I would like to request better Linux support for Sketchup.
I’m a paying user of Sketchup pro and at the moment I’m using it in a Virtual Machine (with Windows), which works but is not ideal, and hell to get and keep working. In the long term I fear using a VM is not feasible and I hope you can improve Sketchup to work on Linux.
Needing to run wine (or proton with Steam) emulation is acceptable for me, so supporting that instead of making a native version would also work. If modern games can run like this, it should also be possible with Sketchup.
(At my latest try this doesn’t work properly at the moment, and especially when you also use Layout, which I need)
I hope you can work on this in the future, because I enjoy using Sketchup a lot.
This is a feature request that comes up from time to time. Unfortunately from surveys that have been done over the years, there don’t seem to be enough Linux users like yourself who are willing to pay for a Pro subscription license to support the additional development and maintenance overhead that would require. The vast majority of respondents to those surveys expected the should get a Linux version for free. That dog just won’t hunt.
Who knows what might happen in the future but based on the past, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it to happen.
Most Linux users aren’t fans of paying for software, that’s one of the reasons why they use Linux. There are other softwares that are free like blender or freecad that can run natively on Linux. Most professional that use sketchup are using windows or MacOS, there might be a few people like you willing to pay for the software to run natively on Linux but I don’t think they’ll cover the cost of developing the software for a new OS. Linux isn’t a good alternative for architects, most of the programs we use are only on windows or MacOS, and it’s hard to change to a new software like freecad after using Revit or Archicad for years, unfortunately in the university we are taught to use paid software, Autocad is still the industry standard and even if we don’t use autocad to design or make the construction documentation we must export it to autocad cause it’s the only software used by the entity that approves the construction in almost all the countries.
Things change. I’ll cast another vote for a Linux version. We’re paying for Graebert Ares (a German Autocad equivalent) specifically because they have a Linux version, and we’re paying for other Linux based software as well. We do primarily software development, and every tool we have runs in a Linux environment. It’s a major headache to have to run a separate Windows machine for Sketchup, so we’ll continue looking for other options. Earlier versions are known to run in Linux using Wine, but the 2023 version does not appear to work at the moment.
And it likely never will, as SketchUp 2023 migrated from the very old MFC framework to Qt.
The platforms that Qt supports does not list any VM emulation scenarios.
Re: Wine, perhaps it is proper to ask whether Wine supports Qt v5.15 ?
However the switch to the cross-platform Qt for SketchUp may lead … may in the future lead, … to a native compiled Linux edition. But for which Linux? (See the Qt supported Linux distributions at the above link.)
Windows and Mac will always come first in the support priorities. It is just how the world it is.
It says that supports Ubuntu which is the most known if not the most popular Linux distribution l, anyway I don’t think it would be something worthy for Trimble, on my experience, most Linux users aren’t willing to pay for a software that has free or open source alternative. I know 2 architects that use Linux but they use freecad, blender, Qcad among other softwares used in architecture like Inkscape, Gimp etc. Their workflow is based on those programs, they wouldn’t even give it a try to a paid software, even a low price software like sketchup pro. Maybe there are people that could pay for it but it won’t pay the costs of development and support of another platform.
Qt is also the base of the KDE Desktop environment (for Linux) and I would think it should be able to run on almost all mayor Linux distros without problem. So this switch is already a big step in making a future Linux version possible. As there is already an Apple version (which is a Unix) I think it shouldn’t be that difficult to make a native Linux version. Though I understand there may not be enough customer demand yet, things like switching to cross-platform Qt is already a mayor step in the right direction.
If a version would be developed targeting for example Ubuntu, most administrators would be able to run in on the other distros as well.
I understand this change won’t happen soon. But I think the world is changing and more people are moving to Linux, including people willing to pay for Sketchup. And if we don’t ask it will never happen for sure!
I’ve got Sketch Up running on Linux…it only took a virtual machine, windows, a second graphics card, a keyboard screen switcher… but it can be done. Not sure how else you can do it as if Sketch Up doesn’t see a graphics card it won’t install. And using Wine I couldn’t install it. You have to go all the way to graphics passthrough to get it to function as far as i can see.
