Sketch in time: SketchUp, a quirky, minor cad program, has suddenly made it to the big time. The answer may have something to do with Google ...(SketchUp 5.0)

Until this month, few CAD (computer-aided design) users had heard of AtLast's SketchUp 5.0 (www.sketchup.com)see June, p22 for Damien Donnelly's First Look. Autodesk has long dominated the technical illustration field, particularly when it comes to architectural models. SketchUp, a quirky modelling application, hadn't had much of a look-in.

But after years in the shadows, SketchUp is suddenly the hottest CAD application on the market. The reason? It's been bought by Google.

The news came as a surprise to many--after all, where's the obvious connection between a search-engine company and a 3-D authoring application? But it was surely inevitable that SketchUp would be snapped up sooner or later, because anyone who has used it has raved about it. Those who have baulked at the complexity of other 3-D applications find SketchUp easy to use.

The program really couldn't be simpler. You start with a basic isometric view--that is to say, looking at objects from a slightly raised diagonal angle. You draw a plane or enter its dimensions in a dialogue box, then use a delightfully simple Push/Pull tool to extend this plane upwards or downwards, giving it depth.

While you can, at a stretch, use SketchUp to model organic elements such as animals and humans, it's really aimed at architects and planners. Realistic buildings are easy to draw thanks to a range of pre-built textures and colours with an opacity adjuster, so you can add transparency effects, such as glass, to your models.

Impressive features

But its simplicity shouldn't imply that this is an underpowered piece of software. Take one of SketchUp's best features, inference locking, where the program suggests possible construction lines and points parallel or perpendicular to those on other planes. Equally impressive is a sectioning tool that cuts out parts of a plane so you can create windows or doors, or split a plane to get a cross-section view of your model.