So whats up with Sketchup??
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Hi All,
I am not a frequent poster but I do browse through the forum regularly to see what's new and to trouble shoot any issues I am having. I have noticed as I am sure most of you on the forum have that there is nowhere near the interest or questions asked on the here as there were prior to the release of SKP 2019. I would be interested to hear from members their thoughts on what has happened. Have people become dis-heartened with the progress of SKP and switched to another programme or lost interest or both?
For me, I felt my enthusiasm for SKP start waning after the release of 2019 even though SKP is the cornerstone of what I do. In the past 2 years I have gone through phases of giving up skp all together and joining the revit crowds and realising this is too hard and then going back to skp. Over the past 2 years I have trailed Revit, Archicad, Autocad architecture, Bricscad BIM to various degrees but found myself always comparing them to skp. Like the component families in revit for 2D detailing, Layout and the scrapbook are easier, quicker and I think the result is better and more legible 2d details. So I guess I am in a position where I hate to love skp.
I own a Revit 2019 licence and have been playing with it on and off but I cant help thinking that my productivity will half if I start using it.
So where are people heading with skp, are they sticking with it or are they looking to migrate to another programme in the not too distant future?
Stan
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There has been a lot of effort put forth by the SketchUp and LayOut development teams especially in the last several years. We're already on SU2020.1 and there have been a number of improvements since 2019.3. I'm looking forward to more improvements in the not so distant future. I don't anticipate changing horses now. SketchUp and LayOut suit me just fine.
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Hi Dave,
After using revit during the covid lock down..... I think I just enjoy using skp too much to change. I recently up graded to 20.1 and had big problems saving with an error code 10 so have re-installed 20.0 until the problem is fixed. I just hope skp 2021 brings us all some pleasant surprises
Stan
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@sekta said:
Hi Dave,
After using revit during the covid lock down..... I think I just enjoy using skp too much to change.
I can empathize. I've been trying to learn a bit of OnShape because that's what the First Robotics team uses for CAD. It's so different from SketchUp and I can't wrap my head around it. I can often model something in SketchUp faster than the instructor can model it in OnShape so I usually give up and revert to SU.
@sekta said:
I recently up graded to 20.1 and had big problems saving with an error code 10 so have re-installed 20.0 until the problem is fixed. I just hope skp 2021 brings us all some pleasant surprises
Stan
You might want to try 2020.1 again. There was an update released less than 24 hours ago to sort out the Error 10 issue. From the release notes.
@unknownuser said:
This is a Windows only update to fix a frequent crash that occurred with users on the positive side of the UTC time standard (for example UTC+01:00). This crash would occur due to an error encountered when converting some local times to UTC when reloading a SketchUp file then saving.
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When Trimble ended the free version called 'Make' traffic slowed IMO. I still use SU, not enthusiastically as I did in the past, nor do I care much for the company Trimble as I feel they are souless money grabbers but alas, it's their baby now and they can milk it as they want.
I have many tools available to my workflow and thankfully no longer trapped to one modeling software.
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Solo,
This my dilemma, when I had the error 10 come up I spent a whole day trying to sort it out. It corrupted a couple of my files so had to re do drawings in 20.1 LO to get it to work. In the end after talking to the local SU support they suggested to simply revert back to 20.0 until its fixed. What it high lighted to me is how vulnerable I am relying on a single programme in my office. Like I said I hate to love skp but lesson learnt on the updates....wait till they are tried and tested.
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@sekta said:
to simply revert back to 20.0 until its fixed.
Did you read my post before Pete's or was that a waste of my time?
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Hi Dave,
Yea I saw it but will be waiting a couple of weeks or 3 before I update again. One lost income day a month is enough for me thanks.
Stan
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@solo said:
I have many tools available to my workflow and thankfully no longer trapped to one modeling software.
Thanks for that simple refined line Solo, Sketchup has been a wonderful way for me to learn modeling & deliver design, other software now just takes me further with a vibrant sense of community too .. cheers
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@sekta said:
Over the past 2 years I have trailed Revit, Archicad, Autocad architecture, Bricscad BIM to various degrees but found myself always comparing them to skp.