Perhaps I am an anomaly, but, I am fine to pay for my software. I pay for all of my other tools. Why I use Linux is 1: because I am more familiar with PC than Mac and 2: I buy good tools which work fine for many years, my operating system should as well. I don’t need to constantly update my other work tools(granted my other tools have been in use for decade longer than either of the big 3 OSs, so the big value added engineering segments are pretty much done). Also, although writing code is infinitely more involved than casting a hammer or injection molding a hand drill case, the business model is incomparable. Most tool manufacturers build tools to last. Mac and Linux do. The other,…not so much. That’s the reality of it. When I turn on one of my Linux computers, they just work. Correctly. And I can leave them on for months with no degrading of abilities or fragmentation or…? And they don’t expect me to bind myself or my company or my firstborn to them so they can keep and increase their market share. I know quite a few Linux users that are fine to purchase Linux based software, as we already do. The fact that I have to dual boot to Win 10 to use Sketch-up Pro is sketchy to me. So, I buy a new laptop and desktop and deal with the 3rd option JUST to use Sketch-up. And every time I boot to that OS, I wonder if it all will work and that my virus-ware is active. Computers were suppose to make our lives better, easier, more manageable to an extent, that is true, but more stressful also? That is why many users move to Linux sir.
100% of all gamers that use SteamOS or another Linux based OS to game disagree with you. People willingly pay for free software too - just look at what Rhino Linux is doing, having a pay-what-you-want feature for any package in their app store. People are paying without even having being forced to.
The SketchUp case is more of “why would I pay a premium to get substandard support and buggy software?” People have been requesting it, build and they will come. Have a stable release that runs in Linux and people will pay for it. Heck, it was like that at first for SketchUp for Windows if memory serves.
The app was free before the web version existed. Once it got stable enough that people started to rely on it, it became a premium feature. It’s literally the same business model. People just aren’t willing to pay for ■■■■.
Wrong. SketchUp has always been a paid application. After Google purchased SketchUp they added a free version for hobbyists along with the paid Pro version. Google released the free version in hopes that hobbyist users would create 3D models of building and other structures in their neighborhoods to donate for populating 3D content in Google Earth. When it turned out that most hobbyists weren’t going to model for Google Earth, Google sold off SketchUp.
It’s not the same gaming than a software for professional use. The games aren’t developed for Linux, they can be played on some Linux distributions like steamOS or chimera, but games are developed mostly for consoles and ported to windows and MacOS a few of them but, not for Linux. You can also run sketchup on Linux using tools like wine.
The games aren’t developed for Linux, they can be played on some Linux distributions like steamOS
Which Steam supports. That’s what’s being discussed, support.
Rhino Linux is an OS not Rhino3D software.
Didn’t even know there was a 3D software with that name. Rhino Linux (yes, the OS) allows users to pay for software. My original sentence wouldn’t even make sense in a different context. The point is that, contrary to what was stated, Linux users pay for software regularly, even when not required to do so.
Most Linux users aren’t fans of paying for software
Ergo, no, being a fan of paying for software isn’t less prevalent on Linux vs Windows or Mac. People are willing to pay for supported software that runs well. Even more so if they are using it professionally.
But they aren’t officially supported to run natively on Linux, there are tools created by other developers, mostly the community, not the game companies, that make that some games can be played on Linux. You can also run Sketchup on Linux but it’s not officially supported by Trimble.
Great for them, but I’m sure that the amount of people that want to use sketchup and are willing to pay for it, is not enough to make it profitable.
Maybe the conditions have changed and now Linux users want to pay for software even more than windows or MacOS users, but from all the Linux users, how many of them use sketchup, autocad, Rhino or any other software for architecture, most of 3D artist use Blender which is free, but not focused on architecture, and it runs natively on Linux.
During my time using software for 3D modeling, as a student and as professional, I’ve met one person using software for architecture, that was fully committed to Linux and open source software, he uses FreeCad, Qcad and Blender, Gimp and all the known softwares developed by the community that can be used for our profession, he hates all the big companies like autodesk and Graphisoft for some reason I don’t fully understand, besides the price, and he literally said that he prefers to die than paying for a license of an overpriced software, I mentioned sketchup but he said that the price isn’t the only issue.
I lived in Berlin for some years and a lot of friends worked as software developers, some of them used Linux and even helped to develop software for Linux, they said that they wouldn’t pay for a tool that already exists for free.
I’m sure that Trimble has the same perception about Linux users so don’t expect them to develop sketchup for Linux any time soon.
I’m unsure if “running any program” covers an OpenGL-based 3D modeler as SU… at least if running does not only mean launching but using w/o issues as graphics glitches or stability flaws.
Proton is designed for games - including many old OpenGL titles such as Valve’s own early games.
Anything Linux is hardly a seamless experience, but as a graphics focussed variation of Wine - it’s where would start if I was Hellbent on running a Linux distribution to run windows programs
probably optimizied for a fast display output of 3D games and not for a stable, reliable display output of 3D modelers… but nobody says it will be easy.
