SketchUp 2019 release

[juju]

Is there something that is essentially stopping us from developing our own opensource SketchUp "clone"? Except for time and money?

copyrights and patent infringements

[masterpaul]

Is there something that is essentially stopping us from developing our own opensource SketchUp "clone"? Except for time and money?

copyrights and patent infringements

What is copyrighted? Don't software patents expire after a while? Copyright doesn't really apply as we wouldn't be calling to SketchUp! All icons would be different too. LibreOffice doesn't get sued into oblivion, gimp exists too.
The style of SketchUp UI has been around since paint, so I think we could have a very similar UI too.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US6628279 The only thing that is tricky is the push-pull, but I've seen other software try and attempt that and plugins on other programs (I think).

If it's possible we could actually get a lot of things built in from the start, a built-in curviloft feature, features like fredoscale a built skatter like feature for exporting images and rendering etc. So we would have the standard toolbar which would have a very similar feature set as the large toolbar as in Sketchup and an advance toolbar with all those more "complicated" commands. Eventually, a simple to use built-in render and most important actual, support for large heavy models.

[rv1974]

It'd be more efficient to develop a-la SketchUp mesh building mode inside Blender

[masterpaul]

Edit:

There's a destructive push pull in development:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beZau_wpR-U
https://blenderartists.org/t/destructiv ... eta/678275

It seemingly has components like in SketchUp that can be edited all at once. It's lacking the UI, and perhaps with the upcoming blender, it will be possible to clone SketchUp's UI layout to help out with people wanting to migrate. Perhaps that could be done with a separate install exe so that beginners don't have to mess around with preferences or anything. I'm not sure how much more work would be needed to get everything sorted. I never used blender before. So I don't know what else would have to be done/coded in.

[andybot]

I never used blender before. So I don't know what else would have to be done/coded in.

I don't believe there are any tools in SU that are not available in Blender (inclusive of SU extensions.) IMO, the big difference/special sauce is the inference engine in SU. You can already push-pull with the extrude command. Manipulation inside meshes is not a whole lot different than SU, it's just a very a different workflow and shortcuts. The 2.8 UI changes make Blender miles more accessible coming from other software. Do take some time and explore Blender.

[monsterzero]

Oops. I just lost my lengthy post. So I'll keep this "version" short

Looks like I won't be using Sketchup anymore. For some time it was meditative to build in SU. But now with the SU 2019 release, the writing is on the "proverbial" wall. For the VR/AR and other art projects I am doing, I can no longer justify using SU. Nothing against SU, it isn't robust enough for me anymore.

So Blender it is.

I do know I'll be diving into Chipp Walter's videos like mad. I'm already digging into them and I'm fully invested and excited for 2.8.

(I will be modifying my setup in Blender to feel as much like SU and my build style as much as possible)

[pbacot]

I never used blender before. So I don't know what else would have to be done/coded in.

I don't believe there are any tools in SU that are not available in Blender (inclusive of SU extensions.) IMO, the big difference/special sauce is the inference engine in SU. You can already push-pull with the extrude command. Manipulation inside meshes is not a whole lot different than SU, it's just a very a different workflow and shortcuts. The 2.8 UI changes make Blender miles more accessible coming from other software. Do take some time and explore Blender.

I wonder if another difference in the interface is the ease of drawing in dimension. Haven't done much in Blender yet, but from comments I gather it is not as straightforward to draw dimension-ally as you want to do in architecture.

[rv1974]

I wonder if another difference in the interface is the ease of drawing in dimension. Haven't done much in Blender yet, but from comments I gather it is not as straightforward to draw dimension-ally as you want to do in architecture.

My eyes are bleeding when I see Blender archviz tutorials. They use raster blueprints as reference, move mesh subobjects without exact input, just eyeballing. The lack of fast and exact input on the fly is my biggest concern.

[L i am]

I wonder if another difference in the interface is the ease of drawing in dimension. Haven't done much in Blender yet, but from comments I gather it is not as straightforward to draw dimension-ally as you want to do in architecture.

My eyes are bleeding when I see Blender archviz tutorials. They use raster blueprints as reference, move mesh subobjects without exact input, just eyeballing. The lack of fast and exact input on the fly is my biggest concern.

I wondered about that myself but keyboard entry is do-able in blender and apparently 2.80 also has an improved tape measure.
I think that it is metric units only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcTntkU6e30

[optimaforever]

A bit late to the party but I agree with most here... SU isn't innovative anymore.
I fondly remember the anticipation when AtLast software brought v3 with the introduction of curves and v4 with transparent materials, and then eventually, the ruby scripting allowing the writing of plugins. Direct mesh/imagery import from Google Earth was nice plus too.

Nowadays I only use move, rotate, measure and pushpull (and sometimes section planes) as standard tools. All the rest is handled thanks to addon plugins.
So, I think all the tools I use in Sketchup date from v4 or v5. Everything that Google and Trimble brought on the table after that was not really needed. Which is a shame because I feel basically I pay every year for compatibility issues (clients keep updating and send us latest ver Skp models, or latest DWG files for instance)...

