Please move or add the option to have a drop down for Entity Info and Layers ( to turn layers on and off not to set the current layer … which should always be layer0 so not sure what the point of that dropdown is) on the toolbar. These two things don’t need Palettes covering the valuable screen. Also please add the Web based palette pop-out thing to Sketchup Pro. Its frustrating to always have to move the material box out of the way to see coordinates or to have these boxes covering the modeling area all the time. Its very cluttered currently and could use some of that minimal design of the web based version pretty please.
Also please add a + button on the scene bar so I can add the 1st scene without having to open the scene tool palette to add the 1st one.
Also please add a component parent view to hide everything but component editing . Meaning that you can hide everything but the block you are editing for blocks with nested blocks. So you can reference the parent component without turning on the whole model.
Also please add basic reflection, roughness, specular, bump maps, and emission options to materials Sorry just had to add my yearly wish that I have been dreaming about for years and years to come I guess.
Cant wait for the native support in Unreal engine thats being work on at Epic with Trimble support
What “should always be on layer0” is actual geometry - edges and faces. Other things, such as dimensions, text and guidelines are frequently placed on other layers for eminently useful reasons. Thus there is a use for being able to change the active layer - but it has real drawbacks if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing.
Which is why we on this forum, as well as Trimble, all say “should”, not “must”.
There have even been a couple of workflow/use cases presented in this forum where someone has successfully put even raw geometry on layers other than layer0.
In any case, placing edges and faces on other layers without inducing unwanted problems - especially after you’ve continued modeling and (perhaps) forgot what you’ve done - is an Advanced SketchUp technique. Best avoided unless you understand and intend to cope with it’s dangers.
There are too many requests in a single thread. Replies and discussion will end up being confused.
(Please reduce this thread to the one initial request, and start a new thread for each of the others, if there is not already a unlocked topic thread for a feature.)
Sorry its a pretty basic request and its really one request to cleanup the work area.
pop-out toolbar from WEB → put in → Pro that auto hides
dropdown for changing layer visibility and which layer the section will be on.
dropdown to change entity info
Thats two big toolbars gone.
Eneroth3 “Pro” is the desktop version so thats in the title. I want the pop-out toolbar done in Pro(desktop).
Sjdorst. When you draw/do anything in Sketchup your current layer should (must! to be honest) always be on layer0 or you will have a nightmare when using layers. Only groups and components and dimensions/notes should be on different layers. I think you should always change layers after you draw stuff or you will forget to change back to layer0 and end up with geometry on some other layer (nightmare). Thats why I feel that current layer dropdown is pointless. Also, current layer is incorporated in the layer toolbar (hopefully soon to be dropdown ) for people who like to live dangerously
I’m sorry you are on a Mac, but we Windows users already have this in the Microsoft tray and panel system that was implemented in SketchUp 2016. (I have 2 trays that autohide on the left margin, … the Outliner and the Instructor. The others I have docked into a tabbed set of 4 trays on the right margin.)
So, we desktop users on Windows have no need nor wish for ugly web interfaces in our desktop applications !
This has already been requested update of the current layer dropdown toolbar.
(I support this. Similar to how AuotCAD’s layer dropdown controls work.)
We already have this built into the Entity Info panel. It requires that the section plane be selected.
What ? Have no idea what this means. Change it to what ?
As I said above, … this is now going to get confusing because it is about multiple disparate features, … as well as differences between the Mac and Windows GUIs for SketchUp.
Generally, I am against forcing web interfaces upon desktop users !
Perhaps you refer to the fly-out menus that SketchUp Pro already has in the Getting Started toolset. Personally I do not like that at all as I think it is easier to remember where the tools are when you can see them all at once, as you can in the Large Toolset. In my experience it is also easier for most new users to remember where the tools are when they aren’t hidden underneath other (more or less) related tools.
There is already a dropdown in Entity Info in SketchUp Pro. How do you suggest it to be changed?
To change what? This could mean anything from switching the Entity Info panel with a Material panel, to converting one entity type into another.
