This unprecedented year has changed the way we live and work. Like many of you around the world, we used this time at home to tackle projects we’ve been meaning to do for months (or years?) and were reminded of the importance of setting yourself up for success at the start of a project with a solid foundation.

Today, we are pleased to introduce a major update to SketchUp Pro with a number of improvements to help you tackle complicated projects, work efficiently, get more done, and succeed in new forms of creation. This major update of SketchUp Pro includes new tools and features, innovations, improvements, and time-savers that help you with all the unique challenges of this past year and beyond. 

To start, SketchUp’s full suite of products have a fresh new look. The best part? You can finally model the logos in 3D. Get to know the new SketchUp logos! 

Speaking of a new look, this new version introduces an architecturally-trained, Nigerian mother of twins as the scale figure to SketchUp Pro 2021: Sumele Aruofor. A Strategic Marketing Manager at Trimble, she knows a thing or two about the importance of starting a complicated project on a strong foundation. Say hi to Sumele when you open the new version, and get to know her a little better.

Now that we’ve settled into SketchUp’s new and improved exterior, it’s time to get to know the new features. SketchUp 2021 brings you a brand new, climate-savvy way to start designs, better model organization, and smart, configurable objects. The latest SketchUp version solidifies the groundwork of your most complicated AEC projects. Let’s get to know all the SketchUp 2021 updates.

A new way to start SketchUp

As AEC professionals we strive for a reality where every addition to the built environment works in harmony with the natural surroundings. This synergy requires a comprehensive understanding of a site’s context before plans are drawn. That’s where PreDesign comes in. This brand new climate research tool helps you to understand the local environment surrounding your project before you start modelling in 3D.

“Although SketchUp is a fantastic way to develop ideas in 3D, we are continuously exploring new capabilities and see tremendous value in making it easy for our users to include design research in their pre-design workflows,” said Andrew Corney, PE, M.CIBSE, M.ASHRAE, Product Director at Trimble. “With PreDesign, we’re providing designers with the insights they need to take a truly holistic approach to creating suitable design strategies and communicating value to their clients.” 

Pulling site-specific weather data, PreDesign suggesting appropriate architectural responses for your project. Intuitive sun path diagrams show you the areas of your site that need to be shielded from overheating sun. And it doesn’t just flag the issues; PreDesign suggests effective glazing, shading, and top-lighting strategies for each face of your building. Talk about getting things right from the start. 

“PreDesign provides useful information that we need to position our projects for better design outcomes from the very start,” said Adam Osterhoff, principal architect at Heartwood Studio. “Its compelling visual outputs and intelligent talking points also help us clearly communicate the value of our proposals to clients.“

PreDesign is here to enhance your design narrative with meaningful climate observations while alleviating some of the heavy-lifting from your workflow. By getting things right at the start, you’ll avoid wasting your precious design time and resources, and avoid costly rework. The forecast is sunny with PreDesign, see for yourself.  

Improved tag management

We know managing long lists of tags and scenes can be overwhelming—particularly with complex models. That’s why we’re helping you stay organized with Tag Folders in SketchUp Pro and LayOut. Whether you use tags to set up models for design scenarios, documentation, reporting, or visualization, we think you’ll find it a lot easier to locate and work with tags when you start grouping them in folders. You can also control the visibility of all tags in a folder at once to turn on and off large chunks of your model. 

We didn’t stop there. Filtering tags is finally possible in SketchUp! You can now quickly zero in on a specific tag. And if your tags are organized with a naming convention, you can quickly filter on your prefixes to select similar tags and organize them in a folder.  

Ultimately, we want to ensure that your workflow is operating at peak performance with the utmost control and agility. Which brings us to our next exciting announcement for SketchUp’s 2021 updates…

Introducing Live Components in SketchUp

Do you dream of building models that are robust and flexible enough to react to design changes? We do! There’s no doubt that a successful model is one that can easily accommodate iterations and allow for rapid change. In SketchUp 2021, SketchUp is introducing parametric objects that do just this; they’re called Live Components.

Programmed with modeling logic that controls their geometry, Live Components are configurable objects that re-draw themselves in real-time. What does this actually mean? Using Live Components with the 2021 SketchUp update allows for greater project scalability and benefits a wide range of use cases including architectural configuration, interior design, as-built modeling, space planning, and rapid iterations of concept or aesthetic. 

Live Components can be found in 3D Warehouse and are now available for you to download and configure right in SketchUp with SketchUp’s latest version. For detailed steps on finding Live Components in 3D Warehouse from inside the SketchUp application, click here.

