SketchUp 2018 Wish List

[sjdorst]

Continuing the discussion from SketchUp 2017 Wish List:

@slbaumgartner

if Trimble is on their usual release schedule it is way too late to get into 2017

I think Steve is right, so any new suggestions are going to be for SketchUp 2018 - hence this new topic!

[Anssi]

“Fat faces”
(People who were at the very first Basecamp or, like me, saw related videos, will know what I am talking about)

Anssi

[milenoliegsalz]

Dashed lines. As dashed as the guide lines

[milenoliegsalz]

What is that? (Fat faces)

[johnbusch187]

Rectangle with rounded corners

[johnbusch187]

Much more clear pics when uploaded them into sketch up. Just like lay out

[Anssi]

@milenoliegsalz

What is that? (Fat faces)

It was a feature demoed by the team that has not yet made it into SketchUp: Faces with thickness. No problem keeping wall faces parallel or creating holes in thick walls.

Anssi

[sjdorst]

Great, detailed case for the addition of line styles:

[FR] Support for line styling

Every day when working with imported DWGs made in other software I am very limited by not being able to see line stipple and line width. It is also very limiting not to be able to easily produce proper drawings with different line styles, e.g. for plot border, fire division, thinner lines for less prominent objects such as furniture and scale figures, and the like in SketchUp. Currently users have to rely on a complex workflow with stacked viewports in LayOut, and edges drawn manually in LayOu…

Credit to @eneroth3 for the detailed request.

[rvamerongen]

With the Mac in mind, don’t know if there are any of my wishes are available under win.

1. SU LO - Preview image in file icon from the first scene.
2. SU - extra column inside the Outliner window with after each item the Layer ( as popup button ) where it belongs to. then easy to know if there is a problem and easy to fix.
3. LO - index table with all the page names dynamically ( autotext ) with sort/filter option. Like show pages from pageNo to page No. or Show Page name who start with “zzxx”, like “I-0*”
4. LO - Wizard to create templates.
5. LO - better line/object/viewport movement under metric, jumps way to big when using the move arrow’s.
6. LO - Saving line styles, like SU style but then for a individual line or object.
7. LO - Layers only visible on screen and not on paper.

[xianaf]

Camera control. In 2015 an extension called FlightPath 2 was essential for flythrough videos I’d make, given that SU’s default camera path algorithm is, at best, unpredictable; more than once instead of taking the obvious path from one scene to the next, the camera would take some wild-ass flight down through the floor and around again before settling in at the end point. Sadly, the extension doesn’t work with '16 or '17, so I have to keep '15 on my computer.

If there’s a way to do this already - give the camera a precise, directed path to follow between scenes - I haven’t found how to do it yet, even in the Advanced Camera Tools and it feels like a major oversight.

[maxB]

My current wishlist (all for Windows platform):

SU: add API methods for manipulating the behavior of the trays (checks if open/closed / open / close / flyout-time / autoclose). Also; the current keyboard toggle is not a toggle if a tray is docked to the side. It doesn’t do anything.

SU: add API methods for creating custom stacked tools.The current ‘getting started’ toolbar has nice dropdowns for several commands. It would be nice if that functionality was available for plugin creators as well.

SU: add API option to give a section cut a name so you can easily pick it by name

SU: scale section planes (when making them visible) according to what’s currently visible instead of by the boundaries of the model (with lots of hidden objects).

LO: there’s a few years old (and reported) bug that if you right-click a SketchUp view sometimes it doesn’t show the current scale for that view. Also, sometimes if you set the scale by using right-click it switches to the next scale in the list (choosing 1:100 sets 1:200).

[Chelmite]

Support for Ubuntu Linux, preferably running native, 2nd choice under VirtualBox, 3rd choice under wine.
Linux customers want it and will pay for it.
Running under Windows means we’re disconnected from our real work environment, which leads to out-of-sync files, which results in wasted time and re-dos. Windows is the number one target of 99% of the virus attacks on the planet, and we’d rather work on the more secure Linux operating system.

