What will SketchUp Free and Pro look like in 2013?
-
SketchUp is now part of the Trimble Buildings group...
@unknownuser said:
The new group will leverage the Trimble Design-Build-Operate (DBO) platform of organic and acquired technologies to develop and bring to market a new portfolio of synergistic technologies for capital construction owners and Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) service providers. Trimble Buildings will provide the organizational infrastructure to fuel innovation and allow current and future customers to take advantage of the rapidly evolving technology landscape to maximize overall business value.”
...i think if you look at what Trimble has bought in the last year you'll develop a full picture of the direction SketchUp will take.
It will at least play nice with its partners. But I don't see all these guys sitting down together and figuring out how will they all work together. File formats dictate that type of situation. Since all geometry holds some level of data I can see SU becoming more aware in it's exporting/importing functions and maybe adding some further attributes that translate to these other partner platforms. How the data is packaged and sent so that when opened elsewhere it will identify with these attributes. A type of meta-data I suppose. But I'm no expert on how file formats and building management systems crunch this data. But I think that Trimble sees a need for SU to be part of its BDO platform and that end users will need to transition from one to the other without many flowblockers.
I definitely don't see SU needing to add an all singing all dancing UV mapping tool when they already exist or various other tools you often hear members asking for. It's a users responsibility to create a workflow pipeline that suits them if you use SU outside it's normal operating environment.
If SU isn't in that pipeline then no big deal. But asking the team to keep adding more features because your workflow is not allowing you to do things fast or efficiently enough means you have outgrown the product and your skillset/workflow is beyond SU's capabilities. You need a new tool. Happy days....you're skillset will grow even further making you an even more attractive proposition for clients/employers etc....
As regards SU vanilla. Its a good tool. It handles geometry different to other apps and can introduce bad modeling habits but in terms of UX it definitely trumps other apps.
BTW, this is the tagline that I associate with SketchUp....
'SketchUp is a simple, 3D conceptual design modeler used by architects, engineers and anyone who wants to play with ideas in 3D.'
I digress.....
@unknownuser said:
What will SketchUp Free and Pro look like in 2013?
Hopefully the gap between Free and Pro will grow. With some of the well documented irregularities addressed. But please dont f#&k up the UX
-
@rich o brien said:
I definitely don't see SU needing to add an all singing all dancing UV mapping tool...
You are killing me
-
@jason_maranto said:
You are killing me
No, i feel your pain....when the software doesn't mature then the user must.
Even though I use Blender alot I only use probably 30% of it. Whereas in SketchUp I use 85% of it. So the glaring flowblockers are more apparent because I have had my concorde moment with it. By that I mean as a user I've exhausted all options to get more efficient and plateaued.
I think a lot of people try to make SketchUp do things it isn't meant to do.
That being said....
If a Xoogler/Trimbler/SketchUpper is reading this please give Pro users quads and sub-d.....before some else does
-
These days I'm using ZBrush and Hexagon for my subD and UV Unwrap -- but neither support a Maxwell plugin and moving stuff into and out of Sketchup is a real drag.
I suppose if SketchUp became a significantly better importer/exporter (and host of) of dense geometry then my UV issues would be somewhat alleviated. Because really my main interest in SketchUp at this point is the superior Maxwell plugin -- I work with high-poly organic-type models so often these days that SketchUp has become a liability... any geo I make with vanilla Sketchup looks simplistic and clunky, unless I go into plugin detail overdrive.
And of course trying to get clean texture mapping on complex plugin generated surfaces within SketchUp is a joke... just doing something with a rounded corner is tough.
Another problem that really creates issues outside SketchUp is there is no option for setting how planar surfaces are triangulated (and this is hidden, by SketchUp, from the user at all times)... cut a circular hole in a simple plane and export (yeah, I know -- it blows bigtime) -- I like formZ's controls over this aspect in particular and that alone is almost enough to get me to switch.
Best,
Jason. -
Is Hexagon Free? I downloaded it but it asks for a serial#
-
Nevermind I got it
-
@rich o brien said:
If a Xoogler/Trimbler/SketchUpper is reading this please give Pro users quads and sub-d.....before some else does
Yes, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
Wow ...... I didn't expect the intensity of opinion I am seeing.
