Attached Link: @Last announcement about Google SketchUp, with links

A few years ago I heard about an app called SketchUp that was notable because it made 3-D modelling so simple to do, and because of its great user interface. I really liked the app, and the quirky company that produced it, but it was always too pricey for me to buy it. It was geared more at the architectural modelling crowd, and went for around $500.

Sometime in the last few months, the company (@Last) was bought by Google. And now they have released a FREE version of SketchUp!

I think everyone should download this app and give it a try, but I'd make that recommedation ESPECIALLY to people who have been afraid to try modelling software for building your own 3D objects. SketchUp make this process almost laughably easy, and what's more - fun!

The cons are these: advanced features are still locked away in the $500 version (now called SketchUp Pro) and that includes OBJ export. However, you can move models into and out of Google Earth and Google's 3D Warehouse. I'll be looking into the Ogle program (which can pick 3D models out of Google Earth without exporting) to see if it can be used as a back-door for getting geometry out of Google SketchUp.

But even if you can't ultimately export from Google SketchUp to Poser, the program is worth checking out just to see how easy 3D software CAN be!

Sketchup-free is for personal use only and the Warehouse will only support it's own native format. With all its disabled features, it's really no more exciting than the demo programs you can download for any 3D app.

$1.99 for Hexagon may not be free, but it's a third of what I paid for lunch today and that's pretty inexpensive for a full-fledged 3D modeling program without any restrictions.

With less restrictions, Sketchup might be worth a try because it sounds interesting, but there's only so much time in my life to learn how to use modeling programs that I don't want to put much time in one that won't let me export what I create and, even if there were a way around that restriction, won't let me use it commercially.

Uhm, it's not really $1.99 if you aren't a PC member. For non PC members it's more like $30+ (joinup etc). If it were Carrara... I'd be signed up already. But I just don't model enough, nor do I have enough ability to model, to join to get something I probably wouldn't use. Which is kind of exactly why I dumped PC. There was just nothing I wanted for months on end and I just wasted cash I could have used to buy things (more expensive) that I actually did want. I probably had about $100 worth of vouchers expire while I was a PC member because either I had it already - or I didn't like what those $5 would buy me, or there was something I wanted, but I couldn't USE the $5 because it was brokered. It's a good deal for people who are just starting out in Poser. It's really crappy if you've been doing it for years and bought tons of stuff all over the place already, some of which later showed up in PC. If my $7.95 a month actually bought me something... ok fine. That's why I prefer Poserworld. I buy the subscription - and I can download whatever I want from there at no extra charge, as often as I need to. Oh yeah, 90% of the freebies that came with the yearly subscription... I'd bought previously either from Zygote or Daz. And whatever I didn't have... wasn't something I'd ever use. To top it off, the only stuff under $5 that you could use vouchers on to use them up... was often stuff that came as a freebie in the "Bonus" or stuff that would have cost me a bit on top of the $5. Paying on top of something that you don't really need, just to use up the voucher, kind of defeats the object of using the voucher. Hence 90% of them expired. So it's really not for me.

Jimdoria, thanks for starting off the discussion. I saw that announcement about the Google acquisition and was really curious about SketchUp. 

However, I just picked up Hexagon 2 as a DAZ Platinum Club member some hours before seeing that announcement by Google.

So, now that I know SketchUp won't export OBJs in the trial version, I don't think I'll seriously check it out, because I've got this other new 3D modelling toy to figure out.

Perhaps later when I need to satisfy my curiousity about the GoogleEarth aspect of SketchUp, I'll go grab it....

With all the buzz over Hexagon, you may have missed this. (I know I did.) yup, missed it, thanks, jimdoria! despite it obviously being crippleware, the google earth connection sounds interesting.

This is the problem, Silke.  People expect the PC membership to be a continuous 'fest of savings'.  But that is not always the case.  The case is that on occassion, the PC membership easily pays for itself for the times when it wasn't.  Consider that Hexagon 2 is regularly $269, but I purchased it for $1.99 (that's a savings of $267!!!).  Does that pay for PC for, what, like five years?  You have to look at not only the cost of membership, but what you are saving in the process.  I save on almost every DAZ product that I purchase - it all adds up (and up and up).  No way am I giving up PC membership. :)

I was excited for a moment when I saw this in the news.  I've been having fun playing with a free renderer http://www.softlab.ntua.gr/~jpanta/Graphics/Kerkythea/ that has a SketchUp import module.  Then I saw that the free version will only create Google Earth files.  It may be worthwhile if you can get .obj out of it.  I have Ogle but I haven't used it for anything yet.  From the descriptions, SketchUp could be a real nice tool for creating buildings especially.

