SketchUp 2013 ;)
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Coming into this a bit late it looks like. I had no idea a new version was out until today. My impression is on par with the majority...YAAAAAAWWWN
I'm not one to be overly negative but it feels like it's been a long time since I've really seen a tool developed that applies to me. And I'm in architectural visualization, so not exactly on the outskirts of the target community. With Google, it felt like they were just concerned with filling up Google Earth. I had some high hopes that the Trimble folks would fall more inline with my own hopes for SU. I'm a bit fearful now that Layout may prove to be their Google Earth which sucks up the majority of the development time and interests me not at all. I hope that's not the case but it looks like I'll have to wait another year to have a better gauge.
I understand the value of the extension warehouse. It's a big deal. It just feels underwhelming since we JUST got that not long ago from the sketchucation folks. So it effectively adds nothing new from what I can tell.
I don't really care about the licensing things. Sketchup is still inexpensive and I wouldn't expect to do Pro work with a free software. In fact, I wouldn't necessarily want to. More money should mean more/faster/better development.
Many are speculating that this was mostly an 'under the hood' release so that Trimble can REALLY do what they want next time. I have 2 issues with that.
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we've always been told to rest assured that the sketchup team has been unchanged since the @Last days and so there is consistency. A vast 'under the hood' overhaul in order to make future changes seems to suggest a lack of consistency.
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That's fine if you want to do that, but why charge an upgrade fee for a 'set up' for a future product. It feels like getting charged twice. Like if McDonalds charged me the price of a burger once when they killed the cow, and then again, after they made it into a tasty burger.
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Bonus: I here a couple people mentioning some reserved comments about possible performance and stability increases. I'd fully support a new version in which there were no really sexy changes to speak about, but under the hood there were some truly significant upgrades.
I sympathize with Jason's argument and hope to keep him in the community, but my own feelings are much more mitigated. The truth is that SketchUp was a very good architectural modeling tool years ago and architecture hasn't changed much since then. With each unimpressive release, I don't feel SU becoming LESS useful to me. I just don't feel like it's becoming any MORE useful to me. I don't want to be unimpressed. I'm not looking to gripe about new features. I wantto support SU and Trimble in the direction they're going. Unfortunately this release doesn't feel like it's goneanywhere.
-Brodie
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I simply don't get the hostility in this thread.
The big features in this release are Layout improvements and the Extension Warehouse. Do you negative nancys really not see what a BIG FREAKING DEAL the Extensions warehouse is?? And just because you don't personally use Layout doesn't mean countless other folks don't appreciate the update.
When was the last time you got really excited about something Sketchup related? Likely is was some kind of plugin - Thea, Maxwell, Fredo's TopoShaper, Sketchucation's Plugin Store. The Extensions Warehouse (EW) is just going to make these kind of things more visible and more frequent. Ever since the last Basecamp, Trimble made it clear that they're committed to enabling plugin authors.
Think of the Apple App store or Google Play and the thousands of options available on your smartphone...now bring that same environment, energy, and excitement to create the next big thing to Sketchup. Sketchup becomes a platform for plugin devs to launch apps that allow the rest of us to make awesome stuff.
I'm all for letting the team know what we want...we've been demanding a better plugin system for years, and now we have it. I'm delighted! Sure there's room for improvement - SCF's Plugin Store is better in some ways. So lets tell the team what we want and let them do their job.
If Sketchup isn't working for you, move on! I for one am sick of the endless whining of a few grouches.
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@d12dozr said:
I simply don't get the hostility in this thread.
The big features in this release are Layout improvements and the Extension Warehouse. Do you negative nancys really not see what a BIG FREAKING DEAL the Extensions warehouse is?? And just because you don't personally use Layout doesn't mean countless other folks don't appreciate the update.
Oh..is it really.. or rather an evidence of incapacity!? What was the last tool they developed by themselves -booleans??
Sure, more people are going to install, use and eventually develop plugins - but where are the underlying improvements in SU itself for such a bold move? Where is the performance boost, multicore support, 64bit, stability, polycount etc..? There are simply too many limitations and bottlenecks. I know plugin operations which take minutes in SU that can be done in less than 3s in other programs if executed..
