Find And Report is an extension that lets you find any element in your model by typing a few characters in a search field. You can customize attributes to identify these elements. Any element of the model, such as an edge or a surface, and not just its components, can be identified.
You can then export information on selected elements to a spreadsheet. With their dimensions, custom attributes and materials, you can easily create a bill of quantities.
The tool is available for free on the Extension Warehouse :Extension | SketchUp Extension Warehouse. The best way to learn more about the extension is to try it out. After installation, youâll be given a single button that opens a window to manage your data.
Donât hesitate to ask questions and make suggestions on this post. You can also take part in this survey on priorities for developing the tool: Development priorities for Find And Report . Itâs your input that will allow the project to develop in the direction that suits you best.
I should point out that it is indeed the persistent_id that the extension has been using since SketchUp 2017. It was a great step forward to have this persistent id in terms of tool development. But the term âentity IDâ is used in the extension because for the vast majority of users, specifying which type of ID is not relevant.
[Hi, this is such a great tool thankyou, I am using specifically to manipulate component attributes for labeling and annotation in layout and this is perfect for setting up short and long descriptions. The only suggestions I would have for my use, is that it would be great to have the excel sheet as a master and saved/updated with all entries- I have an excel Keynote System linked to layout that this would be great for. Also not having to press the enter button in the wisext table, I always forget and lose my edit. Thanks again great
Thanks Oliver, I meant that it would be great to have all the attributes in the excel file particular any long notes that can be linked as key notes from the excel file to layout. I have setup attribute 5 as a keynote column. Now that I think about it I can just save all the project attributes after finishing the SketchUp file selecting all the components, exporting to the excel sheet and then saving to another sheet as a master containing all the project notes. So the first sheet is linked for edits.
I guess what I was thinking is you could make the linked excel sheet cumulative rather than selection based. That would make it easy to work with the individual components in the Wisext interface but continue to add and build the master excel file. I have been sequentially numbering the component definition structure#01, exterior#01, interior#01, site#01 which are my layer folders. I just copy and paste the last number and work through one category at a time and I just work with components that I want to label in layout and move them to top level in model then add attributes with your tools. I just have the id, 5 attribute columns, instance, definition name and layer. I hide the rest in your tools and the excel sheet. Pretty easy to use your filters to organise everything in your interface.
I have only just started using the tools but figured it would work quite well with my keynotes excel sheet which I link to layout and just update information when I link a new SketchUp file. That way I can link keynotes to attributes instead of using a scrapbook label and pasting the keynote from the table in layout which is quick, but I think attributes would be better because I can set up and change the components in SketchUp that I will be annotating later which is a good thinking process.
I hope that kind of makes sense. I have taken a screenshot of my SketchUp and my current layout system.
Hi Oliver, I think that there are a lot of architects that do not appreciate layout as a programme capable of producing full plans for building consent and they just use SketchUp for concepts. You might want to promote annotation and labelling from SketchUp to layout in your tool set. It also might be handy to be able to select all nested components with custom attributes. I have moved all components with attributes to the top level and have a good tag layer system to manage that. I think most users work with nested components and groups. It would be great if the tools searched all levels for components with custom attributes which you then transferred all notes to a spreadsheet for editing that was linked to a layout template with linked spreadsheet tables like mine. You could then easily work with previously saved notes etc and import with you tools. I have all my layout tables setup with the cell ranges for specific key notes.
First of all, thanks again for sharing your (new) user experience, with these screenshots showing elaborate plans. As you can see, this feedback is a first for this post .
Now, Iâm wondering to what extent the âFind And Reportâ tool doesnât already contain the features you suggest.
For one thing, the search is already done at all levels of the model, in all sub-components and sub-groups. For example, typing âwindowâ to search in the âElementâ attribute will select all elements labeled âWindowâ across different groups in this model:
On the other hand, you can export all model entities at any level, using âData with attributes to fileâ . Itâs not just the current selection thatâs exported, but any entity with attributes, whatever the level. If you export the example and filter the Element attribute on Window, youâll notice that these elements have a different path. The letter (G) indicates the group in which the element is located.
