Moving on from Sketchup and hoping to find some developers interested in improving Blender.
It’s been roughly three years since I made the SketchUp Layout petition, which generated a huge community response, enough of one where the company contacted me directly to meet with me. Shortly after, I had the opportunity to consult directly with SketchUp and provide feedback on how they could better serve architects who use their program seriously. I learned a lot about where the company was at, where it was heading and what progress has been made since then and I am disappointed to say the least… To this day, generally and broadly speaking (not when it comes to niching in architecture with Sketchup), I have not run into a single architect or building designer that has a jack of all trades knowledge with sketchup/layout more deeply then I do. I am often teaching those who I meet with (a handful of famous architects using the program) how to use the program more effectively and this is in part one of the reasons I was able to consult SketchUp directly over the years as they too were aware of my knowledge of their programs. Sketchup has also offered me the option of being a speaker at their events to showcase how I use the program for my design projects. This is not me being cocky, this is my personal experience to qualify my comments below.
About a year ago, I compared Blender’s version 4.0 updates to SketchUp’s feature updates over the past decade. In just one release, Blender made more significant updates than SketchUp has in about ten years. While Blender’s larger user base and community support contribute to this, it’s still striking. Given my experience working with developers to create plugins for SketchUp, where even simple plugins can take a day to several weeks, I question why SketchUp doesn’t have dedicated resources to improve their tools daily. Can’t they hire at least one person to focus on this?
The pace of improvement in SketchUp has been extremely slow. The tools remain stale and limited in capabilities, especially when compared to Blender’s tools and plugins. The interface is outdated, and the program’s stability is a major issue. I frequently experience crashes—often more than ten times a day. To this day, I have never used a more unstable program in my life then Sketchup/layout, and that’s not an exaggeration. The plugin ecosystem is chaotic, with many outdated or abandoned options. For example, Profile Builder 3, a highly regarded plugin, took many years of my life to be updated to version 4 and with 0 meaningful/useful improvements in that timeframe.
Despite some recent updates to Layout that have enhanced its functionality in the past year, the overall experience with SketchUp and Layout remains disappointing. The program’s stability, interface, and functionality have not seen significant advancements in the time we’ve needed it to, progress takes FOREVER with anything sketchup or layout related when you compare the progress made to a program like Blender. The community’s pleas for meaningful improvements in a timeframe that’s realistic and cutting edge are often completely ignored, petition after petition have been made to finally after so many years see Layout have SOME meaningful improvements and yet is still severely limited in its current potential. Trimble Creator, while an interesting project, falls far short compared to Blender’s parametric capabilities. In fact, after using Blender’s geometry nodes for a year now, it’s evident how much SketchUp has borrowed from them.
When comparing SketchUp’s animation capabilities to Blender’s on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest), SketchUp would be a solid -5, while Blender is at a 10+. The comparison is pointless. Blender handles heavy poly objects with ease, showing a 10x+ improvement in speed and performance over SketchUp. Blender excels in speed, animations, interface, plugin ecosystem, and native tools, making SketchUp’s shortcomings even more frustrating given the time I’ve invested in it over the years. I should have transitioned to Blender much sooner.
As an architectural designer who focuses on high-performance homes, I refuse to continue with a program like SketchUp, which has shown poor transparency with the community, lacks a public roadmap, and has neglected their products for years. The repeated yearly community outcry for improvements has largely gone unheard. Compared to Blender, SketchUp feels like an ancient relic. I need to move forward with companies that genuinely care about their products. SketchUp appears to be focused more on profit than progress, but if they really wanted to make money, they’d listen to the community and significantly improve their product. Instead, I’m still dealing with frequent crashes daily and the list of issues I’ve just described.
Take my opinion as you will—it’s blunt and unfiltered. Many might disagree, and that’s valid. SketchUp can be a great program and sufficient for many users, I don’t disagree with that, I still use it unfortunately… For someone like me, however, the constant crashes and ongoing frustrations as mentioned above are intolerable. I have been transitioning to Blender for the past year and am committed to this change. Since I’ve started learning Blender, I see no use for Sketchup eventually in the future, at least until there is a better solution for producing drawings and not needing to use revit to pay 3 thousand or whatever it is per year…
Sketchup and it’s simplicity of the program has been a disaster and at the same time funny enough, one of the most innovative programs made for architects. Sketchup truly has an amazing user base of innovators and I’m thankful and have learned so much from seeing others designs and drawings, but the company doesn’t move forward like the community wants it to. This is not the case for Blender, blender has been crushing it in development and stability for a long, long time and there is no sign of it stopping, not to mention it is already producing architectural plugins for the program, although still quite lacking for architects, it’s coming along well and fast…
Despite having an important project deadline due tomorrow and needing the time I can get to work today on this project, I spent 2 hours today writing out this post… I care about seeing change for the better and this is why I’m writing this message…
One day, someone will come along and either make Blender the next SketchUp or create a new program altogether, maybe that someone will be me… I’d love to connect with people interested in developing plugins for Blender to transform it into the next best architectural tool. It already shows great promise and stability. If you’re interested in discussing or developing plugins for Blender, please reach out to me at [email protected]. It would be great to connect with like minded people interested in continuing to develop Blender.