@mihai.s If you had different viewports/workspaces, what would you want to be able to do? What tools/features would you want? Manipulate mesh, vertices, edges?
Salut, James!
thanks for the question.
As I said, the four things need to work together, that way you get a smooth, fast and easy way of working.
I wrote this idea before and showed it in two pictures.
Just a simple example to give you an idea, but the overall changes require much more.
Multiple workspace gives you the ability to preset your work window the way you want and easily change it depending on what type of work you have.
Multiple viewports gives you the ability to set whatever tray(s) you want within that preset workspace. What’s more, if at some point you need a different one, you can easily change it with a click.
Multiple tags is clear, it saves you from nesting groups and countless double clicks to edit a group.
Multiple Pie menu per tool - In the example in the image, if you have a group and press a shortcut (say Tab), you enter Edit Group mode, and then a Pie menu opens from which you can choose different options possible in that context - Select (faces, edges, vertices), Move, Rotate, etc.
And so on for each tool.
If you need to use Materials, one shortcut, then a Pie menu opens with options for UV map, Paint, Change color, etc…
If you are doing a Shading study, another Pie menu with the related settings for shadows - UTC, Day, Hour, place, etc…
- Easy changing workspace presets
- Easy changing trays
- Easy editing with Pie menu per tool with just one shortcut
@3skeng has this type of menu
Thanks for the info, Rafael!
I know there are a few Pie extensions for SketchUp, Curic’s or Rich O’Brien’s, but they are different from what I showed.
However, I hope for an extended approach from the SketchUp team and maybe even an implementation of those things, which would create the possibility of a very fast, intuitive and simple way of working, with a much improved interface and with the other options that complete and lay the foundation for a unified integration of the native tools, trays, extensions and access to them.
Thank you for all that info and your thoughts!
I wrote something up about workspaces / templates but I lost it… too lazy to write it up again. But here’s a video that somewhat shows my thoughts on a ‘TrimBim Workspace Container’. It’s showing apps and web stuff tabbed together as a mockup of Trimble/SU apps working together.
Those are tabbed with Grouply.
Otherwise, I think there should be Workspaces or user Templates that can configure UI layouts. I imagine SU having a few standard templates: Wood-Worker, Architect, Interior Design, etc. These would save workspace layouts and prompt if any extensions are missing. Along with the SU versions, everybody could make their own. So, there might be a Mihai-Ninja Mode template that you use for XYZ. Maybe you have another for doing ABC… people make their own set ups (maybe for 3D Printing, etc.) templates and share them with others. It would be an easy way to ‘get on the same page’ (length-snapping is turned off 
. Of course people would have multiple of their own tailored to workflows they find useful.
But I’m wondering about what might be possible now. Above (in this post) I showed ‘tabbing’. Okay. For the time being though we’re kind of stuck with HTML Dialogs (mostly). So, the video showing creating primitive geometry (in the post above), and importing geometry can happen in HTML Dialogs (like a viewport). But the question is still, Why? Even though the example has a trash UI, it could be formatted and made to be like Unity (and what Blender looks like) where you can create your own editor windows and configure them. But why? What new feature or tools would justify making it? For example, if you could import geometry and then increase the number of segments, radii, height, width, with sliders, would you? It’s possible to do it… but what’s the SketchUp specific use case? If an Html ‘Viewport’ is made, what should it do?
Another thought on possible UIs. Not a Viewport… but book at this beauty:
It might be possible to get a lot more real estate from Html Dialogs.
I should say that I have a ‘Multiple Tag’ extension that you know about. It’s unfinished in the tray/panel format I use right now but I’m going to convert it into a simple Modus style that I’m trying to move into. I’d be great if you’d test it out.
What do you think about huge but simple UI layouts? Would you use Multiple Tags in a clean-looking layout like this:
Or is this size just a no-no?
What about Gizmos? Do you like those? For model manipulation? With right click menus? Or one that works with an Html Dialog? Or is the pie menu the ‘main thing’ you like? Pie menus with Html Dialogs? That might be cool.
‘TrimBim Workspace Container’ is somewhat similar to ‘multiple workspaces’ (multi-template).
