My Features Request list, for what it's worth

SketchUp Feature Requests
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This list is based on my desire to leave AutoCAD, the hateful Revit and more specifically Autodesk as a whole forever after 25yrs being shackled to their software and having to endure their obscure idiosyncrasies and inability to grasp the term user-friendly.

SketchUp Wish List:

SketchUp

  • Ability to lock 2D plan/elevation/section view in place for simple 2D draughting jobs without ctrl+pan etc. Something more CAD-like (i.e. simple) for drawing up a measured survey, as ALL architects have to do, and which go on to form the basis of a model.
  • Native Multi-Model support - ability to open many projects in the same program rather than multiples. LayOut has this but not SketchUp? Why?
  • Native Multi-Monitor support
  • Multi-viewports to aid drafting (3D Max style)

Layout

  • The BIGGY - Why is LayOut not a native part of SketchUp? Why are there two separate programs hogging resources and with differing levels of functionality? Clunky old AutoCAD has done this for the last twenty years.
  • Find/replace text function - from a selection and/or globally
  • A Zoom window - like WTF!!
  • Commands (and shortcuts) that work as per SketchUp - itā€™s totally illogical not to do this . i.e ā€˜Mā€™ to move - come on guys this is basic stuff, page 1.
  • Ability to bucket-fill areas with hatch as you can in SketchUp - tracing (duplicating) geometry to allow an area to be hatched is so time consuming itā€™s just laughable and makes LayOut almost unusable as a daily Modelling/CAD driver. I donā€™t want to buy Skalp, I want it STANDARD within SketchUp.
  • Drawing markers that can be changed globally to update through a whole drawing with intelligent (individual) text within those blocks, such as Titleblocks.
  • A toolbar button for Refreshing a Reference (or option to add it at least) OR keyboard shortcut - anything but click, click, click, click, ā€˜Updateā€™, click, click etc etc
  • Consistent inferencing that doesnā€™t have a mind of itā€™s own.
  • Ruby/script ability within LayOut - this is a basic and would take the work load off the dev team as others could be doing your work for you.
  • Ability to have different paper sizes within one document - a fundamental omission.
  • Dimensions to be applied in SketchUp itself rather than Layout - e.g. if you a swap reference for an exact copy (done to create a revised version) the dims shift around all over the place and need major reworking - time wasting madness.
  • Reduction in resource hunger and inefficiency - Iā€™m running a Core i7 with 16gb RAM, 2GB Gr Card and LayOut drags my machine to itā€™s knees at times on even small projects with no other apps/progs open.
  • Double-click middle button (zoom wheel) = zoom extents funtionality (in SketchUp also please)
  • Selection filter i.e. select all dims (or text) etc etc for editing.
  • Remembering Dialog box positioning and sizing - like many other things they have a mind of their own.
  • Dimension edit - ability to adjust text spacing above dim line and ability to slide text along dim if required.

And finally, something on my list I can cross off:

  • Dockable Trays (left and right) - thanks for this but why take so long and give Macā€™s the ability years back when PCā€™s have been your bread, butter, onions, gravy and bill payers for years.

Whatā€™s most sad is that despite SketchUp being the nicest and friendliest software (the above list excluded) Iā€™ve ever used itā€™s just never been developed to a level where it could fill the enormous void between 80ā€™s-developed clunk-fest AutoCAD and Split-the-atom Revit. It was an open goal for 5-10 years yet Goggle/Trimble missed it because their dev teams either didnā€™t care (Google) or tinkered rather sorted (Trimble). If either had grasped the nettle they literally could have cleaned up but I fear that ship has sailed.

NB - If thereā€™s anything Iā€™ve not included or any of the missing functionality listed is in fact there in SketchUp or LayOut please shout up as itā€™ll make my life and many others slightly less frustrating.

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They are programmed with different frameworks, by separate development teams. This was done back in the day, when Google wanted to provide a free SketchUp, that did not have LayOut (as it was a professional only app, and not needed by all the minons to populate Google Earth. [Which never happened anyway, so Google sold SketchUp.])

However, as a separate process it can use up to the maximum of allowed process memory that the OS allows (which differs between 32-bit and 64-bit systems.)

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All understood but whichever way you slice itā€™s a clunky old mess, very Autodesk-stylee. It should be part of the same program and be integrated with the same commands and therefore allow for fluency between the two, which is just doesnā€™t. The fact they were developed by different teams (why? seriously) totally shows as theyā€™re almost chalk and cheese at times. The shame of it is that itā€™s not beyond the wit of man to pull them back together but this would require some level of pro-activity and endeavour, something which flies in the face of the last 10 years of SketchUp development.

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Just my 2 cents worthā€¦

personally I donā€™t see the point on this: just draw a big box, group it, then go into the group and start drawing lines. The only additional thing that would help me draw surveys is if I didnā€™t have to move the mouse between entering one value and the next. Other than that, I find it just as quick (/quicker) to draw floor plans in SU than in autocad, autosketch, archicad or whatever Iā€™m using.

If each ā€œSceneā€ could be un-docked to become a separate window it would be quite cool and i can think on several scenarios where it would be handy to see the impact from one side when working on anotherā€¦ but I imagine that the resources required would rapidly clog the system.

Here I disagree quite strongly: for the last twenty years the primary method of communication from designers to manufacturers has been flat 2D drawings on parchment. That is the sole purpose of LO - communicate the 3D model to someone else. And itā€™s an out-dated method of doing that. I think SU is free to soar and be accessible to everyone precisely because itā€™s not tied to having to produce 2D representations.

I would however like to include some of the information that LO is traditionally used for in SU - eg some sort of adaptive labeling system where if the text was ā€œthis is [blah]ā€ then it looked for a variable within the group/component called [blah] and replaced the call-out text on-screen with it.

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