EDIT: we are not looking for closed alpha tester anymore, see below, a first public release is available in the SketchUp Extension Warehouse: Extension | SketchUp Extension Warehouse Ready to start updating your layout files without even opening layout?
Original message:
We have created an MVP of a tool that does just as the title says: automatically (re)render SketchUp viewports in LayOut documents, in a bulk fashion and without opening LayOut.
We are looking for a limited number of people willing to test this alpha and see how it performs. Currently the tool only works on Windows and contains no UI, but at the core, it should do what it says it does. A quick video showing the functionality can be found here: - YouTube
Hi Kenny
Count me in - happy to do a bit testing and let you know.
So the app just re-renders?
Does it update the model link?
Could it export to PDF?
Youre probably already aware but auto-re-rendering is already possible by the method Edit > Preferences > General > Automatically re-render models as needed (checkbox)
A quick check & unckeck of that box will re-render all viewports in the document. Of course you need LO Open but wouldnt you need it open anyway to update links, then export a PDF?
Correct, for now the tool just re-renders and does not update the model link. That has to be done manually due to a limitation in the technical possibilities the layout api provides us.
Exporting to pdf can be added, but for now I wanted to first have this working on the bare minimal functionality.
I have received your PM and will send a link to the tool soon.
I have to admit: The need to still manually update the references was… well… not that great of an improvement.
So, we made it possible to also automatically update the references prior to rerendering.
I have made a very ( very, very, very, very) quick and dirty movie showing the tool’s capabilities.
I made a simple cube, linked it in into layout. duplicated the layout file a couple of times to show the bulky fashion of the tool, made some changes to the sketchup model, and finally used the tool to automatically update the reference and rerender the layout file. I am aware this is a very simple demo. A project that took 1 hour per layout file to rerender will still take one hour to rerender, except that we can now rerender 3 files in parallel, keep sketchup responsive and keep layout responsive…
If your project is more complex than a simple cube and taking more than a few minutes to update a reference and rerencer all pages in LayOut, than this product is for you.
