Google Sketchup great for newbies but needs grunt

Stan Beer
Friday, 28 April 2006 05:47

Your IT - Home IT

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After downloading Google's latest cool tool, Google Sketchup, I discovered what all the fuss was about. The free 3D drawing program which can be downloaded from google.sketchup.com takes minutes to download and is dead easy to use even for a beginner with absolutely no drawing experience. But, like Google Earth, please don't try to run it unless you have a computer with grunt.

As Google says, you need at least a Windows XP machine (a Mac version is on the way) with at least a Pentium 4 running at 2 Ghz and 512M of RAM to get reasonable performance out of the program acquired from @Last Software. Take a hint from someone who has used it - double the RAM. Otherwise you might find yourself in that nasty situation where you will have to do a cold boot.

According to Google's blurbs, Sketchup an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program that enables you to  create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions and woodworking projects. That's true if you have a penchant for such things. What's more, Google, which seems intent on thrusting its online storage capabilities into the faces of its users at every opportunity, encourages Google Sketchup users to store their drawings in its own online specialised data repository called 3D Warehouse.

As a new user, I must say that this would have to be the easiest drawing tool - 2D or 3D - I have ever encountered. The online help is excellent and the user interface is simple, intuitive and uncluttered. And for someone who has never had an ounce of drawing talent, that's saying something. Download it but first upgrade your box.