SketchUp Feature Roadmap REVEALED! (Sort Of) - What's Coming?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Hi everyone! I've not seen a lot of discussion about these upcoming features, so I'm actually pretty excited for this discussion. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think about any or all of these features, or the direction of SketchUp in general! :)

[@patrykgrzyb2776]

SketchUp doesn't feel like it's on a roadmap for improvement but rather falling off a cliff. It lacks of new features, and I'm surprised it doesn't face stronger competition. Every day, I look for a replacement.

[@___.___.___.___.___.___.___]

Rhino.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I mean, the fact that you can't find a replacement kind of speaks to what the tool does well in my opinion. There are definitely things I would like to see improved, but I definitely don't agree that it's falling off a cliff.

[@bdragon254]

Yeah there is a HUGE list of extremely basic things that you should be able to expect from any 3D modeling program.. and SU just doesn't have them. Like a button / shortcut to turn off snapping altogether. Nope. You can only go into the options and turn off snapping on a limited set of things and it does no good whatsoever. I could write a list of this stuff 10 miles long. It's insane...

[@AdnanMohammad-vu5dj]

Rhino is the best

[@patrykgrzyb2776]

@@Thesketchupessentials If not for the creators of extensions, SketchUp would have been dead a long time ago. They need to focus on improving extension development, allowing better integration of plugins into the UI. Imagine FredoScale integrated directly into SketchUp's tray - you could simply select an object, and the tray would show dimensions you can edit without needing to click a button in the menu like 'Enter new dimensions.' Features like multiple icon tabs, similar to those in 3ds Max or Maya, for Rendering, Modeling, and other workflows, would make a huge difference. Plus, the option to have more than one view open at the same time would be really cool. Don't get me wrong, I say this because I love SketchUp and care about its future - but that future doesn’t look bright unless they push themselves to work harder.

[@stevebrown4104]

This Collaboration Funtion will be very helpful in a BIM situation where everybody in the building process has access to the model meaning Architects, engineers, framers, MEP, the Clients or anyone else that needs to see any changes that are being made, Clash detection or anything else that effects the progress of the building.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I suppose - I very rarely see SketchUp models being used to that level of sophistication with that many stakeholders - is that something you're seeing a lot of?

[@stevebrown4104]

@@Thesketchupessentials Hi Justin, Thanks for responding. First let me say I appreciate the video's you're putting out they're very informative and helpful. In responce to your question I would imagine that the majority of the people that watch your video's aren't going to be using this function but that could possible change. You are correct in saying that at this level, meaning Home building there isn't that much interest but I believe that will change. Over 80% of commercial jobs now use some sort of BIM in their projects because of clash detection, 4D scheduling and so on. This is helping them to save anywhere from 10% to 20% on material and labor. I'm a retired Design/build Contractor and if I would have know about BIM earlier I would have used it. A General Contractor for homes faces the same types of problems as a commercial contractor only on a much smaller scale but the savings percentages are the same. I'm now putting a program together looking at different plugins to put an afordable BIM program togther to help assist first time home builders, General Contractors and others to overcome the challenges of home building. Sketchup is looking into the future and is seeing what's coming to fill a nedd in the industry. Thanks and keep up the good work!

[@shriramannasgurukulam5253]

@@Thesketchupessentials What revit make seasy is that, the classification of modelling elemets are standardised. Otherwise there most of what we do with revit can be done with SketchUp. If fact i believe sketchup can do it better. BIm tools now within sketchUp like the tagging with IFC tags is fine but still needs improvement. The report generation is so complicated. Unless the medeller is very experienced and meticulous, it is very hard to get it to work properly.

