[Plugin] Layers Panel 1.2.1

Gordon Greenwood

Hi
any idea when this wizzy plugin will be available to OSX

lucky I have windows laptop

Gordon

Changelog :

0.4

Adds the ability to choose which layers to render (Works with Vray, Maxwell, Indigo, and Kerkythea)

Fix bug when having too many layers

The dialog now remembers its size and position when closed

Fix focus jumping at the top of the dialog

0.3.2

Fix bugsplat when deleteing/purging layers with Outliner opened

New naming conventions (For the Extension Warehouse)

0.3.1

Fix group names disappearing

0.3

Locking layers (Works only when purging or deleting from the plugin's menu)

Ability to add a layer only visible in the current scene (New pop-up menu when holding the "Add layer" button)

Layers Panel is now a toolwindow, but you can't dock nor collapse it

Two different delete buttons, for better performance (The red cross deletes the layer content, the green arrow moves the content to the default layer)

Several bug fix

0.2

Fix bug with existing layers

Hi guys !

After several alpha versions, here is the first working beta version of my first plugin : Layers Panel.
It basically replaces Sketchup's layers window. It reproduces every features of it, except layer colors (for now), and adds the ability to group layers, sort them, hide/collapse groups, etc. More features are coming (Locking layers, etc)
It was designed to be very similar to Photoshop's layers panel, as I use it a lot and find it very handy.

Warnings

Some people got corrupted files using this plugin, so be carefull, backup your work, and use at your own risk !

Remember it's still a beta version, so it certainly has bugs, and it may produce bugsplats.

It updates the active scene (updates only layers) every time you affect a layer(Hide/show it, rename it, add/remove one). It is the only way some things can work.

Although the undo/redo support was improved a lot since the alpha versions, sometimes it still messes up (rarely), which prevents you to redo some operations.

By using this plugin, you agree to send completely anonymous data, used to improve it.

It does not work on OSX !
Recommended : Windows Vista-7-8, Sketchup 8-2013, Internet Explorer 9-10-11.

The way you sort/nest layers is simple, just grab the handle on the left of a layer/group, and drop it where you want. To choose the depth of the nesting, move the layer to the right or the left, like this :

Here is a short video showing how the plugin works :
[screenr:20b91oce]drOH[/screenr:20b91oce]

Download

Directly on the PluginStore :

http://sketchucation.com/resources/pluginstore?pln=Layers_Panel

Your feedback would be very appreciated, improvement ideas, features, etc...

If you encounter any bug, please tell me, with instructions to who reproduce it. And please include your OS, SU version, and IE version.

Hope you'll like it !

Donate...

jiminy-billy-bob

When it's done

BTW : I don't think it was necessary to quote the whole original post.

Bob James

I really hesitate to bring up a problem with this fantastic plugin, but, repeatably, when I try to change the name of a layer or group the change won't work. If I change the name in SU's layer tool it changes the name in both SU and in the plugin.

Is there any way you can add the ability to alphabetize the groups and then the layers within a group?

jiminy-billy-bob

I added a potential fix for the next version.

Does it happen every time you try to rename these particular layers/groups ? Even after restarting Sketchup ? Do you use special characters ?
What are your Windows and IE versions ?

Bob James

Does it happen every time you try to rename these particular layers/groups ?
Yes. Any layer or group.

Even after restarting Sketchup ?
Yes

Do you use special characters ?
No

What are your Windows and IE versions ?
Win 7
IE 10

Of possible significance: These are models that already had many layers, but the inability to change the names happens on both "old" layers and new.

I added a potential fix for the next version.
Is this in reference to alphabetizing?

jiminy-billy-bob

Does it happen to one (or several) particular layer/group while all the other layers in the file can be renamed fine ?

irwanwr

Internet Explorer 9 and above?
So, it wont work with Windows XP then?

jiminy-billy-bob

Yes it should work fine on WinXP with IE8. Avoid IE6-7, though.

jiminy-billy-bob

@bob james said:

Is there any way you can add the ability to alphabetize the groups and then the layers within a group?

I'll try to add this feature.

irwanwr

@jiminy-billy-bob said:

Yes it should work fine on WinXP with IE8. Avoid IE6-7, though.

It works with IE 8!?
Many thanks to you

Bob James

@jiminy-billy-bob said:

@bob james said:

Is there any way you can add the ability to alphabetize the groups and then the layers within a group?