Once this data has been exported, you can use the power of Excel to exploit the data you want. There are functions like XLOOKUP. But itâs also worth trying out Excel dataâs tools for selecting and manipulating the data on the report.
Itâs worth exporting data in table form, by giving it a table name in the export parameters . This will facilitate data manipulation.
Hi Oliver, not sure if you can help. I am finding that if I create custom attributes in you find and report they do not show in layout for sketchup pro. If I use the name, summary and description in the dynamic components interface the notes show up in layout but not in your find and report and I cannot export the layout notes to excel for easy editing to import back to sketchup which will update in the linked layout file.
If I am correct, it would be great if you were able to add and link the dynamic components fields or get your attribute fields to show up in layout. Not sure if you are familiar with layout, but the label tool can use the component and group information as the text.
Note I am still using 2021 pro and do not intend to upgrade so I am not sure if they have developed better annotation in 2024 pro.
Hi Andrew. Iâve never worked on developing functionality with Layout.There are a few tools for interacting programmatically with Layout, but Iâll need more than a few hours to work with them. And I donât know if what youâre asking for is technically possible.
In practical terms, Iâll take your suggestion on board, but I canât promise that Find And Report will include such a tool in the near future.
Hi Oliver, I am fine using the component interface which is quick. I just thought it might be worth your time if you were not aware of the existing link from SketchUp to layout. It is very simple.
If you add any information to a components name or advanced attributes (not custom attributes) they show up when you label the component in layout. This is not much use for me because the advance attributes are specific formatting, but it is great for anyone doing costing estimates.
Dynamic components do the same thing but they have 4 standard text fields Name, Summary, description, and item code. I just simply fill these with the information, and I have an automatic labelling system that I can change in sketchup and update in my layout documents. I have attached a couple of screenshots for you.
Hi Andrew, hi everyone,
Posting suggestions on the forum should lead to concrete action. Iâve adapted âFind And Reportâ
so that you can modify values without having to press Enter.
To try it out, you can install a beta version of the Wisext tools by going to the Extensions / Find And Report / About the Wisext tools menu and clicking on the âtest a beta versionâ button (version 0.702.31). The need to press Enter remains an option that you can reactivate if you go to âFind And Report settingsâ .
Everyone is welcome to try out this feature, and please donât hesitate to share your experience on this forum.
I just wanted to say that this seems very interesting. At the moment I donât have time to test it, but I will follow this development closely. Thank you for your work!
Hi,
To keep up the momentum of responding to suggestions, Iâve tested some code for exporting data to a Layout file. This makes it possible to select elements from the SketchUp model and create labels in Layout with âFind And Reportâ attribute text.
The tool will have some limitations: the operation can only be launched from within SketchUp, and the Layout file must be closed. Labels will be inserted in a âdefault positionâ and will have to be reorganized manually. There will be no update of the label text when an attribute value is modified in SU: an export has to be restarted. But perhaps this will help those who work with Layout.
Before working further on this tool and distributing it, may I ask those who are interested to âlikeâ this post, to see what support there is for this type of tool.
That is fantastic Oliver, I am not sure about 2024 subscriptions versions but there are really no plugins available between layout and sketchup pro 21 which was the last of the perpetual licenses
FYI sketchup 21 contains an older version of chromium. because itâs older, itâs no longer supported by the warehouses. it doesnât mean there are no extensions for sketchup 2021. you can simply grab them straight from the warehouse and manually install them. It adds what⌠2-3 min per extension ?
Hi Ateliernab, I meant plugins that specifically link between SketchUp and layout. The ability to live update all my component information with excel and have it live linked to layout is very helpful to my workflow and annotation in layout. The work that Oliver has done with the Wisext tools is the first I have come across. I currently have a linked excel file but this enabled me to leverage keynote using sketchup components
that opens a window to manage your data.
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. Itâs not just the current selection thatâs exported, but any entity with attributes, whatever the level. If you export the example and filter the Element attribute on Window, youâll notice that these elements have a different path. The letter (G) indicates the group in which the element is located.
. This will facilitate data manipulation.
There are a few tools for interacting programmatically with Layout, but Iâll need more than a few hours to work with them. And I donât know if what youâre asking for is technically possible.
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this post, to see what support there is for this type of tool.