Yes, some may be preset by default, but you can also create some yourself and save them.
For the technical side, what’s behind these tabs, trays and everything else I would have to study.
I can try to test it.
I need to think about how it would look more useful, at the moment I only have the image of how it is used by Condoc. We had a discussion at some point about how it would look better. However, regardless of how it will be set up, using a simple and grouped interface, without unnecessary space loss, is preferable.
Of course.
Yes, the gizmo is useful and if it is possible to implement it together with a pivoting system it would be excellent. For model manipulation and for editing also.
This is the Pie Menu extension (native), which you can set to be active for whatever native tools or extensions you want.
Yep
Yep
I used Grouply to tab those together. Really you’d want those ‘Tabs’ to like swapping viewports and workspaces. I’m not sure, by Qt is used to ‘bind’ UI elements and maybe ‘viewports’. If you think about it, why couldn’t SU Web be on one ‘Tab’ and Trimble Connect be on another (and so on)?
I’ll send something in a bit.
GOAL 1: Simple, Clean-Looking, Spacious, Modus UI.
GOAL 2: Compact Mode. It seems like SU / Trimble is using more pop-up-right-in-the-middle-of-the-screen-space extensions. Modus seems made to go big. So css to override ‘standard mode’.
I wonder if a ‘gizmo mode’ (or really just a ‘when active’ mode that has right-click options) would be good. Or maybe overlay mode. I just like gizmos… the thing you showed is outside of the scope of this extension… but I do like gizmos. I broke a gizmo tool I tried to make so that it didn’t attach to G’s and C’s but would appear at the model origin until I moused over an entity. It makes me wonder about being able to select geometry (like those cubes you showed), and then attach the gizmo somewhere else and have that be the reference for moving / pivoting. Like if you grabbed your 3 boxes and then pivoted off the outside edge of an outside box 45 degrees, then rotated all 3 back 45 degrees, you’d have flat ‘steps’. Like multiple independent rotations (like if you opened one of the components and rotated it). However that tool you showed works… it’s slick.
The SU Pie extensions look like they can access most (many?) commands.
I gotta go… I’ll send the extension later.
Following on this thread: Workflows improvements - 3D printing/ product development etc - SketchUp / Pro - SketchUp Community
I didn’t want to highjack the discussion… but couldn’t help myself and had to try an extension @ateliernab 
Is this like what you mean by “modify earlier design steps” @anon60140324 ?
Iterate Component Versioning Extension:
Wow yes this is something i was looking for this provides a parametric feel. How does it handle going back a few versions to make changes?
It’s good if it’s close. I haven’t used Fusion 360 so this was just a guess.
So it’s saving the component versions as an SKPs. Then it swaps the selected component with the one selected in the dropdown. There are several things going on under the hood and an option (not shown in vid) to replace the original when saving. But switching the version keeps the definition the same (when the replace option is not enabled). Saving with the “Replace Original” option swaps the component and changes the definition. With these options you might work on a component definition and make a bunch of versions until you save it / replace it.
In practice you might save versions and then switch between them, keeping the same definition. Then, if you wanted another working version you’d drag it in (and it would have the version definition that you could keep developing). Better than explaining, here’s what it does:
I have to go to a jobsite but will be working on this tonight… really want to have those component descriptions showing too.
Is this a new plugin your developing? This is actually very intresting and could be a game changer for workflows.
Where does the versions get saved to? are they in the model but hidden or something.
I like this as it provids quick version control and a timeline of changes with descriptions.
Yes, I started when I saw your post. I had some similar extension stuff so the basics were just Lego building.
Right now the versions are saved to the “versions” folder in the plugin folder. That’s going to be changed to make the saving location selectable. They aren’t hidden and don’t need to be purged.
I showed cards/thumbnails but that too will adjusted to show in a list view with time/dates. That’ll make more timeline-like. Bunches of little decisions to make along the way.
Let me know if you have any ideas for features.
Otherwise, hopefully people will chime-in on your workflow thread.
I really think this plugin could be a great thing. It was kind what i was looking for, i don’t like this idea of just copying the model and moving down the model or saving out as it slows things down.