Mouse-activated, radial-style menu system.
if you want a radial menu that looks like that then I would be totally against it…
the one I’ve always wanted would look more like this…
this is circa 2007 judging by my model…
it follows the mouse when activated…
the words are exposed on hover, so you only need icons…
john
2 Likes
Simple feature request here:
I have problems managing layers when there are lots of them.
When an object is selected, I’d like the ability to hide or lock that object’s layer.
There are three ways this could be implemented:
1 - From the Entity Info window.
2 - From a right click menu
3 - The layer of the selected object becomes is automatically highlighted in the Layers panel. (least favourite)
Layer Optimizer extension is pretty good but buggy (eg if somebody else opens my model and they dont have the extension, then all the groups become dissolved). If we could group layers in SU that would be really fantastic!!
Looking a layer in SketchUp doesn’t make any sense since layers are attributes applied to entities, not places the entities are located in. Locking in layer would be like locking a material or locking the prize attribute.
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Locking the component makes more sense and that can be done in Entity Info or by right clicking on the component. Or, if you want to lock all on a layer, use Thom Thom’s Selection Toys to select all on the layer and lock them.
I agree with you on the actual design aspect, John.
I would be looking for radial menus that utilize the least amount of space yet contain specific operations to accomplish a given task.
Locking layers was just a little extra function which isnt important to my feature request.
Though it could still have benefits. eg:
- Not allowing information to be added to or removed from that layer.
- Not being able to delete or rename that layer, or make it current.
- Being able to lock numerous types of groups & components that belong to a layer (as well as loose geometry, annotations, etc)
(I liked the suggestion of renaming "Layers"into a different term like “categories”)
Locking the component is obvious but only works IF:
- You are starting with a component or components, or wish to create one (locking doesnt work with groups or loose geometry, or points), and
- You know about and can see the objects you wish to lock (theyre not hidden within other components) - and
- You can quickly and easily select them (theyre not buried within 20 levels of nested components).
Sidenote: Selection Toys isn’t in the SketchUp Pro default extension set but I think it should be, or at least some of the basic tools…
Now, what I’m about to say is possibly going to upset you (lol)…
A lot of geometry in my models is NOT on Layer 0.
I’m talking about imported DWGs, etc, which can have 300+ layers for all types of pipes, survey points, site boundaries, walls, annotations, etc, etc. Since they don’t use layer 0 for modelling, the only way to understand imported information is to enable Color Edges by Material style and Colour by Layer. Crushing everything onto layer 0 just creates more problems with data interoperability and selectability.
SketchUp Pro’s layer manager doesn’t help. It lacks very simple functions such as “select all objects on this layer and convert them to a component”. It can’t group layers or organize them within the stack. (Layer Organizer does this but it’s fatally flawed). Numerous features could be added to help us organise imported data much more effectively.
SketchUp Pro’s poor excuse for a schema import/export manager leads to a lot of these frustrations.
Eg. when you import a DWG you have no options to place certain line colours into groups, or convert layers to components, or convert blocks to layers, or change lineweights into materials. (etc etc). These options become very important in a complex workflow where information is being imported from numerous software packages (often using DWG as the go-between format). Trimble surely know this (imported survey data is probably most challenging thing for SketchUp to try to manage).
Vectorworks DWG importer/reference manager or any ESRI product are exmaples of useful conversion systems.
So this is becoming a much larger feature discussion…
But for now I’d be happy with simply being able to select all the objects on a layer just by using the layers panel.
(and grouping/re-ordering layers would be amazingly useful and so simple to implement!)
Just for kicks I’ve uploaded my current SU window. (this is a 3d model of several apartments/townhouses viewed from above)
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PowerCADD has a useful debugging tool for layers: a pair of arrow buttons up and down that step through the layers. They turn on the next layer and turns off the one you were just on. You can step through all the layers and visually spot things that aren’t where they should be. In SU, you’d want it to ignore hidden geometry, I suppose. Come to think of it, that would be a nice tool with the outliner window too. I’m not good with ruby scripts, but someone might be able to implement this as a plugin.
You should move geometry to Layer 0.
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yes, the DWG importer is broken. It should map each DWG layer to a group because SU groups is what corresponds to DWG and AtoCad layers. Then it should assign the layer color to the group and optionally create a SketcHup layer by the same name and sassign to the group. This would also fix the issue with edges on different DWG layers merging because they get drawn into the same SU drawing context.
Regarding locking a layer object I think that woul only confusing users as they would expect it to look the geomtry associated with that layer, not the name, color and other properties.
Can you lock individual lines in AutoCad? I think locking individual edges in SU is redundant. If you want to lock an edge you could make a group for it and lock the group.
You can use the Outliner (the thing that really corresponds to other programs’ layer panel) to select and lock even hidden objects.
1 Like
My $0.02 worth:
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Implement global attributes in Dynamic Components.
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Make the auto-save feature a background task that does not interfere with normal operation. It should happen invisibly. Also add the functionality of optional auto-incremented file versions in auto-save, so each new auto-save file name has a different name, with a number tagged on the end, where the number increase each time.
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Allow scenes to trigger “OnClick” functions in Dynamic components. In other words, whenever a certain scene is triggered, it also then triggers a dynamic component action similar to how “OnClick” works, such as opening a door or moving a component.
