How to work w/client remotely in real time

#1

Has anyone found success with any particular method for working on a model, while the client is viewing and commenting on the work as it happens, from a remote location.

Most of my clients live thousands of miles and several time zones away. Face to face is THE best way to collaborate on a design of course but can’t happen as frequently as I’d like with our distances.

I’ve never used Skype but I have a MS Office 365 subscription and it looks like it’s part of it so current thought is I share my desktop view with the client and we can voice chat back and forth while I work on the model.

Any thoughts?

Mahalo!!

#2

Not both working in the model at the same time but screen sharing works well, all depends on your bandwith (on both sides). I have almost 1000MB\s here so it’s really easy to screen share using Skype, Hangouts or Chrome Remote Desktop.

When I used to work with Adobe and some other folks they were all very fond of Adobe connect, I thought it was ok but always seemed really complicated with loads going on. Hangouts is good enough for me.

#3

I do SketchUp instruction using GoToMeeting. I’ve tried several other options including some free ones but they’ve usually had so much latency that they weren’t workable. I can also record video of what I’m doing in cases where that might be useful.

#4

rock on, thanks guys. i guess i need to get off my butt and just jump into one of these tools. since all my clients will have different hardware, software, bandwidths, yada yada hoping to go the path of least resistance, not require everyone else to sign up for accounts (free or not), yada yada. skype, hangouts, gotomeeting all seem like viable candidates for now.

thanks again!

oh, and to clarify, only needing them to be able to watch what i’m doing and hear their commentary, definitely not wanting them to be able to manipulate the model ;-p

#5

With GoToMeeting and I expect most other options, they will only be able to watch unless you give them control over the mouse and keyboard.

#6

Honestly, Hangouts seems to be the most appropriate for us. A lot people have gmail or at least a google account they use for something. It’s really easy to use, and you don’t also have to be on the phone, you can have audio, video, and screensharing.

#7

I’ve attended a lot of GoToMeeting webinars, but I’ve never hosted one. What do you have to do to host one? Is there a cost to the host?

#8

I pay for an annual subscription to the service. I forget what it is but probably around $30 or $40/month.

Hosting a session is no big deal. I usually do a “Meet now” thing and send the other attendees an invitation with a link and a phone number in case they are going to use the phone on their end for audio. I use a headset so I have my hands free.

#9

Ok, so you’d need to do that on a fairly regular basis to be worth it. Thanks.

#10

how many can view what you do?

#11

I guess to be truly worth it, yes. I do an awful lot of gratis sessions because it’s so much easier to help other people learn how to do things in SketchUp when they can see things happen. It eliminates a lot of this screwing around we end up doing here on the forum trying to get useful information out of people so we can answer their questions. I use their SketchUp file when appropriate and can demonstrate how to do whatever they’re trying to do. If I need to I can hit Undo and go over it again or whatever to make sure they’ve got it. I can also make them the presenter and have them show me what they are doing.

Back when installing plugins and extensions was a whole lot more involved than it is now, I would often do sessions where the other person would give me access to their computer so I could just fix their balled-up installations. I remember one guy in the UK who just couldn’t get an extension installed correctly. After e-mailing back and forth for several days I asked him to let me have at his computer. Turns out he had managed to scatter the files from the extension all over his computer with none of the files in the Plugins directory. He’s also managed to change the name of his C drive to “SketchUp”. There’s no way in the world I would have ever guessed he’d done that without actually seeing his computer.

#12

Fifteen or Sixteen. Most often I do one-on-one personalized sessions but I’ve also done presentations for groups such as a guild of woodworkers in North Carolina and the members were all in their homes.

#13

That’s pretty awesome. Is band width ever an issue?

#14

Only when both my son is watching videos on his iPad and playing a video game with friends at the same time.

#15

Heh! Well I was mostly referring to the attendees band width and connectivity issues…drops and reconnects that sort of thing. I’ve often felt like my area is a SU wasteland. This would be a good way to spread the SU to Alaska. Or you could just visit :slight_smile:

#16

Oh. No. I haven’t had anyone complain about issues during sessions. I suppose if folks have really slow connections there could be issues.

I forget. Where in Alaska are you? I might be willing to visit in the summer. I’m tired of winter here, now.

#17

I’m located in south central on the Kenai Peninsula SSW of Anchorage 65 miles atcf (3 hr drive)
I have often wondered how to find other SU users in my location. The membership list on the site doesn’t seem to give any query options.

#18

Ah, now I remember.

I don’t know about good ways to locate SketchUp users in your area. Maybe starting an ISO thread in the Corner Bar and on SCF would get you some hits.

#19

My wife took online classes and the class got together via Teamviewer. It has a meeting option that allows screen sharing/voice/etc. The clients do have to download the program but it can be run without installing and requires no sign-up. It’s free for personal use, you’d have to check for professional use.

#20

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