At risk of an unwarranted plug for SUPodium, we have a new feature called 'Edit in Place', which makes it much easier to work on large models.

We have a context menu with two entries:-
Edit in Place: Open
Edit in Place: Update

When you choose the first option, you open the component or group in a new window. You can play around and edit this, then when you save it, you go back to the original model, and choose the second option, which updates the group or component.

In effect it automates the process of saving the component to disk, opening the component separately, editing it, and then reloading it.
It also works with groups though.

I think it's an excellent tool for modelling, and I use it to overcome the issue that you describe. It can also be used to test render components or groups.

Before anyone jumps on me for shameless promotion - the purpose of me posting this is not to tell you all to go and buy Podium (which would of course be great ) but in case any of the gods of Ruby think it's a great idea and might want to write something similar to make available to everyone.

What if you don't have Imagemagick installed on your Mac?

The Mac port installs automatically, and by the look of it, somewhere other than where this plugin expects it...

Are there any plugins to manage components created at different scales?

I have had a look at the plugins index, and the only thing I saw there was Matt's plugin which quickly allows you to change the unit scale.
What I was actually looking for was a plugin which allows one to convert components created in metric, to convert them to US (architectural) units - and vice-versa.

For example, if you model in metric, and use one of these templates, if you import models created in the architectural format, they don't insert at the correct scale. You need to work out what the original units were, and then scale the component accordingly.

Is there a blindingly obvious answer that I have been missing all these years, or is this something that everyone has overlooked, and no-one finds a problem?

Thanks Tomasz for explaining why I kept finding these leaf components in every single model!

Pierreden, this is a really wonderful plugin, but it's not fully cooked IMHO. I accept that for some people it works fine, but there are lots of people still struggling with some aspects of it. For some it doesn't work at all, for others it has variable results.

For me, the dialog works (it doesn't stay on top of the SU screen when I try to click to start growth, but it seems to work fine) but clicking in the model to start growth does nothing. Would it be worth creating a toolbar for this to start, and stop growth? The actual process of growing the ivy is the problematic thing for me. I have checked to see that all the required files are present, and everything seems normal. Is there some sort of debugging mode/action I can try?

I don't mean to bitch, I would just really love this to work for not just me but for everyone else having difficulties. I'm very happy to help in any way I can if necessary.

Context menu options to control growth might also be easier than remembering which key combinations to use. Oh, and a metric option.

Yes, those are all present. Should have confirmed this at the time - sorry!

Thanks Tricia! I'll try with autosave disabled first, then I'll try with plugins disabled.

TIG - there is no output at all in the Ruby console.

This is how my installation looks:-

\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy.rb

\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy\gui
\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy\Textures
\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy\LiveIvy_branch.rb
\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy\LiveIvy_leaf.rb
\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy\LiveIvy_node.rb
\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy\LiveIvy_tool.rb
\Library\Application Support\Google SketchUp 8\SketchUp\plugins\LiveIvy\LiveVector_core.rb

The GUI works, but the growing ivy doesn't. When I start to grow the ivy, I have the usual snap cursor. Is this what I'm supposed to see? Does this have a special cursor or some kind of visual indicator as to where to start the growth from?

Am I missing something basic?

Hi Tricia,

Actually, I can't reproduce the error at will, it seems to happen without any specific user intervention. Because of the issues I had working from network drives, I have moved all my current work to my local drive but there is no improvement. I reckon I can get maybe 2 hours at most out of SU before it locks up and needs a 'Force quit'.

Makes no difference whether I use a big model or a small one. Sometimes it will lock up when the model first loads. The annoying thing is that there is no crash (and hence no error report) just hanging. I have used Activity monitor and the hanging application is doing nothing. No CPU activity at all.

I think it might be related to Autosaving. Lion Autosaves, but so does SU. I have turned off Sketchup's autosave feature for now. I'll let you know how I get on.

Mmf - not working on Mac Lion with SU8...

