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SketchUp is a versatile tool that is widely used in various industries, including architecture, interior design, structural design, …
Starting at $119 per year
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What is SketchUp?
SketchUp is 3D modeling software with an emphasis on usability. SketchUp is a Trimble product.
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Pricing
Free
$0.00
Cloud
per year
For Schools (free with G Suite or Microsoft education account)
$0
Cloud
For Students
$55.00
Cloud
per year
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.sketchup.com/plans-and…
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $119 per year
Product Demos
SketchUp Instant Door and Window Demo 1 - Vali Architects
YouTube
SketchUp PlaceMaker Demo www.suplacemaker.com
YouTube
Sketchup demo 1
YouTube
Component Stringer SketchUp Plugin Demo
YouTube
Visualizer for Sketchup Demo
YouTube
BoolTools for SketchUp Demo
YouTube
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is SketchUp?
SketchUp is 3D modeling software with an emphasis on usability. SketchUp is a Trimble product.
SketchUp Video
Sketchup Demo
SketchUp Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
SketchUp starts at $119.
Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 8.5.
The most common users of SketchUp are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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(188)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Recommendations
SketchUp is a versatile tool that is widely used in various industries, including architecture, interior design, structural design, landscape design, and manufacturing design. Users have found SketchUp to be a fast and efficient solution for creating 3D models for designing buildings, furniture, equipment, and brochures. Its affordability and ease of learning make it accessible for both clients and consultants. SketchUp Pro, in particular, is a popular choice among organizations without extensive training. Real estate professionals rely on SketchUp to help sellers visualize different staging and marketing options for homes. It is utilized throughout all phases of design and construction documents for both residential and commercial projects. SketchUp excels at creating 3D drawings that meet various design requirements.
In addition to its architectural applications, SketchUp also finds use in other fields. For example, it provides visual assistance in test setups by allowing users to build 3D models that demonstrate the connection and transfer of forces. The software is internationally recognized for its extensive capabilities in making 3D designs easily, making it popular among architects, engineers, and industrial designers. In the construction industry, SketchUp is employed for design visualization and collaboration among team members. Nonprofit organizations utilize SketchUp to create visual representations of tradeshow displays, television studio set mockups, and graphics for printed publications. Designers in the furniture industry depend on SketchUp to quickly develop 3D models of office furniture and create prototypes.
Overall, SketchUp helps professionals from a range of disciplines connect better with their clients by providing a visual experience beyond traditional 2D drawings. It serves as the main visualization and 3D modeling tool for architects during client presentations, internal study sessions, and quick adjustments based on feedback. With its broad range of features and ease of use, SketchUp continues to be embraced by users across industries to enhance their design understanding and visualization capabilities.
Users of this software have made several common recommendations. Firstly, many users suggest exploring compatible plugins to enhance the experience. They feel that these plugins can greatly improve the functionality and capabilities of the software. Secondly, users recommend watching YouTube tutorials and taking advantage of the software's free version to learn and familiarize themselves with its features. They believe that this approach can help in mastering the software more effectively. Lastly, users highly recommend using SketchUp for architecture and civil work as it is considered a great tool for visualizing designs in a realistic and accurate way. They find the software intuitive and easy to use with a great component library which aids in communication during design processes.
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Reviews
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
SketchUp is our go to 3D modeling software to quickly visualize a space and share it with clients. On multiple occasions we have used it's large web based library to find objects that we integrate into our models and then export into rendering software to provide a polished 3D visual for our clients. The super intuitive nature makes it easy for anyone to 3D model, and I prefer it over our other 3D modeling programs with use.
- Intuitive 3D modeling tools
- Vast web based library
- Exportable to a vast range of other software
- Better integration of "Layers"
- Having a "Free" viewer program so I can share models with clients to explore
- Auto size to sheet size option for importing PDF's so I don't have to constantly scale.
December 20, 2021
Quick and easy tool
I use SketchUp to provide sketches, layouts, elevations, and renderings for my interior design clients.
- quick sketching with measurements
- easy renderings
- layouts of spaces
- could be easier to maneuver
February 22, 2020
SketchUp: saved my life with a deadline
In our company, we often use SketchUp to create 3D model concepts to help our customers have a better idea of or expand details for AutoCAD drawings. That is a good way to explain a difficult detail or structure. The biggest problem is that the layout and dimensions don't seem good and are hard to control. Many members must work in a separate file but cannot collaborate together in the same file.
