Konstruieren in 3D mit Sketchup 2014

The 3D design program updates its programming to Ruby 2.0, gearing up for building information modeling and faster to render shadows. And: The Make-version remains free of charge.

After years there is finally a new drawing tool in SketchUp : arcs can now be distinguished by having the user marks the center with the first click, the the second the beginning of the arc and with third click its end. This is more practical than the traditional method to mark only the beginning and end of the arc and then determine with the mouse, the curvature in many cases. The old method is still available for other cases.

Apart from the current SketchUp version differs from its predecessor mainly by the new figure next to the coordinate origin. For many versions of the development team immortalized there someone from their own ranks, alternating men and women - in version 2014 solves Sophie its predecessor Derrick from. The real changes play out in SketchUp for some time behind the scenes - as it is now updating the extension API to Ruby 2.0 - or relate to tools and services around it.

Example, the online model collection called was for the current version 2014 3D Warehouse completely redesigned. It has its origins in that phase of the SketchUp history, as the software Google was and at that time, among other things for building models was intended for Google Earth. The new 3D Gallery shows for all listed there 3D objects in an interactive WebGL swiveling preview and increasingly contains catalogs of furniture manufacturers and plumbing suppliers. Own SketchUp files can be uploaded, not only out of the 3D program in the gallery, but also directly through the browser now. The limit on the file size, the manufacturer Trimble set high from the previous 10 MB to 50 MB.

Under the name of SketchUp Make a functionally reduced version for private use is free of charge. Unfortunately, SketchUp can still not install directly as such free edition, but insists on running as per trial eight hours. So first hike inevitably, the two supplementary programs LayOut and Style Builder with the hard disk.

LayOut is dedicated to the documentation, presentation and 2D implementation of the three-dimensional designs. Automatically inserted in templates for text about the date or the project name to save you time, vector graphics representations of complex objects and shadows to version 2014 up to 15 times as fast as the previous charge. A new meta-tool should help to classify components in SketchUp model as architecture typical objects such as walls, slabs, roofs or windows. The metadata can be stored in the IFC standard and are used with software for building information modeling (BIM).

SketchUp 2014 running under Windows XP to 8 and Mac OS X 10.7. The Pro version costs 537 euros. If a license for the previous version already SketchUp Pro has 2013 gets the update to version 2014 free, from older versions it costs 87 euro. For educational institutions , different conditions apply. Who does not want to edit SketchUp files, but only consider, can also a slender free viewer install.

Reference: www.heise.de