LONG READ about my search for the best SketchUp Automation solution for Architects
Disclaimer:
I have no affiliation with 5D, VBO, or Curic whatsoever. I want to share my experiences and insights.
From the beginning,
I worked in SketchUp, exported the scenes to Autocad, and then finished the project in CAD.
After, I explored other SU tools like Pluspec and Condoc, but their drawbacks made them less attractive for continued use.
Then, I worked a bit in Revit.
Until I came across the VBO group on FB, where VBO and Curic authors were trying a BIM ecosystem for SU; at that moment, from what I saw, their proposal was the most successful Bim SU+LO solution. However, in 2023, after the SU team canceled Ruby Console for LO, the idea of this ecosystem was ruined because most of the plugins, VBO Grids, Dimension, and Reports depended on the LO Ruby Console.
After that, I noticed a new 5D project and tried this new BIM ecosystem.
Long story short, “With regret,” I consider this 5D+Curic+VBO the best BIM SketchUp solution currently. Why with regret?! Because there are small moments that make me doubt the reliability of some information given.
Recommended SU plugins
5D: 5D plus, Auto Info, Library, Autotag/
Curic: Studio, toCad/
VBO Reports
Below, I attach:
the link to a model I am currently working on with some labels applied: SketchUp
PDF extracted from LO, exactly what you see in the SU link is what you get in PDF PDF.pdf (3.0 MB)
CAD Export from Sketchup+LO (Curic toCad is neat!! The drawings are not modified at all in Autocad, this is exactly how they are exported from SU+LO) CAD.dwg (14.2 MB)
This post is long and tedious, but I will briefly explain the advantages and disadvantages of this ecosystem. (I understand some solutions are not as easy as they seem; I will give my 3 cents)
Drawbacks
5D Auto Info:
Project area -incorrect (sometimes it shows me 10x bigger the surface) (I use VBO Reports instead)
The plan images don’t scale. The author knows about this
5D Plus:
The clipping mask doesn’t cover the Curic Section hatches when exported to CAD
The added grids have a displacement of 0.01 mm
The Curic text doesn’t have a different font, and cannot be edited in Cad
Curic Section:
It is hard to understand how it works; I still have some questions, and I cannot find the answer
Curic to Cad:
Sometimes it doesn’t export all my scenes at once, and I have to export them one by one
Recommendations
5D plus:
Curic Text- editable
Section Marks- editable
Auto Label - editable
Update all sections and plans at once (as the Curic Scene Manager does)
Update all the labels at once
Custom bound is quirky. Sometimes, I need to redo all the scenes all over again
Curic Section
It doesn’t modify another CAD hatch applied on the tag
The 0,05 0,18/ 0,20 0,4 linewidth in SU looks the same
5d Library:
Show local components
Unpaint selected
5D Auto info:
Untag selected
The Fbu Layers plugin has an interesting feature. Right-click and choose a few tags
Note: it’s tough to find answers when something I don’t understand. I asked the 5D author on all social platforms, ran after him, and most of the time, I struggled with my unanswered questions. Curic, generally, doesn’t answer questions, and I have had problems with the Curic Section for years.
Advantages
Finally, we arrived here.
Everything is automated
The labels, marks, and Excel spreadsheets are easy to update
Export to CAD is on layers for other engineers to read plans more easily
hi @bmaxim would you be willing to post the model as an .skp file as well? I’m really interested in seeing how you implemented this in the desktop version. Thank you
I can’t share my 3D model, I have many components here (furniture, sanitary) that were purchased and it wouldn’t be right to share them with others, maybe the 5D+ author @Cyentruk has a free model?
I believe you don’t need so many plugins to work in BIM.
In fact, I think Trimble Connect is more necessary than anything else.
I understand BIM as collaboration, and for that, the most important thing is to generate a good IFC file, share and coordinate models with others, clash detection, generate issues, etc.
Having such a dependency on CAD is not BIM, and if you need to produce deliverables in CAD, you’re not really working in BIM.
Personally, the plugin that adds the most value to SketchUp for working in BIM is IFC Manager.
It may depend on the region, country. How many specialists do you know who work through Trimble Connect? I can’t tell anyone. In my case, most specialists in the field work mainly in CAD programs and require .dwg format
How do you do the final project? Do you manually put marks and labels in LO?
This ecosystem solves both of my problems
And yes, I didn’t use the term “BIM” in a general context; instead, I used it as the process for automating my work.
