What’s up with SketchUp Make?

Being a customer implies to me that you’ve paid for the service.

You are using a piece of software someone put out for your use, on their servers, at their cost.

And when you use Make 2017 you are using software written for, developed, distributed, debugged, etc. by someone else, who has decided not to charge for it.

In both cases, you are not a customer.

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If you are a Make user, you are not a customer. Customers are those who’ve purchased the software.

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As I understand it, Make will not be updated if it breaks on future operating systems or new hardware that comes out. Make 2017 might work for years or it could stop working as early as later this year when Apple brings out macOS 10.14. Right now, I can use versions as old as SketchUp 8. Older ones might still work, that’s all I have. Sometimes more drastic changes happen like the move from PowerPC to Intel, this could happen again with ARM processors on laptops. I lost the use of some older software when that happened (my PPC Power Mac G5 died), software that was not being actively developed which is what Make will be now.

As a Pro user, this won’t affect me directly, but I can’t recommend anyone try the free version of SketchUp now either Make or the web-based Free, which I used to recommend before this. Make doesn’t have a long-term future so would not be a good use of anyone’s time unless they meant to buy Pro eventually. If I hadn’t had such a long ‘trial’ of the free version, I would never have realised that SketchUp was worth buying.

I find it reasonable that the quick download link on the listing page is for the latest version and the full list of different versions is available on the information page.

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compare Trimble SU Free against the first ‘Google’ SU free version [v5] and it actually has more functionality…

I would advise ‘new’ users to learn it because it has no extensions and they will learn the basic tools and concepts…

john

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We released SketchUp 8 in 2010, a little over seven years ago. If you’ve been able to maintain a system that runs that version effectively, you might well expect that you will be able to do the same with SketchUp Make 2017.

SketchUp Make 2017 will celebrate its seventh birthday in 2024. It is tough for me to imagine what the cutting edge of personal computing will look like that far out, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expect long life for your current configuration.

john
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Don’t update. No one is forcing you. Or maintain 2 computers with different operating systems.

If Free SketchUp is that important to your life, you’ll find ways to work / live with it in its current form. I did that for a long long time with a license for another CAD program I didn’t want to pay for an upgrade - going so far as to install BootCamp when I switched operating systems and pay for a license to a Microsoft OS to install on my Mac to keep that running.

You don’t always have the choice. If you buy new hardware either by choice or because your old hardware failed, you can end up with the software no longer working. When Apple moved to Intel, so did I because of hardware failure and old software that didn’t get updates was gone.

Sometimes I want to update and SketchUp might not be the most important software I use, I might have to upgrade to get other software I use to work.

Might I ask, as I pay for pro and am in a different use case, what do ‘home users’ and ‘hoobbysists’ use this for, where they need access to the thousands of models on the warehouse, and where having the most up to date (2018) version is so important?

I am an avid hobbyist, mainly drawing spaceships or other scifi work. I use the 3D warehouse to download odd random components so I don’t have to waste time making them myself. For example in this model the fuel tanks are actually Disney Epcot Spheres: https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/008/478/098/large/liam-keating-linear-fusion.jpg?1513038950

For this TV I downloaded the screws in the side:
https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/007/469/977/original/liam-keating-tv3.gif?1506359297

For this drone I downloaded the ammo drum and belt: https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/007/262/787/large/liam-keating-swedish-af.jpg?1504864592

I have Pro on my PC for work and I have Make on my laptop for fun. My hobby work takes place with me lying on my couch in front of the fire and I don’t render any of my fun stuff so the laptop can handle most things. If I did not need Pro for work (mainly because of the importers & exporters) I would just stick with Make, however the 3D warehouse is a great resource for random bits and pieces.

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Keeping Make 2015 or 2016 might be an even more future-proof solution as they are the last SketchUp releases that can work without OpenGL Hardware Acceleration. This is where most of the problems with new OS or driver versions tend to arise.

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Thanks. I generally don’t trust much in the warehouse except for a handful of models I’ve downloaded, cleaned up and made (repetitive) use of.

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Yes that is mostly the case, however my output (even for work) is illustration so file size and accuracy/reverse faces/internal geometry is no concern for me luckily.

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I understand the frustration with how fast tech can change the tools we use, but I find it unreasonable that we should demand SketchUp offer a product, for free, that magically updates into the future based on OS or hardware changes that they have no control over. In this case, moving to the web is a smart move - update the code on the server to work with a range of standards, and the product keeps working. And no one paid a dime for it… (aside from Trimble developing, hosting, etc. etc.)

