid (Matra Datavision) running on a MicroVAX mainframe which was aimed at the Mechanical Engineering Industry , a true parametric solid modelling package. This was back in 1978
Over the years I have used and trained both engineers and architects on how to use various CAD packages. From high end software and everything in between like Euclid,SolidEdge, SolidWorks to AutoCad, MicroStation, RoboCad.
So back to 2019, I looked around at the different products on the market after not using any CAD software as I said for over 23 years during which time things had changed.
After spending some time using various trial versions of software, my main requirements for a package were very clear, I needed to find a very intuitive easy to use system that would allow me to be up and running quickly and had the flexibility to grow as the work evolved.
In the end I settled on two products aimed at two different industries
1. Sketchup for it intuitive and clean screen layout for Architectural work.
2. Fusion360 for mechanical engineering work. Has great import and export capabilities allowing me to work with various industry standard file formats
With both Sketchup and Fusion360 you have access to online tutorials guiding you through the process and functionality of the software
Allowing new users to get up to speed very quickly, meaning you will be producing excellent quality output from both in a short timeframe.
Most CAD software packages these days provide various import export capabilities allowing cross-platform interoperability.
The main difference between packages is down to terminology, they all draw line arc and circles and text meaning you can create geometry and ultimately output a set of drawings for both manufacturing or structural purposes.
It’s clear to me if you understand one CAD package you will be able to map the processes in to another once you get to grips with their specific workflows
Sketchup by far is one of the easiest and most fun packages to use. Its clean and some say simple screen layout for me just adds to help me focus on the viewport and the task at hand.
There are a huge number of add-ons/plugins that enhances the base functionality of Sketchup, when integrated in to your workflow speedup the overall output and add to the fun of using the software depending on your particular business needs.
For example, Medeek BIM for rapid architectural work, providing parametric capability into your Sketchup workflow along with the industry leading Vray7 rendering option for photorealistic output.
The reason I chose Sketchup was, well put simply because of its ease of use flexibility and overall quality of output.
Sketchup have a great support team along with a user community ready and willing to help that alone says a lots about this product.
Why did you choose Sketchup?

I like to see measurements like 2100.0000000 or 5400.500000. If I see something like 2100.235475 or 5400.53412 I know I have messed up and always go back to fix it.
I am the same like you. Colleagues call me an OCD guy. So, I wrote a plugin for this purpose to handle odd dimensions quickly, it is called 5D+ Round Vertices. Hope you could give it a try.
That also the reason why in my extensions alway have units settings, and it is independent with SketchUp units. The funny thing happens each time I submit the extension into Extension Warehouse, there is alway a reviewer asking me why not use SketchUp units instead. And they don’t understand that allows user displaying the dimensions while using extension different with while modeling (always is 0.000000 with me )
Fix 2D Documentation, and they win. I’m not sure why such little emphasis is given to that. The workarounds, the fixes, the plug-ins. Just have a built-in way to control line weights and have vector hatches so 2D looks clean and you can export to other professionals who often still use CAD. That is the only real flaw for me to sketchup.

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…
YES!!!
Thinking that a tool is the reason for not being able to create is….

YES!!!
Thinking that a tool is the reason for not being able to create is….
Its not the idea i cant create, iv shown on my examples i use it extensively in industry. I was talking about its actual credibility.