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Implement visible and editable camera paths, to make it easier to see (and modify) the location where the camera is for each scene, and which way it is looking, and the Field of View, so that walk-through animations can be done a whole lot more easily and smoothly. (The “Camera Key Maker” plugin tries to do that, but it’s broken, not updated in 8 years, and does not seem to be able to create a series of new scenes to actually implement the walk-through animation).
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Implement some form of hierarchy in the “Layers” window, so layers can be grouped together, and the groups then collapsed or expanded in the list, to make it easier to navigate models with many layers.
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Fix the bug where dimensions lose their connection to the original geometry if you group them together. This make it impossible to have sets of dimensions that you can turn on or off, but that also update as the geometry updates. A dimension should always stay connected to its original geometry, even if it is placed in a group different from the geometry. In other words, if I have a model of a building, and I want to have the windows on a layer called “Rooms: Windows” but I want all the dimensions related to the windows on another layer called “Dimensions: Windows”, then that should not disconnect them from the windows: The dimensions should still update if I re-size a window.
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Fix the many-years-old bug where SU does not respect the “View → Scene Tabs” state between sessions (even if it shows that scene tab are off, they are still shown: you have to click it on then off again to really make them go away)
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Fix the many-year-old bug where adding a new layer in the “layers” window causes focus to jump to the “L” alphabetic location in the list of layers, even before you type the name of the new layer, and then it stays there on the “L’s” after you hit enter, but with no layer selected, even if the new layer name does not start with “L”! Logically, it should jump to the location of the new layer, and leave it selected. (Not a big deal if you only have a couple of layers in your model, but a huge deal if you have several hundred! Such a pain to go scrolling up and down, trying to find where you were before, and where the new layer went… Oh, the wasted hours…)
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Fix the bug where hitting “enter” after changing any of the numbers on the “Model Info → Units” window, closes the window entirely! It’s almost second nature to hit Enter after typing a number. The window should stay where it was, and just update the number, like it does on all the other SU windows. It’s only the “Model Info” window where this inconsistent, and rather silly, action happens.
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Fix the multiple bugs in the “scenes” window, and make it more consistent with how the “Layers” window works for typing names.
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Fix the bug where, as soon as the model size hits about 32 MB, SU gets really slow.
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Fix the bug where making a new component for the first time after opening a very large model causes SU to hang for several minutes before continuing, and the file size to grow by several MB for no reason at all.
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Fix the bug where “Follow me” breaks up the original shape into many individual lines, instead of leaving them joined as a polygon.
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Fix the bug where having the “Model Info → Statistics” panel open, or the “Entity Info” window open, with a very large model, makes SU run very slowly, since it wants to update everything in those windows each time you select something, or move the camera, or move a component. There’s no need to update that info all the time! It just slows things down terribly and unnecessarily. Add a “refresh” button to those panels instead.
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Fix the bug where having more than about 5 or 6 six nested levels of layers makes SU run very slow when working on the lower levels.
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Bring back SketchUp Make.
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Do not expire the license for the old version after enabling a new version: There’s no valid reason why SU2017 should expire 3 months after I activate SU2018. Which is why I will NOT be activating 2018 for a loooong time: There’s basically nothing at all new or useful for me in 2018 anyway. It’s a very disappointing update, as far as I’m concerned, so I have no need to upgrade. And perhaps not in 2019 either, if the “nothing new” trend continues.
That’s what I can think of off-hand, but I’m sure there’s a few others I’ll be adding later.
3 Likes
I would like the option to open my components from the components window in sketchup for editing. Just like I can with the scrapbook in layout. =)
3 Likes
Agree. “Open” as well as “Show in Folder” would both make a lot of sense to have in the context menu of the Component Browser.
Conventional right button context and good keyboard customisation is probably the most efficient - personally I hate things popping up infront of my work - it breaks the focus…
I believe keyboard shortcuts are the fastest interface and it allows me to using the same shortcuts across a range of software
eg F12 is my zoom to extents on CorelDraw / SU / LO / Draftsight / Affinity Designer / Xara X10 / Twinmotion
Similarly - from my Autocad customisation days with Aliases
L = line [most common command]
LL = Polyline [second most common command]
LLL = Layer Dailogue Menu [most common dialogue menu]
so me finger didn’t have to dance around the keyboard searching for key combinations
1 Like
As a longtime user I would love to see a few features added that would help to really make sketchup that much better.
MacOS: Support multiple lines of icons in the toolbar. We can do this on PC but not on a mac, why?
General: UVW mapping. this does not need to be complex just give us the basics; box, cylinder, spherical.
General: Native .obj and .fbx import that retains UV coordinates.
I have tried simlabs obj and fbx import for files but no textures ever come in with the file. I have also use fluidimport with no luck. I feel like we are stuck in the dark ages for importing these files and the plugins are no longer worth the time.
pretty please with sugar on top
@Designer2020 Sorry you feel so harshly …i’m happy with 2018 i follow eneroths ideas on line style stipple ect, but so does everyone else and i am positive we will get it in time
List view for materials for god sake!
It is so much easier to work with the list view, basically windows UI provides much better flexibility. Maybe it is time to go away from apple native ui ?
Also are you considering developing DC we haven’t got any updates for years!
Sorry to say, but BIM aspect of your updates is a joke 
you still can’t easily extract area from multiple components without using plugins, or manual work!
Other than that SU is still very good program, just not much difference between Sketchup 8 and 2018 .
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You mean like this?
1 Like
