I would like to suggest that the Sketchup Model window in Layout includes information about the SU file. This would make it much easier to identify the drawing file a particular view comes from. At present, you have to look in Document Setup/References and guess which it may be - difficult if you have imported from a lot of different drawings.
If reference files are moved, the links to the LO drawing are broken. It’s not difficult to re-link them, providing you know which are which. This is where this simple addition would help.
I agree that sometimes it would be handy to be able to tell without opening Document Setup>References.
Did you know that you don’t have to guess which file is which, though? Select the entity in the document and it will show highlighted in the reference list.
And another thing (as my wife likes to say. ) if you are wanting to know which file it is so you can open it for editing, don’t bother. Just right click on the viewport and choose Open with Sketchup.
Useful tip, although my frustration arose as a result to having to repair links. So another useful tip might be: don’t rename files or folders if you can avoid it, and don’t move files either. The links ain’t smart enough to follow what you do!
If you can keep the LO file and the SKP file in the same folder, it seems to be less troublesome.
If the link to the original SKP file is broken, you’ll be opening the embedded version instead of the original. If you edit the embedded version you can replace the original with it via Save as…
I could see having References available as a utility window in the tray. Maybe a symbol in the SketchUp window that would indicate the link is broken. a red ! in the scene name. It shows “modified” when you’ve broken the link to a scene.
Could you not just have another line under View in Sketchup Model window that shows the linked file? It would update automatically depending on which view you select. And yes, it could look the way it does in the Drawing Reference window in red, say, to indicate a broken link.
I do normally keep SU & LO file in the same folder. I also give them the same name if the LO file only references a single SU file. I have file extensions visible so that I can tell which is which. Problems arise when you move or rename things for housekeeping purposes and forget what effect that has elsewhere!
Understood. And you’d think if you burned yourself enough times, you’d learn to keep your hand out of the fire. Human nature is funny.
I get your suggestion about the file name. I guess I don’t have that much trouble with broken links to want to add a that much more to the SketchUp utility window.
It would be nice if, when you select a viewport, and it is highlighted in the blue box, that some blue caption also appear just below the bottom viewport margin with the model path or title.
Or just have it as an option when you right click on the blue box (“Show path”) perhaps. If you have it on the screen it might cover other stuff you want to be able to see.
I always vote against adding in clicks. I once suffered badly from tendinitis caused by heavy mouse usage (60 hours a week on AutoCAD.)
I would rather find some way to control when it appears on screen. Perhaps if you stop moving the mouse, it will appear after a full second ? OR if you move the move outside the viewport, the caption appear inside the viewport, but disappears if you move the mouse within it ?
I still like your original idea of adding the file name to the Sketchup View window. Would be even better if there was a button next to it allowing you to change the file reference (handy for switching between versions).
As of SU 2016, the referencing to files has improved, allowing relative paths to a model from a layout file to be used instead of just absolute paths. It used to be a pain when I switched workstations, while my project files were kept on Dropbox.
) if you are wanting to know which file it is so you can open it for editing, don’t bother. Just right click on the viewport and choose Open with Sketchup.
Human nature is funny.