Tom Arah investigates Google’s acquisition of SketchUp and what it might mean for browser-based 3D.

I've long been a big fan of a little program created by @Last Software called SketchUp which is designed to make producing 3D models as easy as 2D drawing – “3D for everyone” as their mission statement puts it...
I’ve long sung the program’s praises and argued that it deserved to be better-known and now it most certainly will be as @Last recently announced that it had been bought up by none other than Google. It’s a jaw-dropping development for such a niche operator and immediately raises major questions: why did it happen, and what does it mean for SketchUp and Google - and for you?
Anything that Google does is automatically of interest, but a move into 3D is especially noteworthy. There’s just something about the combination of the internet and 3D that gets people excited. The potential is undeniable but realising it is an entirely different matter as two examples from recent history amply demonstrate. In late 1999 Metacreations gave up its entire roster of design applications - Painter, KPT, Poser, Ray Dream, Infini-D, Carrara and more – to concentrate all its efforts on its recently acquired Viewpoint technology which was designed to enable objects for sale on the web to be showcased in 3D. At the same time the biggest design player of all, Adobe, acquired 3D Anarchy, which enabled the creation and display of immersive virtual 3D worlds, and spent five years developing both the builder application and browser player under the Adobe Atmosphere brand. In both cases the platforms worked well and the results were and still are impressive, but neither company could reach the critical mass or find the necessary business model to make the technology deliver on its promise.
Bearing this in mind, I have to admit that my first thoughts on hearing the SketchUp news were skeptical, even cynical. If major 3D and internet developers such as Metacreations and Adobe can’t make browser-based 3D deliver what chance do Google and SketchUp have? After all, SketchUp isn’t one of the big 3D players, it’s a niche application designed primarily for architects conceptualizing their designs. And while Google can claim to dominate the internet, its strengths aren’t in browsers or application development but rather in search and advertising. In short: what can a search engine company possibly gain from an idiosyncratic architectural modeler?
More worryingly, if it doesn’t gain, the lessons of Viewpoint and especially Atmosphere are clear: virtual reality has to produce actual profits. If SketchUp fails to deliver, Google will simply move on and its 3D adventure will soon be forgotten - and Sketchup with it. Google’s acquisition of SketchUp will be judged in the long term, but in the short term there’s one undeniable and immediate benefit. Just six weeks after the takeover, Google announced the launch of a new and completely free version: Google Sketchup (sketchup.google.com). That’s a price drop of no less than $495 compared to the previous SketchUp 5 release, and if you’ve any interest in 3D modeling I strongly recommend that you take a look at.
So what do you get for your money (or rather download time)? SketchUp is all about simplicity and making the move into 3D as natural as possible. As such, the interface is uncluttered and the toolset is deliberately pared down. Crucially, the main shape tools SketchUp offers are resolutely 2D with options for adding straight lines, arcs, rectangles, polygons, circles and for drawing freehand. Alongside these drawing tools are manipulation tools that let you move, rotate, scale and offset the lines that you add and the intuitive Push/Pull and Follow Me tools that let you simply drag your shapes into the third dimension.

SketchUp makes 3D modeling as simple as possible with 2D-based tools and component building blocks

It’s this core emphasis on flat 2D shapes, technically “coplanar faces”, that distinguishes SketchUp. In fact all 3D applications ultimately rely on these coplanar faces so that an apparently smooth sphere or organic shape is actually composed of thousands of simple polygons, most commonly triangles as the three vertices of a triangle are intrinsically coplanar. However in traditional 3D applications this fundamental 2D underpinning is largely hidden, with SketchUp it’s made absolutely central with important consequences following.
To begin with, keeping the number of lines, points and faces to a minimum enables Sketch to offer its inference engine. This engine works behind the scenes to spot whether the 2D line you are drawing on the screen could better be seen as a 3D line say running parallel or perpendicular to one of the main axes or to any existing line in the model. What this means in practice is that, with a bit of rotating and practice, you can learn how to draw 3D models from scratch – hence the program’s name and its stated ambition to act as the “3D designer’s pencil”.
The simple geometry of SketchUp models has other major advantages. Particularly useful is the way that you can save any element of a model as a component for re-use (each component is just a SKP file like its containing model). This means that you can model one window, for example, and then instantly drag on as many copies or instances as you need - and use the same window in other projects. Moreover each instance remains linked to the single embedded master so that you can update all by editing one. Using simple building blocks in this way is a huge boost to productivity especially as SketchUp provides a host of components, such as doors, cupboards, spiral staircases and so on, ready to go.
The combination of the simplicity of coplanar models and the efficiency of component referencing has a crucial knock-on effect – SketchUp is fast. This is particularly apparent when it comes to visually formatting your scenes. In traditional 3D applications creating and applying materials is a laborious chore and you then have to time-consumingly render to see what your end results actually look like. By comparison SketchUp lets you use its simple Paint Bucket tool to apply, resize, rotate and tint bitmap textures with the entire scene updating in real time – again much more like a 2D application. Crucially this same core speed means that you can navigate and explore your fully-formatted scene in real time.

