SketchUp 2016 Wish list

Hi Artpen,

I agree, have been using SU a lot more for my Architectural CAD projects, I therefore fully support your:-

2. Basic building elements - (Walls, Slabs, Curtain Walls, Roofs, Windows/Doors) with use of Dynamic Components, so user can edit individual elements and create custom elements.:thumbsup:

However, SU HQ seem to want to let people develop “EXTENSIONS” to facilitate certain disciplines to cater for these such items. Of late I’ve noticed some extensions in this regard cost more than SU-Pro, that seems odd to me.

I do wonder though if this thinking limits the future of SU & subsequent yearly updates & relies too much on third party extensions. Personally I would like to see SU-HQ develop some in-house specific industry discipline “ADD-ON’s” to cater for people in these industries they list on the SU Home page under:-

3D for…

In essence, this covers, Architecture, Construction, Engineering & so on.

My thinking on this would be add on separate packs one could buy. This would include various items, such as you mention:-

CONSTRUCTION PACK = Walls, Slabs, Curtain Walls, Roofs, Windows/Doors etc.

I can see a deeper future in this direction may be, just a thought.

Over & out,
Clayton.

Hi Chris,

LAYER MANAGER,

Where do I start,…H’mmm a lot of work on this one, I wish it would do half the things my CAD software Layer Manager does.

In the meantime I use an EXTENSION called:-
Layers Panel by jiminy-billy-bob

Apart from Locking layers as you say, other considered items:-

Layer Folders for specific layer names.
Move to layer by selection.
Layer on/off by selection.
Layer as active by selection.
Layer active only by selection.
Layers all on.
User to dictate layers order, not alphabetically, i.e. an move up/down arrow button with lock order.

Over & out,
Clayton.

1 Like

And a polyline tool like autoCAD where you can switch from a line to a curve by right clicking and selecting back and forth with out breaking the line. Plus a double line tool that really worked.

**

ROTATE 2D FLAT STUFF…!!!

**
I’ve not figured this out, but when I need to import flat CAD items for modelling in SU (usually building elevations), I need to rotate them 90 degrees around a similar flat plan. The Rotate tool would be good for this, but I can’t get it to stick to 2D flat lines… :confounded:

This would be a great fix… :smile:

Don’t you mean (with the ‘Rotate’ tool selected) the ‘click on edge > hold down Lmouse button while dragging the cursor along the edge > release Lmouse button somewhere else on same edge’ to set the rotation axis along that edge? If not, please elaborate.

This is dead easy, but you need a reference first: I normally draw a box so that I can see a red, green and blue face;

  • select the area you want to rotate (eg an elevation)
  • click the rotation tool
  • hover over the plane you want to rotate in so that the protractor tool changes colour
  • hold [shift]
  • move the cursor to the line you want the axis to be on
  • click
  • move in one direction
  • type “90” [return]

done
You will have to rotate end elevations upright first, then rotate it 90º in the blue axis.

Hi Gaget2020,

Been drawing these daft reference cubes for an age… :grin:

Just want the ROTATE tool to stick to a group of flat 2D stuff to rotate vertically…!!!

Can it be done without drawing additional items (cubes)…??
If yes, how.
If no, wish list still stands.

Over & out,
Clayton.

[quote=“Clayton, post:73, topic:3642”]
ust want the ROTATE tool to stick to a group of flat 2D stuff to rotate vertically…!!!

Can it be done without drawing additional items (cubes)…??
[/quote]As said before, drag the ‘Rotate’ tool along an existing edge or somehow horizontal on ground plane or whatever is available. What more do you need?

Look at the 2D flat on the ground parts from the side. Select Rotate, and place your cursor somewhere above the ground, it should show a vertical protractor. Hold down the shift key to lock that vertical protractor. Now click on the end of the 2D parts that needs to remain on the ground, click on the other end, that is to be rotated vertically, and move your cursor upwards to rotate everything into a vertical position.

No…this does not work.

