SketchUp vs. Revit
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There are plenty of comments online about the SketchUp vs. Revit argument but with the fairly recent development of Layout does this close the gap for a lot of designers and architects?
I've spent the last two years developing a couple of SketchUp plugins but I realize that the market share for design is leaning in Revit's favor. Should I be designing these plugins for Revit instead?
No one has a crystal ball but I'm wondering in 5 to 10 years how all of this will play out. Who is gaining marketshare and who is loosing?
Will SketchUp ever be taken seriously by the architecture and engineering world?
At my work I still do all of my 2D drawings in AutoCad but SU Layout does have me intrigued.
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@medeek said:
Will SketchUp ever be taken seriously by the architecture and engineering world?
SketchUcation answer : Yes
Revication answer : No
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They are still very different platforms. Yes Revit has taken most of the architectural world, in focus, if not in actual chairs... I don't think the majority consider SketchUp an alternative in terms of BIM, though maany are working in that direction.
But wait. A lot of people take SketchUp seriously for what it does. I use it all the time and make my living with it in part. I just would never be hired by SOM etc. or would I really want to. Actually I do get a lot of my work specifically because I use SketchUp.
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I honestly think sketchup is capable o getting there fast if some plugin developers would commit to it
amd if Layout keeps grwoing stronger.Layout by itself must grow easier to use and more compliant to architectural standards, as well as drafting workflows.
The real thing to explore that is not being correctly adressed by Trimble yet, is the bridge between SU modelling and project documentation, labelling and information management inside Layout.
Trimble, imho, doesn't want to assume sketchup+layout as a purely architectural software, while Revit is exactly that.
People work with sketchup mainly for first design stages and visualization purposes. It is capable of much more but you must find workflows for that. Revit is built thinking on this.
Sketchup usually is used to complement Revit or CAD as those are where final product output comes from.
So what lacks in sketchup is tools that allow project documentation to be much easier and faster so Sketchup can be as good at producing the final arch output for construction stage, as it is at preliminary design stages.
Let me tell you that, even if it's not meant to, I and a lot of other people, use Sketchup for construction docs too, and I feel LO+SU are getting better and better each year.
So, in a 5 year period, Sketchup will be at the same level than revit, but much more pleasent to use and still adipted by other industries, and at a 10 year period it will be more popular than Revit...
Am I being too positive?
Right now though, you should be developing your plugins for Revit too (as long as you don't discard Sketchup).
Note that Autodesk is nowadays getting very strong at implementing revit as the standard for architectural projects, that is both because of the merits of revit, and the agressive position autodesk has on the market. So Revit will always be a safe bet.
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As a longtime user of both SketchUp and Revit perhaps I can comment on my experience. I use Revit for both the main project design and documentation. I use SketchUp for the things which are much easier to do with it such as timber frame design and manipulating terrain. I model the basic structure in Revit and export the model to SketchUp. It is much easier (and more fun)to do the timber work in SketchUp. I then export the SketchUp model, import into Revit and go on with the project. While Layout is great in some respects for documentation, the basic production of a set of drawings is vastly easier in Revit. I have also been trained in Autocad which I don't use anymore unless I have to. Revit is much easier than Autocad for making a quick or complicated 2D drawing.
"Should I be designing these plugins for Revit instead?"
I personally would love to see your plugins in Revit. There are already at least two very sophisticated plugins for Revit which already do what what your plugins do in SketchUp. They are also very costly (thousands of dollars). I would say that the marketplace for Revit is quite different than SketchUp which definitely affects the price of the plugins. However, the downside is I think the Revit implementation would be an order of magnitude higher than the work your presently encountering."Will SketchUp ever be taken seriously by the architecture and engineering world?"
I think SketchUp is already taken seriously by a lot of architects but less so by engineers. The fact is that SketchUp is not structured for the kind of input and output required to design an airport or a high rise. This is also the kind of structure that makes SketchUp fun to use. Now before someone pipes up about Turner Construction (who have some incredible videos some about extremely complex projects), I know for a fact that they also use Revit and a number of other complex softwares for their construction business. The point is that every software has their strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes we go to absurd lengths to make our favourite software do something which it just wasn't built for.Bottom line on my opinion is that while I see SkecthUp and Layout improving, I don't think that they will replace or rival Revit in the near future. While I see Trimble acquiring software to fill out their offerings with regards to large projects, I haven't seen any evidence yet about their heading SketchUp in the same direction. I think that Autocad's prevalence in the construction industry will remain unchallenged for the near future (talking about North America here).
KrisM
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The reason I started this discussion is I have a few connections on LinkedIn who where inquiring about the truss plugin being ported over to Revit. I don't have any real experience with Revit, all I've ever used is plain jane AutoCad and of course SketchUp. I really have no use for Revit for most of the work that I do (structural drawings) so there is no way I could justify even spending the money to purchase a license just to port these plugins into Revit, especially if there are already competing products that are probably superior to my own.
At that same time in the comments above it was noted that we sometimes try to push our favorite software into areas where they are not well suited. I hope I am not doing that with the work I have been doing on the plugins. I want to avoid spending multiple years on a product that may not have any real future because competing products will crush it.
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Here are a couple of links to Revit addins for framing oriented stuff. You might find them interesting.
http://www.aga-cad.com/products/packages/wood-framing-solutions
http://strucsoftsolutions.com/products/Compared to anything in the SketchUp sphere (Plus Spec included) they are very expensive.
KrisM
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I think if you look around at the sort of software others have been working on in SU, yours is especially well suited for SU and how it works. It seems a very good fit. Is there a user base moving this direction sufficient to give the response you deserve, I don't know.
Personally (E.G.) I have done some framing design in SU but for very unique timber /stick hybrid work and to work out specific issues--not expecting the SW to do it for me. Otherwise I don't bother. I or an engineer draw a framing plan and details (often standard) and that's it.
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I'm one of those people that try to push sketchup beyond what is meant to, but what I found when doing that, is Sketchup is able to stretch and I gain productivity.
I ditched away CAD in exchange for SU and there is more people doing that each year. I believe that Sketchup will adjust in time and be even more competent for that.
Revit is what it is, it's much more than Sketchup for certain architectural businesses, but Sketchup is fit for 90% of the other scenarios.
What I like about Sketchup is that it isn't as streamlined as Revit and so allows for a multidisciplinar approach and a very flexible workflow that I couldn't find with Revit. I have quit using Revit long ago and adopted Sketchup instead. I didn't fully use Revit, but it seemed to me a standard architectural software that somehow forced us to work in a standard way. I don't know how Revit evolved since then but Sketchup, even limited as an Architectural software, allows for creative freedom. The downside is that it forces us to find convoluted methods to get standard output done.
Even so, I rather keep using Sketchup as I cherish that design freedom. I find advantage on that freedom even in the latest stages of design and construction documentation.
It's probably because of that that I also don't use your plugins Meedek. I admire your work but cannot think in standards nor work always on similar contexts. Your plugins represent standards so I have no great use for them, hence I thought Revit was fit for them.
However, as you see with Plusspec, Sketchup is useful for people that deal with standards too. The problem with plusspec might be about Layout then, as it isn't yet as capable as Revit for documentation standard output.
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