Where have all the Sketchers gone?

[Bryan K]

Where have all the Sketchers gone? Have they gone to other boards? Are they not using SketchUp that much? Have they become too busy to post here any more. (the later is my problem)

Or it just my perception?

It seems the Warehouse is still going strong and so are the plug-ins and extensions, so that's good to see.

I guess I just miss some of the inspiring (as well as the very intimidating ) examples I used to see posted here.

For my part. I will start contributing more. I've been having a real crazy year and events are finally slowing down.

To all before, here now, and to come, cheers!

[Paul Russam]

I used to be more active here but I got made redundant and whilst I’m now back modelling I find myself engaging in posts less than I used to. I still check new post on almost a daily basis and +1 posts I enjoy/appreciate/learn from.

...... though ......

We’ve basically committed ourselves to getting Lumion soon so I’ll probably be posting some “look at me” stuff in the near future

[cotty]

@paul russam said:

I used to be more active here but I got made redundant and whilst I’m now back modelling I find myself engaging in posts less than I used to. I still check new post on almost a daily basis and +1 posts I enjoy/appreciate/learn from.

+1

[db11]

@paul russam said:

We’ve basically committed ourselves to getting Lumion soon so I’ll probably be posting some “look at me” stuff in the near future

I'll look forward to those posts. We're considering getting Lumion at some point (later) in 2018, so would be very interested in hearing about your experience with it.

[d12dozr]

I've graduated to Fusion 360 for much of my 3D printing modeling. I still like Sketchup for simpler models and architectural work though!

[jiminy-billy-bob]

The official Sketchup forum is more active than ever.
Also Facebook groups are taking people from forums.

[Rich O Brien]

To compete you need to reinvent. Hard to do when there's twitter, FB etc...

But we have a rebuild coming early 2018 that has a better forum layout and features.

See if that sparks things. But visitor levels are still good and contributions are always friendly.

With the exception of the odd moan and groan.

[Bryan K]

Good news. Thanks for replies!

[liam887]

I am so busy looking for work hardly have time to make any fun things but still checking out the forum once every couple of days and clicking things.

[Hieru]

Same here; I'm really busy with SUp work and when I do discuss anything SUp related it's more convenient to do so over on FB.

[olishea]

FB is shit for real feedback. It's good if you just want to massage your ego by getting "likes".

It's also full of people making their own SU groups with the intention of simply using the members to further their own ambitions. They don't care about the art, it's just a case of trying to make money with the limited skills they have.

I didn't actually realise how many people in this industry are snakes. FB brings them all out!

I've also seen some really questionable practices from 3D artists on FB; people begging for money, conning friends and colleagues, people stealing work and claiming it's their own, people constantly messaging you for help, people lying about work they've done, people demanding resources, people asking for crack copies of software. Full of dick heads....I quickly distanced myself from them all and left all Sketchup groups apart from SCF.

Sketchucation is by far the best place for constructive criticism and always will be.

I've seen various members from sketchucation get angry about negative CONSTRUCTIVE criticism who then go exclusively on FB and totally regress as a 3D artist! It's great to watch the downfall with popcorn in hand! They simply can't bullshit people on sketchucation because we've seen it all before!

And like Rich once told me; never meet your heroes! Even if it's online!

[david_h]

I'm still here. .. just in case you were all wondering.

[andybot]

Ditto. I still check in and see what's new, but definitely feeling a dropoff in contributions too. I guess a lot of my exciting work is being done in Blender, so even though I model everything in SU, it's all basic architectural stuff, so nothing I feel worth posting. This site is valuable even with a dropoff in active contributions. I'm looking forward to what Rich has in store!

Also - V-Ray got majorly simplified (for the better,) so there's not much to discuss with regards to optimal settings any more

[pbacot]

I am probably similar to Paul. I have little time lately to render projects or make everything "nice", but I enjoy using SU (enjoy and rant) in most of my projects. My models are geared to output elevation views and occasional "model view", as well as glorified massing models and site models. So not much to look at or "pushing the envelope". Still learn stuff or methodology that fits my needs. Streamlining my workflow with LO has seen some progress.

thanks Paul for your contributions. Many great post and sharing models etc. You shouldn't feel like a heel.

[Paul Russam]

Most of my stuff is residential and once you've seen one regular house you've seen them all. Each one is unique (for the client) but for me, its finish one>start on the next. I've been increasingly making use of SketchFab as it's a great way to get the proposals under the client's noses: https://sketchfab.com/dma-ni/models
I feel like a real heel (as they used to say 50 years ago) for not commenting on posts, some of the stuff submitted here is amazing and as for plugins .... they are amazing! and .... I take them for granted
I've been involved with testing new plugins for the Web software I use and as such I've got to know the dev's reasonably well. It opened my eyes to just how much effort goes into writing plugins be they for SketchUp or Rapidweaver and ..... how little reward there can be from users. If you are a reading this and are a dev then THANKYOU, you make SU what it is.

[david_h]

For me. . .I just like checking in to see the latest and greatest. I don't do as much Skping as I would like since I am a design manager who oversees consultants and I rarely "author" anything anymore. My consultants are all into REVIT and they do use SKU for concept stuff. I cannot share work product here so most of my posts have just been either for my own education (I so appreciate your comments!) and just for plain silliness (miss that speed contest!)

I do enjoy doing little renders iwth my Thea and Podium but I 've never been in the Hogwarts school of Wizardry as you guys. I'm total muggle.

But seriously. . .I am still here. I know you've been worried about it.

[ntxdave]

I too am on at least once every day checking to see what people have to say and learn what I can. In the past, my concentration has been on car was parts and layouts. I have not done any real work for several months now. I retired back in 2010 but did the car wash stuff as kind of a "retirement gig". As I said, I have not done anything in that area for several months now.

I am not an engineer, architect or artist. I love seeing the work others do and contribute and would love to be able to do more myself. I would love to learn how to draw more creative stuff. But I will keep coming back and enjoying the things I see people post in this forum.

Rich, I think SketchUcation is a wonderful forum and want to see you guy keep it going.

[Pixero]

I'm still active here.
Sketchucation is the most friendly community I've found.

[HornOxx]

@pixero said:

I'm still active here.
Sketchucation is the most friendly community I've found.
...I totally agree

[baz]

I check the forum every morning with my cup of tea. I don't post much, but I'm subscribed to quite a few topics which interest me.