SketchUp 2016 Wishlist

jeff hammond

I was thinking more generally but those 2 are the best examples. I might have beena bit unclear yesterday because I was quite tired but what I meant is that the large and small toolset should be kept as simple as possible. New tools in their own toolbar such as the solid tools are great (more of that please!) but too many tool icons visible when starting the program for the first time makes it a lot harder to learn.

yeah, I see what you're saying. when I tried bonzai3D a few years ago, it had 3 different selection tools all under one selection icon.. thought that was pretty weird/confusing.

@Anton.. I think it's already attracted smthng like 40million people

ccaponigro

Schedules Schedules Schedules...with attribute extraction and automatic updates.

schnydix

A Polygon descaler without destroying the texture.
i importet some animals from 3ds for my zoo no way to navigate with the models.
Other programms can handle millions of polygons and stay liquid includet Shadows and so.
Dear Devalopers out there we have the jear 2014 speed up SU min 200 Times is realy possible
with up to date hardware.
esense3d

james49

Export ALL layers to dwg.
Export hidden lines as vector lines.

james49

Export real circles to dwg.

TIG

@james49 said:

Export real circles to dwg.
If you export a 3d DWG/DXF - then its Arcs and Circles ARE true CAD equivalents: also its Layers are respected.
In an equivalent 2d export to DWG/DXF any Arcs and Circles are segmented - and also everything is moved onto Layer 0...
It's a basic 'life-style choice' - either 2d-graphic or 3d-geometry...

bsfranza

one real simple thing that bugs me for years now...

_the esc key should NOT close any of the windows like entities layer etc...
in a usual workflow you have that windows open but need to use the esc key alot for escaping nested groups components etc... so every once in while i close on of the windows which is just well .. argh=)

_other then that bring back the save toolbar options

_more advanced use of opengl would be mega cool..may it be working and faster transparencies ..- intel had a nice tech paper about that already some years ago... or soft shadows or whatever..

_inside layout match the standart keybord shortcuts from su

_last one would be a big plus for enabling plugins for layout..

greetings

TommyK

I would like one addition to an existing tool:

The scale tool - currently scales by a factor.

I wish:
- That it can be scaled by absolute distance. It would work thus:

You scale some objects, and to get it accurate, you type into the VCB how much you want to scale by:

scale by number only (eg. [2.5]) - it scales by factor alone, as happens now.
scale by number followed by a dimension unit (eg [300mm], [1'], [12"], [0.3m]), it "scales" by the absolute dimension.

That addition would feel quite sketchupy to me. It would save me time by not having to draw a construction line before a scale.

Box

Tommy, it does do that, if I understand what you are saying.
Grab the middle scale handle and pull then type 1.67m and it will scale to that.

Rich O Brien

@box

makes me think he is referring to a new method.

Similar to the absolute input for the line tool eg [3',6',9']

but the 4th input has me puzzled?

baz

I think he means: want to scale object to 300mm? , input : 0.3m.
Which as you both point out, SU does already.

Box

It's the Square bracket that has me wondering.
Either Tommy will go D'oh or we will.

TommyK

@box said:

Tommy, it does do that, if I understand what you are saying.
Grab the middle scale handle and pull then type 1.67m and it will scale to that.

DOH!

BTW - you can ignore the square brackets

I didn't know this. I tried it out and looks great (since when did this feature exist?). However, it doesn't quite do what I had in mind. So to save face, I amend my original wish:

I wish:

That it can be scaled by adding/subtracting absolute distance. It would work thus:

You scale some objects, and to get it accurate, you type into the VCB how much (add or subtract) you want to scale by:

scale by number only (eg. [2.5]) - it scales by factor (tick)
scale by number followed by dimension (eg. [2.5m]) - it scales the entire object to that dimension (tick)
- scale by adding or subtracting dimension unit (eg [-300mm], [+300mm]) - it scales the object by adding/subtracting the inputted dimension to/from the original size.

I realise that [-300mm] would clash with the current interpretation of that inputted text. Perhaps [--300mm] would work? Maybe confusing.

In any case, if this feature existed, I think I would use it more than scaling the entire object to an absolute dimension.

pbacot

This has been a problem for me forever and no different in 2015. Many tools will not drop out. I hit the shortcut key for "Select" tool repeatedly and the other tool (e.g. tape tool) will not go away.

2Harry

A way to force snaps to midpoint of a line or circle, instead of hunting along a line where you think the midpoint is, or having it select everything except the required center of a circle in a crowded area.
Allow inferences to work with reference (construction) lines not on the same plane as the item you are moving. That is, so that reference lines act more like reference planes.
Stop Boolean operations in the Pro version from changing components into groups. Have a way to toogle between this new behaviour or maintaining the current behaviour if that is desired.