In my work, this free for me model would not work:

“Mike, we know the house is already designed, the engineering done, and all the documents filed, but we decided to have 2 kids, have my parents move into an in-law suite, buy 2 new cars that need a garage, and my mom rides horses - so we need a barn designed. Let me know when you get those changes made. And don’t bother to send me a bill, because we can’t / won’t / don’t want to pay for these changes because we already paid you for the design that is finished and you should provide that to us because we are just simple homeowner hobbyist people who need a house…”

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This all reminds me of what Grand Pappy once told me.

During the dirty thirties there was this farming family with kids that were having trouble putting food on the table. This other fellow felt bad for them and so every morning when it was still dark out he’d drop by the farmhouse and leave a couple of loaves of fresh bread on the porch.

This continued for months and months and then one day he stopped leaving the gift of bread. A few hrs later the farmer showed up at the good Samaritan’s house, knocked on the door, and asked where his bread was.

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Not everybody who uses Sketchup make or Free is ungrateful !
Think about all the great things that are given for free, like charity ,open source software, Wikipedia, a.s.o .
Not everybody in the world can (or is able) to show there gratitude by donating.
Do not let them who are ungrateful, or misusing generous free giving, let you change your attitude.

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No one should complain about not having a free version anymore. However, those of you who make money by selling extensions or by using Sketchup seem to be missing the real point, i.e., there is only the top end, great version that Sketchup Pro has always been, and the now cloud version that no one seems to like. The code is written. There would be very little effort to strip out X percentage of the program that professionals need and sell it to the rest of us hobbyists for $150 or $200. Yeah, you can download earlier versions, but clearly that will come to an end eventually. Many other software design programs come in several iterations, each more costly based on what the capabilities are. Why Trimble has missed this point is beyond me. We’re talking millions of dollars in missed revenue potential here. The lower end versions need not be provided with support, either. That could be by subscription for those who choose to avail themselves of it.

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Not true! Have you ever heard the marketing strategy called Loss Leader? See attached image.

SketchUp Make was not done out of the goodness of Google’s heart. It was done for marketing purposes, specifically to generate more profitable sales. And that is exactly what happended. Make user spread the word and convinced their employers to use it. It is not true that because Make users didn’t pay for it that the company didn’t make money off of them. They did, just indirectly. And many Make users became Pro users. SketchUp has always been a business, not a charity. Get over the notion that it was a generous act on the part of some philanthropist . Make users were used.

Joe…

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Yes, Joe, I’m well aware of loss leaders. Many years spent in retail. Loss leaders are not given away for free. Loss leaders don’t pay the labor costs or keep the lights on. Loss leaders are offered with the expectation that those people will buy other merchandise from the retailer. Those who only take the free stuff are not customers.

You are worried about losing your income from selling your SketchUp related stuff. Are you paying a percentage of your sales to Trimble?

No. That wasn’t the reason for Google offering a free version of SketchUp. They released the free version with the expectation that users would draw 3D buildings to populate Google Earth. Not enough users did that, however and Google shifted to other technologies to replace SketchUp for the creation of 3D content in GE. If Trimble hadn’t bought it, SketchUp would have gone the way of many other applications that Google purchased and killed. It was already languishing before Trimble came along.

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I completely agree.
Why should a trial be restricted to evaluating? There would be no harm letting a firm check, with one or even 3 projects (how many can a firm do in 60 or 90 days?) that it is worth training the staff and changing their workflow. I mean this is a big decision to make. More often than not, there is more than one person involved. It takes time.
The goal is to get them to adopt SU for ALL (countless) following projects !!

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Loss leaders can and often are sold for free. I too have spent many years in business and as an executive been responsible for product and business development. It is not uncommon to give away product to build a business.

As for my concern about income from SketchUp related stuff, I am retired and have do quite well on my retirement savings, pension and investments, Thank you very much. I do sell SketchUp related stuff, but primarily as a hobby. And I do pay a percentage to Trimble and others such as Popular Woodworking, though it is none of your business.

My point exactly. Companies do not give away product without expectations of growing another part of their business. Google may not have been successful but their intent was obvious. And if you believe for a minute that the SketchUp team didn’t have expectations that it would grow the Pro business you are very naive.

SketchUp Make made SketchUp. Without it the Pro would never have taken off.

What I don’t understand is why you and people on the SketchUp team take constructive criticism of the decision to drop SketchUp Make and replace it with a crippled SketchUp Free so personally. It’s not a personal attack. It is constructive and mostly well-meaning feedback.

Joe…

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