SketchUp & LayOut are like peas and carrots!
February 06, 2019
SketchUp & LayOut are like peas and carrots!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with SketchUp
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!
- Time/Money saved: Architectural fees for small-scale drafting tasks.
- Time/Money saved: Install details that would otherwise be missed.
- Flexibility: Ability to work with multiple consultants' file types by importing and re-saving.
I've spent very little time in other applications and programs, but for the cost, flexibility, and documentation style, SketchUp was the clear winner. I do not need a BIM-capable program or photorealistic rendering capabilities, but I do need a quick, effective, and professional way to communicate design intent and detail to our clients and partners.