Once you’ve selected a Live Component, you can insert it directly into your model where you can control the component’s parameters in the ‘Configure Live Component’ dialog. As you adjust parameters, the Live Component will redraw itself to fit your needs. Check out our Skill Builder showing you all the steps you need to bring Live Components into your workflow. 

Let SketchUp’s new Live Components do some heavy lifting for you: customize dimensions and sizes for repeated object use; quickly add rich context and make adjustments in real-time to produce more detailed designs in less time; or rapidly iterate large sets of components all at once as project requirements change. 

Behind the scenes, Live Components are driven by a new computational design platform called Materia. Going forward, Materia and Live Components will unlock whole new ways of working in SketchUp and across Trimble products. This launch is only the beginning for Live Components. We are still actively working on improving their performance and usability, as well as developing more objects for you to use in modeling.

A new way to launch work-in-progress features with the latest SketchUp version

SketchUp is launching Live Components early as part of a new program called SketchUp Labs, so that  your feedback can be incorporated into the product development process. We encourage you to join us in the forums for discussions on the future direction of Live Components, or provide feedback if you encounter issues.

Here’s to a solid start for 2021 with new SketchUp updates

Download the latest version to see everything that’s new in your favorite apps.

Are you a visual person? Join us on Wednesday, November 19th, 2020 for a live demo of the new tools and SketchUp’s latest version features in a special 2021 Release webinar! (English only) 

Keep creating and building the world you want to live in. Looking forward into 2021, SketchUp updates and all: May you model informed, design delightfully and build better buildings.

Today, Trimble announced a big change to how customers will be able to purchase SketchUp products—see the official announcement here. 

As of November 4, 2020, SketchUp will no longer sell Classic Perpetual Licenses and Maintenance & Support renewal plans. SketchUp is transitioning to subscription-based products, which offer customers a range of options including a SketchUp Pro subscription — featuring one of the most affordable professional modelers on the market. 

SketchUp is shifting to a cloud delivery model for a few reasons. With a subscription, customers can always receive regular updates and improvements to SketchUp products, access from multiple devices at any time and enjoy simplified deployment and management as well as access to technical support. 

If you aren’t ready to stop using your Classic Perpetual License, don’t worry. You’ll be able to continue using the latest version you own. In addition, if you’d like to update your Classic Perpetual License, you can do that until November 4th, 2020. 

Please be advised: if you purchase an updated Classic Perpetual License or renew your Maintenance & Support license prior to November 4, 2020, you will no longer be able to upgrade and access additional features every year as you have in the past.

We spent a lot of time in 2019 learning more about what you, the user, wish SketchUp did better. So…thanks for speaking up! You helped us discover what you need to improve your workflow. 

The result? Some exciting improvements in SketchUp 2020. Read on to learn more.

SketchUp Pro 2020: your 3D creative space

Introducing Outliner

A BIG model organization change: Outliner. In an effort to increase model performance, you no longer have to create Layers upon Layers. Manage and organize your model straight within Outliner. Use the friendly eyeball icon to toggle between the major sections of your model, such as main floor plans and furniture. 

New grips on bounding boxes

When you grab a point that is obscured in an object (such as a back corner or center point) and start to move it, your object will automatically go transparent when something in your model interferes with the object you are moving. This works with both the Rotate tool and Move tool. This will literally ‘transform’ your workflow. Don’t take our word for it: start positioning objects in hard to reach places to see what happens!

Better control of hidden objects

You’ll notice in your drop-down menu that we separated hiding objects from hiding geometry. How will this change your workflow? Well, this will give you the ability to better manage hidden geometry and hidden objects for an even easier modeling experience. For example, let’s say you want to edit hidden edges in a landscape or smoothed surface, but you still want to be able to hide objects that are nearby (like trees, bushes, or a building)…well you can do that now!

Updates to your SketchUp dictionary 

We have a few updates to the naming conventions we use when talking about SketchUp. This won’t change your workflow…but we want to make sure you know we are saying a few things differently now. 

Here’s the run-down! Objects are now a collective term for: groups, components, and dynamic components. This just means we don’t have to say “groups (slash) components” anymore

We are pleased the announce the launch of SketchUp Pro 2019, customers can start placing their orders through our ordering website: click here

Welcome Panel

Updates to Files, Learn, and Licensing tabs make it easier to manage projects and licenses. You can also find links to learning resources directly from SketchUp and LayOut.

Files tab

When selecting File > New or viewing the template dialog in SketchUp Pro or LayOut, three tabs will be displayed where you can can access New, Recent, and Recovered projects.

