Google Sees Things in 3D

Google's interest in artwork now goes beyond the illustrations you see on the search engine's home page. The company has released a free version of Google Sketchup, a tool for creating, viewing, and modifying 3D images.

SketchUp is available for download.

As my colleague Juan Carlos Perez of the IDG News Service reports, Google acquired the application when it bought @Last Software in March.

Google is also launching a Web site called 3D Warehouse, which the company describes as a "repository of 3D content that...enables users to share their 3D creations."

SketchUp has also been integrated with Google Earth, so that now SketchUp designs can be integrated with that popular mapping application, Google said.

The free version of SketchUp is for personal use only. It is based on the existing SketchUp Pro 5, a fee-based version with a commercial license and more advanced features. The free version is available for Windows 2000 and XP, and a version for the Mac OS is in the works.

More information is available in Google's blog.