Nice work. Really. Thing is … This could be considered commercial work even if you aren’t paid. These are businesses you provided services to, and they hired and paid people to build structures from your drawings and also charge the public to enjoy them. I would recommend charging for your services rendered, or consider using the free versions. Cheers!
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Thank you! I will propose that wonderful suggestion about the institutional discount to Ryan. Can I reverses the renewal that just processed. The discount is huge! What do I need from the Museum to proceed?
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He was not just complaining he was stating his opinion. There are a lot of us that have been using Sketchup Pro for a long time for the reasons you stated, we enjoy using it but have also invested in extensions and want to keep earned skills viable. Not everything in life needs to be monetized. I walk everyday so my arthritis does not debilitate, I create architecture everyday for the same reason. Perhaps besides being older you are richer. Glad you are doing well, appreciate the encouraging parts of your comments. At 77 you have seen a lot of change in the way business is done. Have you ever seen such huge profit margins as so many companies are raking in-because they can? It may be futile, but I’m with mmarcovitch, I’m tired of being nickel and dimed every time I turn around and yes I will be paying for Sketchup Pro '24 in August.
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Thanks fellows! While I’ve had SU for many years, for the first 15 years I used it occasionally and more so to illustrate just “how cool 3D drawing software was.” The distillery was the first time I really upped my game with a complex building that needed to be fully fleshed out to be able to create in the 3D world.
All of the arts seem to suffer the same fate. It’s how my sister describes the price of antiques, “It’s what a person will pay on any given Sunday, with a check that don’t bounce.” It’s always in the eye of the beholder. Plumbers and repair people have a better shot at it since people are in need of the service and they understand what “an hourly rate” is all about. What artists do is rarely a need, it’s always a want. And wants, unfortuately can easily be deferred. When the toilet’s overflowing, the plumbers have you by the you-know-what.
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I don’t appreciate the removal of posts --especially ones responding to a comment from one of your employees–without giving notice or explanation. What rules did I and others violate? It’s heavy handed and disrespectful to those of us who took the time to compose thoughts about the matter. The fact that you are censoring a discussion that was responding to a comment from your own staff says a lot about your commitment to transparency with your users. You could have rebutted, explained, or taken any number of other actions. But hitting the delete key was apparently easier.
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I’ll ask a different way, what is the criteria SU uses to determine who and what organizations are eligible for discounts? Everyday users want to know! Most 501c3’s are very well funded.
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Sometimes it’s ridiculous, I don’t know who or what is in charge of deleting posts, it doesn’t even make sense, a couple of my posts have been deleted without any explanation.
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They even remove it from your personal posting record. it’s pretty creepy when they don’t even acknowledge it ever existed. Very clandestine – just erase it and hope nobody notices.
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hi,
yes, some of your messages have been flagged by the community, including in this topic, I’ve wondered why but hey, community. and moderation sweeps in.
I’ve had discussions go off topic, or agressive, or non forum rules compliant, later to be pruned from the main thread. Having message moderated isn’t a sign that you’re a bad person or you’re rocking the boat. just that your message - and sometimes other - didn’t fit in in this thread or forum.
You can always ask the moderators if you feel you’ve been wronged. like Aydiobrad did in this thead, or through direct messages.
Moderation is a standard part of web communities, always has been. considering the flaming and raging debates still present on this forum, hypercritical of SU and trimble, I’d say the moderation is quite light here, mostly responds to users flags.
Also worth noting the moderators aren’t just staff - some familiar faces are unlabelled moderators I believe.
I wouldn’t be surprised, the same way we can edit titles and category while just being “learned ones”
and even Staff are actual people. Pretty sure Aaron is human, not AI. preeeetty sure.
I think I’m an unlabelled moderator! But I am a real moderator. It seems that if you’re the third level member or higher, you’re able to flag posts. I’m not sure what goes into deciding what level you have achieved.
Even when the most senior members flag posts it goes through to me and Aaron, and a few others. I don’t think any non-staff member is able to hide or delete posts.
Well, it used to be that a person could buy a license to use a given version of software in perpetuity, and then – about once a year – there would be an offer to upgrade at a significantly discounted price. Whether you upgraded or not was a function of accessing new features, support for upgraded operating systems, etc. If the original software version was sufficient for your needs, you could pass on the upgrade and simply continue to use the last version as purchased.