So where are people heading with skp, are they sticking with it or are they looking to migrate to another programme in the not too distant future?
if the functionality of a full blown AEC/BIM 3D solids modeler incl. mass determination and a comprehensive BIM data exchange is required, a 3D polygon modeler as SketchUp thought for fast, creative 3D concepts and visualizations is neither comparable nor does replace them.
If SketchUp suffices you simply don't need an AEC/BIM really.
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End of the road for me,
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/same-sketchup-you-love-a-new-way-to-buy/127392
I'll be spending my time over the next couple of months looking at other options for my personal use.
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@philw said:
End of the road for me,
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/same-sketchup-you-love-a-new-way-to-buy/127392
I'll be spending my time over the next couple of months looking at other options for my personal use.
Yep, I was gonna come here and comment on this latest subscription racket. It's been 2 years since I last paid Trimble any money, and it doesn't look like I will give them any of my money in the future.
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@sekta said:
Hi All,
I am not a frequent poster but I do browse through the forum regularly to see what's new and to trouble shoot any issues I am having. I have noticed as I am sure most of you on the forum have that there is nowhere near the interest or questions asked on the here as there were prior to the release of SKP 2019. I would be interested to hear from members their thoughts on what has happened. Have people become dis-heartened with the progress of SKP and switched to another programme or lost interest or both?
For me, I felt my enthusiasm for SKP start waning after the release of 2019 even though SKP is the cornerstone of what I do. In the past 2 years I have gone through phases of giving up skp all together and joining the revit crowds and realising this is too hard and then going back to skp. Over the past 2 years I have trailed Revit, Archicad, Autocad architecture, Bricscad BIM to various degrees but found myself always comparing them to skp. Like the component families in revit for 2D detailing, Layout and the scrapbook are easier, quicker and I think the result is better and more legible 2d details. So I guess I am in a position where I hate to love skp.
I own a Revit 2019 licence and have been playing with it on and off but I cant help thinking that my productivity will half if I start using it.
So where are people heading with skp, are they sticking with it or are they looking to migrate to another programme in the not too distant future?
Stan
I moved to Rhino seriously the day SU went subscription and sent the ridiculous promotion of the "new" Sketchup who's main new feature was three ways to pay for it. I used SU from version 4, was a SU evangelist, and taught it to many people. That is ended. I will keep the last perpetual license on my computer for the sake of interacting with colleagues. But there is no going back from Rhino.
p.s. If only MindSightStudios' Profile Builder 3 was available for Rhino it would be perfection.
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@andybot said:
@philw said:
End of the road for me,
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/same-sketchup-you-love-a-new-way-to-buy/127392
I'll be spending my time over the next couple of months looking at other options for my personal use.
Yep, I was gonna come here and comment on this latest subscription racket. It's been 2 years since I last paid Trimble any money, and it doesn't look like I will give them any of my money in the future.
Any one that has dealt with Trimble in the past knew that this was coming. Waiting for the non paid evangelicals to “ justify” this move
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The world is dying from a pandemic, people are unemployed or struggling as work is slow, not to mention the whole political shitstorm caused by racist cops, what a great time to announce they will be spending more for less and there is no other real option but to rent their beloved software, great timing.
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I was never a "full time" 3D / Sketchup user. But moving forward it's going to be harder and harder to keep paying for it. I purchased a sub license last year to work on some projects that only needed the SU style output without a 3D workflow.
Over the last few months, that has changed (the usual covid reasons) and have dug into finishing a project using Sketchup. Because I know I want to progress back into Unreal later down the line, I'm likely going to move the project in Blender and finish off all final rendering in that. Then in part 2, it will be all Unreal.
I'm staying in SU only because of my own muscle memory at this point. Great for quick visuals, but not great for any real deeper workflow (games, vr, animation). I had this very discussion with Alejandro Soriano and the Sketchup team on Youtube about this---Sketchup doesn't have the workflow leverage that exists in the environments that I work in. It can be a part of a workflow, but frankly, in most development environments, it's an option, not a requirement. Why use it when everyone else is using Maya/3D max and our target is Unreal, Unity, or proprietary engine? Level Design teams wouldn't use it, they just go straight into Maya, or better yet Unreal.