Hi Collin,

Yes, this works, o.k. I guess, but the best one so far is the move tool would you believe. I forgot it rotates stuff as well when grouped items or as a component. Odd the move tool has more functions on rotation than the rotation tool… :exclamation:

I would normally use the Move tool, but hadn’t suggested it because I thought an infinity thin object wouldn’t have any thickness for the move rotate crosses to show up! But I see that it does work.

The main advantage of the rotate tool method is that you can tilt something up from the ground. As far as I can see the move rotate only rotates around the midpoint of the object.

The Rotate tool has many options.

To rotate an object ‘axially’ [RGB]…
Activate the tool.
Place the cursor in open space looking in the direction of the axis - e.g. downwards fro ‘flat 2d / Red’…
The gizmo’s color changes - in this case to ‘Red’.
Hold the Shift-key to lock that inference.
Now pick the rotation-point.
Continue with the rotation picking processes…

To rotate about the ‘normal’ of a non-axially oriented face…
Activate the Rotate tool.
Initially hover the cursor over the face.
The gizmo is now Black.
Use the Shift-key to lock the inference to that face’s ‘normal’ axis.
Continue with the rotation picking processes…

To rotate using an arbitrary Edge to define the axis of rotation…
Activate the Rotate tool.
Click any point on that edge.
Hold down the mouse button and immediately drag along that edge.
Release the button-press.
The gizmo should now be oriented using that edge as its axis of rotation.
Continue with the rotation picking processes…

Hi Colin,

Yes, this appears to be the case. I can see another wish list coming…GRIPS.

In actual fact, the red crosses aren’t grips as I understand as in some CAD software. So, the wish would be, when an item is selected, 2D (flat) or 3D, we do have true grips on at least the corners, so we can choose a “GRIP” point to move or rotate from together with all other relevant tools.

With regard to the rotate tool and a wishlist item: it would be really handy if the Right arrow locked the rotational plane to the red axis, left to green and up/down to blue (the same as it does when drawing)

2 Likes

Hi,

There are some things that I would love to see in SKP 2016:

In General

  1. Simple mirror (maybe working as a texture material?)
  2. Different line type and weight for different layers

In MacOS X

  1. Colapsable material window
  2. Full Screen

In Layout

  1. Draw and move in scale ( maybe inside groups like in vectorworks )
  2. Real spreadsheet table with simple formulas (maybe linking to an external spreadsheet).
  3. Possibility of third parties plugins
  4. Simple count on Auto-text (1,2,3… a,b,c… I, II, III…) not only linked to page numbers
  5. Spreadsheet operations in Auto-text ( like if =Paul then… )
  6. Handles like sketchup, for a more precise work routine.
  7. App in fullscreen
2 Likes

This is my wishlist for SU 2016 Windows.

Classifier:
I would like to import a little list according to my unit-settings (decimal) made in SU-Template, to tag elements by length (edge), area (material/color), volume and pieces (for groups and components). Please let me see this info by hover in the model, tagged info only.

Report:
I would like to export by active Layer or/and group, component, area, lenght, volume.

Thanks.

Want to be able to import 2d AutoCad dwg or dxf into SU with all lines, borders, title blocks, texts, dimensions, etc. in one import command. Evidently, the problem is that SketchUp has no entity type that would correspond to AutoCad text; thus, text in Sketchup is placed on the screen, whereas in AutoCad it is a model object. There are some power users, such as Geo, Kenny, and Anssi, that have helped with some work-arounds that are greatly appreciated and helpful but not the same as SU making a
one-step import command.

I would like to see a way of being able to select whether the cursor for drawing a line or selecting can be toggled from “Intersection” (x) and “Vertex” or inferred, and to be able to swtich off or bypass any snapping. The locking of layers as opposed to (or in concert with) locking groups would be helpful as well.

It would be great if, for SU 2016, Trimble’s developers figure out how to eliminate the disappearing file issue that is commonly found when running SU 2015 (64-bit version) on Dell computers having Intel HD Graphics 5500 integrated display adapters.