I may put all the ones I use permanently. I modified the topic and put the ones that are actually needed:
5D: 5D plus, Auto Info, Library, Autotag/
Curic: Studio, toCad/
I know that Curic Text is editable, but I meant something else. I’d like the option to change the font and export it as text in AutoCAD. But, I don’t want to insist on this; if it were possible, Curic would have implemented it a long time ago
@bmaxim could you describe your workflow in detail because I’m trying to solve for a lot of what you’re describing, specifically:
automating window schedules (i.e. output to xls or table without manually updating dimensions, etc)
automating window and door tagging (is automatic renumbering possible? that is if you delete a unit will the others automatically change their numbering)
automating room + area numbering
automatic labeling of heights/levels
Most of the people who work with BIM in Spain use a CDE as Trimble Connect or ACC in order to follow the ISO 19650.
All my drawings use labels and tags in LayOut that are inserted as auto text in each component as IFC parameters.
Schedules come from IFC parameters too.
It’s cool when everyone works based on IFC, but are there cases when you are asked to export in dwg format? Section hatches, layers? Have you never encountered this?
How do you make, edit the room, material complete reports? SU Generate Reports is too primitive for this.
How do you modify the floor levels , grids, marks?
In my model, I have more than 100 doors/ windows. How’d you go labeling all that? With 5D is done in seconds
And many other details that consume so much time
So far, I have not seen a regular BIM project in SU+ LO using tools other than those I noted above.
Is it possible to see an example of your project? I’m curious how people manage without automation of the work process
I’m asked for drawings not CAD files. My hatches are colors in SketchUp and enveryone has its own material name so no hatches.
Layers in 3D are not needed, you can orbit your model in Trimble Connect.
I insert parameters and I tag them in LayOut.
I save my windows and door with Component Finder. All of them have their own parameters. Tag them in LayOut takes me seconds too. 5D for me is Quantity Takeoff in BIM language.
It is good that you have adjusted with your engineers to work with IFC, but as I said, it depends on the region and the country. There is no discussion that this is the only logical way to work!! However, in my case, most engineers ask me to export to 2D CAD with hatches/layers.
What parameters for levels do you have, and how do they change if I change the height of the floor, for example?
Maybe you don’t need this automation in the IFC ecosystem, but how can you compare Comp Finder to this plugin, which, in seconds, puts its tags on all labels and checks for duplications and mistakes?
Do you have a detailed tutorial on using Trimble Connect with engineers? What programs do other engineers work in, and how do you interact?
But, even apart from that, transmitting the 3D model via Trimble Connect instead of exporting to CAD, I don’t know a better solution than this ecosystem preparing the drawings in LO.
The first step to start working in BIM is to stop thinking as if you were still working in CAD.
I don’t mind that my colleagues work with Revit, Cype, Tekla, Civil 3D…
We all share our models with IFC, that’s the way we undertand each other.
Every project has their own BEP and we follow those rules to work together. No tutorial needed.
I work on projects for the state administration, mainly on railway constructions. These projects need to be solved in BIM, classify individual structures according to the specified data standard and transfer IFC models in global coordinates.
I coordinate related objects using the “Xref manager” extension, I classify structures using the “Attribute inspector” plugin, which, however, stopped being developed about 10 years ago.
I don’t think it’s an ideal solution, Sketchup doesn’t know how to work with global coordinates very well and I haven’t found a better plugin that would allow working with attributes in SU. I’m not sure if new versions of Sketchup can load ifc models with all classifications. I’m using SU Pro 2020.
I am all for using IFC; it is the only logical solution for sharing files between engineers. However, I still don’t have a clear vision of how architects from different countries interact with engineers. From what I’ve read online, many use AutoCAD 2D as a file-sharing tool. But here on this forum, people are surprised that these “dinosaurs” still exist.
I have to think about organizing information for them anyway because many engineers around me still work in AutoCAD 2D
FWIW we work in single family residential construction (some commercial), wood framed, higher end. Almost all consultants (MEP, Structural, lighting, interior design) just work in 2D CAD still if that, often times just PDF sometimes it seems that BIM is used to describe two things (at least) 1)Parametric Modeling, synced paper and model space etc and 2)IFC, sharing etc. For the smaller firms like ours a good sketchup workflow for the #1 is far more valuable than #2.
sometimes it seems that BIM is used to describe two things (at least) 1)Parametric Modeling, synced paper and model space etc and 2)IFC, sharing etc. For the smaller firms like ours a good sketchup workflow for the