Now all that being said, I'd still use it as a modeling tool and final output render if it operated as fast and well as any other 3D tool. Any other tool I use operates 10 times faster than Sketchup with the shadows on. Sketchup also has trouble rendering clean shadows. Pretty unacceptable.
Granted, I might be pushing that limit of what Sketchup really wants to be. I get it. I use a lot of things outside their intended use. But that's fun.
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread with TL/DR post, but this has been something that I've been working on daily for months, and it's been a question that I ask daily as well.
So yeah, what's up with Sketchup?
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From my posts at:
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/same-sketchup-you-love-a-new-way-to-buy/127392/59?u=chippwalters
and
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/terrible-move/127409/14?u=chippwaltersI'll c/p them here:
The newest Blender, available in beta now, has push/pull, advanced snapping modes, a crazy fabric brush where you can actually paint folds in fabric, and so much more. The released version has all those things except push/pull.
The Blender interface just keeps getting better and better. The booleans are ridiculously good and Blender has parametric modeling with modifiers, which makes edits simple and quick. And, real-time photoreal modeling and animation.
Yes, it is way more powerful than SketchUp and it does take time to learn, but with the largest installed user base in the world, and by far the most tutorials and courses of any 3D program, (on YouTube and elsewhere), you owe it to yourself to take a look. Not to mention many of the big studios are now including Blender in their production pipeline-- and some of the biggest names in 3D graphics are now supporting with millions of $$$ in yearly donations.
And it will always be free.
A caveat: if you are a big architectural firm and need the collaborative features of SketchUp and Revit, then Blender is not for you. And if you absolutely must have Layout, then Blender is not for you. And if you don’t like trying new things and still watch a CRT TV, then Blender is not for you.
AND
A personal story for those who fear Blender
A couple years ago, I was invited to teach the teachers VR at Art Center in Pasadena-- the preeminent car and concept design school in the world. I would be working with some very smart professors, but I didn’t know how much they new about 3D modeling, so I instructed SketchUp Make be placed on all the computers there-- thinking that would be the easiest way to get everyone up and running.
As a SU user, I was of course convinced it was the easiest product to learn-- if you have a hammer then every problem is a nail.
When I got there, I found out, to my surprise, how frustrated my audience was at trying to learn SketchUp. The whole “sticking to the ground unless you group it first” thing was annoying and difficult for them to quickly understand. Then there was the automatic snapping stuff, which sometimes happens and sometimes doesn’t-- again quite confusing. There were many there who had experience with more traditional poly modelers like Modo and Max, and so I said just use what your used to.
And that’s the whole point. If you have a hammer, you tend to pound nails. A screwdriver–you screw screws. It just depends on what you’re used to.
Afterwards, I came home and rethought why I liked SU so much. Well the fact is that I could just model much faster in SketchUp than I ever could in other programs. So, one night, as I worked in SU on a big interactive project, I asked one of my buddies who was a Blender expert, to have a “model-off.” I was sure I could show him I could build things faster in SketchUp with all my plugins, decades of experience and everything.We chose something simple at first while we shared a GoToMeeting screenshare.
1,2,3 GO! I was off and running and about half way through-- he said, “Done.” What? Obviously it was because the model itself was so simple-- so I next chose a more difficult model. Same results.
It was that exact moment I decided I needed to learn Blender. Took me a couple months, but I did it and would absolutely not turn back. I don’t miss SketchUp one bit. I will always use the best tool for the job-- I get paid $250/hr for my work so money’s not the point for me. In fact, truth be told, that Blender was free was IMO a detriment to me considering it.
I’m glad I did.
This does not mean Blender is the perfect tool for everyone. It worked marvelously for me.
BTW, this guy does amazing things in Blender in only 10 minutes!
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Yep that cool !
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@chippwalters said:
The newest Blender, available in beta now, has push/pull
Yes, good to see this happening. But WHY do they have this stupid handle?!? Is snapping working with push/pull? And numeric inputs? How would you snap with this unprecise handle? The videos i watched sadly didn't show any precise push/pull operations.
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