Create, Collaborate and Communicate with SketchUp

SketchUp not only creates designs and builds ideas, but also connects a diverse group of users through the delivery of its tools and features that meet their end goals.

Whether you are a creator, collaborator or communicator (or even all three together), SketchUp offers a wide range of purpose-built tools to serve your end goals no matter where you fit into the long chain of your project network.

You may be a small business owner of a design company or a design professional working for a major corporation, nevertheless, the people you are working with forms a network of SketchUp users that will collaborate and communicate with you as well as with each other throughout the life span of your project.

SketchUp is built to serve an entire chain of users, whose individual goals, though may differ from each other, are contributing in unison to the success of the entire project. It is through this relationship of creation, collaboration and communication that SketchUp serves to connect its users, facilitating their workflows towards the overall success of their project.

Sketchup is built for Creators, Collaborators and Communicators

SketchUp for Creators

You could be a Concept or Principal Architect, an Interior Designer or a Master Planner. As Creators, your focus is on the creation, visualization, exploration and iteration on 3D design ideas, leading to new and unique projects. Some of the SketchUp features that are useful to you are SketchUp Diffusion, PreDesign, Scan to Design, 3D Warehouse and Extension Warehouse.

The following case studies show how some of the world’s major companies use the creative features of SketchUp, and make them their own success stories:

Rolins Arcoustics is a design consultancy based in Mumbai, India that focuses on spatial acoustics and architectural design. Their process includes acoustic room analysis, simulations, and design detailing to create an experience that balances functionality and space aesthetics.

They use SketchUp to:

create conceptual design of acoustic spaces for client buy-in and approvals
create element detailing and layout
conduct Acoustic room analysis and sound simulations to balance functionality and space aesthetics
design custom sound engineering equipment

Roche, a multi-national healthcare company, has a design division called Roche Services, where it creates and designs Labs for other pharmaceutical companies, universities and hospitals. In doing so, it uses SketchUp to :

capture Lab specifications according to their customers’ requirements
design lab configurations
create high-quality visualizations ( including V-Ray renders) for customer communication

Freight and warehouse logistics companies are using SketchUp to design and customize automated solutions for their clients who are looking to swap manual warehouses to automated production processes.

One example where this has been done successfully is shown in the services provided by TGW Logistics. TGW Logistics has worked with major manufacturing and retail companies to create state-of-the-art vertical warehouses to accommodate new assembly robotics and save space. Where it was time-consuming before to create visuals from concepts, using SketchUp now has sped up this process. Furthermore, using 3D visuals rather than working with 2D files has helped their clients visualize and understand the overall structure better.

TGW Logistics was able to replace their outsourced visual output that was slower and complex to understand. With SketchUp, the design and visualization can now be done in-house and in a much shorter time, bringing to clients a high-level view, and more confidence in the end-result and gaining better buy-in from them.

SketchUp for Collaborators

As collaborators, you are looking at an established design and your focus is to improve communication, coordination and collaboration amongst internal project teams. The following SketchUp tools are important to you :

Collaboration is not only between individuals, but also between the software they use.

Founded in 1946, Tokyu Construction is one of the largest construction firms in Japan, specializing in large infrastructure and large commercial building projects. Tokyu Construction was given the contract to redevelop the aging Shibuya Train Station in one of the busiest metro lines in Tokyo. The mega project required the company to coordinate and communicate with a large group of stakeholders from different fields and departments, building group consensus and facilitating the decision-making process.

The key to getting everyone on the same page was a visual collaboration platform that can communicate clear and easy-to-understand visual details, with the tools for reviewing and communicating updates and changes quickly. The company decided to use SketchUp as a platform and channel to coordinate information and share updates on the project. Instead of each department using their own drawings and schedules which had caused problems with on-site work, they integrated the design plans of all departments into one 3D model.

Using SketchUp has greatly improved the efficiency of the workflows through better collaboration and communication.

NASA, the US Space agency, uses SketchUp to facilitate its “Visualization to Actualization” process in their projects which include:

Planning location and layout of sub system operations and optical alignment hardware and operations in a facility.
Evaluating if a facility is adequate to conduct all I&T operations effectively while accommodating all necessary hardware.
Showing proposed I&T configurations to address safety and facility concerns.
Create a storyboard of proposed operations to present at reviews, or to promote discussion, approvals, or changes.

In another example, Yoshisho Kenchiku Kouge, a construction firm who specializes in traditional Japanese construction methods in shrine and temple restoration, preservation and construction, uses SketchUp to :

Develop a visual model based on Point Cloud scanning
Create layout documentation of existing conditions
Collaborate with contractors and clients

SketchUp for Communicators

As communicators, your goal is to efficiently and effectively communicate your vision and ideas to the primary stakeholder. You will find these SketchUp tools useful to help you achieve your goal:

In many industries, SketchUp has played a key role in presenting a business proposal, gaining customer buy-in and helping customers visualize how a product fits in with their workspace as reflected in the following case studies.

Nucor Building Systems, a subsidiary of Nucor which designs and manufactures custom-engineered metal building systems, uses Sketchup models in their sales presentations. SketchUp is used as a Sales enablement platform to close the deals with the clients.

Another company, Clark Pacific, a Precast Manufacturer in the US, uses SketchUp for its business proposals, and to educate its customers post-sale about its finishes and aesthetic details. Its usage is also extended to internal collaboration for joints and connection systems, and panel breakups and coordination.

ThermoFisher Scientific, manufacturer and supplier of pharmaceutical diagnostic and laboratory equipment, used SketchUp to communicate to their clients how their products will fit into their workspace. Using scanned data in SketchUp, virtual workspace in hospitals, university labs and pharmaceutical companies can be simulated to show how they are used to accommodate the products.

Ready to try SketchUp? When you become a SketchUp user, you become a part of the global SketchUp community. Sign up now to our trial and see what every one has been discovering. Check out our plans and see which one is suitable for you.