Google's Sketchup 7 released

Google released on Monday the long-awaited SketchUp Version 7, a significant upgrade to the popular 3D design software. Google SketchUp Product Manager John Bacus says the emphasis in the new release is on collaboration, including the release from beta of SketchUp LayOut, a companion presentation tool. There are also major changes to core usability throughout the program. SketchUp 7 continues to be available in both free and Pro versions, for both Windows and Mac OS X.

The Pro version price remains unchanged at $495. The Upgrade price is $95, and is currently only available in English. In previous versions of SketchUp, if two lines were to cross in a single plane, they would overlay and not interact. “A missed opportunity in the modeler,” notes Bacus. In SketchUp 7 the two lines merge and break. “It is a minor change to the user, but it is not a minor change in the object model,” notes Bacus. “We really think this will make it easier to draw things like a building facade. Lines will break and be ready for pushing and pulling right away without a lot of cleanup.” Bacus says the change to overlapping lines is representative of “a lot of small tweaky changes throughout the modeler.”

SketchUp 7 also introduces Dynamic Components, a collection of behaviors that add significant power to SketchUp. Users can now apply constraints to geometry, bringing a sense of feature awareness to a component. For example, a component of a bookshelf could be constrained so that if stretched for height, new shelves would be drawn automatically. In the same say, a picket fence component would add new pickets when stretched or contracted.

A window object could be set to manufacturer specifications, but allow the user to change frame color, mullion patters, or other features. Another Dynamic Components feature is the ability to create simple animations, such as a door that opens or closes. Data can now be assigned to specific objects in the model, making it possible to pull reports together from model data for export to spreadsheets or other software.

If you're interested in checking out the new features of Sketchup as provided by Google themselves then navigate to the full list found at http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=115424