Surely this is a very strong endorsement for SketchUp even as it is currently. After all it has opened doors to tens of millions that would NEVER have possibly considered delving into the world of 3D modeling. BTW, I think this could have been achieved with @Last if they stuck with it and as the program developed, they knocked out a very basic version. I think what we have now, version wise, is a bit of a mess!
Jason, I think you are being a little hard on John B and the SU Dev Team. I will agree that SU development during the Google years was pretty dismal but I also imagine working within the Google environment was extremely restricting even if they did allow one to bring their dog and laundry to work and sit in a tent within the office and climb a wall from time to time. The one thing, I think Google did not allow was direction to be set by the developers.
Just look at the fist thing they did when they acquired the application. They gave it away for free with little consideration given to how this act would effect the overall future development of the program! Okay this action quickly opened the doors to a vast collection of users of all kinds but I don't think it helped the development of SU in any way, only Google's main business ..... advertising. How could any development team set their sights on which way to go, development wise! Those years must have been confusing to say least, still a frustrated developer could always 'climb a wall' or sit in his/her 'tent'.
I hope SketchUp is going back to its roots. This can't happen soon enough for me. I do however imagine that there will be an Arch / Eng version, if not, there should be. I would also like the see some kind of a front end whereby I could start using SU on my iPad with a pressure sensitive pen in a '2D Mode'!
As regards the SU 2D mode, something along the lines of Intergraph's SmartSketch
http://www.intergraph.com/products/ppm/smartsketch/tour.aspx would do the job nicely. I also think many designers would welcome such a front end SketchUp version. -
@jason_maranto said:
...so I guess the "3D for everyone" is also a mislabeling. I mean that phase says SketchUp is meant to be a general modeler -- not an "architectural sketching" specialist.
this slogan is probably created by marketing and surely refers to the ease-of-use, i.e. everyone is enabled to do 3D modeling with SU because of it's simplicity and obvioulsy not to be a 'general modeler' ...whatever this should be.
jm2cts,
Norbert -
@mike lucey said:
Jason, I think you are being a little hard on John B and the SU Dev Team. I will agree that SU development during the Google years was pretty dismal but I also imagine working within the Google environment was extremely restricting even if they did allow one to bring their dog and laundry to work and sit in a tent within the office and climb a wall from time to time. The one thing, I think Google did not allow was direction to be set by the developers.
Just look at the fist thing they did when they acquired the application. They gave it away for free with little consideration given to how this act would effect the overall future development of the program! Okay this action quickly opened the doors to a vast collection of users of all kinds but I don't think it helped the development of SU in any way, only Google's main business ..... advertising. How could any development team set their sights on which way to go, development wise! Those years must have been confusing to say least, still a frustrated developer could always 'climb a wall' or sit in his/her 'tent'.
Perhaps... I was willing to believe the same until John came onto these forums spouting the same drivel he did while being supposedly "constrained" by Google.
So I can draw only a few possible conclusions from this:
- He was not in fact constrained, and the dismal development is not Googles fault.
- He is being similarly constrained by Trimble (not good news to say the least).
- His time at Google brainwashed him and he is now useless.
Best,
Jason.
-
@sketch3d.de said:
@jason_maranto said:
...so I guess the "3D for everyone" is also a mislabeling. I mean that phase says SketchUp is meant to be a general modeler -- not an "architectural sketching" specialist.
this slogan is probably created by marketing and surely refers to the ease-of-use, i.e. everyone is enabled to do 3D modeling with SU because of it's simplicity and obvioulsy not to be a 'general modeler' ...whatever this should be.
That's fine, except both John and the people at Trimble have invoked that exact phrase in recent statements about SketchUp's future... doesn't seem to be the actions of a group of people who want to distance themselves from bad Google marketing spin.
"Simple to use" does not a "3D for everyone" program make -- a waffle iron is simple to use, but I can not cook pasta on it (for that I would want a stove and pots and pans). For something to be applicable to everyone it needs to be a generalist, not a specialist... ease of use is a secondary consideration to actual utility.
Best,
Jason. -
@jason_maranto said:
...doesn't seem to be the actions of a group of people who want to distance themselves from bad Google marketing spin.
sure, simply because they understand it in the way I have described above, therefore no change of the claim is required.
