Use Sketchup instead of Archicad?

Kyla

Opinions and advice welcome! I have been using Archicad at design school, primarily for kitchens and bathrooms. I have used Sketchup a little for furniture design. Is Sketchup good for full 2d drawings, plan, elevations etc.. and can you link the 2d drawings to the 3d model and have them update each other?

Thanks experts..

mitcorb

Yes on the Sketchup Pro with Layout for full documentation and bi directional reference between model and document.
The experts will tell you that too.

All due respect to Archicad, which is a robust program.

pbacot

@mitcorb said:

Yes on the Sketchup Pro with Layout for full documentation and bi directional reference between model and document.
The experts will tell you that too.

All due respect to Archicad, which is a robust program.

Bi-directional?

Layout presents views of the model and additionally 2d text, dimensions, and drawing can be combined with these views. You don't draw a 2d plan and have items appear or change in the 3d model. You can update the model and the views in LayOut will update. The LayOut document is intended for creating the project documents via paper and pdf (or other graphic format).

You can check out the Construction and Working Drawings thread for more info.

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12%26amp;t=15911

(EDIT: uh you may want to skip down to more recent posts. That thread starts in 2009 and a lot has happened since. Some will say not enough, others disagree, and hence the forums...)

mitcorb

I did not intend to mislead. While viewing some Sketchup information on layout and testing, it appears that you can activate the model while in layout to make modification. I will go back to that information and check what I saw.

Kyla

Thanks for your answers. I really wanted Sketchup to allow me to draw a full plan and have that plan translate into 3D without redrawing (as in Archicad). I will have a good look at that thread you recommend pbacot, thanks!

ArCAD-UK

ArchiCAD for kitchen design sound a bit like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut!

Ex ArchiCAD user here. I decided SU was far more fun for designing and modelling and still do; but as you may be reading elsewhere the "pro" Layout aspect has many frustrations, and some benefits. Unfortunately for Layout commercial pressure has taken over and I now export my views as dwg and xref them into AutoCAD LT due to file sharing compatibility issues with dwg (Do a search on "DWG Export" and you will find a list of the issues I had). I really liked a lot about Layout but the frustrations of achieving what I needed to do were costing me, not the client, money.

There are alternatives to AutoCAD LT e.g. Dassault Systeme's Draftsight which is free if Layout doesn't meet your 2D requirements.