Soundman2020 - Studio Design Forum

Greetings all,

The free version of SketchUp consistently crashes on my Mac running 10.15.5, so I am going to try other free alternatives. This morning, I've started using Floorplanner, from the Netherlands. It is WEB-BASED and 2D/3D. The basic version is free, fully-functional, and SUPPORTED! The free version's main limitations are designs are limited to one floor (PERFECT for our use; unless someone here is trying to recreate Big Pink, and even then, then recording was all done on one level [the basement]) and export formats do not have a PDF option (png, jpeg are available; PDF is available on the first paid tier). There is a comprehensive PDF manual and links to the company's YouTube tutorials. Clearly, a lot of effort has gone into this.

I'm working on my design in the program today. So far, so good.

floorplanner.com

All the best,

Paul

Floorplanner first attempt 2D and 3D:

Thanks, Paul! That looks pretty good. I'm definitely going to take a look at that one, and see what it can do.

There's a LOT of SketchUp users that are really unhappy with the way things are going there, and many are abandoning the sinking ship. Several are talking about Blender as a possibility. When I have a chance, I'll be looking at that too.

- Stuart -

I’ve started using Fusion360 recently. It is unbelievable but has a much steeper learning curve than Sketchup.

I think you have to try Blender it's the best alternate to SketchUP. Give a try.

for free - the SU free via the web seems pretty decent. all the tools are there. can't use dynamic components as dynamic (i imported one of mine and tried to scale it, but no joy on the dynamic auto-layout functions) but all the regular grouping and component create work. so if someone is interested in creating a 3D model to scale, this is a good option. optimized for tablets which is good for some folks...

as far as rendering - i see i can export a Collada (Blender format) and Obj (another format Blender can use) file, so using Blender as a rendering engine is feasible. there are the usual export/import for DWG/DXF.