If it's Trimble's strategy to put the future development of SU tools into the hand of 3rd party developers, they should get their house in order first. But exactly that hasn't happened yet.
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@unknownuser said:
Does anyone seriously believe that a Free version of anything should be available for Professional use ?
If you want to make money from it, pay for it.....it's quite simple....!
I seriously do... Even though I pay for Pro. I think that making certain tools only available to the pros limits the abuse, while allowing people from poorer countries and those with very small companies that are struggling in these hard times to build their respective businesses. They need every penny they can get. Do you realize how much money $600.00 is to an Indian or Pakistani?
In previous versions it's not like the free people were getting much out of it. No Layout, no DWG export, No solids tools... I'm sure I'm missing a few things. But then after that there are the part time developers, We will push some away to free programs if we force them to pay for something they really don't use to make money.
Personally, I liked the way it was. Pay for Pro and use SU "Make" for free.
MAKE SketchUp "Make" Free!
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@archheni said:
Where is the performance boost, multicore support, 64bit, stability, polycount etc..?
3 of the 5 have been addressed in this version and the other 2 have been beaten like a dead horse in here with many of our top SketchUp minds saying it's unneeded.
I have a 64bit multi-core system with 32 gigs of ram... If they make it 64 bit I'm not going to complain, but I don't know that I have seen anyone prove Thom, John and the others wrong. And obviously a International Power House of a Company that has tons of other construction related software didn't see the reasoning either.
I defer on that matter to more informed minds.
Speaking of those minds. I have spoken with Bacus a few times, one of the few CEO's/ Managers/Decision makers (what ever he is), of software that I own that has ever given much of a crap about what I or anyone in some forum on the internet thinks. I have always found him to be forthright, polite and interested in our ideas. I have 0% interest in seeing him leave SketchUp. This can be said of many of the employees of SU, I see many of them here and they are always looking to help or listen. The choices they make afterward are up to them and their business model. I appreciate being heard.
I'm not excited about this release either and I'm not "defending" it... I'm defending the software as a whole. Frankly, it feels like a maintenance release, however the backside changes seem to be impressive and the improvement in stability was needed badly. Whatsmore I needed these layout changes like yesterday.
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Well then can somebody please show and explain the full list of those 3 improvements? What exactly has been improved in terms of performance? How does it effect the workflow? Do plugins get executed faster now? Does SU still crashes or freezes when running out of memory?
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I believe there are a few other threads with the more background based stuff going on right now, I'll look to find them and update this. So far I have had one crash, but I wasn't working in SU when it happened. Things seem faster and more stable to me. Opening the program is faster. I think I heard Chris Fullmer say they rebuilt the whole thing, but like I said I don't follow software coding talk. Plugins do seem to execute faster, like profile builder builds detailed crowns much faster now. I don't know that workflow is affected... Except for Layout Improvements.
I think this is one where they discuss background stuff.
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It is easy to test performance because you can have v8 and v2013 installed in tandem.
I personally don't see the improvement in speed. I know startup times are reduced and the whole UI got a much needed face lift.
Sent from my iPad
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If there are improvements, why don't they tell us about it?
How am I (i'm not using Layout) going to convince my boss to buy the new version?
"Well...eh, it starts faster" is not going to be enough to convince him. -
Doesn't the blog tell you LayOut has a 40% speed improvement and another level of zoom?
I haven't read it.
What I typical measure in a new release is mesh selection speeds. V7.1 is still the fastest when making selections. V2013 is slower than v8.
File import speeds are the same and still incredibly slow.
Mesh generation is faster. Things like Artisan and CurviLoft are faster.
Toolbar fixing is a big deal but the padding around the toolbars is larger so real estate is chewed up a bit.
Did you not run the trial?
Sent from my iPad
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@thomthom said:
And another thing - it was in April 2012 that SketchUp became part of Trimble. That just a little bit over a year from which they got new owners with new goals.
I see this release as turning around a big ship.
