How SketchUp has evolved in last 3 years?

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Prabhat Ranjit SinghToday, most of the firms in the AEC sector use AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit and ArchiCAD as their relevant software. The status that these programs have gained now makes them nearly synonymous to BIM and CAD. CAD and BIM are renowned to help in representing the physical and functional characters of any project digitally. Likewise, AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit and ArchiCAD are considered as one of the essential foundation of buildings and a shared knowledge resource to acquire information pertaining to any facility. Over the years, progressively, SketchUp, a 3D modeling software has accomplished the position from where it can claim itself as an antidote to the expensive and complicated CAD software.

Since the time, it first came into the market in August 2000; SketchUp has evolved as a great tool in the last decade or so. Developed as a 3D creation tool, today, SketchUp has an extensive range of application areas right from architecture, interior design to engineering (mechanical and civil). In recent times it involves film and game designs as well. If one considers the opportunity for outsourcing CAD and drafting services, the scope for 3D walkthroughs in SketchUp can also be immense. Several outsourcing companies, particularly in countries such as India, provide a host of 3D SketchUp modeling services.

SketchUp History

SketchUp was born due to the growing need for an intuitive and accessible 3D modeling program by the design professionals. It was in the year 2000 that it was initially introduced by a tech company. It was originally developed as a general purpose 3D tool for content creation, and was conceptualized as a program that would let design professionals work freely and independently without the use of pen and paper. This provided the designers a feeling of freedom from the fetters of age old work methodology. This specific software was envisioned to simplify the workflow of designers, architects, builders, engineers and makers and to ensure that they would not be concerned about the interface and could focus on what could be created with it.

Many appreciated the launch of this software and this enabled the developer to place content created in SketchUp by individuals directly into Google Earth. To meet this end they collaborated with Google for developing a plug in for Google Earth. This also allowed people to geo-locate their SketchUp developed models in Google Earth. In 2006, Google bought the program as it was greatly impressed by its Google Maps plugin. In 2012, the software was acquired by another company and by this time it had about 2 million active users every week.

Over the years, as time has passed the software has undergone several changes and enhancements, but this has not influenced or hampered the core of the program. SketchUp scored above BIM only due to its ease and accessibility that remain the main elements of the program. Today, many institutes also conduct Sketchup training, CorelDraw Training classes as an attempt to educate the users about its usage. This software has proved to be a reliable and efficient guide for users who aren’t good at drawing or aren’t quite sure of the final look of their building.

Prabhat Singh heads XS CAD India’s Training and Recruitment Centre, one of the leading centres for SketchUp Training in Mumbai (http://www.xscadtraining.com/cad-training-courses/). He has been instrumental in leading the Training Centre for CorelDraw Training classes (http://www.xscadtraining.com/cad-training-courses/), conducted for students and working professionals.

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