In this SketchUp Pro 2021 review, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the latest version of SketchUp Pro.
Check out my latest book, SketchUp to LayOut, 2nd edition.
New Logos
Since Trimble took over SketchUp, it was only a matter of time before a rebranding took effect in order to make SketchUp look more like part of the Trimble family.
It’s always a shocker when you first look a major rebranding, but I’ve got to say, this grew on me pretty fast, and I think the SketchUp logo, in particular, is quite clever.
If you’re looking at that logo thinking “Matt, I don’t get it. What’s so special about the new logo?” Well, look again. It incorporates the letters SU and 3D in it. A nod to SketchUp and 3D modeling. Still don’t see it?
I’ll let you comment below about how much you hate the new logos and how you think this was a waste of time, but let’s continue with new features!
Tag Folders
In SketchUp Pro, you’re now able to group tags together in into folders and control the visibility of multiple tags using the visibility toggles on the folders. Drag & drop tags in or out of folders, expand or collapse folders, whatever you want to do, it all works.
I like to use a “Location/Level” tag to assign to a parent container that surrounds all objects on a specific level of a building. Then, I’ll use “Object” tags on each type of object within. For example, the first floor walls will be assigned to OB-Wall and will reside inside of a parent container tagged LO-1st-Floor. (This eliminates the need to create redundant tags for each location/object combination).
Now, I can just use folders for each tag type. It sort of eliminates the need for having prefixes, since I know what type of tag it is by which folder it resides in.
Or, if you want to create redundant tags for each level, that’s a little more reasonable now that they can be organized into folders. However, you’re still required to have unique names for tags, even if a tag is nested under a different folder. So you’d have to use a prefix to make it unique. Another idea is to organize tags by trade.
I’d love to see this implemented on the scene’s panel too!
Tag Filtering
Just like how you’re able to filter the Outliner panel by searching for objects matching a certain name, you can now filter the tags panel by name too.
Just type in the name or prefix to quickly filter your tag panel to show only the tags you need at the moment.
When viewing a filtered set of tags, you can use SHIFT + click to select all the tags, then toggle their visibility or change their dash style all in one step, which is handy.
Direct Download Updates
Once you have SketchUp Pro 2021 installed, future updates will happen inside of SketchUp. That means you’ll no longer have to go to the website to download a separate installation file then run it.
Instead, if there’s a new update, SketchUp will notify you and you can download and install it right then and there without having to go to the browser.
If you’re installing SketchUp Pro 2021 for the first time, you’ll still need to go to the website to download the main installer.
Predesign
A brand-new web app predesign.sketchup.com to help you assess climate and sun orientation implications based on your project’s location. This is a completely stand-alone web-app, not built into SketchUp Pro. You don’t even need to have a model of the building since this information is based solely on the project’s location.
Predesign provides average seasonal climate data for your project’s location and helps you determine whether you should design predominantly for the heating or cooling season.
It even suggests various glazing types and shading solutions for each face orientation of the building.
Live Components
Live components are a new type of configurable component, similar to dynamic components. Eventually, we’ll be able to design our own live components, but in the meantime, there is a growing library of live components provided for free by the SketchUp team.
View/configure this door on the 3D Warehouse
View/configure all Live Components on the 3D Warehouse here.
Previously, you’d only be able to configure a live component in the cloud, before downloading it to SketchUp Pro. But now, with SketchUp Pro 2021, you can reconfigure live components right inside of SketchUp.
If you’d like to learn more about Live Components, you can check out my Live Components article and video here.
Minor Improvements
Two-finger Pan & Zoom: If you are using a Mac without a 3-button mouse (gasp!), this new behavior will make it a little easier for you to navigate in LayOut.
On a trackpad, a two-finger swipe will now pan across the page, instead of zoom. In addition, a two-finger pinch will zoom. You can toggle between pan and zoom with a two-finger swipe by holding the command modifier key.
This new feature is not available on Windows.
Rebuilt SKP format: This isn’t anything you’ll notice, but the SKP file format has been rebuilt, with the intention of making SketchUp models more compatible across different versions of SketchUp in the future.
Generate Report: Although no new features have been added at this point, the Generate Report window has been completely rebuilt in order to prepare for future functionality…
Fix Problems: Have you ever seen a popup saying there are problems in your model, and presenting you with the option to fix the problems now, or ignore? Well, now, SketchUp is just going to fix the problems without bothering to ask for your permission. You can go to Preferences > General and enable “Notify me when problems are fixed” in order to see a summary of which problems were fixed.
Summary
New Logos, tag folders and filtering, Live Components & Predesign. Nothing new for LayOut, other than adding compatibility for managing tag folders from SketchUp.
I’m most looking forward to what we’ll be seeing in the next few updates for generate report and live component functionality.