Then, with the advent of high speed internet and cloud computing, the software companies started switching to the “subscription model” where the annual subscription is automatically collected every year – for full price – or the software stops working. Subscription based software also requires an internet connection to operate. So, you either pay the annual fees or your right to use the software is cancelled.
For those of us who remember the “old days,” this new subscription model can feel like a form of extortion, because it is. People can talk about how the subscription prices are low, etc, but the subscription model is obviously more profitable or the software companies would not have discontinued the “perpetual license” model. Which means it costs the consumer (us) more. I have been paying to use SketchUp since the early 2000’s. In those days, it was sold as an easy to use 3D modeling program that quickly gained market share with the innovative push/pull, follow, and offset “trick” features. On the other hand, to this day there are weird little bugs and precision issues that keep this software in the minor league quickie approximation or presentation role – behind the professional packages.
Over the years, I have got some ideas worked out with SketchUp, but this will be my last year to be forced to pay B+ pricing for a C+ prototype/presentation package.
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I haven’t read all the comments in depth but have “sped read” and got the gist though there was a significant digression off the topic by what may appear to be temper and adverse reaction/retaliation.
Sorry to all the Gents/Ladies/nonbinary, but that attempt to justify what has been touted as a 34% increase is somewhat one sided. While I agree with what you say about everything increasing, I certainly don’t agree with the magnitude of the concept. The fact that it’s 34% on top of a discount doesn’t make it taste any better.
Energy, infrastructure, insurance, housing, eductaion, food are essentials and have certainly gone up… hell, everything has gone up, but at a not totally unreasonable %… add the hefty increase for SU and it will dissuade non-commercial users from continuing with the product.
If Trimble are determined to cater solely for commercial users, they will slip further…, further…, further… (… and I can go on), down the 3D modelling hierarchy
Maybe if Trimble paid the plug-in developers (bought it off them) and bundled it in with the subscription, it may be a sweetener, however when people pay the sub and then the plug-in fees it does become a significant financial burden on top of what everyone has gone to great extent that have also increased.
Let us all remember that plugins are either quick workarounds for clunky/cumbersome SU routines or just simply do what SU can’t… SU should not depend on such an army of SU plug-in developers… which can be gleaned from many responses on users dependence on plug-ins.
I don’t blame developers charging for plug-ins when one considers the blatant commercial line Trimble decided to go down when they went sub… if they can do it why can’t debvelopers get rewarded for their efforts. Subscriptins may be cheaper at the start, suck everyone in, but stop the sub’ and you stop using. It’s not like under the old regime, when you stop license renewal you only lost upgrades, but not the use… HA… what upgrades???.. OK, sarcasm, but even retirees should not be unduly penalised… they still deserve to play comfortably.
While many may say, tough, don’t like, dont use! Well a lot of people I know have gone away from SU and it’s annoying me as most have gone Fusion… and I don’t bloody well know it and to old and pig headed to learn.
I used to regularly update my license til 2021, which I haven’t installed, and I am still using 2018 as I wasn’t impressed with any of the “upgrades”/“new-features” enough to face the hassle I had to go through re-installing my comfortable environment (menus, toolbars and re-install all the plug-ins).
I appreciate Trimble is not a charity, however, they could consider some charitable intentions when they decide to lumber price increases across the board. Maybe they should hire some bean counters to devise a more equitable price structure to cater for the diversity of their users… after all they’re not investing in plugin distribution.
My biggest regret is that many may agree with what I’ve said, many nay-sayers will poo-poo my remarks, but on the bottom line, I doubt if Trimble will bother to take any remedial action.
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I’m with you on that, pep75. My computer crashed, I bought a newer one, and can no longer use SU8, which with all its limitations was still adequate for my professional needs. It was a tool that I bought and paid for and upgraded over the years, similar to my table saw and carving chisel collection.
Unlike them, now I have to rent it (I was five months too late to get the last paid version, which would have been half the rental price). I have to prove that I bought it at inconvenient times. The rent, while you say it’s a bargain, is over half of the original purchase price and comes due each year. If I don’t pay the rent, I can’t open my old files, some of which are important references for me.
