Trimble (the company that purchased SketchUp last year) has just released SketchUp 2013 with a variety of upgrades and enhancements.
Extension Warehouse
The new Extension Warehouse is designed to be a “one-stop shop for anyone looking to customize their copy of SketchUp”, with tons of new features included.
LayOut in SketchUp Pro 2013
New in 2013 they’ve “added hatching and other pattern fills, speedier vector rendering, better zoom, more useful callouts and other improvements we think you’ll love”. Here is more info about LayOut from the SketchUpdate Blog.
SketchUp Make
The free version of SketchUp now has a new name: SketchUp Make. The word “SketchUp” now refers to the family of products, with includes the “Pro” and “Make” verions.
All told, there are quite a few great updates in the latest releases of SketchUp. While SketchUp isn’t being used for Google Earth as much as it used to (due to the automated 3D Imagery continuing to be rolled out), it is still an amazing tool for creating 3D models.
You can read more about this update in the SketchUpdate Blog.
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.