- Build a model very fast and save a lot of time.
- Easy to change details, materials or scenes. Update in real time with layout.
- Layout is not easy to create or control.
- Not easy to do dimension in 3D view.
January 29, 2020
SketchUp is a Corner Stone of 3D design
I use SketchUp designing 3D contents for my clients' projects. SketchUp provides quick 3D model creation possibilities via its useful mouse commands. I only use SketchUp since MiniFabrikam is a small online desktop 3D printing company. I use SketchUp mostly on architectural projects. SketchUp provides many ready-made 3D models for all kinds of things in its 3D model repository called 3Dwarehouse. This feature saves you a lot of time on your projects. You select the ready-made models from the 3Dwarehouse and could use your own projects.
- SketchUp has a vast 3D model repository. You don't need to design the wheel from scratch.
- SketchUp's extension warehouse provides a lot of solutions for different design problems. You could solve your design bottlenecks via extensions. I often use SketchUp's STL exporter extension to get 3D printable designs for my business.
- It is a little bit hard to get manifold 3d files from SketchUp. Manifoldness is a must-have rule for a 3D printable file.
- SketchUp cannot import well-known CAD file formats.
December 11, 2019
A Must-Have Product for any Designer
SketchUp creates comprehensive, organized, responsive models used to generate line drawings, general marketing content, and an assortment of renderings with the help of 3rd party crowd-sourced tools.
- Quick product creation with use of components, grouping, and the unique hide rest of model tool
- Great Maxwell add-on application to create photo-realistic renderings
- Some sudden application shutdowns make auto-save an important feature to turn on
- Complex warehouse models greatly reduces the speed of the model. In some cases, this makes the model unusable
February 06, 2019
SketchUp & LayOut are like peas and carrots!
We are a small company that relies heavily on the documentation of others (architects, engineers, trades) to complete quality, custom projects for both Residential and Commercial clients. As the sole Designer, I use SketchUp to supplement these documents or create entire sets, with information that clearly communicates design intent. While I'm the only employee using Trimble programs, the documentation and drawings that result are used daily on projects by our estimators, project managers, and trade partners/installers. SketchUp has allowed our company to offer a cost-effective way to ensure details of the design are being considered early and often, even when the original plans are less than complete.
- Quickly exploring solutions in 3D: We get a lot of "what if" and "what would that look like" questions. While hand-sketching and hand-drafting can be fairly quick, SketchUp allows me to quickly create 3D and 2D views of a detail or solution, change dimensions and materials in a flash, and show a client or installer the plan in minutes.
- Creating professional design documents in LayOut: Projects of any scale need good documentation. Using a combination of SketchUp and LayOut, I can create a Design Intent Set, plans for permitting, a set for mechanical trades to mark-up, etc. Having clear, appropriately-scaled drawings with dimensions or notations is a must, and we don't always have the time or budget to get an architect involved!
- Using live files to guide discussions: Not all clients are "visual" people, so opening their model and orbiting around their space in real time has been extremely helpful. Clients and trades enjoy the perspective views so much that we often include them in the full-sized drawing sets to give a good "overall" view of the project intent. For complex or tight spaces, sometimes un-rendered plans and elevations just aren't enough!
- I'd love if LayOut and SketchUp used the same nomenclature for color selection. If I'm poche-ing a wall in M04 in SketchUp, I don't want to have to track that color down in terms of percentages in LayOut to have some line work match.
- 3D Warehouse needs Marie Kondo to tidy it up. The search function is rough and the amount of 2D crap posing as 3D modeling is annoying. It's come a long way, but getting some major brands to upload their items would be great, especially if there was an easy way to tell the difference between a professionally modeled piece and a beginner just trying to replicate without proper dims, etc!
- Small request - and yes, I know I can program commands manually - but groups are SO important to a happy model that control + G should be a standard command to group selected geometry!
August 08, 2018
The simplest 3D way
My company uses SketchUp to make sketches of the cabinets for the electronics that we develop. Before final production, designs that are developed and tested from 3D printing are designed in this program. The main problem this tool solved was the time that elapsed from when we made the order for the design team to when we had the completed prototype. Now we ourselves are the ones who design, thanks to SketchUp, and then we print to test them.
