Google just launched another product. This is Google SketchUp, a special application that renders 2-D images to come up with 3-D models.

The software allows users to modify and even share existing 3D models. The makers of the application boasts it friendlier interface compared to other 3D modeling programs.
Google also said that they have simplified the SketchUp’s toolset. They added that the plug-in has a guided drawing system and a clean look-and-feel.

The application is actually a plug-in made by CADspan and it makes 3-D rendered models printer-friendly. According to Tasha Dnako of Google, the application works by following the concept, ’shrink-wrapping’. The system connects images on a single mesh and save it on a single STL file. This format is then ready for printing.

STL is the same format used by many 3-D applications and 3-D rendering software.

Experts believe that the introduction of Google SketchUp makes 3-D printing more accessible.

Product designers, scale modelers, film makers and people who are in the high end of design industry will likely benefit from this new application. 3-D images used to need special printers and software to be turned into hard copy, clearly, that shouldn’t be the way now.

A video demonstration on how the application works is now up online in YouTube. The video can be found here.

Source: InformationWeek