JQL

1 - Dynamic components UI Revamp;

2 - Dynamic Solid Tools (or non destructive) basically they'd work with groups and if 2 or more groups were combined a boolean operation would happen. Then we could either modify either of the groups and sketchup woul refresh the result...

3 - Wich leads me to hole cutting components that would cut multiple faces;

4 - Integrated Xref manager

5 - Workeable Outliner with no need yo have it always off;

6 - Filters and groups on component browser for in model components and search to work on instead of warehouse

7 - Undo that won't exclude style changes, and scene changes, ETC...

8 - lock inference by toggling instead of holding down shift

9 - True curves...

10 - Now that we have 64bits the fight is about multicore

11 - Trilions of polys!

12 - Terabytes of textures;

13 - Breadcrum toolbar that woul allow to hide any number of contexts up and down the current model context. like hide rest of model but for 1, 2, 3, etc... levels up and down instead of all the model at once.

14 - Not having to create two scenes to fill a section cut face and hide the inner parts of the model...

15 - Topology? Quads? Nurbs?

16 - No UV mapping left unturned

schnydix

Hello
We Work on This Baby
End 2015 Please Wait

Snag 000.jpg

baz

So many wishes by so many people, and it seems, mostly for their own particular needs which I do respect, but if a poofteenth of these wishes were to be granted, SU would be ruined.
IMHO, SU gains its strength from it's simplicity.

My wish is that Sketchup becomes more intelligent to my needs, that it learns my way of creating and anticipates my wishes. (Which it does already to a certain degree. IE: draw a line at 422.5mm and then draw another, it will snap to 422.5mm initially. I love that).

I frequently design and prototype commercial furniture. And of course I use many common panel and timber sizes.

Wouldn't it be great if SU learned my use of panels and timber and popped up options as I worked. Not very different from inference really. EG; I'm sizing a rectangle to about 90 x 32mm. Instead of having to type that dim, SU snaps to it, I look at it and decide 42 x 90, move my curser up, voila, snap to 42mm. ThenSU might say to me: "You seem to be doing a fair bit with these dimensions and views, would you like to save these various parameters as a template?".

Wouldn't it be great if Su told me: "You drew something very similiar to this model several months ago, would you like to review it? ( Not so useful for me, I never repeat myself)

Wouldn't it be great if SU noticed that my mouse and keyboard work was getting clumsy and suggested a break?

Wouldn't it be great if SU was an AI?

Wouldnt it etc,

I've only just started thinking on this approach to a betterer SU... my scruffy words about SU and AI integration. Would love to hear other thoughts on SU's possible future along these lines.
Baz

jeff hammond

@baz said:

I've only just started thinking on this approach to a betterer SU... my scruffy words about SU and AI integration. Would love to hear other thoughts on SU's possible future along these lines.
Baz

the tricky bit with introducing this type of fuzzy logic(?) into sketchup might not be so much with the fact that user specific numbers / actions are stored or remembered.. i guess that part might even be the easy part.. the tricky part (as i see it right now at least) is how the data is then re-presented to the user..

sketchup is -> pick a tool and enter the parameters for this usage of the tool.. alternate usages of the tool is controlled by modifier keys.. we don't have lists etc to pick from in the UI..

but if sketchup were to recognize i generally draw rectangles constrained to say 5-6 different sizes, how would these then be presented to me as a choice? as a list maybe? scroll wheel cycles through the measurement box? i think those may be the two ways to do it without radically changing sketchup UI itself..

anyway, i guess my questions is more of-- assume the logic engine was in sketchup, how is the best way for the user to interact with the data? because in many ways, it might be more of a hassle than benefit to sort through.

that said, i definitely think we'll be seeing more of this type of stuff in the future.. i just think the UI needs to be designed from the ground up with the capability in mind as opposed to taking an existing UI and trying to patch the function on top of it.

but yeah, if i'm a carpenter/framer and i'll be working with standard framing materials, it'd be nice if sketchup(etc) could recognize this and automatically offer solids corresponding with the material sizes.. or arrays at typical spacing (15.25" for the first move then 16" o.c thereafter)--- then further, if i'm doing more customized stuff, the application could learn my ways and customize itself to handle the situations i may often encounter.

jeff hammond

@jql said:

1 - Dynamic components UI Revamp;

also maybe a way to create geometry within a DC.. like AddLine(pt1,pt2).. or AddCircle(center, radius).. or PushPull(surface,distance).

that'd be sweet.. not really sure how it would work but i suppose the developer recommendation would be "hey dude, just learn ruby instead"

edit
or maybe a way to interact with things already in the model.. like-> select a surface then do this to it.. instead of the surface needing to be the dynamic component itself.