We are pleased to inform you that the Trimble and SketchUp team have been working on a new version of the CAD in Trimble Connect integration called Trimble Drawing. Trimble Drawing allows users to create a DWG file from scratch, view an existing DWG file and edit a DWG file in the cloud, allowing users to create drawings from their 3D models without leaving the Trimble ecosystem.This app is designed to complement your SketchUp &LayOut workflows. To assist your normal workflows of SketchUp & LayOut, we are interested in understanding how you see Trimble Drawing could be better suited for different type of jobs / projects!
This solution is currently in the design phase, and we’re inviting SketchUp users like you to share your insights with our team at every step of the process - from design to prototype to final product. If this sounds like an opportunity you’d be interested in, please sign up by clicking on sign-in with Trimble ID. Once you sign in with the Trimble account, you will be asked to fill in an onboarding survey which will help us to understand your professional profile better. You will experience a clickable wireframe of what we plan to build and complete a quick survey based on your first impressions. Based on your feedback, we’ll launch a working product for you to test and review.
We’re so excited to kick off the Trimble Drawing project and can’t wait to hear your thoughts on what we’re putting together. Click the link here to get started!
See you at the testing program!
SketchUp & Trimble Drawing team
I’m confused here. Why would we need a new online thinga-me-jig instead of a properly functioning Layout ?
Can’t you just spend the human ressource time on finally fixing all the issues the community of users has flagged up over the years ? - just read through this forum and you’ll see how many there are !
Once Layout is finally at a truly professional standard/level, then porting it to a web based tool seems like a good idea for those who are sure that they will always have a web connexion everywhere they go… (not true of rural France for example). But until then it feels like a slap in the face to all of us who have kept on for years with the Layout/SU combo, hoping against hope that next year’s version will finally do the stuff we need… just saying.
Good luck though…
Best regards,
PT
I have read the calling and I think the same as you, what need do I have to export to Cad when I have a 3D model? In fact yesterday I thought about signing up but I said to myself, “Rafa you don’t need a CAD” just Layout…
The future should be BIM, not CAD
I´m not sure you are interpreting the responses the right way. Many have called for proper dwg export from Layout and SU. The dream of the death of dwg has always, for decades now, been an elusive goal. My guess is we will have dwg needs even 20 years from now.
I will give the test a go and see if it works good as a 2D exporter tool for SU models. It would need to recognise SU scenes set up for dwg export, and give us a quick way to publish our dwg´s, recognising Tags to dwg layers, scene origo not being placed randomly, and components to blocks.
I see what you are getting at, however would it not just be better if the folks at Trimble made the “export to dwg” option from within SU work more closely to what you are asking for & address the myriad of shortcomings in LO too, rather than disperse the energy on yet another online gimmick.
It’s a bit like the energy expended on the iPad version of SU…
I guess what it comes down to is concentrating on the core product & then, and only then, branching out.
As you know, some of us would like to continue to use SU & keep up with the market in terms of BIM… the internal “export to ifc” function doesn’t even do that correctly (thank god for Jan & his ifc manager plugin), plus the fact that adding basic quantity PSets also relies on the wonderful @rtches & his addQuantities plugin…
I mean, this is just basic stuff in the world of BIM & it’s been almost a decade that nothing serious is happening on that front within SU which begs the question, does Trimble still believe in SU within the building industry as it’s evolving ? Ok, for some people in some markets CAD is still the deliverable, but even here in conservative France more & more public & private clients are demanding BIM deliverables from us architects & even small contractors (at least in the timber construction world) are getting with the program, so these basics are no longer a “nice option” they are our future.
Bref, on verra bien, as we say here…
Meanwhile, do let us know if the new CAD thing does the do for you…
Yes I am interpreting it well, in the university I drew by hand and I learned CAD at the same time, I did not return to draw plans by hand when I finished the university. If CAD lasts long it is because we are reluctant to believe that BIM is here to stay and make our lives easier. However if we need to produce drawings with Layout it should be enough, that’s what we need to improve.
In Spain we are starting to understand each other thanks to the IFC format, we can work each one in our software and federate the models of each one to obtain a project, each one generates its own documents (drawings). There are people who work in structural calculations or MEP with software other than Architecture modelers and we can obtain a BIM project even BIM4D and BIM5d.
Yes, of course, and neither should you !
That’s not what I’m contesting; I just wish they’d fix the base products (including addressing your issue !) before dumping new stuff out there…
Well I agree. Many have asked for good dwg exporters from SU and Layout, and we dont get it, but something else instead.
Many have asked for more streamlined work on reference files (referencing ifc´s and dwg´s as TrimBim, with control over color and layer settings for the import, and also referencing from local folders).
But we dont get it, instead, the advanced workflows team dont really work on workflows, but on some fancy AI stuff nobody needs.
Today I tried to replace a ifc for the steel construction while showing my model on Teams. I can tell you that was a really embarrassing meeting. Importing the ifc into the model produces a model so big it`s hardly manageable, so that took forever. I force quitted and started over again, uploading the ifc to Trimble Connect, converted to TrimBim. Downloaded that TrimBim file. Imported that TrimBim File into a new SU drawing. Deleted the tags I dont need, reducing the file by 80%, deleting the colors one at the time, that took a minute…, and then copy paste into the main model.
I won’t try the beta, my DWG needs aren’t frequent and regular, I wouldn’t be a good betatester for this tool, but I’ll use the end product. A few years ago I chose not to crack autocad but buy Qcad so I could open and quickly edit clients DWGs - and after exporting from SU, I could check the export.
Now trimble is saying “hey, we’re working on a tool in trimble connect so you can do all that without buying and learning a new software, it’ll be integrated, just like the current dwg viewer”. Well I’m glad.
Same for Trimble viewer to make quick and dirty renders. It’s not Vray, but it’s free for SU users.
Hi thanks for your feedback and thanks for being a loyal customer of SketchUp. We will continue to develop and improve the essential CAD features in SketchUp & LayOut. Trimble Drawing is a Trimble-wide application which caters to and serves customers beyond just SketchUp, and it is a standalone professional CAD drawing tool which is a complementary product and we envision it is for different type of projects and users with more sophisticated needs. There is on-going development for SketchUp & Layout side. Still, there is a need for Trimble to offer such a more advanced CAD solution which will have the 2D drawing option and, in the future, the ability to convert 3D models to construction documentation automatically.
A couple of years ago, when Layout shortcomings were being discussed and it ended up in a petition, I speculated on why not using Trimble Connect as a Layout replacement.
If this will be it, and this sort of CAD system can be a way to document any model we import into Trimble Connect, then I’m all up to the test.
I’m thinking the only drawback I see with this is if this will be exclusively online. One can’t expect to go work in the field and have stable internet connections. The cloud is great for syncing and storing files, but not so great for working fluidly and consistently.
