Layout 3 release?
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Hi does anyone know if google has announced when they will release their new version of Layout? I am hopeful they will include a more robust dimensioning and note making ability for the program. It would be great to be able to make working drawings from a sketchup model. I would love to stop having to use autocad.
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While I agree that improvements to LO would be welcomed, wouldn't you still need a vector cad system to draw, and edit details?
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if Layout were robust enough, it could allow more vector type drawing. Google could just buy out one of the many existing vector programs.
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layout giving you the ability to do some serious vector drawing would be awesome. just two weeks ago I dearly missed such a solution, where I could use my SketchUp model for elevations, sections and floor plans in a decent manner. what we have now is enough for first designs. but it is definitely too little for presentational purposes.
one vital thing that is missing, is line weight. the differences are very sublte - but they just make all the difference!of course one would love to have all the floor plans, sections and elevations being updated dynamically when changing the 3D model. and that is probably where it gets difficult. because then all the 2D drawing you did in layout may be outdated. so you have to redraw everything.
this may lead a bit off topic. but here is what I would love to see in terms of SketchUp and CAD workflow:
first of all we need "live-booleans", objects that dynamically intersect with other objects. for example a grouped box that has the "live booleans" option enabled will cut a hole into any surface it is intersecting (even if the content of this group itself is hidden). when you move this group around, so will the cut hole. when you delete the group, the cut will 'heal' again. this would provide us with the so dearly needed components that cut through two faces. even better, it would enable us to cut through curved surfaces.
secondly, SketchUp needed to be able to work with volumes. meaning, that when you extrude a surface into a 3D cube, you create a solid object (SketchUp doesn't think of the cube as mere six faces anymore, but really sees it as a solid, filled object). the program may even indicate that state of a form being solid by giving it a different selection colour or outline. when you open the solid object up again, i.e. by deleting one face, it looses it's solid attributes.
now you can assign material attributes to solid objects. that is something different to textures, painted on surfaces. a material defines, what a solid object is made of. lets say you have a concrete wall. you define the solid object to be made of concrete. when you now place a section cut right through this wall, SkechUp won't show the inside of the wall (as it does today), but fill in a hatching, appropriate for concrete (or, if you want to, a concrete texture).
(by the way, you are able to give an object such a material attribute and at the same time paint the faces with a different texture, like white render).the next step is to assign to all the different groups and components in your model so called 'class definitions'. so you draw a rectangle, extrude it to a cube and group it. then you tell this group to be a 'wall'. SketchUp now reckognizes the group as a wall and will treat it as such when cutting a section through it or dimensioning your drawings. you can define your own personal classes and specify all the attributes (how SkechUp will treat them - their section-material, lineweight, dimensioning behavior, and much, much more).
this approach is completely opposite than what most CAD solutions do today. usually you first decide what object to create (a wall, window, floor...) and then you draw it. with this new approach you first draw whatever you like and then you tell that object, what it is supposed to be. so, theoretically you could draw a flight of stairs, or a doughnut, or a little dog - and then tell it to be a wall or a floor. and SketchUp will treat it as such. that is sleek, isn't it?oh dear. got carried away... could go on for hours... sorry to get off topic like that
but what do you think? wouldn't that be a great idea? would probably be a lot easier to export to other CAD programs too (because SketchUp actually knows, what the objects are).
and just imagine what new possibilities would arise with this new level of information (all the different simulations for heating, statics, Sketchy Physics...)
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Perhaps, if the SU team doesn't have the inclination to put a lot of effort to improve LO (or even if they do), they could produce a set of 2D drawing features in RUBY(including abililty to create and modify toolbars) then let the SkethUcation scripters develope 2D tools.
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@plot-paris said:
ets say you have a concrete wall. you define the solid object to be made of concrete. when you now place a section cut right through this wall
good point Paris,
I've been thinking about this aspect of rectangles also. If a secton's cut edge could be selectable, the surface could be made and then a material used (or poche'd).I think dimensioning in LO is a mute point...because the LO screen isn't reading or registering the SU model to dimension, and it proibably never will. I too would like dimensions to work in LO. My model gets too heavy when I dimension on SU, and then the dimensions dont show consistently in LO.
Revit does all this doesn't it?
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@rhankc said:
...If a secton's cut edge could be selectable, the surface could be made and then a material used...
You can already
- right click on a section plane and "Create group from slice" which will create edges that are already selectable
- or even better, use TIG's (recently updated) SectionCutFace plugin to even make those faces you wish
Of course, it's still in SU and even if you use these methods, you still cannot dimension in LO which I understand is the major wish of many LO users (me not included but understanding the need)
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