Improvements needed.

peter cann · 28 Dec 2018, 08:36

sun a shadows system is very limited and not easy to use. being able to manually set the sun direction would be an advantage, at present depending on where sketchup thinks the model is globally located it gives you only sun , shadow options for that place. very bad. Some kind of reset model to a position you determine to be the origin would also be good. The layers system could also be greatly improved. Being able to specify what layer an object is on at the top level would be an advantage, as it is now you have to go right down through the hierarchy to the base layer an reassign from there at every stage right to the top. Very bad. I could go on an on, dont get me wrong, sketchup is a great program but there are quite a number of totally not good ideas in the way some things are done.

rv1974 · 28 Dec 2018, 09:37

Tools\North angle- for Sun direction
'Entity Info' for layer assignment
.

peter cann · 28 Dec 2018, 10:57

my tools rollout dosent have that sun direction, and obvious entity info but have to go right down to base level to see where it totally is, can be grouped and listed on other layers at different levels.if you have a complex model each individual line or face could be on a different layer, to re-assign you need to be able to do it a higher level when its grouped as a whole object which you cant. it still exists in the individual pieces on the different layers.

rv1974 · 28 Dec 2018, 11:15

Install Solar North tools.
All your raw geometry must on on layer 0, play with layers assignment on highest level.

nlipovac · 28 Dec 2018, 11:54

Here is plugin rv1974 is talking.
https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/solar-north

Box · 28 Dec 2018, 13:06

Classic case of asking for a feature request while not understanding how the feature works.
Please read up on how layers work in sketchup.

Dave R · 28 Dec 2018, 13:38

I would have to agree with Box. You criticizing but clearly haven't learned how to use the features that already exist.

@peter cann said:

Some kind of reset model to a position you determine to be the origin would also be good.

This is already available in Model Info>Location.

@peter cann said:

Being able to specify what layer an object is on at the top level would be an advantage, as it is now you have to go right down through the hierarchy to the base layer an reassign from there at every stage right to the top. Very bad. I could go on an on, dont get me wrong, sketchup is a great program but there are quite a number of totally not good ideas in the way some things are done.

@peter cann said:

if you have a complex model each individual line or face could be on a different layer, to re-assign you need to be able to do it a higher level when its grouped as a whole object which you cant. it still exists in the individual pieces on the different layers.

This makes it painfully evident that you have not learned how to use correctly layers in SketchUp. There is no need to reassign everything in the "hierarchy" to the layer assigned to the top level group or component. In fact that's generally a bad idea. All edges and faces should be created on and remain on Layer 0. There can be cases where groups and components inside nested groups/components might be assigned to other layers but there's no need to assign them to the same layer their parent is assigned to. Read this.

Headcase3825 · 30 Jun 2019, 11:50

Disabling Parallel Perspective would be a bonus! Every move made defaults PP mode...I spend so much time switching views, and it really interrupts my thoughts and flow!

Perhaps it could be a setting that prevents default?
Completely Disable PP?

Kind Regards,
Richard White

Dave R · 30 Jun 2019, 14:03

What is "Parallel Perspective"? SketchUp has Parallel Projection and Perspective for camera options.

Please explain what it is you actually want to disable. The camera doesn't automatically switch from Parallel Projection to Perspective.

@unknownuser said:

Every move made defaults PP mode..

What kind of move are you referring to?

@unknownuser said:

I spend so much time switching views...

What do you mean? Are you switching scenes? Scenes can have camera properties set. If you create a scene with the camera set to Parallel Projection, any time you return to that scene, the camera will switch to Parallel Projection. That's within your control, though. If you don't want to save camera settings as a property of the scene, you can untick the box in Properties to save.