Learn tab

SketchUp Pro for Desktop and LayOut now include links to SketchUp’s Learning Management System, forums, and YouTube channel, so you can access the learning content as and when you need it.

Licensing tab

From SketchUp Pro for Desktop and LayOut, you can now easily access information related to your license(s). When selecting the licensing tab, you will be taken to the Account Management Portal to view entitlement information.

Line styles

Solid lines don’t always tell the full story. Sometimes dashes are needed to convey a design idea. Welcome to dashed lines. These dashes are properties of Layers and are controlled from the layers panel. Even better, components on Layers will inherit the dash pattern. In LayOut, dashes will show in the viewport at any screen scale and in all render modes. Dashed lines may be exported as EPS, PDF(HLR), and DWG/DXF or printed directly from SketchUp.

DWG importer/exporter

SketchUp has always played nice with others. Import/export of the 2018 DWG file format is now supported and improvements have also been made to the import and export of line styles and materials.

SketchUp Tape Measure tool

Upgrades to the Tape Measure tool mean less time opening up Entity Info; now, the length of selected edges, areas of faces, and coordinates of guides and intersections can be viewed from an inference tip.

What’s new in LayOut 2019?

LayOut File Locking

It’s now harder to overwrite LayOut files with unintentional edits. If a file is opened in two separate LayOut instances, it will temporarily lock the file as “read only.” Simple.

DWG support

As well as support for the 2018 DWG format, it is now simpler to export and adjust units when importing DWGs.

SketchUp dashes control

With the introduction of dashed lines in SketchUp, LayOut now has the ability to modify how those lines styles are displayed. With the SketchUp model viewport selected, the SketchUp Model inspector will allow for modification.

Export for SketchUp

‘Export for SketchUp’ has been added to the DWG/DXF exporter, placing all LayOut entities into the Model Space so that SketchUp better interprets the data. Groups are read as components and fills/patterns are read as faces.

SketchUp Campus

Better than textbooks: Our official learning hub is here. SketchUp-built courses, all created by our in-house team, make learning SketchUp convenient and simple. And we’re always making more!

No matter your skill level, SketchUp Campus guides you through official SketchUp training with different tracks and sequential courses to get you up to speed. The classes consist of short videos and quizzes that make learning topics such as Rendering, LayOut, and SketchUp Fundamentals. Fun, quick, and easy. Learn more about SketchUp Campus, or dive right in!

In the next chapter we will look into the new licences terms offered by SketchUp, this will include a comparison between the perpetual licences offered and the new subscription model offered. Stay tuned…..

Based in the Lake District National Park, Ben Cunliffe Architects design innovative, elegant, sustainable architecture. Established in 2001, the company has brought together a talented team of architects and designers who endeavour to make design and construction extremely environmentally conscious and fully aware of the carbon footprint a new build can create. They are at the forefront of creating low energy sustainable buildings which incorporate a wide range of green technologies – from solar, bio-fuel and ground source air source in their schemes to self-contained waste systems and reed bed filtration systems.

I chatted with Ed, one of the designers and technicians at Ben Cunliffe, about sustainable construction, how SketchUp staves off repetitive strain injury, and the important issue of whether he’d rather live in a house in the forest or a house by the beach.

Hi Ed! Can you introduce yourself and your team to the SketchUp community?

My name is Ed Newcome and I’m a designer and technician with Ben Cunliffe Architects. We’re a mid-sized, award-winning architectural practice based in the south Lake District. Our projects are predominantly residential or small commercial, and all are highly bespoke and individual, with project costs in the region of £200,000 to a bit over £1 million.

How did your team get going with SketchUp – and why SketchUp?

We have always used SketchUp for visualising projects in 3D to clients. We love the speed and ease with which SketchUp can bring our ideas to life, and we find it an invaluable aid to communication with clients, planners, builders, engineers, joiners and other trades. We have a large TV on the wall in the office and we frequently take clients on a tour around the project using that. Clients will often comment on the designs and we can make alterations as we go to experiment with different ideas.

What does your typical design workflow look like?

Typically, the concept designs will be outlined on tracing paper by Ben Cunliffe. We then take the designs into SketchUp to develop the design and to illustrate the ideas to the clients. Once we have agreement on a scheme, we produce planning drawings with Layout. .

How important is the sustainability aspect to Ben Cunliffe Architects? What are the challenges for environmentally conscientious design and construction?