Yes, maybe... but this is no reason for me to sell such a small improvement as full update!
This is a tiny service release not more. If the big new features are not ready now why release a full number update at all now? To make money? If i don't get anything new, why should i pay for Trimble's development cost?!? This happens if the new features get released. Is this Kickstarter or what? Will i get a T-shirt when i buy an update? -
@numerobis said:
This is a tiny service release not more. If the big new features are not ready now why release a full number update at all now? To make money?
Because many customers would probably be more annoyed if they had to wait until 2014 for the first true Trimble release? I think it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for the developers. Releasing a lacklustre version now is probably better than a late 2013 release or no update at all this year.
Also, it wouldn't surprise me if we were to see a major maintenance release towards the end of the year (when the real improvements are ready
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@rich o brien said:
Doesn't the blog tell you LayOut has a 40% speed improvement and another level of zoom?
I haven't read it.
What I typical measure in a new release is mesh selection speeds. V7.1 is still the fastest when making selections. V2013 is slower than v8.
File import speeds are the same and still incredibly slow.
Mesh generation is faster. Things like Artisan and CurviLoft are faster.
Toolbar fixing is a big deal but the padding around the toolbars is larger so real estate is chewed up a bit.
Did you not run the trial?
As I said, if there are improvements to SketchUp (I'm not using Layout) why don't they tell us?
Why do we have to test and guess what has been improved?
Don't they know that many users will have to go to their boss and ask to buy a new version and that we need to have solid arguments to why the upgrade is necessary?
I'm not saying I'm disapointed or anything, I just want some facts (about SketchUp fixes) I can tell my boss or I will not be allowed to buy the new version. -
@pixero said:
As I said, if there are improvements to SketchUp (I'm not using Layout) why don't they tell us?
Why do we have to test and guess what has been improved?
Don't they know that many users will have to go to their boss and ask to buy a new version and that we need to have solid arguments to why the upgrade is necessary?
I'm not saying I'm disapointed or anything, I just want some facts (about SketchUp fixes) I can tell my boss or I will not be allowed to buy the new version.Here... I think this is what you're looking for.
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Thanks for the link. Now let's see if it's good enough for my boss...
I would have liked if they had detailed this a bit more though:
"Lots of little tweaks, bugs fixes and improvements were made to existing features." -
@krisidious said:
Plugins do seem to execute faster, like profile builder builds detailed crowns much faster now.
A question for you: when you select a profile, you have a preview image visible? I was missing mine during a test run.
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@hieru said:
Because many customers would probably be more annoyed if they had to wait until 2014 for the first true Trimble release? I think it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for the developers. Releasing a lacklustre version now is probably better than a late 2013 release or no update at all this year.
Also, it wouldn't surprise me if we were to see a major maintenance release towards the end of the year (when the real improvements are ready
).You are kidding, right? Why should i be less annoyed getting this useless update now?
If i don't have anything to show i can't release an update. Why should i buy this update? Only because Trimble means i should do it now? To get a new Trimble folder on my ssd instead of the google one? -
@archheni said:
What exactly has been improved in terms of performance? How does it effect the workflow? Do plugins get executed faster now? Does SU still crashes or freezes when running out of memory?
Actually, there are indications that plugins execute faster. Though I'm not sure what internal change it's related to. But some early profiling show in some cases show improvement. I plan to run some comparison tests soon.
And there are several bugsplat issues that's been fixed. -
The splats when you applied materials with certain render apps installed is gone. I suffered from this with Indigo at times
View > Toolbars is gone and replaced with an alphabetically sorted dialog to toggle toolbars on and off
The SDK for devs is rewritten
Getting started toolbar has changed along with the order of icons in the Camera Tools and Large Toolset
New cursors with tooltips and description on hover
New material libraries Geometric Tiles, Material symbols and Tonal Patterns
Networked startup times improved
HD animation export
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@kaas said:
@krisidious said:
Plugins do seem to execute faster, like profile builder builds detailed crowns much faster now.
A question for you: when you select a profile, you have a preview image visible? I was missing mine during a test run.
you need to replace a java file in your installation. more info here.
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