Xrefs in SketchUp

fluid · 7 Oct 2015, 19:44

We were thinking about developing an plugin that allows to reference external SketchUp files, but I would like to gather some feedback before spending time on it. Would that be something useful?

Here is the rough idea:

You select the external SketchUp file to reference
A SketchUp entity is created representing the preview of the external file in the form of a billboard or a bounding box
You can then treat it as any regular SketchUp entity and for example, duplicate it around your scene
To visualize the full resolution of your Xrefs, you click on the Xref tool

The main limitation is that you will see your Xrefs at full resolution only when the tool is selected. I'm not sure if that represents a big issue.

pbacot · 8 Oct 2015, 04:01

So the xref components would be a sort of proxy and could speed redraw while modeling?

pbacot · 8 Oct 2015, 04:03

Have you checked this out? http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1%26amp;author=0%26amp;category=0%26amp;search=xref%26amp;submit=%3F

juju · 8 Oct 2015, 09:04

It sounds more like a proxy tool, which would be handy. Please be sure to include scene/page handling as the average person would set up various scenes, with differing settings.

Personally I would like to set the tool to link/remember which scenes/pages needs to show the hi-poly versions and which need to show the low-poly (or bounding box) versions. Ideally I would like to assign my own low-poly version for a referenced hi-poly model, else the tool could possibly create a "shrink wrapped" version of the hi-poly item (only showing all external geometry, all internal / hidden geometry removed, poly-reduced).

Does it seem like a tall order?

juju · 8 Oct 2015, 09:05

@pbacot said:

Have you checked this out? http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1%26amp;author=0%26amp;category=0%26amp;search=xref%26amp;submit=%3F

Tig's tool works well, but really requires scroll bars for when the X-REF list becomes loooong.

JQL · 8 Oct 2015, 12:23

I like both ideas and both Xref and Proxy ideas and work daily with both concepts. Both have already seen plugins for implementing them but I've never seen one plugin that would merge the two.

I think it's very interesting and has great potential.

I'd prefer if the default state of the plugin would be as sketchup is right now: you insert the model and it is inserted as is, not by the bounding box:

XREFS: For it to work as a Xref basic functions could be automatically performed by the plugin:
a - check when the external files have been modified from time to time (having it permanently warn is counterproductive as any save will create a warning) user should set time;
b - allow for reloading one or several files at the same time.
c - ability to lock components in the model if they are being edited externally but still be able to reload them;
d - ability to edit components in the model and push the modifications to external model;
e - manage or disallow conflicts when a model is being edited both externally and internally.
f - open a Xrefed model in a new sketchup instance for editing it isolated.
g - think on how to manage nested Xrefs...

PROXIES:
a - Default to not reduce resolution when inserting and working;
b - ability to reduce resolution to all Xref components;
c - ability to reduce resolution to specific Xref components;
d - cooperate with Thea render (and other render engines) to make proxies available at render time without having to toggle the high resolution proxy.
e - Talk to Jiminy about having this integrated with Skalp too, where proxies seem to be able to not even exist in the model...

I'm totally interested in beta testing this plugin if you want. I'd think this would be a VERY useful addition to the arsenal!

JQL · 8 Oct 2015, 16:19

Those you talk about are some of the most similar to this case. The other usual scenarios would be render plugins wich most should deal with proxies nowadays. (Thea does, wich is the one I use.)

SU2KT wich as you probably know, is a renderer plugin too, (for Kerkythea wich was the base for Thea),
does exactly that box replacement that is talked about in the first post, but doesn't link it to an external ref. What it does is hide the geometry and replace it by a box...

Those, along with Ghost components, were the only ones I actually used but there is one from Tig that has a very interesting concept:

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

What it does is replace the component by another in a set component depending on the distance the component is from camera. It's a Proxy+LOD plugin (Level of Detail).

For Xrefs there is a lot of choices but the two more advanced are:

Tig's Xref manager:
http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=XrefManager

Wich I used for a long time...

And Inteloide's component manager wich I tested for a long time and is full featured:

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

I've not used it for long because all my current projects don't need it.

I also tried Gosu wich is great and fun and pretty similar to Links Manager:

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

You can link any file to an object like GOSU...

Adam has one similar to these but I didn't try it:

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

For Xref management in the cloud Trimble has trimble connect since last release.

Tommy K was developing something that promised a lot but I never managed to test it:

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

That one should be good!

juju · 12 Oct 2015, 07:54

@jql said:

... Both have already seen plugins for implementing them but I've never seen one plugin that would merge the two. ...

Do you mind to offer the Proxy extension / plugin info / links? I thought I found one a while back, but can't seem to find it currently. I've searched on SU EW, here and elsewhere but have only come up with Adam's Proxyviewn (with bounding boxes) and Fredo's Ghost Component (with bounding boxes), I'm unsure about Renderiza's GOSU (although it seems very useful).

HaithamAnwer · 27 Aug 2018, 09:14

i have a quick question.

i am using the Xref manager plugin. in my company the workflow is the following:

[highlight=#ffff00:1kufr6ou]a component > xref into a building > xref in a group of building > xref into the master plan.[/highlight:1kufr6ou]

so the director now when he opens the file he gets so many links in the xref manager (nested links)
is there a way i can reduce the amount of links?

[highlight=#ffbf00:1kufr6ou]i mean can i link only level of nested xref (links) life maybe the the group of building only?[/highlight:1kufr6ou]
is there another workflow or plugin that can help me that when i update something its updated everywhere ?

juju · 29 Aug 2018, 14:43

@haithamanwer said:

i have a quick question.

i am using the Xref manager plugin. in my company the workflow is the following:

[highlight=#ffff00:195ys96j]a component > xref into a building > xref in a group of building > xref into the master plan.[/highlight:195ys96j]

so the director now when he opens the file he gets so many links in the xref manager (nested links)
is there a way i can reduce the amount of links?

[highlight=#ffbf00:195ys96j]i mean can i link only level of nested xref (links) life maybe the the group of building only?[/highlight:195ys96j]
is there another workflow or plugin that can help me that when i update something its updated everywhere ?

TIG's extension is good, but I've had the same problem previously. There doesn't seem to be a solution to this problem within this particular extension currently.

I ended up getting a commercial extension called Cross Reference Manager, their other products are also worth a look, especially Layers Organizer.

HaithamAnwer · 30 Aug 2018, 05:08

i know the cross reference organizer, but its not quite what i am looking for.
but since these two plugins (xref manager & cross reference organizer) are the only two available i am using a hybrid workflow that rely on both of them and so far things are a bit smoother.

juju · 30 Aug 2018, 11:09

@haithamanwer said:

i know the cross reference organizer, but its not quite what i am looking for.
but since these two plugins (xref manager & cross reference organizer) are the only two available i am using a hybrid workflow that rely on both of them and so far things are a bit smoother.

There is also Eneroth Reference Manager that seems like it has the same type functions as XREFs, but I have no experience with it.