SU 9 Wishlist

cuttingedge

I know there's a lot of people wish SU work like 3ds max wherein modifiers can be stacked.

If that is still years away from now, at least , I wish that SU can have subdivision tools (like Artisan) that can toggle low poly to high poly by controlling iterations or turn it off altogether. The thing is once a low poly geometry is smoothed or subdivided, it's difficult to edit anymore. The solution left is to always keep a copy of the low poly by the side which is not really convenient thing to do especially if most of the objects are kind of organic in shapes.

Also, if this is done then we can keep models on low poly thus keeping the size of the file smaller.

I wish that there will be x-ref function or a proxy system to make it more efficient in handling complex geometries.

And I wish it will be soon..

thomthom

@cuttingedge said:

And I wish it will be soon..

No promise to when, but... http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32810#p289240

thomthom

@cuttingedge said:

I wish that there will be x-ref function or a proxy system to make it more efficient in handling complex geometries.

Many render engines implement proxy systems already.

pbacot

@thomthom said:

@cuttingedge said:

I wish that there will be x-ref function or a proxy system to make it more efficient in handling complex geometries.

Many render engines implement proxy systems already.

TT. But I think he means for SU to handle complex geometries. The difference might be to at least preview the whole model in SU, not a renderer, with all models linked.

It is a little like external components now, except there is currently no performance savings in the main model and no update/link system. My method is to work on a building in a separate model, then reload it into the landscape model to view it in entourage and terrain. Instead an XREF system might have me working in one model with the ability to turn off the "weight" of polygons from linked slave models.

cuttingedge

@thomthom said:

@cuttingedge said:

And I wish it will be soon..

No promise to when, but... http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32810#p289240

Oh yes of course and I dream day and night to get hold of this plugin.

Im not clear though what else it can do aside from what's shown in the video.
What Im talking about in my previous comment was like "nurms" subdivision that you tick on and off. Hope that's one feature you incorporated.

Finally, I hope SU can be rebuilt to work in quads, then importing and exporting from other platforms could be done seamlessly.

thomthom

@cuttingedge said:

Im not clear though what else it can do aside from what's shown in the video.
What Im talking about in my previous comment was like "nurms" subdivision that you tick on and off. Hope that's one feature you incorporated.

It let you choose sub-divisions for the mesh - in fact, I plan to make it so you can have instance of the same mesh with different sub-divisions.

@cuttingedge said:

Finally, I hope SU can be rebuilt to work in quads, then importing and exporting from other platforms could be done seamlessly.

Yea - native quads would be great. QuadFace Tools replicate a lot of tools to work with quads, even import and export. But it'd be nice to see that native.

numerobis

Yes, PLEASE!!! quads & subD for sketchup!

and yes, XREFs would be nice, but simply to decrease the insanely long saving/autosaving times by splitting up the model...

I really can't understand how a 200MB sketchup file can take 4:30 min to save!!!

giolio

I would like to have better 2D drawing tools in LayOut!

fluffy82

I would love for some improvement in the follow me tool:

when doing a follow me, I'd like it to create a new group automatically --> now you need to make a group out of the profile, open the group, retrace the path within the group and then extrude. That's a lot of work, sometimes... Especially when you have complicated paths.
I'd love for it to "remember" the initial parameters so I can modify either the profile or the path afterwards, affecting the result, without having to redraw the complete thing.
Changing the profile also involves changing the number of faces/segments. For example, if you extrude a crown moulding with a round part in it, you should be able to change the number of segments in the profile if needed.

Dave R

@fluffy82 said:

I would love for some improvement in the follow me tool:

when doing a follow me, I'd like it to create a new group automatically --> now you need to make a group out of the profile, open the group, retrace the path within the group and then extrude. That's a lot of work, sometimes... Especially when you have complicated paths.

I think your work flow could be more efficient than you describe. I frequently have need to draw things like crown moldings but haven't done it the way you describe and have no problems.

@fluffy82 said:

I'd love for it to "remember" the initial parameters so I can modify either the profile or the path afterwards, affecting the result, without having to redraw the complete thing.

What parameters?

thomthom

@fluffy82 said:

I would love for some improvement in the follow me tool:

when doing a follow me, I'd like it to create a new group automatically --> now you need to make a group out of the profile, open the group, retrace the path within the group and then extrude. That's a lot of work, sometimes... Especially when you have complicated paths.

I'd love for it to "remember" the initial parameters so I can modify either the profile or the path afterwards, affecting the result, without having to redraw the complete thing.

