Some of you who were interested in the idea of a motorcycle design contest, here at The Kneeslider, mentioned you didn’t have any 3D software, after all, that stuff’s expensive. OK, I think most of us can afford free. That’s right, … FREE!

SketchUp became a part of Google about a month ago. They have a version of their software, SketchUp Pro, that goes for $495, all of the usual design tools while being very easy to use. Since joining Google, they came out with another version of their software, Google SketchUp, with a slightly lower price, free.

It’s designed to work with Google Earth so you can go off in that direction if you want, but there’s no reason you can’t use it for anything else you can imagine. There is full online documentation and if you get good with it, you might think about going with the Pro version which you can try out with their time limited demo.

The free version isn’t going to have everything you want to get that perfectly detailed finished design, but if you don’t have any 3D modeling software at all, this package gives you a great start. You can also upload your models to the 3D warehouse or download models and go from there.

Remember when I said the tools for design were getting more affordable and the difference between designs is what’s in your mind? This is a great example.

Links: Google SketchUp   SketchUp Announcement    SketchUp

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