Trimble Navigation Limited - (Freeware)
It is impossible to be an architect and not to hear about SketchUp Make which helps to easily create sketches of buildings.
SketchUp Make is the free version of the SketchUp , 3D modeling software, animation and mapping oriented architecture. This software is characterized by simple tools (rotation, extrusion, displacement, etc.)
This tool for 3D graphics can make plans, models and 3D models. This professional tool is designed for architects, builders, designers, manufacturers and engineers. . It was designed to be very precise in his work, from pencil sketch to the speed and flexibility of the application. Moreover, it has an interface for the original exploration of 3D images.
Draw the outline of elements to model and give them volume a few clicks. The available commands allow user to move, enlarge or color surfaces as shown in the tutorials online. SketchUp Make supports import of DXF, DWG, 3DS, DAE, KMZ, TIF, JPG, and PNG files, but also export to PDF, OBJ, FBX, XSI, VRML, MP4, WEBM and AVI formats.
+ SketchUp:
# Selection/inferencing
* Selecting and inferencing could seem less precise. It was sometimes necessary to zoom in more in the original release of SketchUp 7.1 than in previous versions of SketchUp, and SketchUp could feel less snappy. Selection and inferencing now feel accurate and snappy again.
* The intersection inference of two faces was not always found unless x-ray mode was turned on. Intersection inferences should be available again in this case.
* Text and section planes were sometimes not selected. When opening some models with text on different layers, text and section planes sometimes could no longer be selected until SketchUp was reopened. This issue has been fixed and text and section planes should always be able to be selected.
* When drawing a line from edge to edge in one of the axis directions, you could see an "intersection" inference when you should see an "on edge" inference. This issue has been fixed.
* Finite guides could be incorrectly selected. Finite guides created via Ruby were previously selected as if they were infinite guides - i.e. if you picked a point parallel to the guide or did a crossing select in that same area, the guide was incorrectly selected. These guides should now be selected only if they are directly picked.
# Display
* When editing a component and selecting a component within it, instances of that component were incorrectly highlighted if the "hide similar components" setting was checked. Instances are no longer highlighted in this case.
* Text or dimensions added to an intersection were drawn incorrectly. Text or dimensions added to intersections would previously be drawn at the origin. They should now draw where they are placed.
* Section planes sometimes appeared triangulated. When a section plane was placed directly on certain slanted surfaces, it displayed triangular faces. Section planes should no longer appear triangulated.
# Collada
* Hidden geometry within groups was incorrectly exported to Google Earth. Previously, hidden geometry within a group or component was visible in Google Earth when the model was exported to Google Earth. This issue has been fixed.
* Component or group names were not exported. The Collada exporter previously did not preserve component or group names. The DAE exporter now remembers these names.
* KMZs created by earlier versions of SketchUp were not always imported correctly. Simple opaque colors in KMZs created in older versions of SketchUp would import as transparent. This issue has been fixed.
* Placing a model twice resulted in multiple temporary places in Google Earth. When placing a model in Google Earth multiple times, the temporary place in Google Earth was not overwritten and a new temporary place was created. The temporary place should now be overwritten.
# Other
* Not always prompted to save model after uploading a component. When opening a model and uploading a component to the 3D Warehouse, SketchUp didn't always prompt the user to save the model. Saving the model is necessary after an upload in order to uniquely identify the component to the 3D Warehouse. This issue has been fixed.
* Links in Photo Texture failed to start a new browser instance. When clicking on the links in the License agreement for the Photo Texture feature, SketchUp didn't start a new browser instance making it confusing to return to the agreement. This issue has been fixed.
* Needed a way to test the origin of polygons. A Ruby method (Sketchup::Curve.is_polygon?) for testing if polygons were made with the Circle or Polygon tool has now been added.
+ LayOut:
# Crashes
* Crashing when moving models or lines. In certain scenarios, a file could become corrupt, and LayOut would crash when attempting to move or rotate a specific entity in that file. LayOut should be able to handle those files without crashing now.
* Crashing when adding or sharing a layer. It was occasionally possible for a file's layer list to become corrupt. This could cause a crash when attempting to add or share a layer. New files should no longer get corrupted in this way, and older files that showed this problem should now work as expected.
* Crashing when copy/pasting an invalid text box. It was possible to create an invalid, empty text box using the Label tool. LayOut would then crash if that invalid text box was copied and pasted. LayOut no longer creates an invalid text box, and no longer crashes when the text is pasted.
* (Windows only) Crashing when opening certain files with Auto-Render on. It was possible to see a crash when opening certain files when the SketchUp Auto-Render setting was turned on. This crash should be fixed.
# Dimensions
* When creating a dimension that used Auto-Scale, the Dimension Style panel could show the wrong scale and Auto Scale setting. This has been fixed.
* When disconnecting a model-space dimension from its model, the Dimension Style panel didn't update to show that the dimension had been converted to paper-space. It now updates to show that Auto-Scale can be toggled on or off and that the scale is 1:1.
* It was possible to toggle the Auto-Scale button and chose a new scale while creating a model-space dimension, but neither of these settings actually affected that dimension. The Auto-Scale button is now disabled, and the scale will show "No Scale."
# Text
* (Windows only) When switching between open documents, the Text Style > List > Start At value of one document could be mistakenly used in another document. This has been fixed; the "Start At" value is no longer carried from one file to another.
# Other
* Unchecking the Document Setup > Major Grid checkbox did not toggle the visibility of the major grid when points were used. This checkbox works with the point grid now.
* The "Save As Version 1" setting could create files that LayOut 1 could not read. This would occur if the file contained dimensions or bulleted lists. This issue has been fixed. When saving a document as Version 1, dimensions are now removed from the file, and the bulleted lists are saved in a format that can be read by LayOut 1.
* If a SketchUp model used a clipping mask, it was possible to see snapping inferences to parts of the model that were clipped - and not visible. This has been fixed; LayOut should no longer snap to the geometry that is hidden by a clipping mask.
* On Machines that use international number formatting (where commas indicate the equivalent of US decimal points), it wasn't possible to create a line that was less than 1 pt wide. For instance, it wasn't possible to create a 0,35 pt line. This is fixed.
* Minor changes have been made to the default templates. There were a number of text boxes that contained kerning, which would cause a template to look different on Mac (which has kerning built into the native OS text system) and PC (which does not). The kerning has been removed from the text boxes.