Sketchup vs AutoCAD Architecture

[alfienoakes]

OK.. Now the title is not the full story.....

 

On my day job, the boss has decided that we need to get our presentation styles sorted out. He has seen a copy of sketchup.. loaded it on to his laptop and gone away and had a play.

 

He has produced a house.. not a bad model of it.. but he loves it now. "All presentations from now on could be done using sketchup surely"

 

What I now have to do, is put together a reasoned argument of the Sketchup tools against the AutoCAD Architectures similar functions; ie the concept modeling tools, the ease at which Sketchup can produce a 3D layout, and walk around it with shadows etc.

 

What are peoples general experiences with these 2 programs. I use AutoCAD Architecture all the time, but I have used sketchup for 10 mins. It looks like it has a place in the process, but I need to put some facts together.

 

I would love to hear from people who have used both within the process of design. Just a note as well, we tend to do £2 million plus education schemes, so a small house wasnt really a good example to use.

 

Pros and cons, pluses and minuses would be great. Just to give me a bit of a heads up really. Oh.. and I have to do a presentation of what I find. No problem with that, except there will be an annoying know it all there who I need to make sure I am well equipped for..

[chiquito]

Andy, I have used the two of them, and I still choose to use autocad, why? I couldnt really tell, model wise, sketchup is much quicker, and if you know your way around it, its much quicker than autocad.

 

A valid argument for you could be that sketchup is good for massing studies and general information on models, its really easy to change stuff around, but when it comes to seriusly documenting and planning a project its no match to autocad, Autocad gives you a much more "stiffer" model, where its harder to change stuff, also the sharing capabilities autocad has you dont have in sketchup. Your boss can play a little with the soft and get the feeling "he now controls the 3d design process", it can be a start for you to use in autocad.

Learning sketchup is easier to learning autocad, so educaction wise, the cost of training someone to work on that is cheaper, the soft is also cheaper.

I personally compare sketch up to polygonal modeling in max. but for documentation I still prefer autocad.

hope it helps

Martin

[Aaron2004]

From the little (Stress "Little") experience that I've had, modeling something in sketchup or some other quick-doodle program has proven faster. However, when the time comes to do final renderings of it in MAX/VIZ, I always just end up modeling it all over again due to sloppy polygons.

 

Of course, this is all under the assumption that Autocad has clean meshes. I've never used the 3D aspect of it. If you don't mind messy meshes, than go for it, I guess.

[Tay othman]

Well I've Used both of them.

 

to Compare between them you just like to compare between 2 objects in 2 different specialization...in other world Autocad Architecture includes a Huge bunch of tools specialized from Concept Sketch to final Detail in shop drawing process..it's a pack of multiple tasks of modeling rendering designing and documentation.

 

but sketchup is a Digital prototyping software....like rhinoceros ....it's a Simple interface and easy to use also every one can use it for free.

 

I think your boss doesn't know how to use Autocad architecture tools ...So he found a simple and powerful software ...with a Paint-Like interface..(supposing every one knows how to use the traditional paint program on windows).

[chiquito]

The best argument I can think of for not using sketch up is: none.

Its a good soft. It helps to get a fast result, but it doesnt keep thing going in a stright direction, the back and forths you get in the process will force you to loose production time in rebuilng stuff.

[1eo]

Skecthup (in combination with Maxwell and/or photoshop) is an incredible tool!!!

 

We use them in every project to visualize initial concepts and for presentations. For Construction Drawings we use AutoCAD although we are in process to switch to revit.

 

 

Anyway, if pictures say a 1,000 words, show this to your boss. (Warning: All of them were done quick and are not meant to be works of art... )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1eo]

 

it's very cool to see these projects coming alive just the way we vision them on the renderings

 

[alfienoakes]

Cheers guys..

 

I think I can see where it will fit it in to what we do generally. Its a good "up front" tool for us, gives people something to see in a very fluid way early on, but beyond that, I think its probably too limited.

 

However, Leo, great images.. they look really good. Its obvious that you can produce really good works with it. Its just that we use ADT as our core application, so compatibility between to the two seems poor, so for us its front end.

 

Thanks again..

[pyang]

If ulimately you will use an audodesk base program to do your renderings, I would not recommend using sketch up as the model building program. The transition between sketch up and Max/ autodesk Viz is a headache. The time you have to redraw your nonusable sketch up model is time worth spend on other rendering task. FYI: using your sketch up model straight with just very little modelling management will make your rendering process a lot slower.

 

 

Cheers guys..

 

I think I can see where it will fit it in to what we do generally. Its a good "up front" tool for us, gives people something to see in a very fluid way early on, but beyond that, I think its probably too limited.

 

However, Leo, great images.. they look really good. Its obvious that you can produce really good works with it. Its just that we use ADT as our core application, so compatibility between to the two seems poor, so for us its front end.

 

Thanks again..

[vizwhiz]

Alfie

 

you could import an autocad file into sketchup for viewing angles and presentation quality etc

 

i agree That ketchup is quick and dirty

but Try editing a project later and it is a major headache

 

of course i am somewhat cad (autocad) disadvantaged

 

Try bringing in one of your already done large adt files into SU

and Then let your boss play with it and see how That goes???

