Product Reviews

SketchUp maker, @Last, has been busy adding features and polish to the new version 5 of its 3D modelling application, and has obviously been listening to its users, judging from the myriad small, but significant, changes to the application's interface and tools.

The interface is the first thing you'll notice: SketchUp 5 now sports a new, classier set of Tool icons. The dialogs appear to be the same as before, but there's one important change: they can now be collapsed by clicking on the title bar. The collapsed bars are also sticky and can be stacked to save screen space. However, some parity with the PC version's dockable toolbar interface (think Maya / Cinema 4D) would be welcome. As it stands, the interface is till a bit, well, 'bitty'. Also, even though @Last's press release stated that SketchUp couldn't be used in a dual-monitor setup, we had no problems using it as such. One thing missing, though, is the ability to save custom dialog and palette layouts. Another feature that will be immediately apparent is that the program now checks the model file for any irregularities in geometry or materials and offers to fix them for you. This keeps the model 'clean' and can prevent the accumulation of errors that can cause strange model behaviour.

The basic modelling toolset remains as in version 4, although some tools have been tweaked to make their operation more straightforward. The Offset tool - like the Push/Pull tool - is now 'live', so there's no need to pre-pick a face to use it. The Rotate tool has also been improved with the ability to more easily select rotation axes.

The new Geometry-creation tools are represented by the Sandbox, a subset of the modelling tools specifically geared toward the creation of landscapes and terrain, although the tools can be used for the creation of many types of irregular or organic forms. In the Sandbox you start off with a TIN (Triangulated Irregular Network), a plane that you can then sculpt into your terrain. You can do this from

Once you have a terrain specified, the Sandbox contains two further tools to integrate a model with its site. The Stamp tool impresses a level outline of the building (with a user-definable offset) on the terrain (either sunken or raised), making integration of a building with its site much more straightforward. The Drape tool lets you project details of a flat site plan onto an undulating terrain. The projected details will then become editable polygons in their own right.

SketchUp has always relied on the ideas of Groups (collected elements that don't interact with the rest of the model) and Components (Groups that can be reused between models). But now it offers a way to manage them using the Outliner. This is an expandable/collapsable Folder-tree view of the Groups and Components in a scene and of the relationships between them. Groups and Components can be named, and Objects can be moved between Groups and Components using the Outliner. Context-clicking a name will give you the same list of commands as in the drawing space. But there's one addition to the list: Lock Group/Component. Yes, it's only taken five versions, but SketchUp can finally stop you inadvertently selecting and changing stuff in your model. There are also new options that allow you to replace only selected instances of a component and to make a particular component a unique entity.

One of the big selling points of SketchUp has been its 'hand-drawn' rendering capabilities and version 5 extends these with endpoint rendering and depth-cued edge rendering. You can now also use bitmaps to control the texture transparency of surfaces.

An area where it has traditionally been weak is its support of Mac-specific export options. Version 5 has addressed this (partly) with the new Alias FBX (FilmBox) option, which is rapidly becoming a standard in 3D cross-platform interchange. Also available as a plug-in is support for Abvent's Artlantis-R file format, which allows SketchUp models to be used with that program's one-click radiosity solution.

SketchUp is a worthwhile upgrade to a great program, and at £346, more compelling than ever.