Why even bother with Sketchup?

SketchUp
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Since 2004 SU has been my source of income/employment, yes, I use other apps but they are almost all used to manipulate, render, display the models I create. It’s paid for my house, my cars, my food, my holidays, my everything.

Is it perfect, is it heck! But it’s ■■■■ consistent and by using plugins MY installation of SU does what I want. Would I like a load of plugins built in? Yes, why not…… as long as they are the EXACT ones I use /s

Oh, and of course, it’s fun to use, everyday I get to create new stuff.

I’m sorry that some of you don’t possess the ability / skill to be able to earn a living from it, I wish you luck in whatever ‘profession’ you move onto next.

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45

I’ll try to make it easier for you…

I rely on plugins and I believe that plugin developers should be rewarded for their effort. However, with subscription based licensing, which I believe MUST be renewed yearly paying additionally for plugins can become costly… Now if SketchUp is directed for commercial use only, then I can understand, however, there are countless non commercial users out there that are prepared to spend their shekels for th additional benefits provided by Pro.

Again “fxcutting” I have not read all correspondences regarding plugings on all the SketchUp threads… so can me for that as well. Are the cost for plugins a one off fee or are they subscription based? Not having upgraded since 2018 (though as mentioned, I am licensed inclusively up to 2021) so I don’t know where I stand with any paid for plugins…

Most plugins I use are (at least were free). I do not begrudge recognition to developers by remuneration… However, I maintain that remuneration should be directed from the product owner/developer and many be incorporated in the base product.

46

That’s the only way. I’m a Pro. I use SketchUp for architecture. A lot of Pros use it. SketchUp advantage is that it can also be used for anything else and you require less training on 3d modelling and accessory skills so you focus more on your architecture.

I can also deliver faster and more complete sets of drawings than with other tools.

I can also present better.

I can also be more efficient at construction sites.

In my view it’s more pro than most specific architectural tools.

Of course, in my case it’s the right tool in the right hands.

I would be a much worse architect if I’d be using Autocad or Revit. But being better or worse is subjective. I’m a pro using SketchUp and being effective and efficient in my job.

SketchUp is Pro!

That is more art than anything else. For art a hammer is as good.

You’re talking about probability. I’m talking about facts. There are a huge number of people using SketchUp Professionally here that can testify.

They have their grievances but they like using it and it complies.

What is that degree of professionalism you’re talking about?

I’m an absolute pro. I’m as pro as any pro. Relatively, there are bigger companies and smaller ones (we are small enough, more of a niche actually).

We can do all we need with it, though it requires mastering it and know what are it’s limitations and how to workaround them.

Others have less limitations, maybe, but have they got the same potential?

The question is not if SketchUp is Pro or not. It is pro. The question is about what you consider necessary to be pro in your line of business.

SketchUp is there and you can do what you can do with it. If you think that is enough or not it’s up to you.

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47

I agree fully with the simplicity and scalability of SU. You can choose the level of complexity you want SU to become with the Plug ins and alot of them by the way are free ( the paid ones are in my opinion a real value for money ).
Basically if you are able to charge for your 3D work, SU PRO and all the plug ins present a good value for money especially coupled with its intuitive nature.

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48

We can summarize by saying that for some, Trimble’s efforts should focus on making SU faster and more refined. Pass on the bloat. For those who long for a Revit-like or ArchiCad-like program, buy them.

I am an architect and have looked at Revit several times. I do not know the software, but it appears to operate like an engineer’s software.

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49

I think that maybe you find that admitting that sketchup is not professional somehow devalues your work and even you personally. This is not at all the case. Top quality work can be done with almost any tool in the right hands and enough time. This however does not mean that they are not better tools than others. In any case, I would say that making good work with lacking tools is more meritorious than using more powerful and capable tools.

Haven said that, SketchUp might be pro to you depending on the type of architecture you make. If you make boxes, then yeah, it is very much pro. If you want to do some Zaha style then you are doomed. Professional tools accommodate both of these.

I see some contradictions here… you ask about what I am referring to with ‘degrees of professionalism’ when immediately before you claimed SketchUp is ‘more’ pro than other tools. How do you evaluate that? Aren’t all tools used by professionals equally ‘pro’ if the sole definition is if it is used by a professional to make money?

No… professional artists use professional digital art and drawing software. There are quite a couple and Excel is not one of them no matter how many pros use it to make money.

Oh so now there needs to be more than x number of people using it to make money to actually call it a pro tool? I though you said that if someone used it to make money it was automatically a pro tool.

