Trimble Joins Make48 as Product Placement Sponsor for the 2026 Season

Trimble has officially teamed up with Make48 as a product placement sponsor for the 2026 season. Known for empowering over 33 million industry professionals to dream, design, and create, Trimble’s 3D modeling software SketchUp is bringing its "Vision to Realization" philosophy directly to our competitions.

This season, the collaboration goes beyond just software. The industry-standard CAD design platform will also bring a dedicated Tool Tech to events to support competing teams. At Make48, Tool Techs are the experts who help transform big ideas into real prototypes. These skilled specialists– ranging from CAD designers to master woodworkers and welders– guide tool use, solve technical problems and accelerate the path from concept to creation. A Tool Tech specializing in Trimble SketchUp plays a vital role in this process, helping teams convert their early ideas into precise 3D models and prepare designs for fabrication during the televised competitions. 

The Make48 team and SketchUp designers are eager to work together this season. SketchUp's software experts are as passionate about design as they are constructability. Access to these experts can change the game for our competitors in bringing conceptual visions to fully-fledged designs faster.

Tom Gray, CEO of Make48, explains the value of this dedicated support: “Having other tool techs trying to perfect a new software or machine during the competition is not ideal; having a SketchUp expert is! Every software or machine has tricks or techniques that only an experienced person would know, understand, or use on a regular basis. That alone is very powerful for the teams using the SketchUp experts to understand what can be turned into a physical product and what cannot. Just because they have an idea doesn’t mean it can be made as they envision it.”

The Full Power of SketchUp

Established in 2000 in Boulder, Colorado, SketchUp was born from a challenge: architectural engineer Brad Schell and software developer Joe Esch wanted to build professional 3D design software that was both powerful and approachable. They succeeded, giving designers the most valuable resource of all: time. 

What used to take 30 minutes to mock up could now be done in 30 seconds, expanding the room for collaboration, creativity, and making. In a time-crunched environment like Make48, this efficiency is critical.

“Think back to when things were all done by hand with wood,” Gray reflects. “CAD and digital tools are the reason Make48 competitions can exist. Otherwise, if we turn the clock back 25+ years, our competitions would likely have been 48 days long.”

As a creative anchor for Trimble’s mission to bridge the digital screen with the physical world, SketchUp has evolved from a standalone 3D modeling tool into a comprehensive ecosystem that connects the initial spark of design directly to the built environment. 

SketchUp is now used by millions of professionals worldwide. Having this caliber of software available creates a shift in how the teams will prototype during the 48 hours. 

“For our competitions in particular, communication is vital,” Gray says. “Many students are doing this for the first time, and sharing their ideas verbally or by rough pencil drawing is the only way to communicate. Having people on the ground skilled in SketchUp puts that rough idea into a polished design, making it much clearer for all those involved on the communication side of things. Once that step is done, having that final file is needed for any digital work to be done, whether 3D printing, Laser or CNC.”

Empowering The Next Generation

A major highlight of this sponsoring partnership is the shared commitment to education. SketchUp has a massive footprint in the education space with "SketchUp for Schools”, which provides primary and secondary students worldwide access to free, intuitive, browser-based 3D modeling tools. 

This aligns perfectly with Make48’s goal to bring STEM and tech education to the forefront in a way that is accessible, but not intimidating. “Learning aspects of STEM can be daunting for some,” admits Gray. “Having the right products to use can dramatically help with anything in life, sport, business, etc. We try to work with user-friendly tools and software that are easier to learn for beginners, and that's an important reason we think SketchUp is a natural fit.”

As we head into the 2026 season, we can't wait to see how our teams use SketchUp to imagine boldly and deliver with confidence.

To learn more about Trimble SketchUp, visit https://sketchup.trimble.com/en