sarcasm…
So Google has a new CAD thing called Sketchup which is actually and old thing that Google bought and is now developing and distributing. For those that may not know: CAD (computer aided design/computer aided drawing as the case maybe) program. This is very interesting in my book not because of anything new per say, after all CAD, Drawing and various combinations of these applications have been around for many, many years and produced by many different companies. They all had a few things in common, the most pervasive being that they each worked different form one another. AutoCAD, from Autodesk, has been the standard of the do anything and do everything CAD program, most of the others have been geared to niche’ markets such as electronics or home building or wireframe modeling. The other thing that these programs tended to have in common was being very pricey. Granted that is a relative term but consider acquiring a paint program that ranges from free to a maybe a couple of hundred bucks; where many of the CAD programs tend to start around that area and AutoCAD can push the $3k upwards depending on bells and whistles. They offer financing though, if that tells you anything. Sure the are trial downloads, that’s always fun to use crippleware and guess as to whether this will work for you should you shell out the coin.
The gotcha here from brand x to AutoCAD is one of compatibility. I wouldn’t want to spend months drawing up some due-dad to find out later that it can’t be rendered or used in other projects because of compatibility issues. Enter Google to the CAD world?
Seems Google has really gotten into the this Virtual Earth or Google Earth, a result of having a lot of capital and wanting a Earth of their very own, and to create virtual objects in your virtual Earth such as building requires a CAD tool. Here’s the Wikipedia history on the product. So Google ups and buys the company to, I guess, insure it works how they would like. The end result is Google Sketchup 7.0.
So the basics:
- its free (there is a professional version too)
- its easy to use and intuitive
- Its precise
- they have many demos to get you started into CAD work even if you have never touched a CAD program before.
- There is a growing community of users contributing to forums, models and add-ons.
- Its backed by Google
So check it out if you looking do to a quick sketch or just want to see what its all about. Here’s a few snap shots of my playing around with Sketchup. Not the greatest thing ever drafted and I don’t recommend driving one, but I was impressed with the few hours I spent with it.
