SketchUp Viewer is an application for Quest headsets. It works with Oculus Quest 2 or Quest 3 and lets you look at SketchUp models in VR. There are two modes. In the first mode, you can see any SketchUp format model on a table in a VR room in your headset. You can rotate the model and scale it in that space. You can also move the level of the table up and down. In the second mode, you can explore the model immersively like any other VR environment. While in that mode, you can access a small subset of SketchUp tools. For example, you can access the tape measure, isolate elements within the model hierarchy or switch between scenes, which are pre-positioned cameras in an environment. You can also invite others to view the model alongside you. SketchUp Viewer doesn’t require you to be connected to SketchUp on a desktop computer. It can access storage in the cloud via Trimble Connect, which means you can access and download files you uploaded to your account.
Feelings
I’ve been using VR Sketch for some time; it’s been available for about six years. As an educator and student, I could access a free software version. SketchUp Viewer is always free for everybody, whereas VR Sketch usually requires a subscription, which can be pretty expensive at the high end (at $45 per month).
Not having to be connected to SketchUp on a desktop computer makes accessing and exploring models much more seamless. The rendering quality is superior to VR Sketch, and the ability to easily switch between scenes from a tray that floats in front of you is a powerful tool.
Evaluation
While VR Sketch is expensive if you are not a student accessing a free version, it is much more fully featured than SketchUp Viewer. VR Sketch is like a VR version of SketchUp; it has many of the same tools and allows you to update and edit models within VR in real time. SketchUp Viewer doesn’t allow you to do this; it is simply a viewer for reviewing models in either of the two modes described.
Nevertheless, SketchUp Viewer can be used independently of a PC or other machine. It also allows you to access models directly from the cloud and invite others to view them, making it quite a powerful tool for spatial development, spatial narrative design, and camera positioning before uploading to a third-party platform like Spatial.io to finish adding interactive elements.
Application
SketchUp Viewer fits into the immersive development workflow as a tool that lets you check the verisimilitude of the environment you have created, ensure spatial design pathways work as intended, and properly align the objects, textures, and planes before exporting to another platform. It’s also fun to quickly prototype and review a space in a headset within minutes.
Conclusions
Ultimately, VR Sketch has more functionality, but nothing new has been added since the original version for the Oculus Rift. SketchUp Viewer has a smaller feature set, a better user interface, and a more frictionless user experience. Accessing models to view them is quicker than returning to a computer or PC to edit them if necessary.