Comments on: Google Buys SketchUp

By: HecticHermit

HecticHermit — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 02:32:59 +0000

Hey Did anone read Feburarys issue of TIME magazine. They interview The Google Guys, you should check it out.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1158956,00.html

By: Luigino Bracci

Luigino Bracci — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 01:04:07 +0000

It would be nice that the project will be released as a open source / free software project, so the source code could be integrated with Blender. The newbies feel Blender a very difficult software, but a integration with Sketchup can make it easy to learn.

By: errantkid

errantkid — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:59:54 +0000

I tried an education version a while back and pleasantly suprised: I've never produced models at anywhere close to the speed that you can with the app. (E.g. a house in 5 or so minutes). As an stand-alone tool its not very usefull, but having a sketching mode like this in Blender would have been very nice… Imagine creating game levels in a 3rd of the time it usually takes… sigh. O well. :_(

By: etr9j

etr9j — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:28:50 +0000

Google's unknown motives behind these purchases are just the thing that makes a lot of people suspicious. Though Google Earth does have higher versions that cost money, so maybe they will do the same with Sketchup like jaycun said above.

By: bart

bart — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:24:20 +0000

I wonder what their motives behind this are. Ultimately, Google's business is selling advertisements. With Google Earth and SketchUp I can't yet see how they will connect this to ads.. For anyone interested in Google and their business, I can recommend 'The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture' by John Battelle.

By: etr9j

etr9j — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:52:38 +0000

Well, Google just recently got involved, so maybe in time things will change.

By: jaycun

jaycun — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:49:37 +0000

Sorry for double posting, but I just found this.

[url]http://www.sketchup.com/index.php?id=1440#G1[/url]

"Will Google make the product free?
SketchUp continues to be $495. There are currently no plans to change the pricing model of SketchUp or to offer it for free."

bummer.

By: jaycun

jaycun — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:36:31 +0000

I hope it will be made free like GoogleEarth. Google has enough money. I think it would be smart to at least lower the price to around $100. Those who want to get into 3D usually don't want to blow $400 on a program that they may lose interest in. It would be great if some of the features (eg drawing edges, push/pull tool) were implemented in blender.

I'm thinking about buying a student version, but I am going to wait awhile and see if SketchUp goes free.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:25:58 +0000

I dont think that sketch up would be available for free. There is no reason for google to offer it for free (sketch up is a standalone app and costs around 400$). Maybe there will be a "low function" edition…

By: Rickyx

Rickyx — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:41:11 +0000

or in the open source planet… :))