[HN Gopher] SketchUp for iPad: 3D Visualization on iPad
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SketchUp for iPad: 3D Visualization on iPad
Author : Tomte
Score : 61 points
Date : 2022-04-21 06:28 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.sketchup.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.sketchup.com)
| etaioinshrdlu wrote:
| The product looks similar to Shapr3d - but the framerate is
| hilariously worse than Shapr3d. Shapr3d runs at 120fps, and it's
| quite cool to see in person on an iPad.
| keyle wrote:
| I too was about to comment about the frame rate. You can
| clearly see the lag in their presentation video and that's not
| reassuring as this model looks like it's got less than 20K
| triangles.
|
| Are they not using Metal?
| jdgoesmarching wrote:
| Shapr3d is awesome, but it has an even more ridiculously
| overpriced subscription for enthusiasts. Sketchup at least has
| the benefit of a large community, asset marketplace, and a lot
| of people using their file format outside of CAD trades.
| a1371 wrote:
| I have thought Sketchup to hundreds of people in online and in
| person classes. Nowadays I don't do that anymore because Trimble
| effectively killed off a vibrant community by putting Sketchup
| desktop behind a paywall.
|
| I think the web version is great, but it doesn't have extensions,
| and it has limited exporting functionality. You can't have the
| freedom you used to have in 2018 anymore.
|
| I think Sketchup was at it's best when it was under Google. Their
| interest was to put it in more hands for the sake of Google
| Earth. So they gave users a lot of freedom.
| I_complete_me wrote:
| The story of SketchUp mirrors the story of the internet a lot
| IMO. Once a beautiful product that people wanted to explore,
| invent, help, have fun, create, enjoy. Then it's popularity
| drew in the "big pockets" and it all went downhill. I made a
| lot of money from my skill with SketchUp professionally but I
| long for those young boy days. If I get to heaven they will
| have SketchUp on Linux and I will know that I have lived a good
| life.
| LegitShady wrote:
| I stopped using sketchup entirely when they went to the browser
| version.
|
| I still have an old version I use to open up files I made
| before they locked the desktop version behind a paywall.
|
| I started learning blender instead and in the long run was much
| better off for it.
| rcarmo wrote:
| I wouldn't mind getting an iPad CAD program that wasn't:
|
| a) a subscription
|
| b) scalping, in the sense that most I've seen are toys or pretty
| much only let you manage a single project
|
| There seems to be a huge gap between "let's view 3D models people
| designed else where" and "let's design insanely detailed stuff".
| All I want to do are mildly complex 3D printed enclosures, and
| all the decent apps are completely over the top.
| thomasqbrady wrote:
| I started using Sketchup in 2005, I think, and got pretty good at
| it, even doing some paid projects. I found it's approach to 3D
| modeling intuitive. I have yet to find another 3D modeling tool
| that works this way or is nearly as intuitive (Tinkercad comes
| closest for me). I don't use SketchUp enough to justify the
| licensing fees they've been wanting for many years, now. $119 is
| close enough I'm tempted, but having to use it in a browser when
| I'm using it for the purpose of 3D printing does not sound fun.
|
| Anyone have any recommendations for similar apps--i.e. apps that
| are focused on architecture/industrial design (not character
| modeling) that don't expect you to do CAD as soon as anything
| gets interesting?
| greggsy wrote:
| The pricing is a bit off, and there isn't a lot of innovation
| in today's product compared to the one from ten years ago. The
| free web browser version has materialised from Pro license
| fees, but I don't use or want a browser-based version.
| burlesona wrote:
| I'm in the same exact boat. I haven't found any good
| alternative, but Sketchup in the browser is a much worse
| product than the old free Sketchup app was.
| skybrian wrote:
| It's not quite what you asked, but I like OnShape for CAD. I
| mostly do 3D printing. Its approach to constraints took some
| getting used to, but it's sort of fun in a puzzle-solving kind
| of way.
|
| It's free if you don't mind all your designs being public. I
| don't mind since I'm just using it for fun.