For several years now, SU's power is basically its plugins potential.

[sketch3d.de]

Is there something that is essentially stopping us from developing our own opensource SketchUp "clone"?

lightyears of knowledge in highly complex development of a 3D kernel as well as an accelerated OpenGL display output, glueing a programming API and last but not least connecting/developing vector-based 2D/3D data exchange interfaces for multiple platforms... just to name the most difficult stuff.

[masterpaul]

Is there something that is essentially stopping us from developing our own opensource SketchUp "clone"?

lightyears of knowledge in highly complex development of a 3D kernel as well as an accelerated OpenGL display output, glueing a programming API and last but not least connecting/developing vector-based 2D/3D data exchange interfaces for multiple platforms... just to name the most difficult stuff.

I think I would rather pay developers to create an opensource alternative than to pay that yearly for pro every year that brings nothing new to the table.

[Mike Amos]

Thing is, there are already open source alternatives. Why Trimble are behaving as they are suggests they do not care about migration. I shall leave it to others to work out why.

[monsterzero]

I still miss the way I can build in Sketchup and have yet to really dive into modeling in Blender. There are some Skethup-like "tools" and plugins for Blender but I've yet to really get into those. It still might be that I have to use Sketchup for modeling quickly and then importing into Blender. Not a bad trade off given Blender is free. I've realized a lot of my work is still really embedded in the "walled-garden" of Sketchup for now.

Nothing against Sketchup, but I need a little more power. Lighting, rendering and rigging. And now that I see Blender can really do some great edge outline looks, I can really stay in that platform for most of my work.

If anyone wants to tackle Blender mods for instance, push and pull, and sketch modeling for 2.8, I'd love-love to see that.

[GD3Design]

Two months in and they fixed a few bugs.... See folks, the subscription model really works for you!
https://help.sketchup.com/en/release-notes-0

(I miss reading the daily rants on this thread...so felt I had to resurrect it) (also wanted to hear how all the new blender users were faring)

[sketch3d.de]

yawn

[Pixero]

I think that to have any success in convincing the Blender team to add SketchUp like features it needs to be done both in mass and in detail.
It's easier to understand how to implement something if it is described in detail and broken down into digestable chunks.

[rempage]

Sorry if it's slightly off topic. Does anyone know who designed the SketchUp 2019 cover building?

[sketch3d.de]

better ask this in the offic. forum.

[Pixero]

I think I read it was Peter Guthrie and his company The Boundary.

[rempage]

Thanks. It's The Boundary indeed. Sadly you can't find it on their website.

[rv1974]

2019 DWG Import is disasterous- constantly skips geometry in multiple files. Blocks exploding is not a good option. The best workaround so far is to import into 2018 and re-open in 2019.

[valerostudio]

Thanks. It's The Boundary indeed. Sadly you can't find it on their website.

Interesting thing is that on CG Architect, in their latest article, when the Boundary lists all he software tools they use, SketchUp is not on the list.

[juju]

Interesting thing is that on CG Architect, in their latest article, when the Boundary lists all he software tools they use, SketchUp is not on the list.

Secret weapon much?

[mozzie]

I'm still using Pro v8 - I gave up once the "trust us - it'll be great" licensing came in.

The loss of Geolocation was a blow, but I am now able to work through using public/ Gov terrain information and imagery using QGIS, Spirix shapefile importer, the wonderful Toposhape and Superdrape (thanks TIG!).

[john2]

I think I read it was Peter Guthrie and his company The Boundary.

I got curious, googled and found this. Interesting videos of their work too.

https://blog.sketchup.com/article/pushi ... ualization

[chippwalters]

Edit:

There's a destructive push pull in development:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beZau_wpR-U
https://blenderartists.org/t/destructiv ... eta/678275

That's not available in Blender 2.8 because of the new boolean engine they are using. It may make a comeback in 2.81 as they are working on an even better boolean engine which should be ready by then.

[chippwalters]

I think that it is metric units only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcTntkU6e30

English units are supported.
Here's one of the videos from my Definitely EEVEE series on rendering SketchUp scenes in Blender 2.8.

Video

[chippwalters]

If anyone wants to tackle Blender mods for instance, push and pull, and sketch modeling for 2.8, I'd love-love to see that.

Here's a couple of videos which talk some about using modifiers to create models. Once you use modifiers, it's hard to think of modeling any other way

Video

Video

[chippwalters]

I'm still using Pro v8 - I gave up once the "trust us - it'll be great" licensing came in.

The loss of Geolocation was a blow, but I am now able to work through using public/ Gov terrain information and imagery using QGIS, Spirix shapefile importer, the wonderful Toposhape and Superdrape (thanks TIG!).

You also could check out:
http://terrain.party/