Google SketchUp is one of my favorite applications. Its a free 3D software that I use to create my fabulous 3D models. It works well and lets my imagination and fingers do their magic. Its an excellent therapy for mind and soul. Theres only one problem, so to speak. It has been designed to work on Windows and Mac only, with no Linux version in the offing.

All in all, its not a tragedy, since I believe in using any software and/or operating system that meets the requirements. If you need to draw a bit, you power Windows and do what needs to be done. But some people may not have the privilege to make the cross-platform choice. For them, Google SketchUp is on the wish-list. Or is it?

Well, it turns out you can have Google SketchUp in Linux. It requires Wine. Overall, the installation is very simple and you will get a decent experience. It wont be a perfect one, mind you, but its a great beginning. There's hope.

Lets see how we can do this.

Install Google SketchUp, two easy steps

Step 1: Install a few missing utilities

I have shown you not long ago how to use winetricks to easily obtain missing programs and libraries required by some of the Windows programs installed using Wine. Winetricks is a very smart wrapper script that will facilitate the installation of extra components, letting you focus on getting your desired application to run.

Now, to get Google SketchUp to run, you will need some fonts and Visual Basic libraries.

winetricks corefonts vcrun6 vcrun2005

Step 2: Install Google SketchUp

wine <Google SketchUp windows executable>

And just follow the wizard:

Run Google SketchUp - Have fun!

Now, time to power up the program and enjoy! And here we go, a spectacular gallery of Google SketchUp on Linux, with a handful of my breathtaking models posing for you, including some that have yet to be unveiled sometime in the future. You're having an exclusive preview of an artist's work even before it's finished, a sin in some places.

Some of the models were designed in the older version of the program (v5 beta), but there were no problems opening and playing with them.