There’s a great choice. But how do you choose the right Sketchup licence or pick the perfect Sketchup subscriptions? The answer lies in knowing exactly what each subscription provides, what the features and benefits are, and what the experts recommend. Here it is, all in one place. By the end of this article you’ll be fluent in the various types of Sketchup software: the Sketchup Pro licence, Sketchup Pro Student, Sketchup free and the rest. Read on to know the score.
Sketchup Licences
First, let’s explore the many excellent features of each Sketchup software licence. Your choice depends on exactly what you want to use the tool for, in what context, and the functionality you need. Every choice comes with access to a fantastic free library of tutorials and learning resources.
Sketchup Free
Sketchup Free is a great way to test-drive the software for yourself, see how it works and performs. It has everything you need to get a grip on the magic of Sketchup. This is the simplest free 3D modelling software out there, web based for flexibility. It lets you bring your 3D ideas online and makes SketchUp projects portable, not restricted to the machine you work on. Because it comes with such great functionality it’ll do everything you need a 3d drawing tool to do. Just bring inspiration and you’re off. This is what you get with Sketchup free:
- The Basic SketchUp modeller
- A Trimble Connect Personal subscription
- SketchUp Viewer applications for iOS and Android
- Basic importers for .PNG and .JPG files
- Exporters for .PNG and .STL files
Sketchup Go
Previously Sketchup Shop, SketchUp Go is a bundle of superb collaborative Sketchup software tools designed for conceptual 3D designs. It’s a subscription-based version of web-based SketchUp including professional-level features, Trimble Connect for Business, plus email support. This is the one you need when you want to design, mark up concepts, and share everything with your team quickly. It’s a great way to get buy-in, get the best ideas from everyone, and do it all via a simple, easy to use mobile solution. Here’s what’s included:
- The premium quality online modeller, SketchUp for Web
- A Trimble Connect for Business subscription
- Augmented reality viewing on SketchUp Viewer for iOS and Android
- Advanced importers .3DS, .DAE, .DEM, 2D and 3D .DWG/DXF, .KMZ and .STL
- Advanced exporters .3DS, 2D and 3D .DWG/DXF, .FBX, .KMZ, .OBJ, .VRML, .XSI and COLLADA
- Editable Styles
- Editable Materials
Sketchup Pro
A Sketchup Pro licence offers a wonderfully intuitive way to design, document and communicate ideas in 3D. You actually iterate in 3D. You create detailed, accurate models from the start. You can design, define, and plan in every stage of a project and it plays nicely with other design tools. The Extension Warehouse offers exciting extra functionality. Objects let you work fast and smart. Customisation makes everything unique. It generates detailed reports for stakeholders. And it harnesses inferencing for optimal accuracy and speed. This is what Sketchup Pro UK
Includes under the Sketchup Pro licence:
- A Premium online modeller
- A Trimble Connect for Business subscription
- SketchUp Pro for Desktop, LayOut, and Style Builder, desktop apps only previously available through a Classic SketchUp Pro licence
- Augmented reality viewing on SketchUp Viewer for iOS and Android
- Viewing on these Mixed Reality (XR) applications: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Hololens, and HP Windows Mixed Reality
Sketchup Studio
Sketchup Studio offers everything you get in the Pro version in the Sketch licence plus some brilliant extras you won’t want to miss out on. This gives you the full suite of Sketchup tools in one place, so you can deliver excellence every time, in no time. It has:
V-Ray for SketchUp, bringing gorgeous photorealistic rendering to your workflow
- Scan Essentials, letting you work with point cloud scanned data in SketchUp. It’s great to be able to use Scan Essentials to import point cloud data in all sorts of popular formats
What’s new in SketchUp Studio
V-Ray 5 for SketchUp provides stunning visuals. With its help it’s easy to present beautiful, workable designs that look uncannily real. And it’s easier to convince your stakeholders. It’s all about the lighting. When you present ideas lit with realistic lighting that can track the time of day, moving with the sun, and change at night, it’s incredibly real-looking. You’ve brought your idea to life. Here’s what V-Ray can do for you:
- Auto-generate a range of lighting options in just a few clicks without any expert lighting knowledge – it’s so intuitive
- Achieve global illumination
- Create rendered lines
- Make realistic natural and artificial lighting features to inspire your clients’ imagination
- Access to 20 cloud credits via Chaos Cloud, V-Ray’s superb cloud rendering service
- Access to a robust 3D content library, Chaos Cosmos, a great source of easy-to-render content to download into your design
Scan Essentials lets you import, view, and interact with point cloud data in the SketchUp modelling environment. You use your imported point cloud inside SketchUp to model the scanned as-built condition of the design, reveal accurate visual context to the Sketchup model you’ve made, and collect accurate data about measurements. As you can imagine, it saves designers a lot of time, which means saving money.
- Import and view point cloud data directly in SketchUp
- Model on point cloud data in SketchUp
- Document point cloud data clearly in 2D with LayOut
What’s included in SketchUp Studio
Sketchup Studio is absolutely crammed with amazing features, all created to make your design life better, easier, more cost effective, faster, and more efficient. Your work will be more inspiring. Your clients will be delighted. You’ll be able to get even more creative. So what does it offer? Here’s a comprehensive list of all the goodies that come with popular Sketchup Studio:
- SketchUp Pro – top class 3D design software that thousands of people around the world swear by, across a multitude of sectors and industries
- V-Ray 5 for eye-poppingly good 3D renders
- Scan Essentials for fast, accurate point cloud data work
- LayOut
- StyleBuilder
- PreDesign
- Add Location
- Access to the Extension Warehouse
- Access to the 3D Warehouse
- XR Viewer
- Mobile Viewer
- Trimble Connect Business
- SketchUp for Web, the portable version you can take with you anywhere
Sketchup Studio FAQs
Finally, let’s answer some of your most pressing questions about Sketchup software.
