Quicker architectural modeling + construction documentation

juju · 16 Sept 2014, 07:45

I wrote a Plugin that would be right up your alley.
https://www.plusspec.com/
I started as a carpenter, builder, designer in the residential industry. I need to be able to design quickly yet estimate with precision. I needed to be able to conceptualise using Sketchup yet validate the design with construction attributes. I can not see the point in designing and then manually quantifying so essentially I employed 3 developers to write a plugin to do exactly that. It took me 7 years and the original intention was to keep it in house as it gave me an advantage over my competitors locally.
PlusSpec will add multiple dynamic window types into multiple wall types including cavity walls, add rooves, floors, concrete add textures The new version that is due to be released soon will enable you to create your own walls from your own textures and add pricing and wastage. There is too much to list in this post yet the Plugin comes with 36 tutorials and an interactive tutorial that talks to you inside of Sketchup.

PlusSpec is far more expensive than your everyday plugin yet there is good reason for this $395 (about $370 US dollars). It is super powerful and will cut your design and estimating time 10 fold.

PlusSpec is parametric so you can change on the fly. All the windows and doors can be moved and deleted and the structural components will change to suite. You will also notice PlusSpec comes with a library of over 750 individual models that are free and they are low poly, which keeps you models easy to navigate on a low spec computer.

There is a 30 day money back guarantee as well.

Here is an example of one of the jobs AAD Build just completed with PlusSpec.
[attachment=1:2cavdd70]Dons road complete.jpg[/attachment:2cavdd70]
[attachment=2:2cavdd70]Designed with PlusSpec and and Sketchup.png[/attachment:2cavdd70]
[attachment=0:2cavdd70]LinkedIn PlusSpec.png[/attachment:2cavdd70]

BTW I am hearing a lot of good things about Thea render from many Sketchup pro users. I personally outsource my rendering Pete (Solo). Pete makes my homes easy to sell and it saves me a lot of time also.

Hi, thanks. How much is the renewal after 12 months?

juju · 16 Sept 2014, 08:02

@krisidious said:

I have... I use them. they're handy as well.

Andersen windows and doors has a big program with a plugin connecting it to sketchup.

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27574

thanks for this link, the program / plugin seems really great, the type of thing that I could get used to, it's a pity it won't be of use to me in South Africa - we don't use Anderson fenestration products here

aadbuild · 16 Sept 2014, 22:13

Currently the resubscription is the $395 Yet we have really only been live for 3 months so we still have 9 months to come up with a more suitable ongoing payment method. Ill keep you posted on changes. If the Aussie dollar keeps going down like it is you will probably pick it up for 5 bucks.

Skalp · 17 Sept 2014, 07:34

@krisidious said:

Skalp, Fantastic Sections... requires 2014 Pro. has a free version called Rich Sections

Skalp for SketchUp

Skalp (www.skalp4sketchup.com)

A little correction RichSection is not the free version of Skalp.

Skalp · 17 Sept 2014, 08:33

@juju said:

I've decided I want to move on, in the near future, to using SketchUp (Pro 2014) for creating construction documents in addition to being a visualization tool. I recently got the following three books and am busy working my way though them, free time is limited so it could take a while: "SketchUp to Layout" (Matt Donley), "The Sketchup Workflow for Architecture" (Michael Brightman) and "SketchUp 2014 for Architectural Visualization" (Robin de Jongh + Thomas Bleicher). I will probably get "Rendering in Sketchup" (Daniel Tal) as well, there are a few others I am considering, but free time isn't something I have a lot of lately. Hopefully I'll get enough tips and what-not from the first three.

I'm looking into getting a plugin (or multiple plugins, as the case may be) to help speed up architectural modeling and construction document creation. I've looked around a little, it seems as though there is the odd few individual plugins that may handle what I'm mainly interested in, and then there are plugins (let's call this collective plugins for now) that do a couple of things at a time.

