Who would be able to do the coding really well?

Speaking of which, I'd pay someone to clean up Layers Panel and make it as robust as possible - I just can't pay enough to make it worthwhile - on the other hand, if there were a number of us willing to pay...

I'm impressed that he even got it to work as someone who was teaching himself Ruby as he went.

I cannot say how useful it has been using Layers Panel in conjunction with scenes to create complex construction documents in Layout.

I arrange every view I need as a scene in sketchup with the appropriate layers on/off (some models have 30+ layers so doing this without Layers Panel is extremely error-prone), send to layout, place the scenes, dimension and add notes, export, build.

Its standard functionality in photoshop etc yet does NOT add any unnecessary complexity to a new user

EDIT: Grammar

@utiler said:

What's a modular operator?

One of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation
(I still have no idea)

Doesn't Simfonia Animation Tools have a modulator function so you can create wave signals (possibly completely unrelated).

Wishlist for SU 2017:

• FEA (just kidding, but not really)
• To incorporate this into the software: http://sketchucation.com/plugin/803-coastalconcepts_editflag
• Some way to not have segments in arcs
• STL export
• +1 for publicly listed roadmap of development
• Regarding the nesting of layers - isn't this effectively BillyBob's [url=http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53906:36c9x8qg]Layers Panel Plugin?[/url:36c9x8qg]

I can definitely see the power that the Sketchup team has put into the reporting tool - maybe just needs a little polishing.

Exactly

Bizarre functionality right?

Yep, did that, but it simply shows the quantity as "1"

Its as if there is another hidden attribute in the default quantity template

As far as I can tell, to get quantities, I have to use the built in template and can't make my own template that includes quantities without copying the built-in one...

In the old reporting tool you got an individualised list of components in the model and it didn't natively show quantities of each component (you could fix this later in Excel it just seemed a little clunky).

This has now been fixed with the release of SU Pro 2016 but seems to function a little weird.

If I want to show quantities, I choose the "Component Quantities Report" which, if I "run" gives me all the quantities and not much else but, I can hit the "edit" button to add more attributes to the report than just quantitiy including length etc.

However, if I "Create a New Report", in this case named "Untitled 1", no matter how or where in the list of priorities I include the "Quantity" attribute, I get everything individualised like the old reporting system and "Quantity" reported as 1 for every component.

Do I have to use the "Component Quantities Report" template every time I want quantities (which is every time) or is there some way of making my own custom templates report on quantity that I have somehow missed.....?

@jql said:

However, I don't believe that should be the way.

Not sure what you mean by this?

You're saying SU should try to compete with CAD packages or not?

I used to feel frustration that Sketchup didn't get certain features with each upgrade - then I realized that there are plenty of other packages out there that had those features and I just had to learn them if I wanted those features.

What I've come to understand, and I could be wrong, is that Sketchup isn't trying to be a comprehensive CAD package as that would raise the bar for entry too high (and the purchase price too, probably).

Sketchup fills a niche and the Sketchup team are actually pretty adept at hitting that sweet spot - progressively making SU more intuitive without drowning new users in technical mumbo jumbo - I discussed this here

@kaas said:

I tested it with a custom stencil plugin

Banksy, is that you?

Yeah, exporter upgrade is great work. I think that the updated inferencing engine will come in super handy on some of my engineering projects where I'm trying to align multiple items that are a long way apart:

Also, the reporter was sorely in need of update. If its as good as the cut list plugin then I'll be happy. Unfortunately I just finished writing about the built-in reporter's deficiencies so may have to redact my words.

This is beautiful, thankyou Pilou

That totally makes sense. I do find that with engineering drawings I'm triple checking the practical implications of the design as I process the LO file and I often make numerous changes during this time - for example making something easier for folks in the workshop to actually construct. I feel this chopping and changing between LO and SU to make changes is more straightforward if I just have one LO document to update reference.

But when they get really big then yes, I have to split them up

That was just a screen shot of a much larger file (many pages) with perspective and shaded textures on multiple pages.

Yes, given patience I think the workflow you can learn in SU/LO is powerful because it is so fast for going from concept to working drawings. Initial learning curve is shallow, long term learning curve is steeper. All in all I think its well worth it.

Good on you. Working in multiple programs is a nightmare. However, I'm building a repertoire or techniques where I can get just about any design job done in Sketchup and Layout which is kinda satisfying.

Do you primarily work in SU or do you use other 3D software as well?

I ask because I am doing work across so many disciplines but don't have time to learn new software packages so am just sticking hard with sketchup - hence last minute questions about minor issues when publishing LO documents.

The comparative output in PDF is like eating butter compared to eating gravel - so delicious.

I think I got repelled from vector a few versions back when I needed it on a project but rendering from vector kept crashing my machine. Great to see that the software has come along since then.