- It helps to visualize objects in three dimensions.
- It has a very user friendly interface that has to use all its commands.
- There is a large community of people who use it willing to help, and also a great official technical support.
- It offers great compatibility with most 3D design CAD programs.
- The work area is small, not supporting large projects.
- You need a computer with a video board powerful enough to take advantage of the entire software.
- It does not have enough materials to render, and those that are not realistic enough.
July 13, 2018
SketchUp is extremely valuable
I don't use SketchUp for work but I do use it for personal reasons. I've just been diving into it and I must say, it's really cool. I love being able to simply conjure up 3D designs and tweak them to my liking. With 3D printing being more and more available, there's a world of possibilities for people who previously would not have had the knowledge to create physical products.
- 3D modeling and design.
- I am not good at drawing so being able to use SketchUp to rapidly prototype is super helpful.
- I find it's really helpful for visualizing a concept and making immediate changes. All without having to actually hold an object in front of me. Or without wasting resources on building something that won't work.
- It's not a super simple tool to use. I find it quite tough sometimes to navigate around. And I'll often just get my camera lost because I moved too fast or panned too far.
- The interaction of 3D objects takes some getting used to. As with most great things, there's definitely a learning curve.
June 06, 2018
SketchUp really fires up your simple 3D models
SketchUp was used across our design side of the house to make initial models for landscape designs and structures. It was used to help designers visualize areas in the landscape that would otherwise be limited to 2D. This was a very easy program to pick up so it was able to help us here very quickly.
- Easily visualize 3D models
- Quickly design in three dimensions so you can see all areas of a design
- Help clients that do not have as easy a time visualizing 2D plans. By building 3D models they were much more likely to see the design and buy off on it.
- Fly-throughs were also very well done in SketchUp
- The rendered models were not as detailed as more advanced 3D programs
- The pricing model is interesting but as a small company we made it work
- Some of the more advanced features were hard to find considering they try and make the product so simple to pick up.
April 19, 2018
SkecthUp for all!
We use SketchUp across the entire organization, to meet the project's requirements as drawings markups, change order in the designs and to present to the final client the updates and new landscapes on the construction field of their properties. We encourage our project managers to develop standards using SketchUp and integrate their proposal within the AutoCAD platform.
- It's easy to learn and manage all the features.
- In its Pro version has a powerful documentation engine that allows you to track down the project advances.
- Store and Share on premise drawings and projects with all your team members and clients as well.
- SketchUp Pro lacks many architectural [requirements] to achieve standardization over the house wizard and wall tools
- It's limited to perform a specialized texture modeling.
- Add in can be expensive upon the initial investment.
November 22, 2017
Great Modeling Software for Simple Needs
Our business uses different types of 3D modeling software, but we use SketchUp primarily for on-the-fly drawings or to quickly edit previously drawn renderings. It's great if you want to quickly make a drawing and not necessarily need a full-fledged dimensioned engineering drawing. We find it very intuitive and user-friendly.
- Very user-friendly.
- Easy to learn and simple software.
- Lots of models to use in the 3D warehouse to save time.
- There are lots of resources for SketchUp to support the user.
- Exporting/importing files from other programs may not always be compatible.
- I'm an engineer and I feel SketchUp is more geared towards architects. However, I still find it useful for certain aspects of my job such as creating renderings.
- Has a tendency to slow down as the file size gets larger. Apparently, it runs on an outdated engine that has trouble with very heavy models.
September 15, 2017
SketchUp - Awesome for quick sales sketches!
We use SketchUp only occasionally at our construction sales company. An owner of a project may want to see how our products will look aesthetically in their build, and SketchUp makes this quick and easy.
- Easy to learn, and very user friendly!
- Their 3D Model library saves time from having to draw commonly used objects
- Creating 3D curved & irregularly shaped walls is cantankerous
- Building custom roof lines is a lot of steps. You have to draw your highest peak triangle first, then work your way down in order for the other roof lines to work, so if you've got a lot of different peak heights to draw, there will likely be a lot of trial and error to get this roof right
- Import/Export compatibility with other programs (like AutoCAD) is not the greatest. You still have to do quite a bit of touch up in the program to get the drawing looking like it was before.