@Last Software, Inc., makers of the award-winning SketchUp software, announces the release of SketchUp 5. SketchUp is a simple-yet-powerful tool that enables everyone to design and communicate in 3D on both Macintosh® and Windows® platforms.
SketchUp 5 brings heaps of new features to designers worldwide, including a suite of cool new terrain tools called The Sandbox™, which creates easy ways to model terrain and similar organic shapes, add roads, building pads, and parking lots. The Sandbox allows the projection of 2D geometry onto complex 3D surfaces–with ease.
A vastly expanded components library (from 145 items to over 3,000) allows design objects such as windows, doors, automobiles and desks–and organic objects like people and animals–to lend greater variety and detail to designs.
Enhanced sketching tools include depth-cued edges that make the foreground of a model darker than the lines in the background, giving it a more realistic feel. The end points tool highlights the corners of a model, and transparency maps offer full support for handling and use of images and texture maps.
An improved user interface with new toolbars and icons gives SketchUp a new look while enhancing intuitiveness and simplicity. This includes “Snappy Dialogs” in which settings panels stay together, a wider variety of keyboard shortcuts, and improved online user guides.
Improved file import and export functions ensure the ability to design and redesign throughout the project workflow. They include:
- 3DS file import
- DEM file import for terrain modeling and point cloud data
- OBJ, FBX (Filmbox) and XSI (SoftImage) file export
- DWG and DXF handling via DWGDirect file libraries from Open Design Alliance
- 3DS and VRML export
“SketchUp 5 makes it insanely easy to work with ideas in 3D,” said Brad Schell, founder of @Last Software. “Version 5 builds on that concept by bringing an even easier interface, greater communication throughout the design workflow, and an easier way to focus on creativity without having to wrestle with complex computer demands.”
SketchUp 5 is available now from the @Last Software website at www.sketchup.com. SketchUp 5 sells for $495USD; upgrades are available for $95USD.
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, the mission of @Last Software–3D for Everyone–is about bringing 3D design to the masses. Award-winning SketchUp is conceptual modeling software with a unique user interface that allows quick and easy 3D model creation, viewing, modification and presentation. @Last distributes SketchUp directly as well as through distributors worldwide. SketchUp for Windows® and Macintosh® OS X is available in six languages. For more information, visit www.sketchup.com.
This article was last modified on January 3, 2023
This article was first published on July 14, 2005
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