A new home for SketchUp

[andybot]

@brookefox said:

Nice. Can anybody play?

Where do I fit in?

Seven Stages of a Project

1. Wild Enthusiasm
2. Well Take It Form Here
3. Total Confusion
4. Disillusionment
5. The Search For The Guilty
6. Punishment Of The Innocent
7. Promotion Of The Non-Participants

sounds like #3 to me

[jason_maranto]

I already went through all 7 stages -- what now?

Best,
Jason.

[Mike Lucey]

Guys,

I'd say JohnB and the team will be making SU fly once theft have found their feet, says he sitting at a bar using his iPad on WiFi (pronounced 'wife fee')

Mike

[Michaelv]

@rich o brien said:

Also if you follow they're twitter and JBacus Google+ you get other info. Like a recent trip to Helsinki for example which is also the home of Tekla. So, read into that as you want.

Yep, what I read into that, which is both logical (from the trip and from being a Trimble product) and expected is a potential further specialization of SU into BIM or other building construction application software.
And that is what personally I have some apprehension over (the over specialization)

Granted SU was and is great for building makers and that is the main engine that brought it to where it is today, but its general exposure and usefulness has seen it widely used for many many other things (see thread on uses).
It was already a little bit skewed towards architectural as many plugins were also specific, and that's perfectly fine and normal, even great as it gave SU an engine to run.

However the strength and power is also its specific ability to be flexible and NOT specialized. Its ability to be customized (through plugins) for whatever specific purpose one may have, yet to be the bottom line tool one uses for any application one may think of. Going from building a nice house one day, to creating a 3D fantasy character the next, while creating 2D drawing for technical illustration in between.
I hope it will not loose that character. The pressure of building makers is great and understandable as they are the majority users it seems, and all I'm hoping is that they are served very well and better by this but not at the detriment of flexibility.

In particular if there is any remaining ambition to have SU stand tall in the CAD sphere, as a specific objective, beyond just being a useful tool in Trimble's aggregate strategy, mechanical engineering tools and others (3d shaping, etc..) shall be kept alive and kicking, maybe even pushed to balance the stronger and stronger pull of the bright side of the force (the building makers)

Just, and still, hoping. Dreaming of CAM, CFD and FEA plugins (the latter two BTW being also very useful to the building industry (wind and heating studies, structural design, etc..))

[fredo6]

There is an interesting article, well written and illustrated, about why Google sold Sketchup. The fact is that Google's project to have millions users model the earth was not practicable and that new stereo technology could handle it more consistently.

(www.mastersketchup.com)

Fredo

PS: for me that's not a sufficient reason anyway. There would have been other ways for Google to exploit the power of Sketchup.

[Dan Rathbun]

@unknownuser said:

PS: for me that's not a sufficient reason anyway. There would have been other ways for Google to exploit the power of Sketchup.

But apparently, none that the Google Earth Division, itself, was interested in.

Also.. I feel personally, that Google is not a "Ruby lovin'" company. They prefer other langauges like Java.

I was most afraid, that if SketchUp stayed with Google, it would have been transferred to another division, like Google Docs, and then the plugin engine for Ruby would have been dropped, and we would be forced to adopt whatever programming language the new division wanted.

Hey it could still happen, .. Trimble companies may insist on Python or Java. If that happens... I am gone. Ruby is in my blood now.

[Msketcher]

Hey Fredo,

Thanks for the recommendation on my article, I appreciate it.

[sicksickisck]

@pitrak said:

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.

[JuanV.Soler]

I do hope that being Trimble more technical than Google
the new owners will quickly urge the software´s developers to make it able importing dwg files with text as well as importing and manipulating PDF files. And same in Layout.
Locking the toolbars once and for ever is something that does not need to be mentioned I hope.

[Phil Rader AIA]

@juanv.soler said:

Locking the toolbars once and for ever is something that does not need to be mentioned I hope.

OH Yes Let's mention that again and again until it's fixed.