This is the letter I sent to support. They asked me to share it with you. I don’t see what use it will bring to the picture but here we go…
"Hi, I’ve been using sketch up since 2015 and I built my own real house with your app. Back then, the desktop version of the app was free for personal use. I’m not a professional, I use this app (like most of us) as a hobby.
I cannot believe you make us get used to it and then make it impossible to reach… Your prices are way too high for people like me. And your web version is really poor and simple (and annoying for those who are used to using the desktop version).
I just wanted to share my feelings with you. I have been learning different programs by myself since 1999. This is the only app I never want to lose and stop using.
I’m disappointed with your decision to make this app unaffordable.
After the trial version of the application ends, a part of my life will end with it. With your app, I drew at least 70 houses from scratch, including the glasses on the shelves. Your app was my escape from reality, and one day I had the opportunity to build one of them in real life, the house I live in and write you this letter in.
SketchUp Make 2017 is no longer distributed via the SketchUp file servers, but can be found elsewhere on the Net, and it still works, if you want a desktop application. Otherwise there is the free online version that works in your Internet browser.
Which version have you been using before the trial?
If it was Make 2017, you can keep using it untill your OS no longer supports it. And even then you could use an older version of windows that does support it.
I’m using SketchUp Make 2017 on windows 11 without problems so far…
As I told you in my reply to your question in the other thread there are no official or authorized sources for SketchUp Make. If you’re wary of viruses you probably don’t want SketchUp 2017 Make since the internet browser version that it uses is no longer getting security updates.
Thanks Dave. I just found Make 2017 and downloaded and started it. It does say it is a 30 day trial. Have I got the right one?
Can you explain ‘internet browser version it uses’? Once it is running, does it need a browser? All I want to do is design simple 3D parts and save as .STL for Cura.
I could also install it on an older PC that I don’t have online at all. It is just for running Quicken 2020 (I confess to being a cheapskate). That said, I might stay with the Pro version. It is amazing.
Apologies for duplicate post - just getting the hang of forum.
(Thanks for the pull help too - printed my parts nicely now )
It starts with the 30-day trial of pro. Since you already know you’re not going to go with Pro you can ignore those additional features.
SketchUp uses the internet browser for some features like the Warehouses. The 3D Warehouse hasn’t supported SketchUp 2017 for some years. The Extension Warehouse did support but may not now. I believe it was supposed to stop supporting it at the end of last year. You’ll need to install the .stl exporter extension to be able to do that.
When I first started using SketchUp as a hobbyist 20 years ago there was no free version. It was $495 plus $95 per year to keep it up to date. I figured my time in the shop has value and easily figured the time it saved and the average cost of Sketchup per project wound up being trivial. No regrets and even when Google released the first free version I found it worthwhile supporting the developers.
The 2017 version was different to previous versions. With 2017 if you installed the Pro version it would do a 30 day trial, then fail to work. With Make it would give you a 30 day trial, then drop back to being Make. Someone maintaining an archive site would need to give a separate download for Make.
About the point of posting this in the forum, Support are not the right people to comment on, or do anything about, making an affordable hobbyist version of SketchUp. By posting in the forum your feedback is more likely to be seen by product managers. One such product manager is @Mark (who will now see this post because I tagged him). Fairly sure Mark won’t have much to add, but at least you will know that your thoughts have got through to the right person.
I couldn’t install the 2017 version. That’s the version I get used to. My setup exe file can be the problem, but I searched for it thus couldn’t find a reliable source. And before I switch computers it was not letting me use the warehouse even though they were made in older versions.
I wish I could do that too. I have no problem of paying for the apps but a yearly fee for an app that’s not for professional use (no income from the app) is way too high. Especially if you are living in a 3rd world country like me:)
Maybe what should be done is bringing back the make 2017 version, letting it download from warehouse and making us pay a reasonable amount for good. Not yearly thus no updates will be received.
That’s what I am told via e-mail as a response. I really don’t think they’ll do anything about it but no harm in trying. I hope they make a hobbyist version like you say or bring back the 2017 version.
Thanks for sharing the thread, @colin. @cerencat thanks for posting your feedback here, where others can see it.
If it helps you make decisions about the future, I can tell you that SketchUp Make is not coming back. For what it’s worth, I’m glad to hear that you were able to learn 3D modeling for free in SketchUp — enough to build your own house! On the other hand, no one on our team is happy to hear that you feel you have to ‘break up’ with us because of the price of a Pro subscription.
I’m guessing you’re aware of ‘SketchUp Go,’ which offers access to SketchUp for Web and iPad apps. If those don’t work for you because you need extensions, I encourage you to keep an eye open for one of our sales promotions — they seem to happen often enough — for an initial discount. Beyond that, you’ll have to bear with us. We’re aware that the affordability of software isn’t the same for everybody: as a software business, we try to balance new ways of making SketchUp accessible (or more affordable) to new customers with new ways of making it more powerful for existing customers.
I had no problem installing 2017 Make on my windows 11 laptop…
The 3D warehouse has a policy of supporting the current version an the 2 versions before that for a few years now. So only 2020, 2021 and 2022 are supported. There are other ways to get models from the warehouse into Sketchup 2017 though…
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