Your Ideas for SketchUp 2014

jason_maranto · 20 Jun 2013, 10:33

@solo said:

Just dawned on me watching both threads that maybe it is me, I want stuff that most folk do not, like better UV tools, more poly's, quads, etc.

Gonna have to give Blender a real go.

Or MODO

I came to the exact same conclusions, and Modo is exactly where I've been once I ran out of caring about SketchUp 9 -- and I'm not regretting the decision at all.

For the record I refuse to participate in any more SketchUp wishlist events, and especially in anything "darling" is involved in... they know exactly what is wrong and have known for many years, but they choose to ignore it.

Best,
Jason.

jiminy-billy-bob · 20 Jun 2013, 17:00

No offense Jason, but I think we get it. You don't want SU any more and you found better softwares. You don't need to post in every single thread to tell us about your personal feeling.
You don't like SU, or where SU is heading, or SU's team. Ok, so be it. Here it's SketchUcation, we come here to discuss about SU, not your feelings.
I don't have any problem with people giving their thoughts about SU, but you did plenty of time, and you're just repeating yourself. You found greener grass, move on

jason_maranto · 20 Jun 2013, 17:52

For the record I hadn't posted here for almost 3 weeks -- so I think you are being extremely over dramatic saying "I post in every single thread" and acting like I am somehow ruining the experience of using this forum.

Also, for what it is worth I only responded to what a few other "SketchUp" users had to say in this thread... so not really like I started anything here either.

If you don't like it you are free to ignore me... but you'd better stick your head really far down in the sand if you want to ignore reality.

Best,
Jason.

arail1 · 20 Jun 2013, 20:04

@jason_maranto said:

I came to the exact same conclusions, and Modo is exactly where I've been once I ran out of caring about SketchUp 9 -- and I'm not regretting the decision at all.

Best,
Jason.

What I want in MODO is SketchUp like snapping. Snapping in MODO is ridiculous and I'm stunned that Luxology hasn't done anything about it - even though long, angry threads regularly appear on the forum about this issue.

Mike Amos · 21 Jun 2013, 10:50

Snapping in shetchup is not so hot either, to have a situation where a line end snaps to 'somewhere near' another point is ludicrous too. I think we need to be able to choose where a snap is going, either to a point or along an oriented line or the end of another line/arc. The number of times the clipping curse occurs while trying to find out what is preventing a surface being formed is enough to draw blood.

jason_maranto · 21 Jun 2013, 11:17

Personally, this is one of the selling points for me of form.z -- you have all the snapping power of SketchUp (and then some) but you can disable any and/or all of them whenever you need/want to... incredibly precise and powerful: http://www.formz.com/manuals/formz7/!SSL!/WebHelp/01090_Snapping.html

You won't typically find that type of snapping in any SubD modeler. SubD is a different way of thinking about making things (than standard surface modeling)... so it requires some adjustment.

Best,
Jason.

Mike Amos · 21 Jun 2013, 11:42

If I had the money for form z or an alternative I would have gone for that but the draw factor is the availability of a free version. Not forking out that kind of money for what is essentially a hobby/form of expression/creativity. Even bonzai 3d might have got the nod, if it had a cut down free version.

Lobster · 21 Jun 2013, 13:30

I think the main thing i would like to see is just a better viewport performance on larger models........

Failing that UV tools would be good.

Regards

arail1 · 21 Jun 2013, 15:24

@jason_maranto said:

Personally, this is one of the selling points for me of form.z -- you have all the snapping power of SketchUp (and then some) but you can disable any and/or all of them whenever you need/want to... incredibly precise and powerful: http://www.formz.com/manuals/formz7/!SSL!/WebHelp/01090_Snapping.html

You won't typically find that type of snapping in any SubD modeler. SubD is a different way of thinking about making things (than standard surface modeling)... so it requires some adjustment.

Best,
Jason.

Generally I agree. The relation of the sub-d 'cage' to the visible screen representation complicates the issue of snapping. But the LWCad plugin for LightWave proves that the problem isn't insurmountable. What I wish modo would offer is snapping to the cage geometry as an option for the purposes of architectural modeling (where it's needed) and the ability to turn it off for organic modeling (where it's generally not needed). You can do this in MODO but only with an unnecessary number of clicks and adjustments. I'd like to be able to turn it on or off with one click like I can in Rhino.

Sorry BTW that this exchange is far off topic.

bhbarchitects · 21 Jun 2013, 19:08

@solo said:

Reading through the responses I believe I'm in an alternative universe, no wonder SU 2013 was such a let down if the users they are polling are pretty much noobs and casual users that do not even use SU as extensively as users on this forum.

Floating menus, sub layers, bring back Susan WTF? more than half the requests are for Layout, which should be a separate thread IMO. So do not hold your breath, SU 2014 will have Susan back and more Layout improvements only, oh they may add floating menus...

+1

Mike Amos · 21 Jun 2013, 21:12

Actually, thinking about it, the price need not be zero but, a price more in keeping with the hobby user. Anything in the mega hundreds or more is beyond me as a hobby user.

frv · 22 Jun 2013, 18:51

I use Sketchup every day in an architectural office.
I am on OSX.

