SketchUp in 2019: where great ideas get to work

Just for the heck of it here was my comment from December 18th in the “Sketchup Pro Future thread”.

“But more than anything, please dear god, don’t let SketchUp become a subscription!”

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I was responding to the original post. While dynamic components have been around for forever, I was using SketchUp in 2008, they were not available in SketchUp Make when I used it last year. It looks like they are available in SketchUp Shop online though. That’s powerful. I can idiot proof the design process with dynamic components and get reasonably priced licenses for coworkers that are not professional modelers, but could make something great using my provided assets. I have long wanted to delegate some basic aspects of the design process to my coworkers to save me some time and now I can do that. That’s very exciting.

I don’t see dynamic components listed in Shop - they do indicate solid modelling.

Here we go again. can we get our terminology straight? Bryceosaurus said:

Does everyone get the minor updates or not? If everyone on the perpetual and subscription plans get the minor updates, then the M&S plan is nothing more than paying for major upgrades–which brings me back to my earlier question of why does anyone need to be on M&S when they can just “buy” a needed update when it comes along? Also, does one need to be enrolled in M&S continuously or not? Where can I find this information on your website?

Edit–now I just found this:

“Snapshot of code at a particular time…” Now that is illuminating, but is it the definitive answer? Basically saying that perpetual users who are not on M&S will not get minor updates. Am I reading that right? Can the three of you get together on that? And if I skip M&S for X years, is there a penalty to get back in? Would love to find all these answers on the website if you could direct me.

I think Arron is referring to plans-and-pricing#for-professional![plans-and-pricing

@jbacus, is this correct?

Great - I still can’t find it listed myself.

pcmoor was kind enough to highlight the section I’m talking about. The $120/year subscription Shop subscription includes Dynamic Components Use & Create. Link to that page below.

Plans and Pricing for Professionals

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Also, if you’re on your phone you’ll have to view in desktop mode. It doesn’t show up on the mobile page.

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Ok - that should be a big deal for shop users - it can be a bit more robust now they have a Pro subscription at 299.

GSTUDIOS,
I think businesses will find this very useful. With well designed dynamic components you can enable less practiced modelers to knock out parts of the design process for you. Basically I see businesses with Pro users now getting a few Shop licenses as well and training new users to assist in the design process. I, for instance Z-lock most of my assets, since they typically shouldn’t be floating. I couldn’t share that with Make users before, but I can now with Shop. Not sure when they added this functionality, but it’s exciting to see it’s there now.

Web access is actually ideal for these “design assistant” style users. I just want them in and out of the model quickly, just doing basic tasks. Not having to have everyone install software and troubleshoot driver issues, have storage space enough, have sufficient power, etc is all a major boon for that kind of use case. This combined with the new training resources makes it super compelling to train a few new users on SketchUp within our company.

Very exciting!

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if this is true, then they may have found a way to run extensions on the web!, otherwise must have hardwired the DC script, even running a DC is great

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I’ve been fiddling in shop for about an hour trying to find a way to interact with Dynamic components in any way, unless I’m missing something I think they have jumped the gun saying shop can use and create them.
You can certainly add them, but I can’t modify them dynamically or see any way to create one.

Link to plans via SU help

Doesn’t mention dynamic components.

I understand this for businesses with multiple licenses. For businesses that only have 1 pro license though (solo practice architect), the new subscription model is bad. Once the subscription ends, you can’t edit the models & drawings anymore. So even after switching to FormZ for instance, you would still have to buy SketchUps license for several years until all the projects you did in SketchUp are finished construction.

So I really really hope the classic license will be here for many years as well. The different statements in this thread by Trimble Team members (‘phased out’ ‘no decision’ etc) really don’t help.

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That’s why they want a subscription model. Because guys like you and me stick to a simple philosophy: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But they want to keep a revenue stream coming. But that’s not our problem. Make a product. If it’s good, we’ll buy it. If it’s good enough, we’ll buy it again, if and when we see fit. As for me, there’s not going to be any “software subscriptions” in my life.

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Wow. Say you have 10,000 paid existing Pro subscribers at $200 each. That’s $2,000,000 worth of maintenance and upgrades… All for a dashed line?

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Mine works just fine …

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John, please think this statement through.

Why would I (we, Pro users) be looking for updates on the online versions?

  • I don’t use Free, for both licencing and practicality reasons (connectivity and lack of extension support) and it doesn’t have Layout.
  • I don’t use Shop because of practicality reasons (connectivity and lack of extensions support) and it doesn’t have Layout, plus I don’t support subscription based software.
  • I have a paid up licence for SU Pro, with active / valid maintenance and support, thus contractually you’re bound to provide such service if updates / fixes are done within the “snapshot of code period” you refer to.

So, by your own admission, updates were done to both Free and Shop, yet not passed on to your Pro customers even if they had valid maintenance and support? That doesn’t exactly create a trusting environment, now does it?

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I’ve made a wishlist for LO Extensions some time ago.

@JoeDrafter, I added two ideas from your list here too. Some of the ideas, like vector patterns, are hard to implement as extensions but would be very useful as native features. Some I had problems understanding but feel free to add them yourself with a short explanation!

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