SketchUp 2018 Wish List

[quote=“JQL, post:91, topic:32922”]But that is the standard solid tool, it does not update in realtime.
[/quote]

no, it’s the intersection functionality, yes, it doesn’t update in realtime.

Dynamic might be the word to describe the need. I realize this is a very complex request.

Dynamic Solid Tools is what you are after.

Handy if you can do it but it’s just lazy modelling.

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Yeah, but… That’s what SU is all about. Making it easy to model. Call it lazy if you want. I call it convenient.

Imagine if you could draw a wall with studs, sheathing, drywall, etc. and then plop a windows on it and everything would be cut out. Nice right? You could manually cut the studs back and draw the window framing but… My customers never change window locations. Never! (sarcasm)

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And all that can be done with plugins.
None of which I would use.

Er… not easily. In order for a component to be movable, and dynamically ‘cut’ other content becomes very complex and cumbersome. I’ve not seen an extension yet that does it well. But I would check out any references.

Fredo’s tool that you show above does an excellent job of cutting, but good luck if you need to move the opening/cut.

Shown here:

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There is a huge number of Architectural construction extensions, that add an enormous amount of functionality, none of which I would ever use.
Why would I want those things added to the core.
I’m sure you have explored some of them yourself, but again, why are they relevant to how I use SU.

I don’t know that dynamic/parametric features would necessarily be Architectural. I can see a lot of ways that it would be beneficial to have more dynamic tools (like a “negative volume” tool), that then perhaps could be used by plugin writers for more specific tasks (e.g. windows).

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My point exactly, there is no one way to use the software.
So make a base and let people build things to add to it.

Gotcha, I think I misunderstood your point. I assumed that “everything could be done with plugins” meant an aversion to adding capabilities to SketchUp natively. Obviously there’s a balance to be struck (especially with SketchUp’s ease-of-use mission), but I think native dynamic API features that could be wielded for plugins would be a great boon. I do a lot of weird one-off design that would benefit a lot from things like editable arrays, negative volumes, spline paths, etc. Certainly not simple to implement, but would absolutely be a next step up for SketchUp in my book.

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That you don’t use some of the features doesn’t mean they can’t be pertinent for users globally no matter what industry they are.

I have no use for a lot of sketchup features and miss others so much…

It’s just a matter of finding common ground that potentiates many workflows. Dynamic booltools would definetelly be useful for many.

I think whether something should be a core feature or a plugin depends much on how specific it is. Something very specific for one field, e.g. draw roofs or pipes, or as mentioned above introducing a level concept, doesn’t fit into the main program. Something much more general that can be used in all fields like live solid tools fits much better, even if not every user would use it.

Edit: The level feature I mention was from the other thread by the same name, not this one.

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Thread merge should be a Discourse feature… how it would be done… that’s another problem.

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I would like to have come capability to simulate lanyards and pulleys. Or have I missed some such capability already present? Perhaps via some of the new joints? My impression is that at present the lanyards when loaded would cut right through the pulleys in the model.

Jenterli

I really would like to have a menu like LO has to change how SU starts up. I close and decline to save a template file many times per day in my work flow. It’s a waste of time for me now. I would like to have a prompt for a new or existing file or even a choice of template upon startup.

If you are referring to the start screen of SU it has a checkbox for not showing on start in the future. However the first time you start SU you have to actively chose a template (which I think is a really bad choice to force onto new users that don’t even know what a template is and maybe don’t fully understand the language but that’s a topic for of its own).

Pro only. Make users see the startup screen every time.

how are you opening SU to not get the last open file?

normally you need to ⇧Click on the SU icon to do that…

also, you must have a rogue extension that’s writing hidden data to the model if you see a ‘save’ dialog on an empty Template…

if you save one and post it we can try and find the culprit…

john

Yup, and it’s probably the Pro only feature I like the most. Getting rid of that extra distraction each time I open an new instance of SU is to me about as important as LO or DWG import.

However since minimalex posted a screenshot of LO I assume they are a Pro user.

Yes, I am on a Pro setup. I am not referring to the startup screen though. I am referring to SU when I select it at the dock when starting the program or switching to it with no file already open. It opens a new ‘blank’ file based on my chosen template, but usually I want to edit an existing file or if I want a new one to pick a new template. If the opening dialogue was like LO I wouldn’t have to close a blank file every time.

john_drivenupthewall is likely right that an extension is making me decline to save by automatically writing something to the file. [5 minutes later] Okay, it’s Skalp. If the extension is open it makes me save the blank file that opens automatically. More to the point, yeah, why am I not seeing the last open file? I would prefer that or better a recently opened or template dialogue…

For now thanks for reminding me I can right click the icon to pick a recent project.