[@aurisnow]

Great video again! congrats man, well otw to surpass SketchUp official YT channel ! rooting for you.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Lol - not at this rate - trying my best though! :)

[@davids4610]

Thanks Justin. For my practice - large theatrical and immersive media environments (I regularly produce 30-40 sheet drawing sets through layout), the features that matter to me are collaboration - wish list - import-export revit, adding material symbols to sections, layered CAD export, and most important (you know it's coming) layout drawing improvements. The rendering stuff might be helpful, but given my unique practice, not so important to me. I'll move everything over to cinema 4D for rendering.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Interesting - thanks for this feedback. I do agree that I'd love to see some additional improvements to Layout, especially performance wise. I will say some of the stuff they added in 2024 has already made a difference in my workflow, but would love to see even more. Thanks! :)

[@davids4610]

@@Thesketchupessentials And thank you for your videos. Even though I consider myself adept at SU (using since V3 I think), I always learn new things and approaches from you.

[@bymodd]

@@Thesketchupessentials Hey Justin. I didn't make to Basecamp this year. Was there any talk about Layout at all? For many years, Layout has kind of been the "we like to bring that up as little as possible" topic.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

@@bymoddDo you mean from a features / upgrades standpoint? It wasn't really talked about in the keynote

[@bymodd]

@@Thesketchupessentials Yeah. Features/upgrades, or fixes, frankly. It has just felt for a long time like Trimble's has been like "maybe if we don't talk about it, everyone will just forget about it, so then we won't have to deal with it"

[@ethannotestine9203]

Everything from 10:53 on is really exciting. Thanks for sharing.

[@reststopkirk83]

agreed!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I generally agree - that's kind of the section where I got a lot more interested :)

[@TheHornoxx]

absolutely agree here!

[@TheHornoxx]

Hi! .To your initial question - yes, this kind of conversation video is a good format and a good addition to your other work with SketchUp. In particular, reporting in more detail about the content of the 3D basic camp is very welcome for me - so thanks!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I've actually found that to be a bit tricky - other than the keynote, Basecamp is very heavily based on individual workflows, which is fine, but kind of hard to summarize in a KZbin video (especially since I didn't film any of the sessions). It's very...scattered?

[@ericambroson3061]

Thanks, Justin! Looking forward to the enhanced PBR render function. Like you said, it won't replace D5 or Twinmotion, but I see it as a "render preview" funtion.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Interesting way to look at it - it could definitely be a useful feature from that standpoint. I do think it adds to some of the uniqueness of visuals possible in SketchUp, which I feel is a very good thing :)

[@mikebellmaps]

Thaks - very useful - I note that Lumion have just done a big price drop (offer) - but they are safe for now - I agree AI is too keen to change & not respect the original hard model. Finding warehouse models huge tick! Moodboard replicates huge tick! PBR/seamless texs useful compromise.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Yeah, your assessment here kind of matches mine - solid quality of life updates with the PBR kind of filling an "in-between" role, which I'm actually pretty excited about oddly enough :)

[@lethaldj13]

this collab function will only work if everyone can have their own POV so its like you are building a model together (like in minecraft) i can imagine 2-3 peeople working on a same model would be insanely fast

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I'm not sure it would be, because so much of a model builds on the rest of the model, so I'm not sure how much progress multiple people would be able to make at the same time. Possible I suppose

[@MissingL1nk]

Appreciate the info, thank you. Tbh I’m not bothered about most of the AI stuff. I’d prefer if they just improved on some of the native tools. Just a push/pull that operates like Curic’s or Fredo’s extension, or a scale tool that allows me to specify a dimension for one part of the object. Or upgrading ‘follow me’ to be more like profile builder. I use desktop and iPad, and it’s annoying that I can’t edit my models with the same tools. The iPad interface shows that Trimble can implement complicated functions with a clean interface.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

All fair comments, though I'd prefer the desktop version NOT go the direction of the Ipad or Web versions from a UI standpoint. That said, this is something I want to talk about in my video next week. I am baffled by the hesitance to add new modeling tools into SketchUp. The two things people complain about the most with SketchUp are the lack of advanced modeling features, and Layout's performance. I can't speak to how hard it is to improve Layout's performance (I think some great strides were made in 2024 actually), but considering the number of modeling tools that have been added by extension developers, I cannot see why adding those tools into SketchUp itself can be THAT difficult.