THE biggest issue and reason we look for alternatives to design with is....
The material panel is terrible, slow and unorganized. With a few dozens materials it already becomes unworkable. Nobody can find anything in the palette and assigning materials is so slow it takes up most of our modeling time.
I can assign hundreds of materials in Maxwell Studio in less than a few minutes. The same work would be impossible or days of work in SU. There is no other app in CAD that suffers from slowness in assigning materials. Looking at the discussions on how to improve SU I am always surprised that alls sorts of ideas come along but the most basic and needed improvement is ignored.

The amount of frustration the material panel causes is my nr. 1 reason to realize Sketchup is not a professional tool. It also makes you wonder if any of the developers has any experience with Sketchup and how it is used at an office in a real life workflow.

If this problem alone could be solved I would already be more than happy. I can split models in two or three to speed up modeling but I can't split the material panel.

There are plenty other things we can think of but as long as Trimble ignores this issue we won't be here long enough to see our other wishes fullfilled.

Another thing that is very frustrating is the way this thread starts by saying that all sorts of improvements are on the table and that some will be done one day and other most likely never. That is not very transparent.
I rather know now if the material palette will remain as it is. Than we will move on as soon as we can and will advise our clients of whom there are many architects to forget about SU on a mac.
Francois

Bob James · 23 Jun 2013, 05:31

@solo said:

Reading through the responses I believe I'm in an alternative universe, no wonder SU 2013 was such a let down if the users they are polling are pretty much noobs and casual users that do not even use SU as extensively as users on this forum.

Floating menus, sub layers, bring back Susan WTF? more than half the requests are for Layout, which should be a separate thread IMO. So do not hold your breath, SU 2014 will have Susan back and more Layout improvements only, oh they may add floating menus...

Since most of my models of industrial facilities have dozens of layers many of which fall into logical groups, I'm more than a little "crushed" that you feel the suggestion for sub-layers to better organize the layers within the groups are the product of "noobs and casual users that do not even use SU as extensively as users on this forum"

Bob James · 23 Jun 2013, 05:36

And while I'm at it: I wonder how many of those of us that use SU extensively use Layout. That would make an interesting poll IMHO.

halroach · 23 Jun 2013, 08:48

@krism said:

"Maybe a stretch tool like Auto Cad?"

Using Move on lines or points works just the same as Stretch in Autocad.

Kris

Can't quite move or interact with points, only lines. Maybe a native way to select points would be nice - without any external plugins.

Box · 23 Jun 2013, 13:39

@halroach said:

@krism said:

"Maybe a stretch tool like Auto Cad?"

Using Move on lines or points works just the same as Stretch in Autocad.

Kris

Can't quite move or interact with points, only lines. Maybe a native way to select points would be nice - without any external plugins.

If you haven't preselected anything, the move tool will select and move points.
By that I mean, with nothing selected position the move tool at the end of a line and you can grab it and stretch it, or move it.

pbacot · 23 Jun 2013, 19:49

Here is a diagram of what I think is doable in a single operation. It is all moving points really, but the selection of points is limited in the native move tool.

dacad · 24 Jun 2013, 00:03

@marcdurant said:

Hi Rich-

I wanted to clear up a misconception that I've seen a few times: LayOut issues do not directly compete with SketchUp issues for resources. LayOut has its own dedicated team! So, don't hesitate to submit LayOut requests.

thanks,
Marc

[Irony mode ON]
So...there's a dedicated team for Sk that in two years they could just do extension warehouse...

As for ideas for SK2014, I know I'll sound a bit crazy but, how about new features for the reason that Sketchup was built for: anything that can help, simplify and enhance 3D modeling, like better modeling tools, better UV mapping tools and some form for simulate other lights other than the sun, even if in any simple and basic way... Naah, please just make floating menus, more layout and bring susan back, I'm sure my models will be much better and faster with these.
[Irony mode OFF]

thomthom · 24 Jun 2013, 07:54

@bob james said:

@solo said:

Reading through the responses I believe I'm in an alternative universe, no wonder SU 2013 was such a let down if the users they are polling are pretty much noobs and casual users that do not even use SU as extensively as users on this forum.

Floating menus, sub layers, bring back Susan WTF? more than half the requests are for Layout, which should be a separate thread IMO. So do not hold your breath, SU 2014 will have Susan back and more Layout improvements only, oh they may add floating menus...

Since most of my models of industrial facilities have dozens of layers many of which fall into logical groups, I'm more than a little "crushed" that you feel the suggestion for sub-layers to better organize the layers within the groups are the product of "noobs and casual users that do not even use SU as extensively as users on this forum"

I work at an architectural office and I also would like to be able to have sub-layers or a way of grouping layers. Ditto for materials. (Concept UI here: http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=26149#p225302 )
The reason is that I often need to import multiple DWG files where I need to preserve the layer structure for some operations, but it'd be nice if I could hide them away in a group which can be folded/unfolded as I need it. At the moment my workaround is to prefix layer and material names with "01", "02", "03" ... "09" etc.

arail1 · 24 Jun 2013, 12:41

@thomthom said:

I work at an architectural office and I also would like to be able to have sub-layers or a way of grouping layers. Ditto for materials.

+1

This is a big item for me also. I'm in retail display but there are several repeating projects we do that cross the line into architecture. On one of these I end up with approx. 50 - 60 layers. I break them up into semi logical structures - Floor, Floor Base, Floor Trim, etc. But no matter how well organized I am, I'm always looking at a 50 item list - PITA. And the Materials panel is even worse.

I'm not a programmer but this would seem to me not that big a task to improve?