"Sketchy" rendering
Accurate Real-time Shadows
Follow Me tool
Imports and Exports
Interactive Sections
IntersectorT
Material Exploration
Patent Pending Push/Pull Tool
Ruby Scripting Interface
Simple & Fast
SketchUp's TourGuide
Texture Tweaker
Using Face me
Versatile Component Architecture
Mac System Requirements
Windows System Requirements

Features (Detail)

"Sketchy" rendering
Sometime, when you're just working things out at the beginning of a new design, too much precision in your drawings can be a bad thing. SketchUp's real-time renderer let's you visually "soften" your drawings with rendering effects like jitter lines, extended edges and dynamic profiles.

Accurate Real-time Shadows
SketchUp's real-time shadow casting engine let's you see exactly where the sun falls as you model, allowing unprecedented dynamic solar planning.

Follow Me tool
The Follow Me tool that can be used to push or pull a surface along a path, helping to create anything from stair railings to crown moldings to tubing. The list is endless.

Imports and Exports
No design program works in a vacuum today, and we've worked hard to make sure that you can use your SketchUp models in a wide variety of different workflows. With SketchUp, you can import a DWG site plan as a starting point for design, work up a quick 3d model, then export back to DWG to create construction documents. SketchUp also exports 3DS, VRML, PDF, EPS, JPG, TIF, PNG and a variety of other file formats for use in all kinds of projects.

Interactive Sections
Sectional views have been a part of the designer's toolbox since the Renaissance. SketchUp's Section Tool allows you to place cutting planes interactively, and to move them around as you are modelling to dynamically reveal inner details of your model. Once placed, you can export 2d section views of your model in any supported file format for use downstream in your workflow.

IntersectorT
The IntersectorT provides all the power of Boolean modeling without the overhead and is capable of performing multiple changes in rapid succession.

Material Exploration
Use SketchUp to experiment with colour and texture interactively and directly on your model. Designers who often work with colour and material compositions will attest that the relationships between colour, texture, form, and light are subtle and cannot simply be inferred from monochromatic models and paint samples. And for them more technically minded, the surface area of any material is always available for material quantity management and cost estimates.

Patent Pending Push/Pull Tool
Push/Pull, as the name implies, enables you to just to click on a shape and push or pull it to create 3D geometry. Much more than just an extrude tool, it allows you to create complex forms quickly and efficiently.

Ruby Scripting Interface
With SketchUp's New Ruby Scripting Interface users can automate almost any task.

Simple & Fast
SketchUp has a unique interface that allows 3D forms to be created, viewed and modified quickly and easily. The core of its simplicity is an interface that allows you simply to draw the edges of the desired model in 3D space, just as they would using a pencil and paper. Intelligent inferencing capabilities automatically determine the nature of the lines and "fill" shapes to create 3D geometry. SketchUp is used by all kinds of designers in many different industries. It is quick to learn, fast to use and hard to forget.

SketchUp's TourGuide
SketchUp's TourGuide'Technology allows you to create short animations of your models just by saving specific views. These animated "slideshows" are dynamic presentations of a model and can be extremely useful for client presentations. The key to this technology is that the animations can be created in a matter of minutes and not hours, and then either presented dynamically within SketchUp or rendered out as AVI or QuickTime videos for use elsewhere.

Texture Tweaker
The Texture Tweaker that allows any texture or photo to be stretched and manipulated across any continuous surface. Place a photo of a building onto a 3D square created in SketchUp and model directly from the picture!

Using Face me
Using Face me, 2D models of people and landscaping elements will always face the camera and appear to be 3D without bulking up your models!

Versatile Component Architecture
Using SketchUp's component architecture, you can quickly organize geometry for convenient selection as well as keep it isolated from other lines and faces in your model. You can also nest components, providing both complex relationship management and double-click access to any geometry you want to edit at any one time. Once placed, you can edit all instances of a component in your scene simultaneously and interactively, without having to explode or redefine them.

Mac System Requirements
Mac OS 9.2.2 or later and CarbonLib 1.5 or later,
Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later,
PowerPC 604e or newer
CD-ROM drive
Screen resolution: 1024 x 768 (XGA)
512MB RAM
110MB free hard drive space

Windows System Requirements
Windows 98 or later, Windows NT 4 or later,
Pentium or newer
CD-ROM drive
Screen resolution: 1024 x 768 (XGA)
512MB RAM
110MB free hard drive space