Can I have a Gripes & Bitchin' for Su 2014 thread?
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@jason_maranto said:
Bonzai 3D is current on special for $150 off regular price:
This could be a good time to make the switch for people looking to do so.
Best,
Jason.Hasn't been updated for a loooong time.
Check blog, support sucks! -
I just checked, the last update was May 2013 -- that is less than a year ago... I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
Best,
Jason. -
@jpalm32 said:
@jason_maranto said:
Bonzai 3D is current on special for $150 off regular price:
This could be a good time to make the switch for people looking to do so.
Best,
Jason.Hasn't been updated for a loooong time.
Check blog, support sucks!Bit like SU then! Putting a new badge on the box doesn't mean anything meaningful happened to the software inside; which really hurts when you are paying a subscription and the changes amount to bug fixes and minor improvements with more new bugs.
I also wonder if SU is really still alive because of the Sketchucation forum rather than any Google or official SU support forum?
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I stand corrected, here is the latest update -- at the end of last month:
Having dealt with this company I will say they are definitely far more responsive than SketchUp.
Best,
Jason. -
@arcad-uk said:
I also wonder if SU is really still alive because of the Sketchucation forum rather than any Google or official SU support forum?
fwiw, i'm constantly bumping into people using sketchup in their work.. as in, most of the architectural, engineering, landscape design, production firms i collaborate with on per project basis have sketchup and we'll often share files/ideas through sketchup (even though it may not be either of our main software).. a few of the firms are using sketchup as their main software.
but, i've never once bumped into someone here or at the trimble forums that i've also worked with in real life.. point being-- i think sketchup land extends far beyond what we see happening online.. most people using it just use it and aren't a part of an online community / user group.
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You are probably right Jeff when you factor in the free version; the point I failed to make though was the official support forums and bug reporting pages don't exactly fill you with reassurance that anyone gives a ****, unlike here!
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So a whole bunch of plugins do not work with 2014 and this is pissing me off.
Maxwell, Vali Architects Instant scripts, Compo Sprayer???
Was there really no way of making the old ruby scripts work regardless of the Ruby 2.0 changes? Cmon man! WTF 2014!!!!!
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I purchased Bonzai 3D when it first came out thinking it was the way to go. I have upgraded to version 2 and 3.2. I am sure Formz is a great program and was tempted to upgrade to Formz thinking it may iron out some of my gripes with Bonzai 3D but did not. I then discovered SU plugins that gave me all the capability I needed coupled with the easy base functions known within Sketchup and a community that can write code that can probably satisfy most users. I have not used Bonzai for any project yet and i can not see myself doing so. Sorry this was not a bitch or a gripe.
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@jeff hammond said:
fwiw, i'm constantly bumping into people using sketchup in their work.. as in, most of the architectural, engineering, landscape design, production firms i collaborate with on per project basis have sketchup and we'll often share files/ideas through sketchup (even though it may not be either of our main software).. a few of the firms are using sketchup as their main software.
Increasingly, when I send out SU files, I get SU files back. What I mean by that is a lot of the work that I do is shop drawings for contractors, millwork companies, etc. The majority of that work is done in AutoCAD LT (although I'm migrating my 2D drafting to Rhino). I send the drawings to the contractor and they pass them along to the architect who sends back red lines for revisions. Sometimes, to clarify a point, I'll send along a SU to show a detail in question in 3D. Almost as a rule now, the architect responds with a SketchUp reply. That wasn't true a couple of years ago but now it's almost standard. It's like once I've established that SketchUp is a acceptable means of communication, the architects dump their Revit, MAX and whatnot in favor of SU to communicate with me. And the work goes faster.
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@valerostudio said:
So a whole bunch of plugins do not work with 2014 and this is pissing me off.
Maxwell, Vali Architects Instant scripts, Compo Sprayer???
Was there really no way of making the old ruby scripts work regardless of the Ruby 2.0 changes? Cmon man! WTF 2014!!!!!
A lot of softwares break plugin compatibility with new versions. SU was spared until now, but it's more like an exception.
