Google Buys SketchUp

As reported by Google Blog today, Google has purchased @LastSoftware, the maker of SketchUp, "a deceptively simple, amazingly powerful tool for creating, viewing, and modifying 3D ideas quickly and easily."

Here's an example of an architectural application, from the product's gallery:



I haven't used SketchUp myself, but a lot of friends and colleagues have, and just about all of what I hear of it is good. The praise seems to be geared around its simplicity and its speed, two extremely positive traits for a piece of technology these days. The above image by Sergio Geuna at Scott Carver Pty Ltd for Sydney's East Darling Harbour competition makes it appear that it can also be used for presentation-quality images, something notoriously difficult in drafting applications like AutoCAD.

Recently SketchUp provided a free plug-in allowing users to drop their "sketches" into Google Earth, such as this model of Google's Mountain View campus. This feature formed a relationship between the two companies that eventually led to the acquisition. According to SketchUp's official statement, "SketchUp is still SketchUp, but now it will go places it couldn't possibly have gone before."

(via Core77)