No matter how reasonable you say this is, it sucks. It shows a transition from an economy where you could make things and keep them, and keep them up with care and attention, to one where others can essentially tax you to continue your lifestyle. This is not a good thing.
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The fact that it’s 34% on top of a discount doesn’t make it taste any better.
It’s not a 34% increase
It’s a 16.7% increase.
If you got a promotional discount last time and you get one again, then the price increase is also around 16%
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The fact is it’s not a 34% increase. It’s only 34% if you ignore the initial 299 price tag and instead take the discounted price as the default. The fact is, a price increase was inevitable for the OP because he was likely never going to get that 237 per year deal again, unless he lets his subscription lapse and wait for another discount to show up, being without the full version in the interim.
And the people who work on the software don’t have such essential expenses in their daily lives?
Noncommercial users can still use the free browser-based version. If they want a few more features, but Pro is a bit steep, there’s the 119/year Go version, which includes an iPad app and unlocks many features in the browser version such as solid tools. That they don’t get all of the features of the full-fledged Pro edition is part of the deal. If you really need those Pro features, then you’re likely not a hobbyist.
Fusion 360 costs more per year than SketchUp Pro, so I’m not sure what the issue here is. As of this writing, Autodesk currently has it on sale, but it’s still more costly than SketchUp Pro. Whether or not you get more for your money compared to SketchUp Pro is another matter entirely, depending namely on the individual user’s needs.
Once upon a time, you had two options, a free version (Make) for non commercial purposes, or you paid a flat fee for a perpetual license to the tune of at least 600 (had a little trouble nailing down the exact price; I remember it being 795, but I’ve also seen 695 and even 595) and got yourself a full desktop app for either your Mac or your PC (Pro). They also charged 10 for the viewer in the app store. Now, it’s not only still available for PC and Mac (which no longer share the same x86 architecture in their hardware, requiring a recompiling/troubleshooting of the original source code), but also for the iPad and your browser of choice. That’s almost double the number of platforms it was previously made for. This also led to a new pricing structure, starting with the free version to the Go version to the Pro version. Those remedial actions and charitable intentions you’ve spoken of have technically already come to pass. However, some still aren’t happy with the arrangement, hence this discussion. It may well change in the future, some sort of more substantial middle ground besides an iPad version to accompany one’s browser, but it was a good two years after the debut of the browser version that the subscription model was introduced, so it’s likely to be longer before we get any other similarly major paradigm shift.
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Yep, Fusion keeps cropping in these discussions.
Seems Fusion is free for personal use – those who generate less than $1,000 USD a year and looks like it’s very limited in functionality.
A few years ago someone on the Forum was claiming that Fusion was free for commercial use but that was the Startup program that had strict eligibility criteria.
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Fusion and SU really shouldn’t be compared. 2 different tools for different needs, most of the time.
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People tend to go out of their way to justify the increase and the sub based Pro… unfortunately what is being offered just doesn’t invite people with open arms… nothing like the pre-subscription versions.
I may be wrong as I haven’t ventured past my 2021 Pro license, however, I believe that the latest non Pro versions are Internet based… Not much chop for bad/slow connections…
So far no argument has convinced me of the benefits of the latest pro version… and when one analyses the feedback, I’m not on my own.
I’m a hobbyist and bought Pro only because you could not create a proper 1:1 scale PDF out of Sketchup… as I bought it for Layout, I haven’t investigated whether Sketchup has improved the PDF 1:1 print facility… If it hasn’t and people have to depend on workarounds… basically speaks for itself.
As for Fusion, I haven’t tried it, but I believe that there is a budget version of it, as a few friends that have surrendered to their dark side, could not afford the full version. Frthermore they say it has a greater learning curve but a helluva lot more powerful… I didn’t grill them for specifics. No need to argue this point as I don’t intend to buy it (yet), but they spin a good yarn… and it sounds like a Sketchup salesman that loves to quote accountancy and not practicality…
I didn’t want to get into a pissing content deliberately… My primary intention is tho voice my support for the non-commercial users that want that little extra and still willing to pay a fair price.