Trimble Archives | SketchUp for Design

SketchUp 2026 Has Been Released!

October 11, 2025October 11, 2025 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

SketchUp's new collaboration features (Image source: Trimble) With the 2026 release of SketchUp we are now getting hands-on ability to use more of the features that were teased at the 2024 SketchUp Basecamp Keynotes. While the 2025 version of SketchUp introduced PBR materials, the 2026 version now implements all of the cool collaboration features - like live viewing and commenting (illustrated in the image above). These collaboration features will be very useful for the sweet spot of architectural design where SketchUp shines: Conceptual modeling. With the new features, all members of a project can now engage in a live modeling exercise - complete with a shared visual experience and extensive commenting abilities. This should make it much easier to dial in the perfect design solution. The other major feature - in my view - is a MUCH BETTER LayOut interface. Both SketchUp and Layout (at least on Windows) now have the same user interface with similar visual elements and functionality. That makes not...

SketchUp 2025 is Here!

February 27, 2025March 5, 2025 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

To properly introduce ThomThom - this version's scale figure - I decided to go with a Nordic look for this post's title image As of this week (February 25, actually), the latest iteration of SketchUp - version 2025.0 - is now available. Desktop users can click on the Help > Check for Update menu item and download it (or get it here) and iPad users can see new (version 7.0) features once the app updates. Users of the web app will apparently need to wait a little bit longer to see the new visualization features appear. What’s New in SketchUp? There are a bunch of new features, some of which were teased at last year's Basecamp/Dimensions conference. Let's dig into those... PBR Materials and Environments Now that SketchUp has a new graphics engine under the hood, it was apparently possible for the developers to implement not just ambient occlusion (which was introduced with SketchUp 2024), but also PBR (physically-based rendering) materials and environments. With those...

Dark Mode is Here! And so is Bluesky.

February 5, 2025February 5, 2025 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

Well... at least on this web site it is. A few days ago, I went through the visual styles of this sketchupfordesign.com website and edited them so that dark mode is now available. You can see an example of this in the image below. One of my articles, now much easier on the eyes. As is good practice, I implemented this in a way that lets you - as the site reader - choose what you want to see. It is all based on what you have selected on your device as the preferred view style. I.e. if your operating system is set up to dark mode then you get dark mode. If not, then the site's design hasn't changed at all from before. Since I am hosting my SketchUp News viewer also on this site, it is now also available in dark mode, both on this site or in the SketchUp extension. See the image below for an example. The SketchUp News part of...

SketchUp 3D Basecamp (and Trimble Dimensions) 2024 – Recap

December 9, 2024January 16, 2025 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

SketchUp's party was in the not-quite-rectilinear Frank Gehry-designed "Keep Memory Alive" event center After the 2022 3D Basecamp in Vancouver, Canada, it was time again this year for Trimble's bi-annual conference that covers everything relating to SketchUp. This year marked the first time that SketchUp's conference was co-located with Trimble's big (now annual) event, Dimensions. And since Dimensions had been in Las Vegas for many years, this year's 3D Basecamp used that location, too. Overall, the venue was great (as can be expected in Vegas)! Basecamp had its own space on the third floor of the Venetian's conference center, complete with a Knowledge Hub, Art Gallery & Lounge, an AR Exhibit Space, and a SketchUp Labs zone that allowed everyone to test unreleased features and provide feedback on SketchUp directly to the developers. But most importantly: This event is always a great time to check in with old friends and fellow SketchUp-pers and see which cool projects everyone is working on. Equipment at...

Point Cloud Modeling in SketchUp with Scan Essentials – a Thorough Introduction

December 5, 2024January 16, 2025 by Alex SchreyerNo Comments

Although I had recorded some introductory videos about point cloud modeling with Scan Essentials in SketchUp that are included at the end of this playlist, those didn't go into sufficient detail on a bunch of the features. Based on my presentation "From Points to Polygons" at the recent 2024 3D Basecamp, I decided to rectify that shortcoming and produce a set of videos that introduce Trimble's Scan Essentials extension and present various workflows that can be used with this tool. Those videos are included below and in the aforementioned playlist. As I mention in the videos, you can download a sample point cloud from this site if you want to try this out for yourself. Let me know in the comments if this is helpful for you and if there are any other topics that you would like covered. What are Point Clouds? Point clouds are created using either laser/LIDAR scanners like Trimble's X9 or photogrammetry. If you use a laser scanner, then you...