SketchUp 7.1?

Chris Fullmer · 22 Sept 2009, 18:29

In the blog statement they made a few weeks ago here:

Coming Soon in Google SketchUp...

Follow the SketchUpdate blog for SketchUp news, modeling tips and tricks, user stories and more.

(sketchupdate.blogspot.com)

They said this, towards the end (3rd to last paragraph)

@unknownuser said:

For those of you who depend on the importers we plan to remove, we'll be providing an optional download that enables them again. But remember! This installer will only be available for a limited time, and it will not be supported at all in our next major release.

So they will support .dwg and .dxf for SketchUp FREE through the end of 7. But it will not be supported in SketchUp Free 8. It will continue to be supported in SketchUp Pro.

Chris

ark · 22 Sept 2009, 19:16

Hurry Google!

Just gave the free version a spin with old heavy model, and it's just much faster to update!

It's a shame with the missing dwg/dxf import as I use it every time I start a project in sketchup, but now that Google takes this fine software seriously, I just might by the pro version

fossa · 22 Sept 2009, 19:32

@unknownuser said:

Hurry Google!

Just gave the free version a spin with old heavy model, and it's just much faster to update!

It's a shame with the missing dwg/dxf import as I use it every time I start a project in sketchup, but now that Google takes this fine software seriously, I just might by the pro version

Careful about that "taking it seriously" comment. IMO they have a long way to go before they even approach serious, when it comes to SU. Although this sure seems like a step in the right direction.

Thank you SU team, let's keep things moving this way.

Gaieus · 22 Sept 2009, 20:00

Ehm...

It seems that Google itself spilled out the beans a bit earlier than they were planning (good job IMO BTW - and I can still use some of nthese abbreviations more )

Has any of you looked seriously into our "hardware test " down in the Corner Bar?

OK, here are my results with SU 7.0 (shadows on):

And here are the results with SU 7.1 (again, with shadows on)

4.1 per seconds against 63.1 frames per seconds should speak for itself.

Performance improvement? I can consider it to be.

dcauldwell · 22 Sept 2009, 20:19

Gaieus

Amazing results - must update right away!
Thanks Google.

Stinkie · 22 Sept 2009, 20:22

Just tried the new release on my gf's iMac - there's a definite performance improvement.

RonanR · 22 Sept 2009, 20:24

All my models just orbit and zoom so much better.
For me the increase of performance alone makes this release a success...

dedmin · 22 Sept 2009, 20:31

@ronanr said:

All my models just orbit and zoom so much better.
For me the increase of performance alone makes this release a success...

Agree 200%!!!! Sooo much smooth!!

ericschimel · 22 Sept 2009, 20:39

Don't forget dimensioning in LayOut! This is a HUGE feature for those of us that make construction drawings...

They really did a nice job with the dimension tool...

drewpoeppel · 22 Sept 2009, 20:44

Here is the link to turn on dwg/dfx import for the free version of 7.1. Like they said "only for a limited time"
http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=161784

jwlyon1 · 22 Sept 2009, 20:47

Even though I have a pro license... I downloaded these just in case!!!

But otherwise, seems like a wonderful improvement.

Bert · 22 Sept 2009, 20:54

I also noted that loading Scenes from Layout is much much faster

Chris Fullmer · 22 Sept 2009, 21:09

And to answer Drew's question from earlier, yes you can sort of install 7.0 and 7.1 separately. Well, you really make of copy of 7.0 before installing 7.1. I tried to write up how to do it here:

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=22158&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Chris

paulside · 22 Sept 2009, 21:12

Dimensioning in Layout!
Its so much more useful now - thanks Google,
If you could now just give Layout: an offset line tool, a hatch pattern fill option and a parallel line tool (Maybe SketchUp 8 ?) I can ditch all my other CAD software.

It orbits so much more smoothly as well,

Thanks SketchUp Team

matteo · 22 Sept 2009, 21:21

I've noticed that sketchup uses both cores of my processor when i change view (pan, zoom & rotate).
I'm running it on windows xp 32 bit sp3.

Does it explain all (or partially) that gain of speed, or was it the some before the 7.1 release?

/matteo

Gaieus · 22 Sept 2009, 21:41

@matteo said:

I've noticed that sketchup uses both cores of my processor when i change view (pan, zoom & rotate).
I'm running it on windows xp 32 bit sp3.

Does it explain all (or partially) that gain of speed, or was it the some before the 7.1 release?

/matteo

Hm... Lucky you then - I don't think SU would (natively) make use of multicore yet.
But of course, I might be wrong.

Ecuadorian · 22 Sept 2009, 22:10

It seems Windows XP has the ability to distribute loads to both cores even if the program you're running isn't multi-threaded. I've seen this several times, especially in my Kerkythea animation tests. When I set it to use only one thread, it still used both cores, but it was an imbalanced load:
http://www.kerkythea.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=63700#63700

But of course, it might be that they quietly mutithreaded SketchUp.

solo · 22 Sept 2009, 22:13

I guess the Google guys looked here first at our concerns as the two longest gripe threads after version 7 was released was 1) performance and 2) the component back button, and as far as I can see they attended to those.

I've stuck to SU6 pro until now, as now version 7 has grown up and a great reason to upgrade.

dale · 22 Sept 2009, 22:33

I always had some difficulties with SU7(PRO), nothing major, just glitches that never occurred in SU6, and even reverted back to 6 for some large models. So I thought there was nothing to lose and downloaded away.
So far I like what I see. The performance on big gluttonous models is quite surprising. It will be interesting to see if the gremlins disappear.

Aerilius · 22 Sept 2009, 22:45

Interesting: My both CPUs behave the same when I rotate and stop rotating my 300000 polygon model. Maybe someone knows how to get more info about cpu usage.

I think the gain of speed is also due to the fact that during orbiting, SU turns off additional effects (inference engine, profiles, textures, shadows, bounding boxes instead of components...) as much as necessary for smooth orbiting.

Great performance, but a bit disappointing is that I see the same bugs as before. Most suggestions for improvement in the Sketchup Group have been forgotten. I speak little easy-to-realize improvements, not about complex feature requests. Although for the first impression, there are not really features, we have to appreciate that they spent much time of this year for a completly new development of important parts of Sketchup:

3d-pipeline in 3d-warehouse
new rendering engine of Sketchup
the new collada exporter which is better than both the versions of SU6 and SU7