The thing is, SU, from the start, was not really designed as a CAD program, even less a CAD killer.
I understand that for many people here, it has evolved into a CAD substitute, in great part thanks to third party extensions, but expecting the core of SU to compete with the major CAD programs is, again il my view, pointless :
The fact that they developed a powerful Revit importer tends to go that way, they are not trying to beat Revit at its own game, if you can’t beat them, join them. (Archicad can import / export with sketchup ok too). when people write “SU is not a competitive BIM tool” all I want to answer is "it’s not a BIM tool at all. it’s BIM compatible, but if you want to do some serious BIM, either add a thick layer of extensions and cross-software tools, or move to revit / archicad like everyone else.
Same could be said about rendering. For years, many people have advocated for a vanilla rendering tool, at least ambiant occlusion and clay rendering, like Blender offers.
Few years ago, when Vray joined the Studio pack, I saw it as a clear declaration of intent : no, SU won’t have a native rendering tool, but here’s a good deal on one
I wish Trimble had a more open communication about SU, like giving us a roadmap, something to understand their current and future choices. but hey, multi-billion dollar company love their secrecy ![]()
And there we might have a small semantics problem. Yes, sure, starting a message saying “Layout is useless, I’m better off using Vectorworks” is technically a feedback, but not one the devs can actually use to make a product better.
Go the extra mile (or 1,8km) and list stuff. not just stuff you feel is broken, but also stuff that would be nice to have. And here, sorry, I’m pouring on you, but it’s not just you, these last few month, we’ve seen a lot of anger against SU’s products, alas not enough actual propositions. And yes, someone will probably turn up and tell me “well we made this list a few years ago…” yes. Well take it, clean it from all the stuff that has been implemented / is not necessary anymore, and sort it out. Essential stuff, stuff that would be nice, daydraming stuff (again, not talking about you personally, you’re not Sisyphus atlas, you don’t have to carry it all)
Too many of these complaints are born out of anger and resentment, too many could be summed up by “why can’t SU be autocad / revit / other software once and for all”?
Here is an amazing list made recently by @benoldays
It’s not just wishful thinking, it’s actual bits and bugs, paths to evolution. That is a hell of a feeback. Go and add to it, back Brendan’s ideas with your experience.
Not everything will be solved or added overnight, and since Trimble has a (secret inside) roadmap, maybe stuff that goes in a different direction will be scrapped, and we’ll have to ask again. and again. and again.
But it’s better than nothing ![]()
again, bit of a rant, not against you, but us all on this forum in general. let’s help them help us.