As a practice, BCA is strongly led by environmental principles and sustainability. As a lot of the houses we work on are old, historic houses, it can be difficult to implement modern technologies and standards, but we do our best to deliver efficient, high performing and environmentally sound buildings. Most of our projects incorporate renewable technologies, and some of the new houses we’ve designed have been built using SIP panels.

What about your own dream house? City dweller, beach, forest?

Personally, I like the mountains, so I’d love the opportunity to design a spacious pad deep and high in the hills. There have been some fantastic modern chalet projects in the European alps in recent years. Being able to ski from the door in the winter would definitely be a bonus too!

What’s been the most challenging/proudest piece of work you’ve produced?

Every project has its own particular challenges as each building and site we work on is totally unique. From a SketchUp perspective, on a recent job we had all the contractors querying how a particularly awkward roof structure was going to go together, incorporating steel, oak purlins and timber rafters. It was great to be able to work this all together in 3D, which put everyone clearly in the picture!

Are there any plug-ins that you’d consider absolutely essential?

Solid inspector, 1001 bit tools, Mirror, Follow push pull – to name but a few.

Any keyboard shortcuts you couldn’t live without?

All my keyboard shortcuts are assigned over to the left hand side of the keyboard so I don’t have to move my hand around while I work. (Prolonging the onset of RSI and speeding up the workflow). I use shortcuts for every single tool as far as possible, with others mapped to the extra buttons on the mouse. (I have a 9 button mouse for modelling).

Finally, in a parallel universe, if you weren’t doing what you do for a living now, what would you choose? 

If I hadn’t got into architecture I would probably still be doing various dead-end jobs and puzzling over how to earn enough money to pursue my hobbies and sports while doing very little work at all. I’m not sure this actually exists in reality, but luckily I love what I do now so it’s a less pressing concern.

To view more of Ben Cunliffe Architect’s work head to their webite, follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Houzz.

Ben Cunliffe Architects were introduced to us via UK reseller TCS CAD & BIM Solutions. One of the main benefits of purchasing through a local reseller is to take advantage of their product expertise and training.

Over the years I have demonstrated the use of SketchUp in many industries ranging from Architectural, Interior Design, Manufacturing and Engineering. SketchUp is known as a easy-to-learn 3D modelling tool.  We often get a number of inquiries regarding how we can use SketchUp to design a store layout and provide intuitive renderings.

This has led me to create my own virtual TCS SketchUp model, I spend roughly 3-5 days creating model and used V-Ray for SketchUp for the render engine which is a SketchUp extension. V-Ray was chosen because for its usability and reputation for a professional render engine.

With little or no retail design expertise, SketchUp and V-Ray still allowed me to create quite impressive designs.

Design

Using Google images, I began with sizing to gather a rough idea for the store dimensions. The great thing with SketchUp Pro is that it has the DWG import function in which I was able to get a number of DWG examples into SketchUp and make the building size more appropriate with the examples.

I opted for a false ceiling design with illuminated lighting around the bezel with spot lighting showcasing the units around and my own funky design in the middle.

SketchUp’s 3D warehouse played a BIG part in the design development. Most of the models have been sourced through the warehouse with some exceptions such as the middle shop gondolas. From a recent visit to one of the retail stores, I saw a design in which I liked and was able to replicate and make it my own with my style.

I was fortunate enough to find all required fixtures such as slatwall, lighting, brackets, modular retail shelving and checkout counters from the 3D warehouse this saved me a lot of time modelling and with some minor tweaks I was able to make it my own. 

Rendering

V-Ray for SketchUp provides designers with faster rendering, better lighting tools, and the ability to create and visualize complex scenes.

I used the in-built materials shipped with V-Ray for SketchUp for most of the components ranging from the flooring, lighting, paint and the units.  The V-Ray interactive render engine also worked great with draft settings to see how materials looked and to see the placement is right.

The rendering element took most of my time I was wanted to try to achieve a realistic render of my model. I experimented with a lot of materials and textures in order to get highly authentic results.

Rendering times ranged from 5-hours for a full 1080p render –  but I was able to dramatically reduce this time using V-Ray Swarm. This distributed rendering platform allowed me to join all my training workstations together to reduce to rendering times to 2-hours.

Final thoughts

The design process was relatively quick. SketchUp enabled me to explore a number of concepts before settling with the chosen model..

I would suggest that you organise components that need to be grouped if you don’t need to edit them, make components if you need to make changes and setup layers to help with optioning and improve performance of SketchUp.

V-Ray provided really impressive renders and I was amazed by the render times, even with V-Ray Swarm. Together, they are a winning combination.

The next follow up post to this would be how this model would work with a real-time render engine such a Enscape for SketchUp.