@jason_maranto said:
"Simple to use" does not a "3D for everyone" program make
of course it does, what you mean is "3D for every purpose" which was never claimed simply because a faceting wireframe modeler made for creating fast 3D design sketches never will be used if exact NURBS surfaces/solids for e.g. manufacturing are required.
@jason_maranto said:
-- a waffle iron is simple to use, but I can not cook pasta on it (for that I would want a stove and pots and pans).
-- SU is simple to use, but I cannot use it as a replacement for e.g. a full blown AEC/BIM or MCAD tool (for that I would want ArchiCAD/Allplan/Revit or SolidWorks/Inventor/Creo).
jm2cts,
Norbert -
@jason_maranto said:
spouting the same drivel
No, tell me how you really feel
You've been a one-man wrecking ball of negativity - what's your point? Do you expect to effect any change in this way? I just don't see it.I understand the limitations of SU pretty well, and for the things that don't work well, I've moved on, for the things that work great, I still enjoy immensely. For now, it's all conjecture about what will or won't change. Shouting about it isn't going to make much diff that I can see.
-
@andybot said:
No, tell me how you really feel
You've been a one-man wrecking ball of negativity - what's your point? Do you expect to effect any change in this way? I just don't see it.I'm being confrontational because now is the time to make these things clear... if not now, when? There is an opportunity for change to occur, but if nobody gets confrontational then nothing will change.
Best,
Jason. -
Both of your examples of what SketchUp is not are examples of specialists tools -- I'm not talking (and never have) about incorporating specialists tools into SketchUp (we don't need a swiss army knife).
I'm talking about modeling 101 tools and functionality -- other users brought up subD (I have not), other users bring up animation (I will not), other users bring up built-in rendering (I will not)... you can tack on whatever other pet project users may want.
64-bit is not some sideline thing, nor is UV mapping/unwrap -- these are fundamental aspects of almost all general modeling applications. Control over how co-planar faces triangulate is also not some outlandish request for a modeling application.
If you want to say that nobody but architects should be using SketchUp, I think you are dead wrong.
Best,
Jason. -
@jason..
and the reason you're not using modo instead of sketchup is?
-
I already said it -- the Maxwell plugin is better, but that may not currently be a as true as it once was (things may have improved with the Modo plugin since I last looked).
Modo is certainly one of my top 3 choices... however I have invested money and time into SketchUp and I want to be absolutely sure before I dump it.
Modo also does a bunch of things I don't place a high priority on: animation, subD and built in rendering are features I don't need (so why pay for them)... I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying in regards to those features.
Best,
Jason. -
@jason_maranto said:
I already said it -- the Maxwell plugin is better, but that may not currently be a as true as it once was (things may have improved with the Modo plugin since I last looked).
Modo is certainly one of my top 3 choices... however I have invested money and time into SketchUp and I want to be absolutely sure before I dump it.
Modo also does a bunch of things I don't place a high priority on: animation, subD and built in rendering are features I don't need (so why pay for them)... I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying in regards to those features.
Best,
Jason.dunno.. I learned rhino and it's what I mainly use for 'real' drawings now but I still use sketchup too.. I don't think it has to be either/or...
(but I will say this.. a couple of years ago I had a lot of wishes for sketchup.. (still do but...).. I had to decide wether to wait around for sketchup to do what I needed it to or invest in software that already does what I need (by invest, I mean invest time to learn.. rhino is still free on Mac
)... and now, I'm super glad I went with the latter..re: unused features.. thats part of what you'll have to deal with... if you want a more powerful software package, odds are its going to be more powerful in many ways.. not just the ways that are tailored to your personal requirements..
(but hey, there are things in sketchup that I never ever use either.. I'm sure it's the same for you too) -
i guess what I'm saying is give up on sketchup.. quit wishing and hoping.. accept it for what it is and that's that..
we've been in this game long enough to know sketchup's future and accepting that will make life a bit easier on you..
but still feel free to gripe online about sketchup.. i do it too.. but more for conversation than any other motive..
-
@unknownuser said:
I had to decide wether to wait around for sketchup to do what I needed it to or invest in software that already does what I need (by invest, I mean invest time to learn... and now, I'm super glad I went with the latter..
My thoughts precisely! If you need something else, get it now. What's the point in waiting and wishing (and incidentally whining, but that's an opinion) That's why I went to Blender, even though it was more than a year in study to get to where it's actually useful to me professionally.
Advertisement