*Yawn* Alternatives to SketchUp

[matteo]

I have not found any good alternative to sketchup, but I use wings 3d, the free modeler, http://www.wings3d.com/ when I need some features that sketchup doesn't have:

1| the ability to handle a high number of polygons
2| it's a subdivision modeler: subdivide and smooth on steroids
3| the selection tool is powerful
4| it can export to 3ds, obj and lwo

I usually start a model in sketchup and when I need to add more definition to it I switch to wings 3d. You need to have sketchup pro, since it doesn't import skp models, so you must convert your model to 3ds before you can edit it in wings 3d.

[toxicvoxel]

I think these two applications are closest to the Sketchup paradigm at the current time and worth watching to see how they develop:
http://www.3dvia.com/software/3dvia-shape/tour/
http://www.bonzai3d.com/
.

[kwistenbiebel]

@toxicvoxel said:

I think these two applications are closest to the Sketchup paradigm at the current time and worth watching to see how they develop:
http://www.3dvia.com/software/3dvia-shape/tour/
http://www.bonzai3d.com/
.

I don't agree there.They both are supposed to be(come) Sketchup killers, but none of them support the major high end render engines (yet).
In these ages, that is critical.

Spaceclaim is another really fine modeler, let's say it is sketchup with Rhino (Nurbs) capability....but it lacks a good render engine or 3td party support for it, making it a non-option, at least in my case.

[toxicvoxel]

Kwist,
I do not believe that rendering is central to the Sketchup paradigm nor do I believe that rendering support is what will create a 'Sketchup killer'. Moreover I think it is a question of the high end renderers (and I can think of only one in this category) providing Sketchup support rather than the other way round.

What makes these products interresting to watch is the fact that they are very obviously targeting the same market as Sketchup in terms of user interface and graphics display. I have a real hope that these applications become contenders in the marketplace as they may help to reactivate development momentum of Sketchup itself.

[Tim Danaher]

Toxic --

Thanks for the shape link...that one's going in!

Hmmm... it's by Dassault Systèmes -- heavy hitters. And it's free! Oooh! Soft shadows!!!

edit: Kwisten ... I'm curious -- how do you mean 'doesn't support renderers'? ... Bonzai says that it can export in 20 different file formats.

[solo]

Like I said before, Hexagon 2 is IMO worth considering.

And reasonably priced at $149.00

[kwistenbiebel]

@toxicvoxel said:

Kwist,
I do not believe that rendering is central to the Sketchup paradigm nor do I believe that rendering support is what will create a 'Sketchup killer'.

I am not sure about that.
Besides being a design tool, Sketchup is a communication tool.
Presentation of a design to a client is key.

It is the reason why Revit is criticised. It is good at 3D, making plans and documenting projects, but visualisation wise it just sucks...(and it is Autodesk, which means dusty and expensive )

[toxicvoxel]

Kwist, last time I checked Sketchup did not do any rendering. I personally don't want a jack-of-all-trades application and would rather rely on individual specialist applications within my workflow that I can 'glue' together through customisation. That way I can choose the technology I want and will not be reliant on a single company for developing the technology.If my primary concern was rendering there would be better platforms to build my workflow arround.

I think my post was a valid response to the original question. The issue of rendering support is not entirely relevant.

[kwistenbiebel]

I understand.
It comes down on what you use Sketchup for I guess, and there is probably more than 1 type of SU-user.
I would be the one that considers having the major render engines as important.
But God forbid, Sketchup should NEVER have a built in PR render engine of itself, it should be 3td party software.

I presume you are talking about alternatives for Sketchup purely as a 3D modeler.
In that case, I would settle for having Sketchup and Rhino to complement it.
Sketchup can do an awful lot as a modeler and I think it is just Nurbs, booleans etc... it misses. And that is where Rhino is really good at.

If rendering,presentation and animation is important as well (for me it is), than C4D is a good candidate to go along with Sketchup.

[toxicvoxel]

Kwist, I volunteered the two applications in answer to the original thread question for the sake of comparrison because of some very obvious simmilarities for the purpose of his paper, rather than as serious alternatives at this stage.

In fact our approach is simmilar - I use Rhino in conjunction with Sketchup and use it as a rendering platform for VRAY when I need it. A notable additional aspect of Rhino is that it offers fairly good CAD functionality on top of the modelling power it provides. (Although I would not use it if I was doing CAD production as my central activity, it is a very viable AutoCAD replacement for generating CAD data during the design stages.) There is also a BIM plugin system for Rhino coming on stream and Rhino is directly supported by Paracloud.

An under-reported fact about Rhino is that many of the functions have the same names and params as in AutoCAD, making a transition easier than one might expect. (Loads of differences too but many simmilarities.)

-Anyway we digress from the topic of the thread.

[kwistenbiebel]

Ok, getting back closer to the subject.

@tim danaher said:

The question is apps that work like SketchUp.

To be honest, I don't have the feeling that there are real alternatives to SU.
3DVIA and Bonzai clearly aim to be Sketchup, although I doubt they have the same quality.
Concerning Bonzai, I think it is too soon to comment though as it is not out yet. But the fact that it derives from FormZ does not really give me the feeling that it will be as intuitive as SU is.

I think the best real alternative for the moment, in terms of really being able to put it in a workflow, would be Spaceclaim.
Very Sketchup like, more modeling capability than SU (Nurbs), but just a little less intuitive and less focused on architecture I think.
@Tim, It is worth downloading the Spaceclaim trial version so you can judge for yourself.

[numerobis]

bonzai3d beta released...

(www.bonzai3d.com)

[Edson]

@kwistenbiebel said:

@Tim, It is worth downloading the Spaceclaim trial version so you can judge for yourself.

Judging from the videos, spaceclaim seems to be a very intuitive modeller. perhaps a good alternative to skp. there is plenty of tutorials too. the company seems to be of the "difficult" kind: no pricing on their site (they direct you to a vendor site). and it is windows only which is something that does not make any sense these days.

however, whenever i check another software and compare it to skp one thing comes to mind immediately: no app has a support base as sketchup. i do not mean the official google support, which is not bad either, but the forums, the script developers, the written user guides, the companion apps, etc. somehow i feel that, should i move from skp to any other modeller, i would feel like someone on a scarcely populated island.

[fakircho]

Downloading Bonzai 3D, lets see if Sketchup has some competition

[Tim Danaher]

Bonzai's out? This I must see!!!

[kwistenbiebel]

The download is very slooow.
They should make some mirror downloads.

[Tim Danaher]

^^^^^^^

Agreed. Maybe their server is getting hammered?

[fakircho]

Well i download it, looks a lot like Sketchup. Was having all sorts of display problems because i had other programs running, once i quit the its a bit better. Finding the interface a bit awkward, i think that is why i did not like FormZ

Need to explore a bit more ...

[Tim Danaher]

Gaaah...

D/L time has swollen to 3hrs, 47 min.

I vote we start a new thread to post observations.

[numerobis]

...