| Ourgon wrote:
| Well, Sketchup itself fits the bill and can be used for free
| more or less indefinitely. I have used it to design an
| extension to our house, a 22x12 meter barn, a lean-to for my
| wife's horses, an octagonal chicken coop and much more. The
| drawings are accurate enough to use as templates for cutting
| wood to build trusses.
|
| How to use Sketchup for as long as you need it? The solution
| lies in using Wine on Linux (or wherever you want to run it) to
| run Sketchup. Once Sketchup tells you the trial period is over
| - 30 days for Sketchup 2016, the version I use - you just wipe
| the relevant Wine directory and re-install Sketchup. Here's a
| script to automate this whole business:
| #!/bin/sh export WINEARCH=win32 export
| WINEPREFIX=/home/username/.wine-sketchup export
| WINE=$(which wine) export
| sketchup_msi=/home/username/Downloads/SketchUp2016-x86.msi
| export
| gecko_msi=/home/username/Downloads/wine_gecko-2.40-x86.msi
| export vblank_mode=0 export DRI_PRIME=1 help
| () { echo <<-END use: $0 [-r] [-h]
| -r: reset sketchup (does a complete reinstall) -h: this
| help message END } sketchup_reset ()
| { rm -rf $WINEPREFIX winetricks win7
| winetricks corefonts winetricks vcrun2010
| winetricks dotnet40 msiexec /i $gecko_msi
| winetricks win7 msiexec /i $sketchup_msi }
| config () { winecfg } while getopts
| "chr" OPTION do case $OPTION in r)
| sketchup_reset ;; c) config exit
| ;; h) help exit ;; esac
| done $WINE "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/Program
| Files/SketchUp/SketchUp 2016/SketchUp.exe"
| laurensr wrote:
| As a not very skilled CAD drawer I went with Designspark
| Mechanical, which makes it very simple to go from a 2D sketch
| to a 3D model. I believe it is freeware but does require
| registration.
| jitl wrote:
| I suggest using an older version of SketchUp with a lifetime
| license. Outside of 3D Warehouse access, there's not much to be
| gained from their recent updates. I want to love the web
| version, but it's SO slow compared to the desktop version, even
| a desktop version running in a x86 CPU emulated Windows box on
| my ARM laptop. And the keybaord shortcuts all changed! I can't
| give up 15 years of muscle memory.
| datavirtue wrote:
| 3D modelling is a desktop task. I can see using the iPad in
| the field and when collaborating and maybe swapping some
| prebuilt objects but going from blank to completed design is
| happing on multiple monitors with a mouse and keyboard.
| 542458 wrote:
| Have you tried onshape? It's honestly pretty fantastic, and
| it's browser based.
| pinot wrote:
| Downside to onshape is its generally a different use case
| than SketchUp. I use both for work and almost no overlap
| in their applications for me.
| casey_lang wrote:
| I went with Shapr3d, originally on the iPad but I believe they
| have a Mac version now as well. I've found it fairly intuitive
| for my light complexity projects.
| jaegerpicker wrote:
| I'm also a fan of Shapr3d on my iPad Pro it's a great app.
| 542458 wrote:
| I tried shapr - it's a lovely app, but the free version is
| extremely limited (only two files!) and $240 per year for the
| cheapest paid option is pretty steep.
| evan_ wrote:
| It's disappointing that there doesn't seem to be a "hobbyist"
| price tier. Maybe that's what the "web" product is intended
| for.
| asdfasgasdgasdg wrote:
| I found fusion 360 even easier to pick up than SketchUp, and it
| can do a lot of things that SketchUp just can't. Highly
| recommend trying it out.
| dahdum wrote:
| Fusion360's parametric modelling approach was a breeze to
| pick up after struggling with SketchUp for a while. Being a
| software developer probably helped as I was immediately
| comfortable with the formulas, variables, and constraints.
| asdfasgasdgasdg wrote:
| Yeah I love it. It made it easy to tweak various details of
| my design after I established the basic shape.