Immediate needs:

model walls (solid / cavity / drywalls),

model foundations (options obviously important),

model doors (flexibility in creation is important),

model windows (flexibility in creation is important),

model roof structures (trusses / rafters / lattice girders, purlins),

model roofs quicker (if additional functionality is available, great)

model stairs with handrails,

something to facilitate workflow in Layout, have not used it since it's second iteration I must admit,

I will probably discover other things I need as time passes, but can cover these as they come along.

Modeling:

1001 bit pro v2 (US $48): no new updates for a while, a little worrying

Buildedge PLAN v3.2 (US $29): an update seems to be coming soon, would love to know what the updates would be

Dibac (49 euro): seems like there is a language barrier and support problem, and did I mention expensive?

any other suggestions?

Construction Documentation:

Condoc Tools ($150) - seems very helpful, I hate the annual renewal license though, seems like it will cut you off if you don't renew at the full price after a year (yikes!)

any other suggestions?

Obviously if I can get the functionality that one would require in a free plugin it would be super as funds are primarily being diverted to raising my son (recent addition, very humbled and extremely excited) at the moment.

Licensing should be straight forward, if I pay for the plugin the license must preferably not be on an annual / monthly / whatever renewal basis (I call it ransomware). If I pay for it I'd like to keep on using it until such time as I choose to upgrade or quit using it.

I'd like to know what the community experience and recommendations would be.

Take a look a Skalp for SketchUp it's the missing part for making real construction drawings with SketchUp and Layout. Michael Brightman and Matt Donley describe a full workflow on how you can create 2D drawings from your models. They wrote a big part in there books about it because there isn't a standard way for doing this in SketchUp... until we developed Skalp.

@unknownuser said:

Skalp is easy to use out of the box, as well as giving it the power and flexibility to do more advanced tricks as people get used to it.

Skalp Creates fully hatched live sections which can be used in Layout for making construction documents. Every section can have multiply representation in different scenes.
We started creating Skalp about 5 years ago for our own architectural firm. Because we liked working with SketchUp and I didn't like to do double work in my cad package. Later when Layout was introduced we started to use Layout instead of our cad program to make our drawings.

@unknownuser said:

skalp is a hugely useful plugin and is worth every cent you pay for it.

Skalp is not free and it's not really cheap, but we spend a lot of time in this product and we have still lot of good ideas to make Skalp even better in the near future. Skalp saves you a lot of time (= money) on creating construction documents compared to the workflows described by Michael and Matt (These workflows they are very clever work arounds for missing features of SketchUp and Layout)

The Skalp Team

juju · 17 Sept 2014, 10:40

@skalp said:

@juju said:

I've decided I want to move on, in the near future, to using SketchUp (Pro 2014) for creating construction documents in addition to being a visualization tool. I recently got the following three books and am busy working my way though them, free time is limited so it could take a while: "SketchUp to Layout" (Matt Donley), "The Sketchup Workflow for Architecture" (Michael Brightman) and "SketchUp 2014 for Architectural Visualization" (Robin de Jongh + Thomas Bleicher). I will probably get "Rendering in Sketchup" (Daniel Tal) as well, there are a few others I am considering, but free time isn't something I have a lot of lately. Hopefully I'll get enough tips and what-not from the first three.

I'm looking into getting a plugin (or multiple plugins, as the case may be) to help speed up architectural modeling and construction document creation. I've looked around a little, it seems as though there is the odd few individual plugins that may handle what I'm mainly interested in, and then there are plugins (let's call this collective plugins for now) that do a couple of things at a time.

Immediate needs:

model walls (solid / cavity / drywalls),

model foundations (options obviously important),

model doors (flexibility in creation is important),

model windows (flexibility in creation is important),

model roof structures (trusses / rafters / lattice girders, purlins),

model roofs quicker (if additional functionality is available, great)

model stairs with handrails,

something to facilitate workflow in Layout, have not used it since it's second iteration I must admit,

I will probably discover other things I need as time passes, but can cover these as they come along.

