Wall tool....?
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Hello,
I am struggling to figure out the best way to produce floor plans quickly with a good wall tool.I prefer to lay out houses in plan and want to be able to design my houses so that I can edit the walls easily (move them around, delete them, put in new ones, etc.) and have the walls heal when they are joined. My preference would be a solid double line tool (which I can lift when I am ready), but from what I read there does not seem to be a mature one.
D. Bur's double line tool does not heal (if you stop a wall, then start another one from the first one, it does not fuse or heal) and it appears to be awkward to use. I have also tried DIBAC'S wall tool. It is farther advanced, but I am not sure I want to commit to their 2D/3D paradigm.
Are there solutions out there (fee based or not) other than offsets and erasing of lines? Any insights would be appreciated.
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So you want just a 2d plan and the "lift" it to 3d when ready (pushpull?)
You know that when you move edges the intersections move with them. you can select a wall or door etc. in 2d and move it and the intersections will be maintained. When you extrude to 3d the same is true.The self-healing double line tool would be a nice idea. Trying to think if one exists.
Also a wall heal tool that cleans up 2d double line intersections by quick selection would be nice. If the intersection of lines as drawn works correctly this works "sort-of" ok with native tool left-right window-select and delete.
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"If the intersection of lines as drawn works correctly this works "sort-of" ok with native tool left-right window-select and delete."
I'm not sure I understand what you wrote here. If you have a moment.....I notice you are also on Powercadd. Not sure I want to go back to using it for laying out floor plans and then bringing it into to SU as a dwg template, but perhaps I have to.
I was hoping to work exclusively in SU if I could, particularly as I am attempting to make SU my only platform. To do this, I am ploughing my way through Matt and Nick's superb new book (lots of SU gold nuggets in it) to see if this might be possible.
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If you have some double lines drawn already and they intersect as in a wall intersection, you can left to right select the area of the intersection and delete the short lines within the intersection, sort of like PowerCADD "wall" tool. A self healing double line tool would be like the PowerCADD double line tool.
Personally I mostly work plans in PowerCADD. If I do the wall layout in SketchUp, my approach is often different, copying elements, starting with an exterior already modeled etc. For me at present, if I am doing a full floor plan, PowerCADD has so many tools to help in the 2d layout, it's faster just to do it there, even if I put it in SU later. I do most elevations and some roof plans in SketchUp. Or a combination of the two.
I am also exploring Sonder's book.
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Ok, pragmatic as well as very helpful. While I have hoped to find a complete SU solution, I guess Powercadd should be what I use for laying out a house, then bring a dwg into SU to make faces and lift. I appreciate your comments.
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As you want stay only in SU, I can't propose to you PConPlanner!
But as it's free...and has Import/export SKP...and a cool strong walls maker!
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Hello Pilou,
Thank you for making me aware of this program.
It is very powerful and appears to have all the components I am looking for to both generate and edit walls in plan or 3D. Hmmmmm.....
My only problem now is that I am on a MAC, but maybe with Paralells or Fusion I might be able to mix and match between it and SU. Do you think the import/export translators are good, not only for the programs themselves, but between Macs and PC's?
If so, this is be something I will look at closely.
BTW, I have seen your posts on Sketchucation for a few years now, so it is a pleasure to engage with you in this thread.
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Emulators on MAC should work (I have not tested - I am not lucky to have an Apple machine!
Normally an SKP file as betweener must be working on all computers! (Mac PC)
You can send me an skp example that you want to test!
(use some wetranfert like for not explode my PM box! -
LSS Arch lite SketchUp plugin by Kirill is really good. Comes with a demo so you can try it out.
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Hello Pixero,
You are right, LSS Arch is very good. I have been in touch with the author of the plugin for quite some time as I suspect it could, in fact, be outstanding. I have been very keen to find out how soon a stable Mac version might be available. He said only a couple of days ago that he hopes with SU 2017 he can clean up the Mac version. I would certainly buy and use it, for sure.
In fact, I was encouraged when he implemented my suggestion that all components (particularly walls) have an editable 'Z' for the base level so that one could work comfortably in plan knowing that the height will not change unless modified in the dialogue box.I will get either parallels or VMWare and try out Pilou's suggestion. Thank you both.
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