50

I believe she used Paint (not sure which version)

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51

Great! So that’s my point, just because Zaha used it does not make Paint a professional tool.

But yeah, SketchUp and Paint for sure :smiley:

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Well, that’s my paint too. Don’t become to dependent on any tool, pick the right one for the job.
A lawnmower isn’t more professional than a haircutter, but when a gardener starts mowing my lawn with a haircutter, I would think twice about his level of professionalism (I cut my own hair)

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It’s been a professional tool for me for the past 21 years. I will concede I’ve barely dabbled in other 3D programs.

I did start with all hand drawing, and first used ACAD in 1985/86…I think version 2.3?. I used ACAD up until 2010. At least back then, ACAD was a complete nightmare for any use.

Any tool can be professional when wielded by a skilled professional….somebody hand me a chisel!

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55

It might be that, or it might be that I decided to become an evangelist for SketchUp in this thread.

It does feel weird when people get admired that we can do what we can, using SketchUp only. We are nothing special with it, we just passed through the idea that things couldn’t be done with SketchUp and we started doing them.

You’re right! There’s a lot of contradictions here.

I evaluate this strictly personally and by looking at SketchUp and it’s wide scope of adoption in several professions.

It’s good for architects, admittedly boxy architecture practices mostly, but it’s good for a lot of professions.

Is it more pro than Revit because it’s adopted by more professions?

Is it less pro than Revit because it’s adopted for lesser level of sophistication/complexity on the projects it’s used on?

What’s the worth of complexity and sophistication?

There’s so much subjectiveness in this evaluation that I decided to throw mine in. Why not?

No. It needs only one. But if more people use it professionally, it becomes more widely adopted and more people view it as professional. It thus becomes more successful as a pro tool and harder to say that it’s not pro.

I’ma a bit sick of the excel talk, but…

Excel can be used Professionally by any artist. It wasn’t developed for painting but it could be used that way for sure and it would be very interesting.

SketchUp, however was developed for general 3d modeling with a big take on architectural modelling. There are a lot of workflows that use it very little and a lot of workflows that rely solely on it. It does what it promises for any of them and they are pro workflows.

SketchUp is, therefore pro.

56

I missed this one. It’s very cool.

So even if I think Zaha’s architecture is very questionable and even if I decide that I want to do boxes forever, if I want to use Pro software, I must use something that allows me to do Zaha’s?

What a waste of software power putting rhino, grasshopper, Revit, archicad, and all that sexy curvilenar and expensive BIM packages on my hands and watch me getting payed to do boxes…

58

:rofl: :rofl: :crazy_face: Trampy, I can’t believe it took this long for you to show up with the old “it’s about to happen in Blender” chestnut. Any day now right? Truly the only missing input to this pointless thread…
mute.

Use SketchUp, or don’t use SketchUp. Whatever your profession is, just go do it. :+1:

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60

:rofl:

(no idea exactly what Trampy said but I’m rolling on the floor nonetheless)

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62

I read all the comments and found some interesting thoughts.

Originally SketchUp is much more than a PRO software, it is the number 1 consumer software in the 3D field.

How did SketchUp manage to gain this place in the market?
The first answer that jumps out at me is the commercial offer!

  1. The free full-featured desktop version makes Sketchup the must-have 3D software
    So the removal of SketchUp Make is in my opinion a big mistake and especially in the long term.

  2. Then the 3D Warehouse accessible to everyone and free of charge also helped SketchUp to gain popularity.

  3. Finally, the extensions produced by artists and geniuses from all over the world have made it possible to make a difference over competitors.

Conclusion:
SketchUp is PRO software if it is used by a professional and it is also an amateur software if it is used by amateurs.
It is therefore a chameleon software which is much more interesting than a simple PRO software.

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63

???

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65

Are you saying $299/year is expensive? What other 3D software with a full 2D drafting suite costs less? We all know the answer cannot include Blender.

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67

Yup. Rhino is very good and better ativa lot of things. It’s just a bit worse in simplicity and integration with some third party apps. It’s also not as effective with boxes. As it’s without subscription it might turn out to be cheaper too.

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68

And if you are already trapped in the Revit solar system, there seems to be good integration of Rhino Inside Revit. I sat in on a webinar and have none of these, but the potential is envious.

I believe Trimble is working on better SketchUp-Revit connection, and Live Components are a possible answer to Grasshopper, but those are both promises not yet delivered, and this is already here.

71

How much is Rhino again? Last I checked it was more than 3X the cost of SU…has something changed?

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