Quote - You have to look at not only the cost of membership, but what you are saving in the process.  I save on almost every DAZ product that I purchase - it all adds up (and up and up).  No way am I giving up PC membership. :)

Yes, I know what you mean. But when after over 8 months of my yearly (and I was a PC member from Day 1) membership nothing - and I really do mean nothing I want lands... then I don't renew. The Hexagon deal is the first and only one that has ever had a "saving" like this. Ever. And I'm simply looking at this objectively: Is it something I want? I don't model. I'm really BAD at modelling. I have Shade 7 and I've touched it like... twice. The "Saving" suddenly looks to me like "Yeah, I'd buy it for $1.99 even on the offchance I never use it." But the cost is actually more like $30 to me - and that's a month's broadband. Being unemployed at the moment, I have to justify every penny and as much as I'd like to try it out... Newp. I'm going to end up passing this offer most likely, unless something dramatically changes. For new users PC is a good deal. For the old timers... it's not so, because very often - VERY often - there is nothing we actually want. The only thing that tempts me occasionally are the buildings, but the outfits, the hair, the characters and whatnot are leaving me completely cold these days. I was tempted by that abyssal queen outfit... for all of 3 seconds. (It's not PC anyway) I looked at the hair but all the hair I ever got from Daz I end up painting and fixing up the "dirt" in it, so I stopped buying it. I simply don't like the textures that come with it, 99.9% of the time. Sorry to the merchants who go to great lengths producing the models and textures, but... I'd rather pay $20 for something that is outstanding and which I use over and over, than $1.99 for something that I load up, use and kick out of my runtime forever. It's not just the textures, it's the lack of morphs in a lot of the clothing. (And no, I don't want to have to buy Wardrobe Wizard just to make something fit!!) Very often the stuff just simply doesn't FIT. If you use one dial that isn't in the mesh, you're usually screwed. And I never use a default V3 or any character for that matter. What's the point of having all those morphs if the clothing you try to put on them is restricting your use of those morphs??? Hence I don't buy it anymore. Yes, my expectations are high, which is why PC isn't for me anymore, because more often than not, the items simply didn't thrill me. "It's only 1.99!" I hear you cry, but 10x 1.99 is nearly $20 and if out of those 10 items I use NONE... then it simply is false economy to me. Instead I'll get things like MnD's items when I can afford some, I have a few earmarked which I'd like to have. Or AS's. Or Danae's Hair models which are very high standard and render beautifully and which I use over and over. More expensive... but I USE them. I can't even remember the last time I used a single PC item in anything. That's why - for me - it's not such good value. :)

The things that I liked about SketchUp were it's ease of use for quickly knocking together simple models, and the intuitive nature of the tools. IE: you have the wall of a building, and you want to add a window. You draw a rectangle on the wall (and the way SketchUp works, your drawing pencil stays on the wall, just like you'd expect it to) then delete the new rectangle - poof: window. You don't need to "add nodes", "subdivide surfaces", "increase poly count", "triangulate" or any of that malarkey. In other words, it's 3-D software someone who doesn't already know 3-D software could actually use.

True, you can't get a .OBJ file out of the free version - for now. I really see that as a temporary obstacle. In fact, I haven't checked the MAKE: blog yet today - they may already have a solution posted.

A competitor to Hexagon? Probably not. I wouldn't want to model a human head in SketchUp, although I'm sure it's possible. The timing of my original post was just coincidence.

I was tempted to jump on the DAZ-PC bandwagon just to grab Hexagon, but ultimately decided against it. I find myself thinking about how cool it would be to model something a lot more than I actually wind up modelling anything. For years I used trueSpace for modeling, developing a deep attachment to (and loathing for) the program. I too got Shade, and have never used it. Too confusing & klunky, although to be fair part of that was me running it on too small a screen and being too lazy to shimmy up the learning curve. (Good thing I only sprang for the LE version!)

Right now I'm working on learning Wings 3D. I like it VERY much and can't see my modest modelling needs realistically outstripping it any time soon. I've also got Anim8or (which I think is nice) and there's always Blender in case I develop a real case of masochism. So I'll just keep my $30+++ for now.

Quote - I find myself thinking about how cool it would be to model something a lot more than I actually wind up modelling anything.

Heh, I know that tune.

I have a bit of a dilemma in that it would cost me about the same to upgrade my Sketchup3 to version 5 as it would to rejoin the P. Club and pick up Hexagon. I can see from the Eovia videos that Hexagon is way more capable; and that Sketchup is way more easy to use. Am I better off stuggling with learning something powerful that is difficult to use, or stuggling with making something that is easy to use stretch to its maximum? Given my Bryce experience, I'm inclined to choose the latter.

I'll take a couple of weeks or so to mull it over. User experience of Hexagon (results versus difficulties) will have an influence.

And there's always Wings. I even printed out the manual. But I find it deeply horrible... ;-)

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