Modeling:

1001 bit pro v2 (US $48): no new updates for a while, a little worrying

Buildedge PLAN v3.2 (US $29): an update seems to be coming soon, would love to know what the updates would be

Dibac (49 euro): seems like there is a language barrier and support problem, and did I mention expensive?

any other suggestions?

Construction Documentation:

Condoc Tools ($150) - seems very helpful, I hate the annual renewal license though, seems like it will cut you off if you don't renew at the full price after a year (yikes!)

any other suggestions?

Obviously if I can get the functionality that one would require in a free plugin it would be super as funds are primarily being diverted to raising my son (recent addition, very humbled and extremely excited) at the moment.

Licensing should be straight forward, if I pay for the plugin the license must preferably not be on an annual / monthly / whatever renewal basis (I call it ransomware). If I pay for it I'd like to keep on using it until such time as I choose to upgrade or quit using it.

I'd like to know what the community experience and recommendations would be.

Take a look a Skalp for SketchUp it's the missing part for making real construction drawings with SketchUp and Layout. Michael Brightman and Matt Donley describe a full workflow on how you can create 2D drawings from your models. They wrote a big part in there books about it because there isn't a standard way for doing this in SketchUp... until we developed Skalp.

@unknownuser said:

Skalp is easy to use out of the box, as well as giving it the power and flexibility to do more advanced tricks as people get used to it.

Skalp Creates fully hatched live sections which can be used in Layout for making construction documents. Every section can have multiply representation in different scenes.
We started creating Skalp about 5 years ago for our own architectural firm. Because we liked working with SketchUp and I didn't like to do double work in my cad package. Later when Layout was introduced we started to use Layout instead of our cad program to make our drawings.

@unknownuser said:

skalp is a hugely useful plugin and is worth every cent you pay for it.

Skalp is not free and it's not really cheap, but we spend a lot of time in this product and we have still lot of good ideas to make Skalp even better in the near future. Skalp saves you a lot of time (= money) on creating construction documents compared to the workflows described by Michael and Matt (These workflows they are very clever work arounds for missing features of SketchUp and Layout)

The Skalp Team

Thanks for the input, as mentioned earlier, I've already acquired a Skalp license (just over 3 months ago). I've been bogged down with work, regular CAD stuff so have not really had a chance to take it for a spin (I have the latest build though, beta 8 I believe). I'll have to figure out and see if there will be problems when using it with something like Michael's ConDoc Tools.

I am really wanting to make the shift to using SU+LO for everything from conceptual to construction, but I'm not rushing it as I need to finish reading at least Matt and Michael's books. After that it's figuring out model organisation, then only the move across I think. Up until now I've mostly used SU for conceptual and visualization, model organisation has played a role, but not much so since the process did not depend on it so much, will have to get it right (or as close as possible) or I'll just be wasting my own time.

Edson · 17 Sept 2014, 17:07

hi juju,

below I post a list of "must have" plugins; they happen to be the ones I use most. yes, 1001bit Tools is immensely useful. two other plugins I strongly recommend are Skalp and Layers Panel.

Sketchucation Plugin Store from Sketchucation
Selection Toys from EW
Rotate Rectangle from EW
Path Copy from Smustard
Weld from EW/Smustard
Profile Builder from EW/Smustard
Artisan from EW
Selection Memory from EW
Instant Site Grader Nui from Vali Architects
Instant Roof Nui from Vali Architects
Instant Road Nui from Vali Architects
Instant Grade Nui from Vali Architects
CFL Repeat Copy from EW
Layers Panel from Sketchucation
Extrude Tools from Sketchucation
Round Corner from Sketchucation
Repaint Face from EW
Fredo6 Tools from Sketchucation
CLF Tools from EW/Sketchucation
Tig Tools from Sketchucation
1001bit Tools from EW
Skalp

utiler · 18 Sept 2014, 04:43

NIce list of plugins, Edson.... I'll add one.

