SketchUp is a suite of subscription products that include SketchUp Pro Desktop, a

3D modeling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...

Computer-Aided Design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

(CAD) program for a broad range of drawing and design applications — including architectural, interior design, industrial and product design, landscape architecture,

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

, theater, film and

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

development. Owned by

Trimble Inc. Trimble Inc. is an American software, hardware, and services technology company. Trimble supports global industries in building & construction, agriculture, geospatial, natural resources and utilities, governments, transportation and others. Trim ...

, the program is currently available as a web-based application, ''SketchUp Free'', and three paid subscriptions, ''SketchUp Shop, SketchUp'' ''Pro, and SketchUp Studio,'' each with increasing functionality. The program includes drawing layout functionality, surface rendering in different "styles", and enables placement of its models within

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

History

@Last Software

SketchUp was developed by startup company @Last Software of

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

, co-founded in 1999 by Brad Schell and Joe Esch.n SketchUp was created in August 2000 as a 3D content creation tool and was envisioned as a software program for design professionals. The program won a Community Choice Award at its first tradeshow in 2000. The first macOS release of SketchUp won a "Best of Show" at Macworld in 2002.

Google

Google acquired @Last Software on March 14, 2006, attracted by @Last Software's work developing a plugin for Google Earth. On January 9, 2007, Google announced Google SketchUp 6, a free downloadable version of SketchUp, including integrated tools for uploading content to Google Earth and to the Google 3D Warehouse. Google SketchUp Pro 6 introduced a

beta version A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

of Google SketchUp LayOut which includes 2D vector tools and page layout tools allowing presentations to be produced without the need for a separate presentation program. On November 17, 2008, SketchUp 7 was released with integration of SketchUp's Component Browser with Google 3D Warehouse, LayOut 2 and dynamic components that respond to scaling. On September 1, 2010, SketchUp 8 was released with model

geolocation Geopositioning, also known as geotracking, geolocalization, geolocating, geolocation, or geoposition fixing, is the process of determining or estimating the geographic position of an object. Geopositioning yields a set of Geographic coordinate s ...

with

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

and Building Maker integration.

Mac OS X Tiger Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4) is the 5th major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Some ...

was no longer supported. SketchUp version 8 use under

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

has been rated "

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

". Geolocation information is always stored in the KMZ file. The building designs themselves are saved in SKP.

Trimble

Trimble Navigation (now

) acquired SketchUp from Google on June 1, 2012 for an undisclosed sum. In 2013, SketchUp 2013 was released. A new site was provided, Extension Warehouse, hosting plugins and extensions for SketchUp.

Subscriptions

SketchUp comes in three subscription options:

Studio

Everything in the pro plus professional rendering via Chaos' V-Ray for SketchUp and point cloud import and management via Trimble's Scan Essentials.

Pro

SketchUp Pro subscription includes the eponymous desktop 3D modeler, plus importers and exporters to common 2D and 3D formats, access to SketchUp's repository of pre-built 3D models (3D Warehouse), access to its extension library (Extension Warehouse), access to LayOut (2D documentation software) and Style Builder (create custom edge styles for SketchUp models). SketchUp Pro 2016 has native integration with Trimble Connect, treat 3D Warehouse models as references, a rebuilt Generate Report and now LayOut offers web-friendly reference objects as well as a new LayOut API. SketchUp Pro licensing is dual-platform and works on Windows and Mac machines.

Go

Go, formally known as Shop, is a SketchUp offering that includes the following: web and mobile modelers, SketchUp for Web and SketchUp for iPad; Trimble Connect Business, a cloud collaboration tool for viewing, sharing, and accessing project information from anywhere; and access to SketchUp's model library, 3D Warehouse. IPad On Site

SketchUp Go is aimed at design and construction professionals who are stakeholders in the design, review, and presentation process, as well as for DIY designers. It has a feature set designed to meet the specific needs of users on the go. For example, users can model and mark up 3D models digitally using Apple Pencil and touch. They can take iPad to construction project sites and coordinate in 3D. eference: https://www.sketchup.com/plans-and-pricing/sketchup-goSketchUp Go does not include the desktop modeler, a downloadable application that can be used offline. Currently, only Pro and Studio plans feature this modeler.

Free

In November 2017, SketchUp Free was released as a web-based application which replaces SketchUp Make. Drawings can be saved to the cloud, saved locally as a native SKP file, or exported as an STL file. Compared to Make, SketchUp Free does not support extensions, creation and editing of materials. The product is not for commercial use.

License

On June 4, 2020, Trimble announced that SketchUp would transition to a

subscription business model The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, an ...

. After November 4, 2020, SketchUp no longer sells perpetual licenses and maintenance & support plans.

