Overview
I’ve been using Sketchup on and off for a good few years now to design some of the projects at our house, including the last shed/workshop we built. Sketchup has had a tumultuous past however and I really dislike the new web-based version.
I still have a copy of the 2017 version stored on my NAS, but since my move to Linux as my daily driver OS on my PC, I haven’t been able to utilise it.
So I decided to take some time to work out how to get it working using Wine.
System Info
Host OS: Pop_OS! 22.04
Sketchup Version: sketchupmake-2017-2-2555-90782-en-x64.exe
Basic Steps
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Update all your repository information:
sudo apt update -
Install Wine and Winetricks:
sudo apt install wine winetricks
Configure Wine
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Run winecfg:
winecfg -
Switch the Windows version to
Windows 7
Install DotNET452 and corefonts etc
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Use WineTricks:
winetricks vcrun2013 vcrun2015 corefonts -
Create a new Wine prefix (for most applications, it’s better to set its own prefix):
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Install Sketchup
wine sketchupmake-2017-2-2555-90782-en-x64.exe
At this point, I had Sketchup show up in my Applications menu in Pop Shell and I was able to run it from there.
Sketchup Alternatives
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FreeCAD - Steep learning curve compared to Sketchup. Doesnt have that “you can just think in 3D” aspect to it like Sketchup does. Can deal with plans and more complex setups things much better however.
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BRL-CAD - The ability to draw in 3D is quite similar in some ways to Sketchup.