[@matthewloynd9364]

I agree with AI. I don't like using it in these cases because of how much liberty it will take in changing the design. Sometimes the changes or minimal but other times can be a big problem. These renderings are supposed to be for the clients to fully visualize what their project will look like, and if you suddenly have more floors than what was previously discussed, you will have an issue. I like D5's approach to AI where it isn't creating something out of nothing, they mostly use it to add more detail to your scene which I think is a smart use of AI, along with other things like their ivy generator.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Agreed - I think there are areas where AI is ABSOLUTELY the solution - D5 is a great example of how AI can be utilized, as is auto PBR material creation. I've not seen a great application yet of where AI actually DOING the designing worked out well.

[@avicohen2k]

Ai finds and places a 150mb detailed carpet in your model. Model crashs. Thats what they should be working on....... AI materials is cool though

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Lol - I can't speak to if they have a safeguard in place for this - I assume they do, but it is a real question - can AI analyze the models it's picking in the Warehouse?

[@blacksheep_77]

Once again, Layout is the weirdly missing in any future planning? Any mentions at all during Basecamp?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Beyond them mentioning the engine upgrades in 2024, no. I will say the engine upgrades in 2024 did produce pretty decent performance improvements in my opinion, but no new features

[@jeffschork8145]

I wonder how these changes will affect system requirements to run SU 2025?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Interesting question, and I don't think I've seen them discussed for the most part. I would suspect really the only one that drives signficant system requirement improvement would be the rendering. It LOOKS pretty lightweight, but I don't know for sure

[@bellousow2607]

I definitely hate AI render I think they are getting lost they focus a lot on AI stuff that should be a complement I think we should have a more automated stuff in SketchUp like auto dimension or auto documentation where you just make a section in ortho mode and send to layout then get it all well documented ……… automated zoning tools for automatic area calculation ……… SketchUp is simple and good as it is but all those AI stuff are just useless it changes your designs …… yes it it useful for quick interactions but not as a final product to deliver to your cl!ent ..to me where AI should shine more when it comes to SketchUp is when it comes to automation dimensionning skedualing even cost estimating ……

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I like the auto dimensioning with AI idea - that's the kind of thing I think SHOULD be automated by AI! The rendering for me needs to figure out a way to enhance the existing design images, not change it. I kind of like the idea of an auto PBR, auto lighting setup as long as it can respect the existing geometry

[@bellousow2607]

@@Thesketchupessentials yeah that s it thats exactly it

[@shriramannasgurukulam5253]

sketchup needs good BIM tools. now its very clunky.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I'm back and forth on this - while I wouldn't mind some BIM tools being added, what I would NOT want to see is for SketchUp to go in the direction of Revit, where everything is so heavily systematized. I think that would remove what makes SketchUp...SketchUp. I do like the idea of some kind of a "BIM Mode" or something where you can work with items that are a little smarter and a little more defined (doors, walls, etc), but I would not support a massive overhaul to SketchUp in order to do it.

[@shriramannasgurukulam5253]

@@Thesketchupessentials Yes thats right. i dont like Revit either. But it is now very difficult to get someone to model with such disciple so as to use it for a BIM workflow. Instead if there are tools to make it easy for a modeller without much training to intuitively model the building in order to be easy for construction documnetation, scheduling and quantity take off, then it be very great. Some parametric capability also will be useful. Dynamic components are not powerful enuf in my opinion.

[@ivochmelar9714]

Current warehouse search is worse in history of sketchup, we need the old related serch back, no AI needed.

[@thepoppunx]

sketchup needs an integrated real time render engine... something similar to enscape... because to me, this sketchup its the same shit as before, and the plugins that people make, ar the one that makes the diferense..

[@Thesketchupessentials]

...isn't that what this is? It's a PBR rendering engine inside of SketchUp...Maybe not exactly the same as Enscape, but same principle