SketchUp’s speed means you can explore your rendered scenes in real time

It’s certainly impressive, but it’s important to realize that the SketchUp approach has significant downsides too. To begin with, the emphasis on relative large coplanar faces is great for most architectural work which is primarily built on flat surfaces, such as walls, doors, windows and roofs, but it means that curved surfaces such as spheres and columns can look faceted. SketchUp provides a workaround with its ability to soften edges, but this only goes so far and you can pretty much forget about SketchUp for organic modeling (indeed version 5’s Sandbox tools which attempted to remedy this limitation but which proved both overcomplicated and underpowered have been dropped from Google SketchUp). Moreover while SketchUp offers real-time rendering complete with support for bitmap textures, simple shadows and flat transparency, there is no way that this can compare to the realism offered by advanced ray trace rendering.
With its lack of organic modeling and photo-realistic rendering, you soon hit SketchUp’s ceiling – you can easily create recognizable 3D scenes, but they are too clearly computer-generated to be totally believable. However if all you want to do is print out architectural proposals the slightly unreal, hyper-real quality of SketchUp’s output isn’t a problem – and the program even offers options such as line styles and jitter to emphasis the creative hand at work. More importantly, you can always just export your model into the wide range of supported 3D formats – 3DS, DWG, DXF, OBJ, VRML and so on - to take your ideas further. In other words you can use SketchUp to rough out your scene then take it into a CAD program to polish it up or into a traditional 3D application to roughen it up.
Or rather that’s what you could do with SketchUp 5. In the free Google SketchUp the ability to output at greater than screen resolution and its 3D export capabilities have been removed. If you want to restore them you’ll have to upgrade to the new SketchUp Pro 5 - which costs the same $495 as it did before. This puts a very different complexion on things. It turns out that Google isn’t giving away SketchUp at all apart from for personal use; if you want to use the program commercially you still have to pay full whack just for the output functionality and the reinstatement of the sandbox tools.
This begs an obvious question: what do existing and future professional users actually gain from the Google takeover? Well to begin with of course, the pool of money for research and development has deepened considerably. More importantly, the greater exposure that Google offers will inevitably lead to a wider and stronger user base. Most important of all, Google fully leverages both the wider user base that its involvement opens up and its internet search expertise in a completely new feature: the 3D Warehouse.

Google’s new 3D Warehouse enables the sharing of SketchUp components

Call this up from SketchUp’s new Plugins menu or visit the website directly (www.sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse) and you can search an online database of stored models. With its simple, thumbnail-based interface, it’s effectively a dedicated Google image search for SKP files. What makes the 3D Warehouse different is that users can upload and share their own files as easily as they can download them. As the @Last newsletter puts it: “The idea is that SketchUp users around the world will have access to literally millions of cars, houses, people, chairs, oak trees, subwoofers, beluga whales and grain silos that other SketchUp users will have made public on the Warehouse.” That might be exaggerated but it’s certainly true that repeatedly reinventing or rather redesigning the wheel for each model is a horrendous waste of effort and that the potential of such community-based, royalty-free sharing is therefore incredibly attractive.
The Google takeover clearly benefits all SketchUp users then, but surely Google isn’t interested in diversifying into 3D modeling purely for its own sake – so what is its real motivation? This begins to become apparent from the other main option on the new Plugins menu: Google Earth. If you haven’t come across it yet Google Earth is another must-have free download (earth.google.com) that is making considerable waves. Built on satellite imagery and technology developed by Keyhole Corp – which Google bought in October 2004 – Google Earth is designed to provide “a 3D interface to the planet”, allowing the user to quickly zoom in and view any location on the entire globe.
If you aren’t already familiar with Google Earth itself you’ve probably seen the underlying technology in action in the Google Maps capability available directly from Google’s home page. With its maps, satellite and hybrid views and the ability to drag views in real-time Google Maps is impressive enough but the dedicated Google Earth takes things considerably further with features such as the ability to store favourite places and to overlay Extensible Dynamic Data Layers to highlight the presence of restaurants, say, or chemists or pizza takeaways. The real difference though is subtle but hugely significant – with Google Maps you are limited to looking at flat 2D images from above, with Google Earth you can tilt your view and enter the scene. Visit the Grand Canyon for example and you can fly through it with the cliffs rising on either side.

