SketchUp 2020 has landed!

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Our New Year’s resolution was to make SketchUp work for you, and we are pretty proud of the results. Announcing workflow improvements galore in SketchUp 2020! This year we’ve got some shiny new features that we uncovered from our Bootcamp training sessions and following you all right here in the SketchUp forum.

Oh, and did we mention we also got a new scale figure? Pop in and say hello to Laura!

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Some of the new features you’ll see are model organization changes with Outliner, easier ways to move objects, decoupled hidden objects from hidden geometry, and improved interaction between SketchUp and LayOut.

Also, something you long-time SketchUp users will notice is our new SketchUp “language”. None of this will change your workflow, but we want you to know that it’s not just you — we are talking about a few things differently now.

Layers = Tags

We’ve been hearing it for years! Layer0 and our layers system is not like a 2D application. It took us a while, but we worked out they’re really Tags, and we want to celebrate that. So we’ve now changed the name Layers to Tags. Don’t change your workflow because you’re already using them correctly, but we do recommend using Tags to categorize specific types of objects (components or groups) such as furniture or trees. That way, you can toggle these items on and off super quickly.

Objects = Groups and Components

After many conversations, we decided to update the names for groups & components to make them more intuitive. Objects are now a collective term for groups, components, and dynamic components. This won’t change anything in your workflow, but you might see and hear us refer to groups and components as objects.

We’ve changed a lot, so if you’ve got an awesome workflow that works for you, keep rolling with that. We really hope that our latest changes in SketchUp 2020 let you make a few tweaks to really get your performance humming along!

Make sure to check out all the changes and let us know what you think!

All of the 2020 features are available to Classic license users with active Maintenance & Support, and active SketchUp Pro and SketchUp Studio subscription users. Upgrade and start using the new features today! Or, try it out free for 30 days.

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Happy new 2020 everyone! This is going to be a good year!

Finally new users wont use tags, thinking they are layers (drawing contexts that separates content and prevents entities from affecting each other).

Editing vieports directly in LayOuts more reliably is also a very welcome change. I hope we in a few versions from now don’t have to set up any Scenes in SketchUp, other than those we actually have use for in SketchUp itself, but can control views completely directly in LayOut.

Fixing the sensitive Zoom and Orbit when inside of Objects is also one of my favorite changes. This has caused so many issues, and I’ve even seen new users discard SketchUp because of this issue.

Oh, I almost forgot scenes now saving visibility states for nested objects too.

Thanks everyone who have worked with this version!

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Here are the 2020 Release notes :smiley:

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Great work SketchUp team! Lots of new features to discover!

You can read my SketchUp 2020 review at SketchUp Pro 2020 Review - MasterSketchUp.com or watch the video on YouTube
SketchUp Pro 2020 Review - YouTube

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Now you’ve done it. :roll_eyes: So much for me focusing on today’s deadlines.

In all seriousness, thanks for another version SketchUp! And thanks for being clear right off the bat about us Classic license users!

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With the current distinctions (AR-mode in Mobile Viewer,VR and MR Viewers and larger area import at the highest level)

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Congratulations with the release of SketchUp 2020. Great job and a big thanks to the entire SketchUp team.
Section Planes, although not mentioned above, are considered objects and are shown as such when toggling ‘Hidden Objects’ on. They are certainly (not surprisingly) no geometry like raw edges and faces.

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Congrats to what looks like a very sound release. Sketchup is slowly but surely getting sleeker and more intuitive. :grinning: :+1:

The only new thing I’m not sold on is the naming of “Layers” to “Tags”.
Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t the old “Layers” function a tool to make and view “Groupings”?

Isn’t Groupings (or something similar) a more logical name for this tool?

If I’m way off please let me know what I’m missing.

Again congrats to Sketchup 2020! :partying_face:

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I’m really excited for the layer/tag access in layout. This is going to simplify the workflow in so many ways!
Thanks Sketchup team!

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Precision in syntax depends on cultural context? Sometimes these subtleties are lost in translation. I like the use of “Object” to differentiate raw, un-classified sketch geometry from an encapsulation of such things into something that can have a name, classification and other related attributes.

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How can I transfer all my plugins from 2019 pro to 2020? Simply copy them from SU 2019 Pro plugin’s folder to 2020’s?

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Thanks J.L

You are right, “Tags” won’t be the naming choice of everyone, but Layers was confusing as a general term. SketchUp layers controlled visibility, but not geometry. They didn’t create groupings, but our suggested workflow was to only apply them to groups and components.

I like to think of it this way. In other software you put elements ‘into’ a layer to separate them. In SketchUp, only groups and components separate geometry. So you put geometry ‘into’ a group, THEN you ‘apply a visibility Tag’ to those groups.

Perhaps you knew all this, saying it just in case. But if you still don’t like “Tags”, no worries, I got some white-out for your screen. :rofl:

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Most extensions will work unchanged, but as always, the best advice is to reinstall freshly downloaded versions. If you got the extensions from the EW or from SketchUcation, both of them have batch tools to reinstall everything. Extensions from other sources you will need to download from the same source and then install using the Extension Manager.

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Unfortunately, the Extension batch install feature disappeared with the recent extension warehouse overhaul

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At least it hasn’t for the Sketchucation Extension Store. :wink:

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I’m concerned about the reliance on the Outliner. I hope like heck it’s a lot faster and showing everything all the time I don’t think I’m going to like. It was so dysfunctional I never even opened it unless working with a small subset of the model. But I’ll give it a go.

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That’s a bunch of new features that I really welcome in my workflow. Congratulation team! After the deception of the 2019 release, the 2020 is a great progression and likely be welcome by most users.

However, there’s one feature that I was hoping seeing after many years of requesting. In Layout, we cannot still have component. (duplicate group) So I will continue to replace thousand of symbols, legends, bloc or notes, callouts, one by one all along 2020. Let’s hope this will be add in the next release… The good news though is that with the new update system, I’m might not have to wait a full year before seeing my new feature!

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Still checking out the new features – I like what I’m seeing so far. Still need a persistently resizable Tags column tho. :wink:

I’m really curious to see what kind of workflows folks are using with Outliner. I want to experiment and establish some “workflow patterns” to apply to different projects.

Re: nomenclature:
If “Objects are now a collective term for: groups, components, dynamic components and Section Planes,”
then what do we call edges & faces – just that? Primitives? Entities? Raw geometry? I think I’ve been calling everything an object – in the spirit of Ruby perhaps.

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Agree on the components need in LO… a real productivity hit… SVG import / export would have been a good one too

Nevertheless an A+ for the focus on LO issues long complained about

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I wonder how long before people notice the bounding box grips.

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