Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create 3D models of anything you like.
Most people get rolling with SketchUp in just a few minutes. Dozens of video tutorials, an extensive Help Center and a worldwide user community mean that anyone who wants to make 3D models with SketchUp, can.
Model anything you can imagine.
Redecorate your living room. Design a new piece of furniture. Model your city for Google Earth. Create a skatepark for your hometown, then export an animation and share it on YouTube. There's no limit to what you can create with SketchUp.
Get models online for free.
You can build models from scratch, or you can download what you need. People all over the world share what they've made on the Google 3D Warehouse. It's a huge, searchable repository of models, and it's free. On April 27, 2006, Google announced Google SketchUp, a freely-downloadable version of SketchUp. The free version is not as capable as SketchUp Pro, but it includes integrated tools for uploading content to Google Earth and to the Google 3D Warehouse, a repository of models created in SketchUp. They have also added a new toolbox where you can walk, see things from a person's point of view, labels for models, a look around tool, and an "any polygon" shape tool.
While the free version of Google Sketchup can export 3D to SKP, .dae and Google Earth's .kmz file format, the Pro version extends exporting support to include the .3ds, .dae, .dwg, .dxf, .fbx, .obj, .xsi, and .wrl file formats.
Google SketchUp can also save "screenshots" of the model as .bmp, .png, .jpg, .tif, with the Pro version also supporting .pdf, .eps, .epx, .dwg, and .dxf.
However, the free version of SketchUp does support Ruby scripts which has allowed many people to get around SketchUp's importing and exporting disabilities.
GPS location information is always stored in the KMZ file. The building designs themselves can be saved in SKP.