Unlike rivals, Google Earth’s 3D handling lets you actually enter a scene

The new integration between SketchUp and Google Earth starts with the ability to import the current satellite or aerial view as the basis for your project with the Get Current View command. Bring in a view of your neighbourhood for example and you can quickly map out and model all necessary buildings. Moreover, although the default imported view is a simple 1024 x 1024 bitmap snapshot, you can choose to work with a terrain layer instead which has altitude information already built in – very useful, say, if you’re working on plans for a Grand Canyon visitor centre.
This is certainly very handy but much more powerful is the ability to export your model back out to your local copy of Google Earth with the Place Model command. Being able to fly over your local neighbourhood and see your models in situ and in full 3D is exciting stuff. However it would clearly be a lot more exciting if you could somehow make your models available to other Google Earth users across the world. In fact this is very simple. If you upload a model that was based on an original Google Earth view to the 3D Warehouse, the embedded geo-referencing information can go with it. When SketchUp users view your models in the 3D Warehouse they can then choose to download your model either to SketchUp or directly to Google Earth (and with this incentive maybe the idea of millions of houses, cars, toasters and so on freely available in the 3D Warehouse isn’t exaggerated at all).
This is extraordinarily powerful but of course the real aim for the average end user has to be to cut SketchUp out of the loop and to make the models directly available from within Google Earth. Amazingly even this capability is already in place. If you install the 3D Warehouse Network Link from the Google Earth site, all SKP files geo-referenced within the area of the current view are automatically listed. Click on one and you are given the option to download it and the model is automatically streamed in and incorporated into the current view. At the time of writing the system has only been available for around a month but you can already explore a wide range of buildings such as Roman amphitheatres, government buildings and the occasional enthusiast’s house – find a detailed model and you can even zoom in and explore its interior.
This 3D Warehouse Network Link is the last piece of the jigsaw and at last the real attraction of SketchUp to Google finally becomes clear. For Google Earth to fulfill its 3D mission, altitudinal terrain information is really of secondary importance - Google isn’t interested in the Grand Canyon, it is interested in city centres. And to bring real streets to virtual life, Google Earth needs accurate 3D models of buildings. You can see a hint of the possible future if you visit a major US city such as San Francisco and Chicago for which Google Earth already provides simple box-like 3D Building overlays for the major buildings. Now imagine far more detailed and accurate buildings complete with windows and doors and surface textures and even interiors that you can explore in the case of landmark buildings or shopping centres. Now imagine the same for every city and town on the planet!

Sketchup could prove the key to enabling accurate, explorable virtual cityscapes

It’s a phenomenal vision and a phenomenal undertaking and of course it’s completely beyond any company, even one with the deep pockets of Google. However the dream of not just mapping but modeling the entire planet does become conceivable if Google can effectively outsource the task and leverage the work of hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts, architects, town planners, tourist boards, retail chains, community organisations and any number of other interested parties. And this of course is where SketchUp comes in. With it, and the 3D Warehouse and Network Link, Google provides the necessary tools and the necessary incentive to enable and encourage the planet to model itself.
The big question then becomes will it succeed? After the Viewpoint and Atmosphere experiences I’m generally wary of the hype surrounding browser 3D and it’s certainly possible that Google Earth will go the same way. In fact with huge mountains remaining to climb in terms of speed, quality, control, reliability, browser integration and of course coverage, it would be only too easy for the project to fail. And it’s not as if Google has the field to itself. There are plenty of competing technologies and visions trying to bridge the gap between the virtual and the real including major players such as Amazon and Microsoft.
At the moment however their respective A9 and Virtual Earth initiatives look very flat by comparison. Google Earth’s vision is much broader, covering the whole planet rather than selected US cities and, more importantly, much deeper thanks to the ability that 3D modeling provides to enter into the scene. And crucially to extend it. While buildings are clearly the priority and SketchUp’s forte, there’s no reason to stop there – why not add cars, buses, sculptures, trees, people and anything else you can think of. Throw in GPS and the Network Link’s existing ability to regularly update location and you have an advanced and fully customizable tracking system where you can actually see the bus you are waiting for as it approaches; see and hail the nearest taxi even if it’s in a neighbouring street; see just where the friends you have arranged to meet have got to; even study the formation of the beluga whales you are monitoring as they migrate.
By empowering the end user both to create the models and to use them as they want the potential of Google Earth becomes virtually limitless – a true “3D interface to the planet” in its widest sense. It’s this potential I believe which will provide the incentive to see the vision fulfilled – and in thousands of ways that no-one has yet thought of. That’s the possible future but even with the capabilities already in place, Google’s takeover of @Last is clearly great news already for SketchUp users. If the vision becomes reality, it will also prove great news for Google (the revenue-making opportunities are self-evident and incalculable) and even for the planet as a whole. Not bad work for a little-known architectural modeler and an astonishing fulfillment of its “3D for everyone” goal.

PostScript: With its search engines and range of free programs such as Google Earth and now Google SketchUp, Google is usually seen as an altruistic benefactor of mankind. However there is a very different way of reading the situation. With its search engines, Google has surreptitiously harnessed the entire web community into providing it with free content that it then uses to sell its advertising. Now with Google Earth and SketchUp it wants end users to provide it with geographically-based content to pull off the same trick. And of course, once dominant, there’s nothing to stop Google then exploiting its position as it chooses.