Why switch from SketchUp to Blender

I'm switching my main polygon modeler and I've collected the 20 best reasons to convert from SketchUp to Blender.

[UlfTheWolf]

Having a good connection to several levels of the art departments 2D, 3D, games and movies alike I have also seen a dramatic shift of artists switching from Autodesk products over to Blender, be it for blockouts, high poly modelling, retopology, rigging and animation. Especially EEVEE seems to draw even more people in. Great to see open source flourish.

[terryd]

One big problem with Blender is that you start off wanting to draw a table and you get sidetracked into making an animation in which the table gets set on fire and then gets water splashed all over it

[RichardAllen]

There is SO MUCH MORE to know when building models in Blender. Textures, materials, UV mapping, rigging, collisions, baking, painting, exporting, particles, rendering, vertices, topology... I used SketchUp for 8 years before getting into Blender and believe me if u don't recognize those terms you can spend weeks just getting the hang of EACH one! But the truth is I won't go back to SketchUp now I finally have the hang of Blender. You can make stuff with incredible detail and photorealism.

[Rhen]

Been using sketchup for 11 years, finally making the switch to blender. So far it's a world of difference for the better.

[MikkosFree]

I have heard wonderful things about Blender, specially from game modders. But as a woodworker, sketchup is a god send. Simple enough for an old guy like me, and powerful enough to get my furniture plans done.

[FernandoPizzani]

Man, you have just made my day! I was pondering whether or not I should part from few hundred bucks of my hard earned money to buy Sketchup pro...I could not justify it, in the sense that I'd not be making any income from its use, it's just for my architectural hobby. Your video has given me enough reasons to spend the money in red wine and start learning Blender. Kudos to you dude!

[bmbirdsong]

I used to do everything in Sketchup, creating artwork for documentation, advertising, and illustrations. Then I changed jobs and didn't use it for a few years, imagine my dismay when I decided to go back to it for a project, and found that all I could get for free was their sucky little web based app that didn't support any of the plugins I'd become used to. Learning Blender now.

Sketchup, as its name implies, is for designing and modelling architectural models quickly, without having to undergo a steep learning curve. Blender is a fully fledged, general purpose 3D program. It's not really fair to compare them, just as you wouldn't compare a bike to a car. I'm a long time Blender user, and I use Sketchup every now and then, when it comes to make a quick "sketchup" of a building. Then, sometimes I would import it into the Blender working pipeline. So we are talking about 2 different tools here. You can, however compare Blender to Maya or 3D Max.

[VojtechLacina]

I'm a long term Maya user, hardsurface modeler, but around 2 months ago I started to play with B3d more seriously and now I'm doing my assets in Blender completly. Still not very strong, but everything is comming together realy fast

[GrandMaster.Smile.]

Blender is such a huge blessing for every creative mind to work with!!!

[layoutarchitect]

SketchUp for Architectural and construction documentation with layout and extensions.

Blender for animation and organic modelling.

[StephenMattison]

SOLD on Blender as soon as you made & installed that motorcycle brake cable! That was real-time mind blowing! Great video, TYVM!!!

[francoismurrell]

Switched over a year ago as sketchup kept crashing with high polygon counts in my thirst for high quality modeling.

Used to make low poly cars that crashed the program now can make photorealistic high quality models. Whoever made blender and kept it free I love you

[bhaveshkhunt]

I was totally new to 3d program, When I started learning blender, after first week I thought it's too difficult to figure out different modes shortcuts modifiers but I didn't give up and continue practicing watching tutorial on you tube, now It's fun for me to make models and enjoy shaping my imaginations in blender.

[dineshvanderhaar]

As a Sketchup Pro user, I found this video very interesting. Thanks for the effort.

[filibis]

Great video, pinpoint explanations. In fact I did a similar transition to Blender with almost exact same reasons couple of months ago. I still can’t believe we have such a powerful free/open-source 3D software and it’s growing rapidly.
Looking forward to see Blender 2.8 release later this year.

[maxsterry]

I would love to see more comparisons like this, particularly one between Rhino and Blender

[beautanner]

Ah, I just posted, but one more point as I'm watching this: the fact that SketchUp keeps getting passed from company to company - SO TRUE! I've only been with it as it crossed from Google to Trimble... but I always suspected they were going to nerf the free version of it into uselessness, and in 2018 it finally happened. This whole video is really helping me go from the denial phase to the grieving phase, and hopefully into a new realm of opportunity. Much appreciated!

[pinklady]

I am a happy Blender user. I have been using Blender for well over 5 years.

[AtomkeySinclair]

And an additional comment. I've used 3DS for a long time. But picking up blender for the first time it only took a week or two and I was comfortable enough to use it for structure layout presentation purposes. I personally love it.