SketchUp Viewer on Ubuntu?

ryangarnett

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has successfully installed, and run SketchUp Viewer on Ubuntu. I am looking to switch a Windows tablet I have to Ubuntu, but I would still like to have a viewer for showing SketchUp models. Side but related question, does anyone know of an open source viewer for SU models that will run on Ubuntu?

Thanks....

Aerilius

Yes, I have it installed, it works just like SketchUp.

As for the side question: SketchUp has a pretty nice SDK to read/write the skp format, but it's exclusive for Windows and OS X. That is why there is no cross-platform OSS program that reads skp; also not even a single mobile app reads skp files. Usually people have to export their models from SketchUp into any widespread standard format and then import it into a viewer application.
Short: There is no skp viewer other then the SketchUp Viewer.

ryangarnett

Thank you for your reply. I have looked at SketchUp with Wine on Ubuntu, but it was getting mixed reviews. I have noticed that there is nothing other than SU for viewing files, but I was hoping that there may be some secret option out there. Usually, I have exported my files to Collada, but some applications drop the textures.

sketch3d.de

@ryangarnett said:

Thank you for your reply. I have looked at SketchUp with Wine on Ubuntu, but it was getting mixed reviews.

you may want check the Running Trimble Sketchup on Wine Wiki for further information... or switch to the commercial and probably more capable CrossOver emulator.

If this does not work and you can get hold of a Windows license, you can use a virtualized Windows by using the free Oracle VirtualBox or the VMware Player (free for personal use).

hth,
Norbert

ryangarnett

Thank you Norbert. I have looked at Wine, it had mixed reviews. I will look at the other options. I have a Windows & tablet, which I am thinking of converting to Ubuntu, but I don't want to loose the ability to show clients SketchUp models on the tablet.

Thanks...

Aerilius

Reviews on the internet are always mixed (for example when you want to buy something etc.). It's always worth to hold something in your own hands and take a look.

SketchUp can run very well in Wine, and there is no reason why not to try it.
As a safeguard you can always choose to use a virtual machine, where it is guaranteed to run (at least with software rendering). I've found that hardware acceleration in VirtualBox was unstable (on my old hardware) and SketchUp crashed, where as it ran fully accelerated in Wine. But the performance difference might be negligible on newer hardware…

As for SketchUp, CrossOver is equal to Wine, but stable, commercially supported and includes some graphical installers (Windows package manager). It is good for supporting the company behind Wine.

Derek Edison

I haven't tried it recently but I've never had much luck with SketchUp in Wine.

If you have a large enough hard drive you can always dual boot both linux and windows. Rebooting to switch your OS is a pain but you don't loose anything this way and performance won't suffer like if you would run it in a VM. Also a good way to work out alternatives for windows apps in Ubuntu or see if they work in Wine before you fully commit to linux.

ryangarnett

Thank you Derek, but I am running a Windows 7 Asus tablet. The hard drive is ~32GB. Windows is taking up the majority of that, hence why I am looking to convert to Linux. But I do not want to loose the capability to view/show SU models on the tablet.