Please listen to your Linux customers’ requirements.

I pay for and use Sketchup 2016 Pro under VirtualBox, and have done so for years. I pay for and use Vectric Aspire. I pay for and use Cutlist Plus. I pay for and use Corel, and ShopBot and GWizard (CAM software) and Mach.

All of those run under VirtualBox, which means I don’t have to support another platform, especially not one running Windows! Windows is the target of 99% of the hackers on the planet, with all your data subject to ransomware if you click on the wrong link.

Oh yeah, even Windows under VirtualBox is subject to attack, so I have to pay for a couple of anti-virus programs and pay for it in terms of performance, because those programs take up a lot of CPU cycles looking for the ■■■■ those hackers want to hide on your computer.

Even if you don’t support Linux natively, please support it under VirtualBox.

Signed,
A PAYING Linux customer (PhD, Computer Science) who is as loyal to the software vendors as they are to me.

[Neil_Burkholder]

My latest wish is the ability to manipulate the trays using the Ruby API or at least add the ability to add custom HTML panels to the tray.

Add Abilitity to 'Dock' HtmlDialogs

I was just wondering if that could be achieved by creating a custom tool and showing your HTML in the instructor? Or perhaps (potentially a bad idea?) even override the instructor for the standard tools like the select tool. The problem that I for see is no action callbacks or other methods. It wouldn’t seem hard for SketchUp to add an HTML panel similar to an HTML dialog. [image]

[blackdogSUP]

OH MOST DEFINITELY!!!

Also, get us some decent satellite imagery to replace GoogleEarth. The DigitalGlobe stuff is fuzzy garbage.
As long as we’re on that topic, how about something to divide grid sections at certain resolutions for download to the model.
I spend a lot of time “knife-cutting” GE Terrain TINs so they match each other closely where they meet.

[simoncbevans]

Off the top of my head:

1. Better layer management including ability to nest layers;
2. Better scene management with tab drop down boxes to allow you to group scenes;
3. A single button for Copy (not a version of the Move command);
4. More control over line display in SU (allow them to be shown as thick/thin; solid/broken; monochrome/colour; etc in different views.

I may think of more later but these are biggies for me.

[Box]

@simoncbevans

A single button for Copy (not a version of the Move command);

Ctrl+c copies just like in every other program, there is even a toolbar icon for it or you can set it as a single key shortcut.

[simoncbevans]

@Box I think we’ve been round this circuit before! I was referring to the copy command that requires you to first invoke move (I have the M key as a shortcut for that) and then you have to use the moderator key Alt. This is quite different from the copy to clipboard Cmd C facility. I imagine most CAD jockeys use the Move and Copy commands almost more than anything else so the ability to do as simply as possible is important. I think from previous conversations here about this, others don’t think using a moderator key is much of a problem. You certainly get used to it but it’s also certainly faster if you don’t have to!

When I used to use Autocad, I had my M key set up for move and my C key for copy. The C key is generally set to draw circles but that is something I do way less often than copying, so I am happy to swop functions. Because of the moderator key requirement in SU, I can’t set it up the same way.

[Box]

We may well have been around this before…You can set the shortcut for copy to c if you wish. But I still don’t see your point.

[simoncbevans]

Here’s a short clip of what I mean. I start with a shape that I want to copy. If I use Cmd-C, a copy gets put on the clipboard. If I want to paste it I have to hit Cmd-V. But the clipboard has no idea of the relationship so you get no guides for where to place it. It’s just waving around in space.

The normal way to copy something is to hit the Move command, then the Alt key. That way, you can move it in cardinal directions easily (the commonest requirement). And if you want multiple copies, you can use the numeric keyboard. None of that is possible AFAIK using Cmd-C.

[slbaumgartner]

@simoncbevans you’ve managed to confuse me. The animation shows the existing behavior differences of copy+paste vs move-copy. When you paste, indeed the initial pasted copy initially floats free. But then you ignore the inference when you get the insertion cursor over the original, whereas you take advantage of it when using the move-copy…?