Changing the profile also involves changing the number of faces/segments. For example, if you extrude a crown moulding with a round part in it, you should be able to change the number of segments in the profile if needed.

You need this plugin:
http://www.smustard.com/script/ProfileBuilder

Free version is also available:
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44237

Gaieus

@thomthom said:

You need this plugin:
http://www.smustard.com/script/ProfileBuilder

Free version is also available:
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44237

Exactly. Excellent plugin and does what you listed.

jeff hammond

@dave r said:

@fluffy82 said:

I'd love for it to "remember" the initial parameters so I can modify either the profile or the path afterwards, affecting the result, without having to redraw the complete thing.

What parameters?

he's talking about history modeling.. (or at least that's the term i know it as)

-draw a path & profile
-follow me
-move, say, a vertex of the path
-the extrusion updates accordingly

fluffy82

@dave r said:

I think your work flow could be more efficient than you describe. I frequently have need to draw things like crown moldings but haven't done it the way you describe and have no problems.

If you extrude the profile without making it into a group first, it becomes virtually impossible to group afterwards (I make rather complicated crown mouldings with loads of corners, "popping out" on top of a column etc)

@dave r said:

What parameters?

The form of the profile, the path it follows,... If you need to make a change now, you need to delete it and start over.

fluffy82

@thomthom said:

You need this plugin:
http://www.smustard.com/script/ProfileBuilder

Free version is also available:
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44237

Super, I'll check it out immediately!

@unknownuser said:

he's talking about history modeling.. (or at least that's the term i know it as)

-draw a path & profile
-follow me
-move, say, a vertex of the path
-the extrusion updates accordingly

Yes... I am very bad at explaining myself... But that's exactly what I mean.

Dave R

@fluffy82 said:

If you extrude the profile without making it into a group first, it becomes virtually impossible to group afterwards (I make rather complicated crown mouldings with loads of corners, "popping out" on top of a column etc)

It certainly is possible to make it a group afterward. And it is quite simple. Why would you think it is "virtually impossible"?

thomthom

If the operation is done in a model where other objects aren't grouped. Then it merge with other geometry. That's why I keep telling the people at my office to always group (or make components) out of everything - and organize the model properly.

Dave R

@thomthom said:

If the operation is done in a model where other objects aren't grouped. Then it merge with other geometry. That's why I keep telling the people at my office to always group (or make components) out of everything - and organize the model properly.

Indeed!

fluffy82

@dave r said:

It certainly is possible to make it a group afterward. And it is quite simple. Why would you think it is "virtually impossible"?

Of course it is possible, but it is a lot of work selecting all faces and edges because there are a lot of them (see example). I am probably doing something wrong then.
I know there are several ways to select multiple objects (select right-to-left, triple click,...) but those always seem to include things I don't want it to select (geometry or groups/components which happen to be in the way).
So the only way is to double click on each and every face to select it and its edges, while holding the Ctrl-key...

Anyway, I will check out the profilebuilder, maybe that will make my life easier

@thomthom said:

If the operation is done in a model where other objects aren't grouped. Then it merge with other geometry. That's why I keep telling the people at my office to always group (or make components) out of everything - and organize the model properly.

You are right, I usually group most parts of the model, but things like walls (including holes for doors/windows etc) are not grouped. I should really remember doing that systematically...

PS I only use SketchUp about an hour a week or so, I am comfortable with the program but far from an experienced user... I spend more time reading about how to do this or that than I actually build things myself

a fast example

Dave R

@fluffy82 said:

Of course it is possible, but it is a lot of work selecting all faces and edges because there are a lot of them (see example). I am probably doing something wrong then.
I know there are several ways to select multiple objects (select right-to-left, triple click,...) but those always seem to include things I don't want it to select(geometry or groups/components which happen to be in the way).

You've hit on your problem. Make it a practice to make a component (or a group) of things that need to remain separate. This is the only way to keep things separated in SketchUp. If you did that, a triple click with the Select tool on your molding would select only that and nothing else.

You mentioned before that you don't want to have to redraw the path for Follow Me in cases where you have to change the molding. Well, don't. After you've traced around the room once, move the path straight up above the room and the molding profile.

then, running Follow Me won't consume the path. You could make it a component of its own and put it on a "Path" layer or just save it for later until you know you're finished with it. If you want to put a chair rail around the room, you could use this same path and then cut for doors and windows as needed afterward.

By the way, when you make molding profiles as components, consider making them so they are standing vertically so when you insert them into your models later you don't have to rotate them into the proper position. That'll save you some work.