Agree. The SketchUp desktop interface is built on a several decade long evolution of UX design. It is consistent to other programs, clear and efficient. The web interface is an experiment that follows neither the conventions for mobile apps nor desktop applications, with rather unclear visual hierarchies and difficult to differentiate icons.
to CHANGE the entity info lol. Have you every used entity info? you change what layer something is on or the name of the block or type which I never use but its just those 3 things.
Also, soften edges could be added to the 600 feet of titlebar which I have empty. Just a drag thing kinda like shadows.
Also a Plus sign where the scenes bar is to add a scene without having to open the scene box for the 1st scene you make. I realize I can make a new scene after that with a right click which is nice. Or just have an option to never hide the scene bar.
Or (in the meantime) you can create a custom template that has some default scene pages already created.
I have several default scenes each with their own style for “Thumbnail”, “Print” and “Work”.
I was kinda wondering the same about you. I dont think I can spell it out any more simply. Eneroth I appologize but you are not very helpfull. You ask uninformed questions and get confused over simple things. If you are not using or familiar with the Mac version of Sketchup why comment on the thread? Its not helpfull and you have done this in other threads too.
In your original post, there are 6 separate feature requests.
And they are not related (other than you as the requestor are the commonality.)
In post 10 you added another about a soften edges toolbar slider control.
Basically, every time you started a sentence with the word “Also,” … this should have been a separate discussion topic thread. (This is a discussion forum. We talk about and discuss the merits of features, but it isn’t really a formal feature request logging mechanism.)
Julia, I re-read the entire thread, and I believe @betazero is requesting that the Entity Info panel (they are called “palettes” in the Mac UX world,) can be (as a whole) reduced to a dropdown control that can rollup into a “flyout” button on the top toolbar (which is the only toolbar Mac users have.)
Basically this is similar to how it can now be collapsed into a one line caption bar (in both the old floating tool window scheme or docked in a tray on Windows,) except that we cannot in either case “dock” the collapsed inspector panel (palette) into a toolbar.
You are correct that the top bar on each window is the only customizable toolbar on Mac. Any Tool that provides a command and icon can be placed there. But the inspector palettes are not Tools, so someone would have to create one that wrapped the requested behavior.
That said, the Mac palettes do stick to each other and to the top of the desktop, and if one clicks the top stripe of a palette it will alternately collapse and expand. Not quite the same as requested, but close…
As a Mac user, I too wish there was a better system for handling the palettes that was either more like the behavior of the Windows trays, or like the web based interface. Perhaps something in-between?
I find the floating palettes to be a bit of an inconvenience sometimes, especially when switching between an external and built-in laptop display, or when those palettes become too large for the screen (they snap together, but when expanded, can really start to grow too tall quickly).
While I agree that the web based interface isn’t ideal, there is a lot to be said for its polish and consistent placement which I believe could benefit the users in the end. Not trying to change a major industry standard, but evolution is often a good thing.
I wasn’t trying to be offensive and am sorry if it came out that way.
Picking up a new language is hard, I know.
I’m still very confused what you mean though. Perhaps some screenshots can help explain it? It is said an image says more than a thousand words, and images can also transend language barriers.
Personally, I think that the setup on SketchUp Free, while not perfect by any means, is a step in the right direction for handling the palettes. There’s a solution there for having them open and displayed in a pretty user friendly fashion, with clear labels and a consistent UI. Plus, it’s collapsible when required.
You can also see that this is a web browser tab, with a + in the corner where I can create another browser tab. I believe @betazero was saying something similar would be helpful for creating scenes on the fly, without having to use the Scene palette. Right now there is no + symbol at the top of the screen, and it’s not immediately obvious that a right-click and “add” is even an option.
For tools, the Free version has a revamped set. Personally I don’t like drilling down into tools like that, but I can see why having them shown with a clean and consistent UI would be helpful. Even the fact that they are docked like that might be useful to some people if it were an option.__
Picking up a new language? I have using Sketchup for like 12+ years ?? Maybe thats the problem. You need to use the program more. Also, try it on a Mac and you may be less confused. I am very proficient with Sketchup but there are lots of problems with the UI that I have not seen improvements on for years.
Sorry just had to add my yearly wish that I have been dreaming about for years and years to come I guess.