Although nowadays, Google spends a lot of time in court protecting its users' rights and the secrets which allowed it to become market leader, this doesn't mean the company can't go shopping for promising startups.

After acquiring Upstartle, the company behind the online Office suite Writely, Google had announced the acquisition of @Last Software, whose only software application is SketchUp 3D.

According to the company's site, SketchUp is a deceptively simple, amazingly powerful tool for creating, viewing, and modifying 3D ideas quickly and easily. SketchUp was developed to combine the elegance and spontaneity of pencil sketching with the speed and flexibility of today's digital media.

The application also offers a plug-in for Google Earth through which one can export models of buildings into the Mountain View company's application.

SketchUp costs $495, but @Last Software allows users to download an 8 hour trial version. Click here to download it.

According to Vnunet.com, Brad Schell, founder of @Last Software, tried to dispel fears that the software would be turned into a Google Earth tool, abandoning features needed by users in other markets.

"Google's resources will allow us to serve our current users better, and Google's reach will allow us to expose more people to SketchUp in one year than we could have touched in 10 years on our own," Brad Schell said.

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