SketchUp 2018 Wish List

[Neil_Burkholder]

BTW This should be a Pro only feature.

[Box]

@Neil_Burkholder

makes a feeble attempt at this, but can only cut faces on the same plane as the component.

You mean something like this is what you want?

[Neil_Burkholder]

That’s the concept, but I would like to be able to move the cutting component, on the fly.

It would be nice to be able to cut 3D shapes rather than just shafts. Something like this:

[JQL]

Take a look at this Neil:

Interactive Boolean Operations SketchUp

and this:

Double-Cut

[SketchUp3D_de]

[quote=“Neil_Burkholder, post:88, topic:32922”]It would be nice to be able to cut 3D shapes rather than just shafts.
[/quote]

Modeling Complex 3D Shapes with the Solid Tools | SketchUp Help > “If you’re using SketchUp Make, you can…”

[JQL]

But that is the standard solid tool, it does not update in realtime. The ones I showed do.

[SketchUp3D_de]

[quote=“JQL, post:91, topic:32922”]But that is the standard solid tool, it does not update in realtime.
[/quote]

no, it’s the intersection functionality, yes, it doesn’t update in realtime.

[Neil_Burkholder]

Dynamic might be the word to describe the need. I realize this is a very complex request.

[Box]

Dynamic Solid Tools is what you are after.

Handy if you can do it but it’s just lazy modelling.

[Neil_Burkholder]

Yeah, but… That’s what SU is all about. Making it easy to model. Call it lazy if you want. I call it convenient.

Imagine if you could draw a wall with studs, sheathing, drywall, etc. and then plop a windows on it and everything would be cut out. Nice right? You could manually cut the studs back and draw the window framing but… My customers never change window locations. Never! (sarcasm)

[Box]

And all that can be done with plugins.
None of which I would use.

[Neil_Burkholder]

@Box

And all that can be done with plugins.
None of which I would use.

Er… not easily. In order for a component to be movable, and dynamically ‘cut’ other content becomes very complex and cumbersome. I’ve not seen an extension yet that does it well. But I would check out any references.

Fredo’s tool that you show above does an excellent job of cutting, but good luck if you need to move the opening/cut.

Shown here:

Brainstorm idea of a "negative space" component

As shown by the gifs on the extension page, the primary targeted for Face Cutter use was cutting through walls with multiple faces, not dealing with solids. @sjdorst There are extensions that create that geometry for the shaft such as Fredo’s Stencil tool and Tig’s Hole Punch tool. Tig’s hole punch tool even allows you to move or delete the ‘hole’, although it does a lot more work than the face cutter (keeping track of all the loose geometry). Fredo’s Stencil tool does a nice job of cutting…

[Box]

There is a huge number of Architectural construction extensions, that add an enormous amount of functionality, none of which I would ever use.
Why would I want those things added to the core.
I’m sure you have explored some of them yourself, but again, why are they relevant to how I use SU.

[d_b]

I don’t know that dynamic/parametric features would necessarily be Architectural. I can see a lot of ways that it would be beneficial to have more dynamic tools (like a “negative volume” tool), that then perhaps could be used by plugin writers for more specific tasks (e.g. windows).

[Box]

My point exactly, there is no one way to use the software.
So make a base and let people build things to add to it.

[d_b]

Gotcha, I think I misunderstood your point. I assumed that “everything could be done with plugins” meant an aversion to adding capabilities to SketchUp natively. Obviously there’s a balance to be struck (especially with SketchUp’s ease-of-use mission), but I think native dynamic API features that could be wielded for plugins would be a great boon. I do a lot of weird one-off design that would benefit a lot from things like editable arrays, negative volumes, spline paths, etc. Certainly not simple to implement, but would absolutely be a next step up for SketchUp in my book.

[JQL]

That you don’t use some of the features doesn’t mean they can’t be pertinent for users globally no matter what industry they are.

I have no use for a lot of sketchup features and miss others so much…

It’s just a matter of finding common ground that potentiates many workflows. Dynamic booltools would definetelly be useful for many.

[eneroth3]

I think whether something should be a core feature or a plugin depends much on how specific it is. Something very specific for one field, e.g. draw roofs or pipes, or as mentioned above introducing a level concept, doesn’t fit into the main program. Something much more general that can be used in all fields like live solid tools fits much better, even if not every user would use it.

Edit: The level feature I mention was from the other thread by the same name, not this one.

[JQL]

@eneroth3

Edit: The level feature I mention was from the other thread by the same name, not this one.

Thread merge should be a Discourse feature… how it would be done… that’s another problem.

[jenterli]

I would like to have come capability to simulate lanyards and pulleys. Or have I missed some such capability already present? Perhaps via some of the new joints? My impression is that at present the lanyards when loaded would cut right through the pulleys in the model.

Jenterli