I'll try to add this feature.

huckrorick

Hi,
Just installed Layers Panel. It says: "Your Internet Explorer version is outdated."
I have IE10. Microsoft site says I have the latest version. Just to test I installed IE11 (beta). Still get the same message. What's up?

huckrorick

Hi, I posted a bit ago about the outdated Internet Explorer messages.
In spite of the message, As far as I can tell the Layers Panel is working as described. I haven't used it extensively, just tested a bit.

I see that scenes are updated when I change a layer with Layers Panel (as you mentioned).
I gather that you have to do that to make some of the functions work.
It is a big problem for me. I love the idea of your plugin because I frequently have models with lots of layers (a lot) and being able to group them would be very useful.
However, I also have fairly complex scenes with specific layers on or off. I often go to one of those scenes and turn layers on and off for various reasons (for example, I sometimes put alternate room or furniture layouts on different layers so I can see one option, then the other). When I am done testing different layers I usually want to go back to the original layers for that scene. But it seems your plugin would prevent me from doing that.

Any thoughts about how to deal with that?
(I'm guessing to change the way the plugin works would be very difficult or impossible).

Huck

jiminy-billy-bob

@huckrorick said:

Hi,
Just installed Layers Panel. It says: "Your Internet Explorer version is outdated."
I have IE10. Microsoft site says I have the latest version. Just to test I installed IE11 (beta). Still get the same message. What's up?

Weird, your IE is recognize as IE6 or 7.
Can you open this link with Internet Explorer and take a screenshot?
Actually, the webdialog displays a warning when it detects IE7 or below. But maybe your version is detected as "below 7" for some reason...

Anyone having the same issue?

Also, can you screenshot Layers Panel so I can see how it displays it?

jiminy-billy-bob

@huckrorick said:

Any thoughts about how to deal with that?
(I'm guessing to change the way the plugin works would be very difficult or impossible).

It might (maybe) be possible. Not sure though, and it won't be easy, so probably not soon.

jiminy-billy-bob

@huckrorick said:

Hi,
Just installed Layers Panel. It says: "Your Internet Explorer version is outdated."
I have IE10. Microsoft site says I have the latest version. Just to test I installed IE11 (beta). Still get the same message. What's up?

Try that :

Open Internet Explorer
Press "Alt"
Click on "tools" which should have appeared at the top of the window when you pressed alt
Click on "Compatibility mode settings"
Make sure "Display all websites in compatibility mode" and "Display intranet sites in compatibility view" are NOT checked

Then try again to open Layers Panel

huckrorick

@jiminy-billy-bob said:

@huckrorick said:

Hi,
Just installed Layers Panel. It says: "Your Internet Explorer version is outdated."
I have IE10. Microsoft site says I have the latest version. Just to test I installed IE11 (beta). Still get the same message. What's up?

Weird, your IE is recognize as IE6 or 7.
Can you open this link with Internet Explorer and take a screenshot?
Actually, the webdialog displays a warning when it detects IE7 or below. But maybe your version is detected as "below 7" for some reason...

Anyone having the same issue?

Also, can you screenshot Layers Panel so I can see how it displays it?

Here is the screenshot from the link.
Also screenshot of Layers Panel. As I mentioned, it seems to be working right, but since I'm not up on all its capabilities and haven't used it other than to make some quick tests, I don't really know.
At the moment, the problem of updating my scenes is keeping me from using it on the models where it would be most useful.

Oops, forgot to add the attachments. Hope editing and adding works.

huckrorick

@jiminy-billy-bob said:

@huckrorick said:

Hi,
Just installed Layers Panel. It says: "Your Internet Explorer version is outdated."
I have IE10. Microsoft site says I have the latest version. Just to test I installed IE11 (beta). Still get the same message. What's up?

Try that :

Open Internet Explorer

Press "Alt"

Click on "tools" which should have appeared at the top of the window when you pressed alt

Click on "Compatibility mode settings"

Make sure "Display all websites in compatibility mode" and "Display intranet sites in compatibility view" are NOT checked

Then try again to open Layers Panel

Attached is Screen shot of compatibility mode after I unchecked one item.
Still get the message that IE is outdated.

leolouie2

I have just downloaded this for the 1st time. Is there a way to make it recognized existing layers in the model?

jiminy-billy-bob

This is really weird. Can you open this link with Internet Explorer and tell me what the popup says ? (If you don't have a popup, this may be because of an ActiveX warning at the bottom or top of the IE window)