My Layout wishlist.

jason_maranto

First off I'd like to give some background to these requests -- there are alot of comicbook artists who use Sketchup for backgrounds and props and I think Layout could be a really useful tool for laying out pages and books for us with some simple additions:

The ability to convert/explode text to shapes objects.
The ability to use shapes as text containers similar to the bounded method but constrained to the shape.
Boolean functions or compound paths -- to have the ability to create holes in shapes.
Gradient Fills for shapes.

In addition some things that would be really cool but are not critical:

Calligraphic strokes for shapes
The ability to hide objects from the inferencing engine but still see them visually.
CYMK support and color picker.
Blending modes for strokes and fills (eg: multiply, screen, etc)

Best,
Jason.

Gaieus

Could not you use simple 3D text in SU for #1?

jason_maranto

No actually because you need to be able to move, rotate, and scale each letter individually, fill and stroke them and stack them (and control the stacked objects fill and stroke etc.) to be able to create sound effects and logos for in-page layout in comics.

Best,
Jason.

jason_maranto

I guess it's also worth pointing out that Adobe Illustrator is currently the industry standard for the comics biz for this type of work -- the reason I think Layout could be a better fit is because of the ability to keep the Sketchup models "live" and truthfully Layout is 95% of the way to what we need.

The truth is Illustrator is overkill for what we need. And when you consider being able to work fluidly with the Sketchup model is much more vital and comics artists don't get paid very well (comparatively) -- Choosing where to spend our money would definitely go more in the direction of Sketchup Pro if we could use Layout instead.

Best,
Jason.

Gaieus

Okay, I (sort of) see what you mean.

Could you however provide a couple of examples? It would be interesting to look into (while the SU/LO Folks coming back during the week-days could also get the impression)

jason_maranto

Sure, here's an example I used in a training video for comics where I have laid out all the "copy" in Illustrator. The logo in particular was started from regular text as a font and converted to shapes and modified like one would modify any shapes in Layout:

This is the layout of a page in a book I worked on a while ago which shows the typical vector graphics that would go over the art on any given page... the sound effect in particular is another example of what I'm talking about:

Obviously the panels and art are missing, but this book was done before Sketchup was in use and all the art is raster -- the idea of course is now we can (and do) use Sketchup for a large portion of our work and being able to just layout the panels on the page with the Sketchup model(s) scenes finished in each panel and all this layout/design stuff on top keeping it all in vectors and "live" would be a huge timesaver for many comics artists.

Best,
Jason.

fouronethirty

my layout wish, is to hide the lineweights when not neede, cause it slows it down, and hatching capabilities, the erasing of the exces line is sometimes hard to do

Richard

Jason, mate I am so with you on all those requests! Doing graphic works in LO is simply a JOY, but you still need to take them in illustrator via PDF to create compound paths and colour conversion to CYMK!