3D Warehouse

3D Warehouse is an open library in which SketchUp users may upload and download 3D models to share. The models can be downloaded right into the program without anything having to be saved onto your computer's storage. File sizes of the models can be up to 50 MB. Anyone can make, modify and re-upload content to and from the 3D warehouse free of charge. All the models in 3D Warehouse are free, so anyone can download files for use in SketchUp or even other software such as

AutoCAD AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...

Revit Autodesk Revit is a building information modelling software tool for architects, landscape architects, structural engineers, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineers, designers and contractors. The original software was developed by ...

and ArchiCAD - all of which have apps allowing the retrieval of models from 3D Warehouse. Since 2014 Trimble has launched a new version of 3D Warehouse where companies may have an official page with their own 3D catalog of products. Trimble is currently investing in creating 3D developer partners in order to have more professionally modeled products available in 3D Warehouse. According to the Trimble, 3D Warehouse is the most popular 3D content site on the web. SketchUp designers may visit 3D Warehouse to discover new products or for inspiration when designing their own.

Patents

SketchUp holds U.S. Patent 6,628,279, granted in September 2003, on its ''"Push/Pull"'' technology.

Software extensions

SketchUp 4 and later support software extensions written in the

Ruby programming language Ruby is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language which supports multiple programming paradigms. It was designed with an emphasis on programming productivity and simplicity. In Ruby, everything is an object, including p ...

, which add specialized functionality. Many such extensions are available to others on the Trimble Extension Warehouse and many other 3rd party websites as well. SketchUp has a Ruby console, an environment which allows experimentation with Ruby. SketchUp Free, the web-based version, does not support extensions which severely limits the functionality of the tool.

Model viewers

SketchUp Viewer

SketchUp Viewer is an app released by Trimble. It is available on Desktop, iOS, Android, and

Microsoft HoloLens Microsoft HoloLens is an augmented reality (AR)/ mixed reality (MR) headset developed and manufactured by Microsoft. HoloLens runs the Windows Mixed Reality platform under the Windows 10 operating system. Some of the positional tracking tech ...

. While the app is free to install and use on all platforms, AR and XR features use the freemium model.

Cubits

Cubits for iPad and iOS is a 3D interactive model viewer/renderer. It can view

.kmz Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Ke ...

files from SketchUp either as attachments through e-mail or via

Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007 ...

IrisVR Prospect

Kubity

Kubity Kubity is a cloud-based 3D communication tool that works on desktop computers, the web, smartphones, tablets, augmented reality gear, and virtual reality glasses. Kubity is powered by several proprietary 3D processing engines including "Paragon ...

— the first mixed reality multiplex, is a system to instantly visualize 3D models on multiple devices: desktop computers, smartphones, tablets, augmented reality gear and virtual reality glasses. They also developed rvt2skp, a free plugin to export any Revit project to a .skp file.

The Wild

The Wild ''The Wild'' is a 2006 American computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by animator Steve "Spaz" Williams and written by Ed Decter, John J. Strauss, Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin. It features the voices of Eddie Izzard, Kiefer Sutherl ...

is a collaboration software program that allows architecture and design teams to experience their SketchUp models together in virtual and augmented reality.

File formats

SketchUp supports its own file extension. It supports the following 3D modeling formats:

.3DS 3DS is one of the file formats used by the Autodesk 3ds Max 3D modeling, animation and rendering software. It was the native file format of the old Autodesk 3D Studio DOS (releases 1 to 4), which was popular until its successor (3D Studio MAX ...

.DAE COLLADA (for ''COLLA''borative ''D''esign ''A''ctivity) is an interchange file format for interactive 3D applications. It is managed by the nonprofit technology consortium, the Khronos Group, and has been adopted by ISO as a publicly available ...

, .DEM, .DDF,

.DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs. DXF was introduced in December 1982 as part of AutoCA ...

.DWG DWG (from ''drawing'') is a proprietary binary file format used for storing two- and three- dimensional design data and metadata. It is the native format for several CAD packages including DraftSight, AutoCAD, BricsCAD, IntelliCAD (and i ...

.IFC The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a CAD data exchange data schema intended for description of architectural, building and construction industry data. It is a platform-neutral, open data schema specification that is not controlled by a sing ...

(.IFCZIP),

.KMZ Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Ke ...

, .STL, PDF (Mac Only). SketchUp Export: SKP, 3DS, DAE, DWG, DXF, FBX, IFC, OBJ, KMZ, STL, WRL, XSI SketchUp Export images: JPG, PNG, TIF, PDF (Mac Only ), EPS

Layout formats

LayOut Import: SKP, BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, RTF, TXT, DWG, DXF, CSV, TSV, XLSX. LayOut Export: PNG, JPG, PDF, DWG, DXF.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sketchup 2000 establishments in the United States 2000 software 3D graphics software Computer-aided design software for Windows Software companies established in 2000 Google acquisitions Google software MacOS computer-aided design software