Crafting stunning visualizations right within the SketchUp interface, tailored to your unique style! Welcome to SketchUp 2024! But that’s not all! SketchUp has unveiled an exciting new Labs feature on the iPad, turbocharging your 3D scanning and design endeavours.
In SketchUp’s latest release, you’ll discover the ability to craft even more realistic visuals directly within the platform itself. Elevate your designs by adding depth, all without the need to switch between different software tools for your conceptual visualizations.
Moreover, SketchUp 2024 brings significant performance improvements. With a new graphics engine and simplified collaboration features, boosting your productivity is now simpler than ever. Whether it’s visualizing, presenting, or collaborating, this update promises an exceptional experience for both the software and you as a SketchUp user. Get ready to embark on a journey of creative exploration with this exciting release!
Share your SketchUp visuals with confidence
Enhance your designs with visual emphasis and depth using the new global style setting called Ambient Occlusion. This feature adds perceived depth at model edges, allowing you to create stylized visuals reminiscent of clay or white models. Available on Desktop, iPad, and LayOut, Ambient Occlusion represents one of SketchUp’s most significant visual enhancements to date. It’s a major milestone in SketchUp’s development journey, empowering you to produce compelling visuals effortlessly. This feature is available for the desktop application, SketchUp for iPad, and LayOut.
Styles that match your ideas
Access to unique visual style options that align with your client’s aesthetic preferences is essential. Ambient Occlusion strikes a visual balance between simplicity and hyper-realism, allowing you to enhance your 3D model with aesthetic effects while maintaining flexibility with material choices.
You can easily build and save your preferred Ambient Occlusion settings using SketchUp Styles and share these personalized styles with your team. This fosters a shared vision and ensures consistency across your projects.
Improve your 2D documents
Ambient Occlusion provides an additional tool for enhancing depth and complexity in 2D drawings. Since LayOut supports Ambient Occlusion, you can seamlessly integrate these styles when creating 2D drawings. Simply enable Ambient Occlusion in your SketchUp Scenes in LayOut, and the visuals will be automatically updated throughout your entire file.
Complex visualization at your fingertips
Improved import and export processes for USDZ and glTF files guarantee a smooth workflow between SketchUp and real-time applications like NVIDIA Omniverse or Epic Games’ Twinmotion. This streamlined integration enables you to produce rendered animations and advanced XR viewing experiences with greater speed and efficiency.
Scan, design, and collaborate in one app
With the new SketchUp Labs feature for iPad, you can effortlessly create detailed as-built drawings and directly convert spatial scans into 3D models. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies from Canvas, Apple, and Trimble, Scan-to-Design [Labs] provides superior space capture compared to traditional methods like reference photos. This eliminates the need for additional trips to the construction site for detail checks.
Unlike other scanning solutions that are time-consuming or require additional tools for import, Scan-to-Design [Labs] enables you to scan, create a model, and begin designing instantly
Smart model generation
SketchUp transforms scan data into clean, organized geometry, allowing you to immediately start working with it. This reduces the time spent cleaning up scan data and gives you more time to develop your ideas.
Custom 3D output
SketchUp provides multiple options for scanning and creating a flawless 3D model. Scan-to-Design offers various types of geometry, meshes, and surfaces to accommodate different workflows. You have the flexibility to choose whether you want geometry with photo textures, and models are intelligently organized, allowing you to select outputs that best suit your needs. Additionally, you can seamlessly publish a project initiated on your iPad to Trimble Connect, enabling further development of your ideas using SketchUp desktop capabilities.
Please note: Scan-to-Design [Labs] is currently in development as a SketchUp Labs feature. User feedback plays a crucial role in the ongoing development of this application.
Scan-to-Design [Labs] is available on SketchUp for iPad, included with a SketchUp subscription or the 7-day trial version.
Share your 3D design with everyone
Keeping stakeholders informed of project progress is essential. The Link Sharing feature, popular on SketchUp for iPad and the web app, is now also available for SketchUp for desktop. Say goodbye to exporting flattened visuals or formatting project updates – simply share a link!
This link grants access to the entire model or selected scenes, visible to all recipients without a SketchUp subscription, directly in their browser. Easily manage file visibility in SketchUp for everyone watching.
Ready to try it out?
You can view a model designed by the SketchUp team via this link.
Optimization of every design phase
A new graphics engine enhances SketchUp’s speed and responsiveness. Tests conducted with customer models demonstrated an average eightfold increase in rendered frames per second. Browsing through models feels notably lighter and faster. Additionally, core modelling updates improve the functionality of the Move tool and enhance inferences to minimize visual noise.
The introduction of the new concept mode in LayOut conserves computing power, enabling efficient navigation through work models while still allowing for the export of high-resolution documents.
Improved interoperability
Enhance BIM documentation accuracy and streamline cross-software interoperability with the following IFC import and export improvements:
- SketchUp data now accurately maps to IFC class attributes.
- Introducing new geometry fill options for creating optimized geometry and lightweight IFC files.
- Consistent export of data from Advanced Attributes and Dynamic Components.
- Improved ability to import files with special characters while maintaining drawing origin predictability.
Getting started with 2024
SketchUp 2024 marks a significant advancement in enhancing visualizations and sets the stage for major developments in professional design workflows.
- Upgrade to SketchUp 2024 to discover the exciting features and improvements it has to offer. Not yet a SketchUp user? You can experience SketchUp 2024 for free with a 7-day trial.
- Ready to get started? Our official SketchUp resellers are here to assist you in finding the subscription that best fits your needs.
