A new home for SketchUp
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Mark
I think my only knowledge of Trimble, is Trimble Oil, and I am not at all aware of any other mainstream software tools developed by Trimble, so in that sense, this is quite a surprise.
I do hope as is mentioned that the core SketchUp team is kept on and encouraged. -
@dale said:
Mark
I think my only knowledge of Trimble, is Trimble Oil, and I am not at all aware of any other mainstream software tools developed by Trimble, so in that sense, this is quite a surprise.
I do hope as is mentioned that the core SketchUp team is kept on and encouraged.Yea - their description of their plans and what they do didn't make it clear to me of anything really. Felt a wee bit much corporate-speak in the announcements.
Trimble isn't a name I've heard of at all - not within any of the 3D modelling communities I've experiences. Therefor this all feels and sound very alien.
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"Trimble" is well known in the states for surveying equipment.
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From the wiki page, Trible bought the following 3d related companies:
Acquisitions2003 MENSI S.A. Terrestrial 3D scanning technology
2006 BitWyse Solutions, Inc 2D and 3D software applications for engineering and construction plant design
2006 XYZ Solutions, Inc Real-time, interactive 3D intelligence software
2009 Assets of Callidus Precision Systems GmbH 3D laser scanning for industrial market
2011 Tekla Corporation BIM Software
2012 StruCad and StruEngineer business from AceCad Software Software to extend BIM solutions
2012 Plancal of Horgen 3D CAD/CAE and ERP software providerSo at least they do have some 3d related expertise....how are those going to relate to SU's developement...who knows.
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Looking at their products they don't even seem to be a software developer as their primary focus. Why would they want to acquire sketchup? To me its like some random company acquires a product in another completely random category. Wal-mart buys Lumion. Ford buys word perfect.
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What worries me here is that I don't see the relevance of what they do with what I'm used with for SketchUp.
Will SU transform into a different type of solution? Will it fragment into specialized editions? -
Does this hiccup affect "#9"?
One Google tie-in that I have really liked is "Add Location" inside SU. Hoping that continues to develop.
At least now people can't opine about Google holding SU development hostage for purposes of populating Google Earth.
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@thomthom said:
What worries me here is that I don't see the relevance of what they do with what I'm used with for SketchUp.
Will SU transform into a different type of solution? Will it fragment into specialized editions?+1
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I think developing sketchup in different directions might be interesting!
The fact that sketchup is still the 3D modeller of choice for many experienced modellers probably has more to do with all the great plugins around here than with the last upgrades we've seen.
The evolution of sketchup in the last years has been slow and not always successful (dynamic components anyone?)My enthousiasm for this acquisition might have to do with Trimble's expertise in laserscanning as well. The holy grail of surveying in architecture would be an automated process from laserscan to a textured 3D model. If this would be possible with sketchup, I'ld be delighted!
So good luck guys, I hope you get all the freedom and support you need to take sketchup in new directions!
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from Trimble
@unknownuser said:
Concurrently, the SketchUp engine will be integrated into Trimble's current solutions in its Engineering and Construction, Field Solutions and Mobile Solutions segments.
I think this is a bad idea....what software should I start learning?
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That's wouldn't be a bad idea if that means that it would make more stuff compatible with SU and SU remains intact.
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Time to learn Blender.
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@thomthom said:
What worries me here is that I don't see the relevance of what they do with what I'm used with for SketchUp.
Will SU transform into a different type of solution? Will it fragment into specialized editions?My feelings as well
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Google was as close to open source as you can get. Now a private company owns it, which means profit. Whether that means banners, user fees, extra stuff we don't need. All Google needed to do was make the software 64 bit compatible with multiple cores and it was done.
I wonder why Google did it?
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@pitrak said:
My enthousiasm for this acquisition might have to do with Trimble's expertise in laserscanning as well. The holy grail of surveying in architecture would be an automated process from laserscan to a textured 3D model. If this would be possible with sketchup, I'ld be delighted!
It is the direction it will go and will stop there. This is my impression.
Acquisition by Google didn't improve a lot what SU is all about. They wanted something for modelling the Google Earth content and that was all. Trimble wants to reach broad market with their tools. I expect multiple plugins for their products.
I doubt they will create a 64bit version. There is too much work they would have to do.
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@marian said:
That's wouldn't be a bad idea if that means that it would make more stuff compatible with SU and SU remains intact.
That pinpointed my concern - I hope I can still do the same with Trimble SketchUp as I can with @Last/Google SketchUp without it becoming filled with features for disciplines I don't use.
I like the basic and generic design of SketchUp - with plugins being the method of adapting the core platform to my needs. My fear are big-features applications like 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD and Revit.
I hope SketchUp remains simple at core - and this acquisition will enhance it's powers as a platform where Trimble offer their solutions (as customer options). As long as it remains as a lean simple platform other developers, like myself, can use it to develop our own solutions custom fit for any particular need.
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My first thought was "why"?
Since it was Google that introduced the idea of a free version of SketchUp they cannot possibly be disappointed if the revenues are not there. They set up the scenario that guaranteed little revenue so therefore they clearly had a different agenda. In what way has that agenda not been fulfilled which has caused Google to re-evaluate?I would like to know how come, which of course I will never know.
In many ways creating the free version was a boon. It caused SketchUp to be almost universally known. In other ways it caused a problem amongst professional users who might otherwise have adopted the use of SketchUp but regarded it as "oh, that shareware". I do think it was a mistake to give away for free, so very much. The free version would not have been a bad idea if it had not been so robust.
Perhaps a purchase by a group within the industry who will understand that will create a free version that is much more restricted. That may not be such a bad idea. -
@tallbridgeguy said:
Google was as close to open source as you can get.
I was really hoping for that! Now it is very unlikely. Are WE strong enough to buy the SketchUp from them? Don't think so.
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@tallbridgeguy said:
All Google needed to do was make the software 64 bit compatible with multiple cores and it was done.
No no no - neither part is a magic bullet! 64bit merely let you address more memory - multiple cores cannot be applied to all tasks. The only times I've issues with any in SketchUp has been with render engines that ran within the SketchUp process.
64bit and multicore requests are just cloaked requests for better performance - where it's then best to ask for "better performance" instead of making assumption on the technical implementation.My own wish for SketchUp was for it to improve it's Ruby API to allow more things to be created by third party developers.
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