| smoldesu wrote:
| I used to love Fusion 360, but I eventually moved to Linux
| and couldn't use my school's copy, so I gave it up. I've
| mostly used Blender to replace it, and while their workflows
| are _definitely_ not 1:1 comparable, Blender can still do 90%
| of the things Fusion can, with a much more palatable price
| tag.
| asdfasgasdgasdg wrote:
| Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists tho? So the price tag is
| about the same either way. Although Blender is a lot
| cheaper if you're doing professional work or need to
| upgrade F360.
| amelius wrote:
| Is it suitable for engineering drawings (or just graphics
| design)?
| smoldesu wrote:
| It's a weird middle-ground. Blender's workflow is more
| comparable to Sketchup than it is to Fusion, but it has a
| _ton_ of mesh editing capabilities that blow Sketchup and
| Fusion out of the water. The downside is that it doesn 't
| really account for engineering stuff out of the box, but
| I've certainly used it to 3D print things in the past.
|
| It's not a drop-in replacement, but since I'm already
| pretty familiar with the tool, I don't really have
| trouble making it work. YMMV.
| btbuildem wrote:
| SketchUp used to be the go-to entry level 3D modelling tool, but
| it seems like Tinkercad took its place. Free to use, and it feels
| much more intuitive -- a handful of well-scoped primitive tools
| that chain together nicely into a surprisingly powerful editor.
| WhitneyLand wrote:
| Can't try the app in any way without creating an account?
|
| Unnecessary friction. They could accomplish the same thing and
| probably lose less users with some more flexibility to see what
| the app can do. Lame.
| a-r-t wrote:
| Has anyone tried using it with Apple Pencil yet? I'm curious to
| know how usable it is compared to the desktop/web version.
| duckkg5 wrote:
| Way too expensive. Why does everything have to be a subscription?
| keyle wrote:
| It sucks. But it's predictable pricing for companies buying it
| and it's predictable revenue streams for the makers of the
| software (that's if no one jumps boat en-masse).
| Wistar wrote:
| You'll likely need to subscribe to an industry newsletter to
| find out why.
| fsloth wrote:
| Companies are in general happy with paying subscriptions since
| it's from their operational expense (OPEX). _Why_ companies
| prefer it that way is another question. But they do.
| nomel wrote:
| Because, nearly 100% of the time, a subscription is cheaper for
| the average end user, especially one who doesn't want to be
| stuck using some old version that they paid for a decade ago
| but have used relatively sparingly/non-professionally.
| laserdancepony wrote:
| No, they just do it to mask the TCO of their product. Dumb
| people pay more. End of story.
| nomel wrote:
| Doing the math, this doesn't seem to be the case for CAD.
|
| In 2016 (last year before subscription), Autocad was
| $1495/head ($1795 corrected). In 2022, the 3 year
| subscription is $4410, or $1470/year.
|
| So, assuming you upgrade every 3 years, it's 3x more
| expensive now.
|
| Looking at Autodesk profits [1], there was no real growth
| until 2014, then a steady drop towards 2016, which probably
| raised the alarms and required them to change something.
| After the subscription, there has been steady growth, with a
| little more than 2x from 2016 to 2022.
|
| But, in the grand scheme of things, $122/month is really
| nothing for a professional user, which AutoCAD is targeted
| at.
|
| 1. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADSK/autodesk/re
| ve...
| majormunky wrote:
| These companies aren't moving to a subscription model because
| its cheaper for the users
| Blackthorn wrote:
| Soooo much of the CAD industry is going this way. It sucks.
| Luckily there's still very good products you can buy permanent
| licenses for (bricscad, ironcad, zw3d, more), but way more of
| the big names are just trying to squeeze their customers.
| [deleted]
| jereees wrote:
| Wasn't this product owned by Google at some point? What happened
| to that?
| unwind wrote:
| Meta: I think having 2/7 words in the title, a whopping 29%, be
| "iPad", is a lot.
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