 

Thanks

 

randy

[Greg Steckler]

ketchup = catchup = sketchup.....

funny randy

[bytor]

Andy,

 

I use both, and the 2 can play nicely if you stick to a plan of what you want to do with each. Depending on the depth to which you model in AArch - you may find that your models are too "heavy" to take into sketchup for presentation work down the line. But, if approached correctly - SU can be very effective downstream as a presentation tool.

 

The level to which you complete your models in AA, and how comfortable you are with whatever application you render with now should tell you wether it is worth your while to experimenting with sketchup later in a project.

 

If you have any further interest - let me know!

Dean

[AFK_Matrix]

Andy,

 

I too have used both programs. And I agree Sketchup is a great tool, its easy to learn and can produce quickly. But I personally would never use it to do design drawings. At the company I worked for I did there 3D images on Max but they were wanting a way to quickly produce very simple site plans in 3d to show to the planning people (believe it or not they couldn't quite get 2D drawings:eek:) Therefore I and another member of staff looked into Sketchup and for this task it was well suited, you could scan in a hand drawn site plan or AutoCAD program and in a day have a very simple easy to understand 3D layout. Now we wanted to see how far this could go, so we added textures, modelled the landscaping and put materials on and my god did it slow to a crawl. Also from having worked in 3D Max trying to do all the site modelling was impossible. But in AutoCAD you have the ease of using all the Wall/Door/Window tools etc which automatically join together or put holes in walls etc.

 

So imo it is all dependant on what you want to do, if you want highly detailed plans/elevations and 3D models I would use AutoCAD (its also very easy to get this into Max where as sketchup doesn't seem to talk very well with Max) but if your just wanting to produce basic elevations/plans/3D models with some materials etc, sketchup should be fine.

 

Sorry for rambling on.

[alfienoakes]

Ramblings fine.. as long as its relevant..

 

Nope.. This has pretty much galvanised my opinions on the software. Its a great tool.. but its realising where it can fit in.

 

It seems great for those early on visuals to get a concept across. On the size of projects we work on, beyond that it would become more of a hindrance further into the process.

 

Once the doors, windows etc get put in, you are in completely different zone with ADT.

 

Now I just have to get this across to the powers that be....But what do I we know. We only use the stuff everyday........

[creasia]

Nice work 1eo!

 

I have been using sketchup and Maxwell too. I have however, found it difficult to do larger scenes in Sketchup as compared to Autodesk products. I have a difficult time once I get into landscaping with high polygon counts though. I find that once I have the display shadows activated, that it really slows down. Exporting high polygons out is a task as well. I can't wait till instances in the Sketchup to Maxwell plugin is activated.

 

I really am quite addicted to Sketchup. It is very compatible with the dwg file format although it took me a while to find the best export settings, this also works well. The 3d Warehouse is an amazing resouce too. It has some very usable models for Arch Vis. I often convert these into 3ds, which has a better 3ds export than Max including long filenames and all instanced geometry.

[stefkeB]

I mostly use ArchiCAD and SketchUp, but have used AutoCAD and ADT too. There was a SketchUp importer for ADT. Not sure if it is still available now. It also exists for ArchiCAD. It translates vertical faces to walls, slanted faces to roofs and horizontal faces to floors. Not bad... but...

 

I would suggest NOT to import SketchUp models in AutoCAD or ArchiCAD or whatever... The SketchUp model is efficient inside SketchUp itself.

SketchUp is fast and if you pay attention, you can produce pretty clean models. But you have to know what you are doing. Many of our students make sloppy, messy SketchUp models! The efficiency of SketchUp is mostly felt with exterior volume models. The moment you go inside the building, it starts to loose some of its efficiency: things start to get in the way.

 

I do model in SketchUp, but recreate the BIM model from scratch inside ArchiCAD, to make it efficient and not cluttered. You could reference the SketchUp model in AutoCAD Architecture and use it as a snapping reference.

 

For renderings, I can export the SketchUp model to Artlantis (where I can update changes through geometry merging) or VIZ (where I prefer to use the 3DS format, but no linking -- maybe DWG would work fine for you).

 

FWIW, the podcast from http://go-2-school.com has a good overview of SketchUp. Be sure to watch the PhotoMatch issues, showing how to translate Photographs in 3D models. Recommended viewing.

[alfienoakes]

Really good feedback guys.. cheers.

 

One last question. What is the link from ADT - Sketchup Pro like? I have had a play with free sketchup, and it appears that it wont touch anything other than lines and Autocad solids.

 

Walls, windows, mass elements etc seem to be a complete no no.. Is this the way it is? Can Pro import these objects? And I mean import them without a load of messing around... Im getting a few questions from people saying they "think" it works OK.. but I just need some solid facts about this side of it.

 

Primarily I model in ADT, then on into Viz, file linking all the way. Works very well for me.

 

Any experience on this side of it would just about complete my argument..