My.SketchUp – SketchUp In the Browser

 

Today Trimble just announced the beta of My.Sketchup, a version of their popular 3D modeler Sketchup, that runs entirely in the browser.  Previously owned by Google and used to make 3D models for their Google Maps solution, Sketchup is a 3D modeling application that makes modeling extremely quick.  Sketchup also has the 3D warehouse, a massive collection of models that are free to use directly in Sketchup.

My.Sketchup is currently in beta, if you are interested in joining you need to sign up and wait for an invite.  They aim to bring the entire Sketchup experience to the browser.  From their own announcement:

What is my.SketchUp? Why my.SketchUp?

One of SketchUp’s greatest strengths is its accessibility. Pretty much anyone can sit down in front of SketchUp with little or no prior experience in 3D modeling and be up and away in a few minutes. A little experience with drawing helps, and it is always motivating to have a project in mind that you want to model… but SketchUp is about the easiest tool available today if you want to visualize your ideas in 3D.

Since the beginning, SketchUp has relied on the presence of a desktop computer running an operating system from either Microsoft (Windows) or Apple (Mac OS X). And while that has been a great platform for SketchUp for the last fifteen years, it just doesn’t cover today’s spectrum of computing platforms like it used to.

For the last ten years, we’ve seen the inexorable rise of the Internet as a full-fledged platform for development. In our time at Google, we learned a new way to think about computing -— cloud first, respecting the power and ubiquity of the browser. And the Internet has (finally) matured in the last few years to provide a platform for development to support something as technically complex as 3D modeling.

Today, I’m pleased to announce the next big thing for SketchUp. We’re extending it to the cloud, bringing a full 3D modeling tool to anyone with a modern web browser.

My.SketchUp is a full implementation of SketchUp. All the tools you know, working exactly the same way they do on the desktop. This isn’t a watered-down, partial implementation. It’s the full shebang, running in your web browser with no special plugins or extra stuff to download and install. Just good old SketchUp.

My.SketchUp is also something entirely new. Working together with Trimble Connect, it is the most connected and collaborative version of SketchUp we’ve ever shipped. Your models are automatically stored in the cloud, available from anywhere. You can easily share them with others, combine your models with others, and manage changing versions, clashes, and comments over time.

If you’re already using SketchUp on your desktop computer, this isn’t meant to be a replacement. my.SketchUp is 100% compatible with SketchUp on the desktop, and you’ll have no challenges moving your models back and forth. They are just plain vanilla “.skp” files. We’re committed to keeping that true forever.

All that said, we’re still working out some details, polishing up the UI, and tuning the performance. Our release today is a public beta and a preview of my.SketchUp. We’re not done with this thing yet. Here’s a my.SketchUp FAQ that will give you a clearer expectation as you get started.

 

You can request an invite here.

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