So yeah, a little patience is requiered until the remaining 10% plugins get a compatible version, but sometimes this kind of change is really worth it.
It's not like SU2013 was suddenly broken, you can still work. -
@valerostudio said:
Was there really no way of making the old ruby scripts work regardless of the Ruby 2.0 changes? Cmon man! WTF 2014!!!!!
There really wasn't. Ruby 1.8 have reached end of life long ago and 1.9 is heading that way. Ruby 2.1 has already been released and Ruby 2.2 is due next Christmas.
Ruby 1.8 to Ruby 1.9 was the biggest change as the Ruby interpreter changed their core to a new one. There was no way for us to avoid plugins breaking as the development of Ruby isn't done by us.
The reason we updated was many. One of the biggest reasons was that Ruby 1.8 had no Unicode support so a large potion of our international user base experienced problems regularly unless they took extra care to use only English characters.
Another issue was that due to the lack of Unicode support we could not move the Plugins folder out of Program Files. This caused a number of security permission issues with plugins that haunted many users.
For SketchUp 2014 we included more developers than ever before in the testing. We even had an alpha testing phase so developers could get in early to update their plugins. Unfortunately there is always someone who we missed to invite and even of the ones we invited not everyone had gotten around to update.
I think extensions warehouse is at ~65% 2014 compatibility - though I suspect there real number is higher, it's just that some developers haven't updated their information yet.
It's unfortunate that extensions broke, but it really was a damned if we do, damned if we don't situation and going with the Ruby 2.0 upgrade was really the only way to move forward.
The lack of updates to the SketchUp Ruby API under the Google area gave a good stability for end users, but not good for developers in terms of lacking features. Eventually we had to do this, but it's not something we anticipate would happen often. It looks like the Ruby 2.x branch is being kept backwards compatible - which should allow us to keep up to date with Ruby while at the same time not breaking extensions.
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I was hoping for a tabbed plugin menu system where you could customise and organise plugins under different tabs depending on usage.
That way you would also have more screen for modeling. -
Could it be the 'large tool set' is less than 2 columns wide?
I try to put some icons in 2 columns under the large tool set and whatever I do I always end up with 3 columns. If I remove the large toolset it's fine but as soon as I put it back... 3 columns.
edit: also tried making a custom 2 column toolbar but as soon as I dock it, it reverts to a long one-column toolbar again.
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@pixero said:
I was hoping for a tabbed plugin menu system where you could customise and organise plugins under different tabs depending on usage.
That way you would also have more screen for modeling.That's a great idea, Jan...
Have you written it up as a wish/feature request...? -
I have to laugh, I found this in my inbox this morning:
They "get" it.
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It's got to be said, that's the kind of progressive attitude I would like to see from the SU devs.
Sure you can do a lot of those things with plugins and I particularly love subD modelling in SU, but it would be great if we could see some sign that SUs native tools will grow to meet the needs, advancement and expectations it's users.
Put it another way, if all the plugins were to disappear overnight and you could only use native SU tools, how many of us would continue to use Sketchup? My guess would be 'very few' and both Trimble and John Bacus should find that very worrying.
The flip side of that is, how happy would you be to use software that has a pretty good range of native tools but offers very little room for expansion via plugins? It's swings and roundabouts really, but I think that the Sketchup way of doing things is probably the better option, but I don't think that means we should accept what comes across as a stagnation in the development of Sketchup.
Maybe some of the people who've been to this year's Basecamp will have a better perspective on what we can expect from Sketchup in the future.
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It's not 'proper' subD and no quads, but I'd struggle without it. How else can you do something like fillet the corner on a right-angle tube joint (which should be very simple)?
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sorry... i couldn't resist
I knew it would be Artisan - but as you said, real subd is something different... and it's really sad that sketchup still doesn't support it.
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Yes I agree, but although I consider it essential I suspect that the devs do not. With the average user in mind I don't think subD is something they will ever need or even be on their radar.
Even if you only look at professionals working mostly on architectural projects, subD or Artisan won't come in useful - unless you need to subdivide faces for displacement (now that function should deffinately be an essential part of the sandbox toolset).
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