hi there,
currently the folder tags still have some issues…
- biggest issue first, when exporting from sketchup, the hierarchical information of the folder tags is lost!?
this is a huge problem because to have a nice workflow i need thinngs organised so when the folder tag information is lost i see myself forced to manually work in the ways before tags… that is layer naming conventions like (elevation_east) (elevation_west) etc etc… when this information ist lost - also for structuring buildings in levels etc. it renders the tag folders useless…
- when saving down for an legacy version, layers that have been in a folder are “invisible” in the older sketchup versions/files
- when deleting folder tags, the behaiviour is inconsistent with the rest of the tag right click situations
- it should be possible to select multiple tags/folder tags and set tag colors and line types
- additionally to line types, we should also be able to set line weights…
apart from these issues with folder tags i hope that one day the startup speed of sketchup gets a hube multithreading boost or some other kind of magic…
best, bsfranza
A possible solution to the first issue, that even I have done, not just for exporting, but to keep “tabs” on what is what (sorry for the pun). Objects on layers, or tags as they are called now, could be pooled together and made into a component. The benefit is that you can name the component, which never changes unless you explode it, thusly could be saved out to it’s own file, then ultimately can be imported into another app or another SU project.
Not sure about #2, with regards to being inconsistent. SU’s usage of tags (formerly layers) is just a design aid, as is with AutoCAD and other drafting/modeling apps, to help keep track of what you are designing and adding some additional fine control over modelling practices. The Tags feature has its ups and downs, but overall can be handy for any modeller. There are many many tutorials online and/or Youtube videos about best practices with Sketchup, with regards to Tags, so I highly encourage you to do some research.
As for line types mentioned in #3 and #4, well that’s a touchy subject to many about whether or not linetypes are important to have or not, more specifically their important to Layout, which has it’s ups and downs too.
Only time will tell whether or not the SU team does anything to improve the functionality of the Tags feature. Honestly, and coming from someone with many years of CAD experience, Tags (or layers) has a limited amount of improvement from the basics.
Just my two cents…