THIS will fix EVERYTHING

SketchUp Feature Requests
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So why is my project slow to save, open, model in, slow to update and work with in Layout?

Its because it is over 200 mB.

And Why is it so big? Is it because I model sloppy, with unneeded detailing, and no purges?
No, My own model is about 10mb, Really, really clean.
But the imports, the ifcs, from other vendors, are big.

These kill my modeling efficiency, and are cumbersome to update when others have made new versions, which happen all the time.

So: THIS IS GEOMETRY THAT I DONT WORK ON. This is reference geometry.

I dont need it to be part of every sketchup save. I dont need to be able to manipulate it in sketchup. I dont need the model reference update in Layout to read all this geometry with every update.

It is just ghost geometry, IF I can control UPON import, how it it placed, and how it looks.

So if I can upon IFC import:

  • clean the geometry, like with ThomThoms “Cleanup”
  • clean the coloring scheme, there are all kinds of strange colors usually in an ifc
  • Select Layers to actually put into my model, to choose the beams and colums and not the 30 000 nuts and bolts
  • Have the new import replace the existing one, and save the cleaning settings for that import.

I can then work efficiently with references from other consultants, and keep those files up to date, and my modeling and Layout work would be a breeze. Layout would separate the reference geometry that is probably not updated from the actual model that it now speedily updates. Layout can treat this as ghost geometry as well, not looking for snaps that takes lots of resources.

So it will fix everything. And It´s 10x improvement in Layout model update speed

Sketchup would need to, in a separate links panel, separate from the components panel:

  • Keep a list of every import, be it ifc or dwg.
  • Have an update button, and “update all” button
  • Preview the geometry upon import, so I can intelligently choose “Layers to import” from the external file.
  • Do all this in a separate process ( separate processor core ), and update automatically in idle times.

So We need proper x-refs, and management of them.

There is now work being done on a Revit import plugin, so you can then in the next Sketchup version import that Revit model and start working from there. How does that help anybody with anything? No, Its all about the workflow, and not about the correct orientation of the Revit textures. That´s the OLD way, the amateur way, taking geometry in from Revit or Autocad, for it to be manipulated further by you alone in sketchup, it´s not a modern workflow for teams of consultants with different software.

If we get this, and some proper dwg export, sketchup is finally ready for the building industry.

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It’s kind of hidden currently, but the TC platform (which has it’s own extension in SketchUp) has the ability to import ‘as visual reference’ already, with all the update options.
Now, this still gets imported the old fashioned way via the importers, and most likely, Revit files will do, too.

With the changes in the OpenGL, it became possible to have pointclouds in the viewport (and visual background images, check this extension from Aerilus: Extension | SketchUp Extension Warehouse)
They truly act like a visual reference.

That said, all the viewers in TC work with converted files for optimization in web based viewers, the .trb format. It’s fast and produces much smaller files.

That format can act as a ‘Rosetta stone’ for all possible conversion and all Trimble platforms can or should work with it.

Trimbim files can be downloaded from TC and more importantly, you won’t have to download the complete set, one can even combine different models, select what you want to be visible (create a view!) and then simply download that as Trimbim.
Edit this can be done only in Trimble Connect for Desktop, Windows only.

It would be nice to not only import complete models via the old importers, but actually be able to reference to a View in TC and then it would use the .trb of that View.

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If one can have a Trimble Connect Folder of project files of different kinds linked to your drawing as dynamic links for visual reference, then that would solve it.

There is then automatic conversion from ifc, Revit, Dwg into the .trb format in the Trimble Connect viewers, and also filters for Tags/Layers. Agree it´s nice if those links could then come into sketchup without the local importers doing any work.

But if your project is hosted not in Trimble connect, but elsewhere, then you would have to build your own project folder in TC for this to work. Or: the Trimble Connect sketchup extension could manage files from other locations as well, like local folders. Then the local importers are needed, I guess.

If those TC-connect imports into Sketchup are understood by Layout as just some other model components/groups one does not get any speed benefits in Layout because there’s no way to find out what to not automatically re-import when updating sketchup-model references in Layout.

My general experience with project management solutions for online file sharing is they dont get invested in beyond the point where the manager is happy because he can view stuff on his iPad and leave some comments . :slight_smile:

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