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Recommended alternatives to SketchUp? (reddthat.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/linux

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So, a couple years ago, somebody published the 2017 free desktop client of SketchUp on the chocolatey repos, and I managed to snag it before it got taken down. I use it primarily to make woodworking plans.

I'm wrapping up my transition plan to Linux, but I'm not really up to date on SketchUp alternatives. The only ones I know of are Blender (afaik more for animation and 3D printing) and FreeCAD (CAD seems like overkill, since I'm just doing simple cuts and joinery).

Are there good Linux/FOSS alternatives to SketchUp that have similar features, or is the web client the only reasonable option?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I have used Sketchup for more than 4 years, and after looking around for Alternatives to use on Linux, the only thing that can do the job is Blender, it's not just for animations and 3D printing, in fact blender can do anything you can imagine, if not by itself, then by the addition of addons

Out of the box, Blender doesn't behave like Sketchup, but it can do so by enabling some preinstalled addons ( like Archimech, Measure it, Precision Drawing Tools, Stored Views, Auto Mirror.. Etc ), also there are free and paid addons on the Blender Market

For modeling Blender is waaay more powerful than Sketchup ( but SU is much more simpler and I find myself using Addons - in SU - for the stuff I can do in Vanilla Blender directly )

For Printing: they both suck ( in a paper printing use case ), if you wanna print in Blender you'll need to export to a 3rd party program like Inkscape or LibreCAD, or use an addon

Sketchup printing is just painful, save a view, save the file, fire up Layout, import view, then print...like why ?!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Okay! I may have misunderstood what Blender could do. I'll look into that more