PlusSpec.

juju · 18 Sept 2014, 11:04

@edson said:

hi juju,

below I post a list of "must have" plugins; they happen to be the ones I use most. yes, 1001bit Tools is immensely useful. two other plugins I strongly recommend are Skalp and Layers Panel.

Sketchucation Plugin Store from Sketchucation
Selection Toys from EW
Rotate Rectangle from EW
Path Copy from Smustard
Weld from EW/Smustard
Profile Builder from EW/Smustard
Artisan from EW
Selection Memory from EW
Instant Site Grader Nui from Vali Architects
Instant Roof Nui from Vali Architects
Instant Road Nui from Vali Architects
Instant Grade Nui from Vali Architects
CFL Repeat Copy from EW
Layers Panel from Sketchucation
Extrude Tools from Sketchucation
Round Corner from Sketchucation
Repaint Face from EW
Fredo6 Tools from Sketchucation
CLF Tools from EW/Sketchucation
Tig Tools from Sketchucation
1001bit Tools from EW
Skalp

Hi Edson, thanks for the input! Much appreciated. Quite a list there, I'll have to take a look and work my way through.

mwds · 2 Jan 2015, 03:20

Generally: Great tips from all the contributor.

However, The main thing on the list for me was - model walls (solid / cavity / drywalls)

Surely there is a plugin that gives us a multi-element wall system (say brick veneer) with the ability to specify wall height, thickness and element composition (ie outer thickness, cavity and inter thickness, all with assigning various layer to each).

Yes, there are some very cool and trick plugins out there and I would have to agree with many that I do not like yearly renewals.

utiler · 28 Jan 2015, 04:37

Michael, have you heard of PlusSpec?

http://www.plusspec.com and http://www.rubysketch.com

The guys are based in Sydney so closer to you than me!!! Have a look; you'll be blown away....

email andrew@rubysketch.com

They actually have a training session this coming Saturday so not sure at short notice you could get there. I am!!

aadbuild · 29 Jan 2015, 00:09

No one likes yearly renewals, yet at the same time no one likes 10 year old software. The technology industry is changing so quickly that constant development is required. The new PlusSpec 2015 is 10 times better than PlusSpec 2014 and the cost to keep the latest software is less than a case of beer per week and the renewal cost is less than 10% of most of its competitors.
The new version of PlusSpec comes out mid Feb 2015 Michael (MWDS) and you will not find anything even remotely close to what you are looking for other than PlusSpec. Call me after you try the rest.

Krisidious · 29 Jan 2015, 01:50

Personally, I like bought software and pay for yearly or substantial upgrades, fixes to be free within that span as updates. Somewhere along the lines of how SketchUp runs their system. I will say I have not found anything as complete as PlusSpec... It's a ground breaking system.

Tandem · 29 Jan 2015, 02:26

aadbuild,

Can you please clarify the license terms?
I just read through the PlusSpec Terms & Conditions on your website, nothing is mentioned about the plugin will stop working one year after the day of purchase unless I pay a renewal fee.

I can't find anything on your website that says anything about renewal.

@aadbuild said:

No one likes yearly renewals, yet at the same time no one likes 10 year old software. The technology industry is changing so quickly that constant development is required. The new PlusSpec 2015 is 10 times better than PlusSpec 2014 and the cost to keep the latest software is less than a case of beer per week and the renewal cost is less than 10% of most of its competitors.
The new version of PlusSpec comes out mid Feb 2015 Michael (MWDS) and you will not find anything even remotely close to what you are looking for other than PlusSpec. Call me after you try the rest.

Tandem · 4 Mar 2015, 04:34

The recent update to PlusSpec website and this thread clarifies everything.
12 months subscription at AU$990 Per Annum.