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The first version, developed by Colorado startup Software, came out in August 2000.Īnd while the development team has changed more than once - Google purchased Software in 2006, and later sold SketchUp to Trimble, Inc in 2012 - that hasn’t stopped SketchUp from becoming a mature and highly extensible modeling package.Īll of this means that, like most extension-centric DCC’s, SketchUp’s demands depend on the scope and complexity of the projects you use it for. While SketchUp is a relatively young CAD package, it isn’t the newest kid on the block. Most of what we’ll cover will be familiar territory for people in the VFX industry, but there’ll be a few highlights that are fairly specific to the industries that use SketchUp the most. If you’re using SketchUp for architectural rendering or site management, though, this guide is going to come in handy. The free edition of Sketchup doesn’t support extensions or feature the pipeline integration tools that you’d need for demanding projects.Īs you scale into more professional work, and transition into using their more expensive plans, though, that’ll change. If you’re using the cloud-based version, you won’t be in a position to take advantage of the extensions, and the extensions drive a lot of the application’s hardware demands.Īs such, If you’re just starting out with Sketchup, and you’re a hobbyist looking to use it for some fairly basic diagramming or modeling, don’t worry just about any modern computer can handle that kind of stuff. This means that the top-end demands you’ll have to build around will depend on both the work you’re doing and the version of SketchUp you have.
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