I ask because there has been zero contact from anyone from their team on here for at least 6 months. I’ve also contacted them using every conceivable method but have had nothing back at all. Not even an acknowledgement or even a post updating us on the crashing (compatibility) issue they have with SU2018. This is so frustrating as I need their product to create construction docs but don’t want to pull the pin on a purchase if it’s not going to be sorted or supported going forward.
So back to my question, is Skalp gone, never to be developed or has it been bought by Trimble for inclusion in SU 2019? Does anyone in-the-know have any idea what’s going on?
I flippin’ hope not! It’s my primary drawing production tool within SU. It’s an indispensable bit of kit. There was an update not long ago (on SU 2018 launch)!and move to a subscription ish sort of model with a promise of new features this year.
Yep, and emailed, FB’d, Tweeted and DM’d… Not a carrot of a response. Its a bit ignorant tbh. But to be fair you don’t much feedback on here from SU, and it’s their forum and users who buy their software.
Maybe my question should have been is SketchUp dead? (or dying a slow neglected death?)
I see responses here by members of the SketchUp team daily. Skalp just isn’t their software but a third party plugin. Do they have an own support forum?
So you don’t get a response from the independent developer of an extension and you conclude that SketchUp is dead. That’s some leap.
IF SketchUp did buy Skalp to include in SU 2019 they couldn’t and wouldn’t announce it until the release of SU 2019. It would be the same as any other new feature.
I didn’t get that impression talking to them end of october, face to face, about their product. This was at 3D Basecamp Benelux. Trimble buying the extention is an interesting thought though. That direction would be in line of how I think SketchUp Solids and section cuts and section fill should work.
Yeah, agreed, was said more in gest, but saying that there have times it’s felt a lot like that. It’s not exactly progressed massively since it’s inception, which is such a shame. SU could be so much more amazing with a big developer behind it. And LO might not stink the place out quite so much.
The thing is, I’m far from alone in thinking like this. This place is far from a representative cross section of the industry…but saying that, how you can think LO is anything other than substandard is utterly baffling.
You should tell folks like Nick Sonder that. I bet he’d like to know.
It works just fine for me.
Your comments make it sound like you think SketchUp and LayOut are the worst thing around. So why aren’t you using something else? No one is forcing you to use SketchUp and LayOut. It baffles me that people who can’t understand why others use SketchUp and LayOut don’t go off and use something they think is better.
Of course I’m not going to change your mind and you’re not going to change mine so we can just agree to disagree and move on. At least I am.
Not sure what your point is. The sarcastic tone isn’t required either.
Take off your SketchUp hat for a minute and understand that in the architectural (and construction) industry LayOut is considered a joke. And I’ve worked for some of the big practices (Arup, Aedas, Atkins) over the years and they would laugh if you ever suggested using LayOut, they see it as a toy. And that perception comes from its total lack of suitability to the simple required task of effectively and efficiently (I.e. Within fee scope) producing printed output.
Nick Sonder does some great work. But so could we all given enough time and available fee (and oodles of patience), which is generally not the case. My guess is he just chooses to tolerate using LO because SU is so nice to use. LO is light-years away from what it should be by this stage in its development. Each annual incremental ‘improvement’ isn’t close to what it needs. If you think differently then you’re easily pleased.
Most of the people in the industry who consider Layout to be a toy have only used it for 30 minutes max, have tried to use it like ACAD or Revit/ArchiCAD, haven’t been able to get anything out of it and quit.
I know because this is how I and many of my friends approached layout. I bagged layout like all the others not knowing 10% of it.
Is it currently perfect? No. But it is quite capable ONCE you have your templates and workflow dialled in, and understand the various workflows that you need to use to get the required result.
This is no different to Revit which is quite frankly garbage out of the box but once you set it up right, is okay.
Most people always complain when approaching a new software, neglecting the 10, 15, 20 years of in-house development that went into making your preferred software tolerable. Spend the same development time in Layout and see what happens.
I suspect layout will receive some large updates in the coming years as Trimble re-aligns their product base more towards ACE. I can wait, hell I’ve been waiting 12 years for them to fix my favourite 1000 Revit bugs so whats the difference?
At the end of the day I need a software that I enjoy using, one that feels right and puts a smile on my face.
At this point I would still rather spend a week in sketchup and layout than a day in Revit, and I am a Revit master.
If you were a regular here, you would know that @DaveR is one of the most prolific responders to OPs. He is certainly one of the most helpful guys on the forum. If you want to get proficient with SU and LO and genuinely want advice and not a soapbox, you would do well to keep him on side.
No soapbox, not attacking anyone, just saying what I think. But surely this is a forum where all views are happily accepted? Or has this place become a reflection of society filled with snowflakes where everyone gets offend at the slightest disagreement or affront? Sad day if that’s the case. I’m also not going to tread on eggshells so as to be beholden to anyone who might know something I might need in the future. Personally I don’t give two hoots if someone disagrees with me, I’m grown up enough to argue my case, but we’re all mates afterwards, no offence taken.
I’m proficient enough with SU and LO, at least according to clients and fellow professionals I am, and that’s all that matters tbh. But the issue isn’t ability (or lack there of ) it’s how clunky and sluggish LO is (Dell XPS9560 i7 32GB) and how unsuited to a smooth (commercial) architectural worfklow it is. (If it was everyone would have jumped on it over the years. They haven’t)…No amount of usage, tweaking or setting up templates solves the fundamental issue that it’s simply not good enough, and never has been. If you think it is, that’s cool, but I don’t and am perfectly within my rights to say so.
And I’m sure Dave’s a big lad and can look after himself. Can’t believe he’d have taken any offence at what I said. I could be wrong mind.
) it’s how clunky and sluggish LO is (Dell XPS9560 i7 32GB) and how unsuited to a smooth (commercial) architectural worfklow it is. (If it was everyone would have jumped on it over the years. They haven’t)…No amount of usage, tweaking or setting up templates solves the fundamental issue that it’s simply not good enough, and never has been. If you think it is, that’s cool, but I don’t and am perfectly within my rights to say so.