I have the latest version of SU Ivy, the files are in the right place, the menu is there, the dialog pops up and works fine.
It's the clicking and drawing that doesn't seem to be working.

I'm told, by someone that knows a lot about this stuff, that C++ is 10x faster (or so) than Ruby for exporting geometry.

I'm having all sorts of crashing and hanging issues with Lion. Particularly when working on files on network drives.

It's really very, very unsatisfactory for me. Anyone else having the same problems?

Come on Google, please update SketchUp for Lion!

Hmm, perhaps I posted too soon about Lion and SU8.

I'm getting some regular instability now. Every so often SU will hang completely requiring a restart. Repairing Disk Permissions tends to help - for a while...

Google are taking rather a long time to fix this.

I bit the bullet and upgraded to Lion earlier than planned.

I had to make sure that the latest version of Podium works properly on it. V2.7 beta (available for download) does without issue.

The most interesting thing I noted was that it made my machine much more responsive. It was inclined to be a bit sluggish, due no doubt to the crap I accumulated over the years, but now it's back to how it was when new.

No other issues noted though - so far...

I have ordered a new USB stick specifically for Lion, for use with LionDiskmaker

Guys, I think this is a great idea with huge potential. I'm really interested in the direction this might take.

Don't know, but interestingly, Apple is now the second most valuable company in the world!

Top is Exxon with a market value of around $415bn. Apple is some way behind at around $375bn. What lots of people are wondering though, is what will happen when the next iPhone is released...

There are also issues with CAD packages - AutoCAD in particular. Considering Apple's massive growth (iPhone and iPad revenues apparently are higher than Microsoft's total revenue) it won't be long before this stuff gets fixed.

I however am holding off until it does.

There are lots of reasons to upgrade. Everyone has heard of the headline multi-touch, full screen mode, and improved mail and Calendar and iDrop.

But in addition, the new Preview has the ability to sign PDFs with a scanned digital signature. It is also the most secure consumer OS you can get. It's even more secure than Linux now apparently due to internal design changes.

Then you have Resume and Autosave, a completely new Filevault (all that's similar is the name and principle - apparently), the ability to record only a part of the screen with Quicktime, easier ways of typing accents and lots more stuff.

So if your machine has decent enough hardware, I think it's a pretty compelling set of reasons to upgrade.

Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to post your request on the Artisan forum?

There seems to be quite a lot of dissent in some quarters about whether it ought to be done. My view is that it is 'just' (I know I'm simplifying) attaching data to geometry and converting it to a new format. I was chatting to one of Bentley's senior programmers recently and I understand that there are inconsistencies with IFC data translation in other applications. This doesn't mean that it can't or shouldn't be done, but if there is enough demand (and come on, the ability to use SU models as part of an integrated BIM solution is rather cool) anything can be done.

The big benefits of SketchUp are its ease of use, affordability, massive user base and thriving community of developers.

@fionmacool - There doesn't seem to be a lot on your site right now. Are you familiar with Secom's IFC2SKP (http://www.ohyeahcad.com/ifc2skp/index.php) plugin?

I'm a bit intrigued as to why you had such a negative reaction to what sound to me like very useful ideas. I'm reminded of the famous quote by Henry Ford, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

@mitcorb - I think you have made some very valid points about the formalized input in Revit. It concerns me that the inflexibility of the tools might get in the way of elegant design. I do think SketchUp needs to evolve in terms of its geometry handling because working with large models can be painful, but I don't think any SU BIM solution need be anywhere near as complex as Revit. As far as I have seen, Autodesk buy applications that threaten their business model, then screw them up in an attempt to integrate and rationalise functionality with their existing products.

Any chance of a Mac version? There is a Mac version of Qhull here:- http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~sorin/online-docs/qhull/qh-get.htm

The Podium forum is the main means of getting support for the application.
If you do a forum search there, chances are you'll find your answer.

Failing that, post a new question