Sketchup – Give it a try, it´s fun!
Recently Google acquired @Last’s SketchUp, a 3D-drafting and sketching software.Brad the founder of @Last says:
WHAT’S NEW?
Well, about the biggest thing ever: we’ve been Googled. That’s right, Google Inc. has acquired @Last Software… so you might have just spit your coffee all over your keyboard, or you’re rolling your eyes thinking this is another one of my April Fool’s jokes. Believe me, we’re still having a hard time believing it ourselves, but it’s real – we are now Google!WHAT??!
Wow…where to start? You have to be wondering what this means for SketchUp. Are we going to give up on design and all the cool new features and products we have in the pipeline? No way! In fact, the mission doesn’t change at all.
Years ago i have been working quiete a lot in the field of 3D computer graphics (CAD, 3D Animation…) so i decided to give SketchUp a try… As Sketchup is a Google Software now, I somehow silently expected it would be a freeware… that was a huge mistake… it actualy costs 469,- EUR. but i had luck they have a full blown trial. (still better than maybe having some annoying Adwords in the userinterface of Sketchup or intersticials like: “You just plotted a house, don´t you want to buy one at …” ;.)
So, what can i say, I didn´t regret to try it out. It gave me that light bulb moment: “How elegantly easy and usefull”. Sketchup lives up to his promise. An easy to Learn 3D software for rapid userfriendly development of 3d sketches.
SketchUp was built on the philosophy that a small, powerful toolset that did it’s best to capture the spirit of drawing, would be the most effective way of enabling designers to express themselves — without constraints.
The most amazing part of my tryout experience is how SketchUp manages to give you an ingeniusly simple way of 3d modelling. The concept is that you start with basic geometry that you devide into subgeometry and then deform… so you go from course objects to more detailed… You can see the outcome of my first hour of playing arround with SketchUp in the picture at the beginning of this article…
Another thing is the way they managed realtime drawing in 3d space with easy to use adaptive correlated axial guides.
Sounds compicated but its very intuitive. SketchUp is pure KISS (Keep It Stupidly Simple) and I assure you that even people with zero 3D experience will get thrilled with SketchUp. So give it a try, it’ fun! (be sure to check out there video tutorials)
