SketchUp is a 3D modeling solution designed for professionals, comprised of various utilities, such as a layout designer, a style builder for customizing models, or a powerful editor.
The GUI is very intuitive in a manner that even a novice user would be able to use it, despite not having the knowledge to edit and create 3D objects. The Actions Menu has well-crafted icons that are very descriptive, but the interface could've had a more modern color theme. The actual color scheme reminds of early 2000s.
The features, as I said in the beginning, are very well represented. First of all, with the built-in editor users can design 3D objects from scratch, customize models with different styles, or combine 3D models.
The program supports the import of data from DS, DWG, KMZ, JPG, PNG, PSD, TIF, TGA, and other file formats. With the DWG import into LayOut, users can take advantage of DWG libraries, and find illustrations that are already scaled to paper size.
Moreover, now it's easier to embed projects with more useful information, such as price, URL, size, or type thanks to the advanced attribute feature.
Also, you can now generate reports that aggregate component data, so you can create detailed estimates or reports about sum parts and quantities for cultists.
In conclusion, SketchUp is a complete 3D modeling program that has a highly intuitive layout, thousands of 3D models and descriptive toolbars. It lacks more architectural options like a wall tool, it's not built for users who have no 3D knowledge, has a high memory usage and it seems a bit too pricey even though it's a professional tool.
v15.0 [Nov 4, 2014]
What's New?
64-bit application
We’ve updated the SketchUp engine to run as a 64-bit application on both PC and Mac operating systems. What exactly does this mean? The least nerdy way to explain it is that 64-bit allows for more bandwidth between SketchUp and your computer’s active memory. Theoretically, the 64-bit version of SketchUp should have a better working relationship with your 64-bit computer. Check out this article for more details including things you need to know about installing 64-bit SketchUp.
If you don’t have a 64-bit Windows machine, we’re still offering a 32-bit version for Windows machines.
On the Mac, given that all of our supported operating systems are 64-bit, SketchUp 2015 is available only in 64-bit.
Learn more about OS support here. Note that we have dropped support for Windows Vista, XP and OSX 10.7 Lion with this release.
Face Finder improvements
We’ve mined and optimized the code for Face Finder, one of the core under-the-hood operations that make SketchUp’s magic possible. Face Finder is the code that runs whenever SketchUp automatically creates a face from coplanar edges. Think for a second about how often that happens. When we tested this sharpened code on large models, we found big performance improvements in operations like Explode and Intersect.
Rotated Rectangle
For a few years now, we hosted a wildly useful, but not wildly popular Rotated Rectangle extension. This extension allows you to draw non-90 degree rectangles on the ground. The folks who used this tool found it extremely handy, so we decided to build it into SketchUp with some significant enhancements. SketchUp 2015’s official Rotated Rectangle tool lets you draw off-axis rectangles at any angle (and not necessarily on the ground). Give it a try: we bet it’ll make you feel like you’re using SketchUp for the very first time again.
3 Point Arc
Who said SketchUp only does boxes? With the addition of a 3 Point Arc tool, there are now four different ways to draw arc’d edges in SketchUp. This new arc tool lets you define an arc bulge via the arc’s end point. If you’re trying to set an exact intersection along the path of your arc, this tool is for you. In contrast, the good ole’ 2 Point Arc tool asks you to choose two points and then define a bulge by the midpoint. The point is, now your arcs are up to you.
Review 2D and 3D designs without using the application they were created in
Create a floor plan for your home and start adding walls and textures
