Wow, so good to see you back!

There was a thread a while ago that explained what had happened to you — I'm so sorry for what you must have gone through in the meantime.

As for the waveform generator, have never seen anything close to that — but I wonder if MSPhysics has that capability? (can't check it out since I'm on a Mac) Hopefully AntonS, Fredo6 or TIG will chime in regarding the feasibility of such an extension.

You're such a valued contributor and we've missed your presence and posts here. Welcome back!

@glenn at home said:

I for one do have a copy of Form Z Pro and it is getting better with each release.

It's been a while since I've looked a Form-Z, so I'll take your suggestion and check it out — thanks. I have looked at Moi and have followed most of Pilou's links to Moi announcements and feature updates — but I haven't tried it out yet.

I trialed Rhino because I needed to import a .obj into SU that needed a lot of cleanup first. My current inclination towards Rhino is due to its maturity (vs Moi) and its more complete feature set — especially for 2D output. Most of my (paid) work requires a set of either Construction or Workshop Drawings, so replacing LO functionality is a must for me.

My interest in Blender is for organic modelling and possibly rendering/animation. I see it, for now, as more of a complement to SU than a replacement.

But I'm not about to make any certain move away from SU yet. I won't rent software under any circumstance (and not due to pricing), but it's possible that with a future SU 2021 license I'll be able to get another decade out of SU.

Who knows - maybe SU2021 will finally be the real breakthrough we've all been waiting for these past 5 years!

Thanks for the answer Solo. Seems similar to what I've heard from pros in other domains as well.

It has been disconcerting over the past 2-3 years to see how many of the top 3D designers and visualization pros that used to frequent and contribute to this board have dropped off — on to other software.

And it's true that the unbridled enthusiasm and excitement that used to attend the SU community with each new upgrade cycle has mostly given way to cynicism and repeated disappointment. Now this.

I'll likely renew my Classic license one last time, then run out the clock on SU for as long as it remains compatible with my (future) hardware / OS.

In the meantime, for long-term future-proofing I have broken the ice with Blender (thanks Chipp!) and am giving serious thought to buying a Rhino license — which I've trialed a couple of times.

Oh well, nothing good lasts forever

@glenn at home said:

@solo said:

The innovation has stopped, the product has reached the peak of what it can on it's limited core, now they are milking every cent from it.

I agree that currently it has reached an end of the road as it exists. It does have potential but it needs to be given a chance to grow and I don't see that being under Trimble.

I concur with you and Solo that SU development has long since plateaued and there is unlikely to be any significant advances, given the current combination of product management and ownership.

However I also think the AutoCad hate is much like the Adobe hate — mostly well-earned

No doubt that AutoDesk has great CAD engineers, but I would much rather see SU move to someone like Robert McNeel & Associates (Rhino) where the company philosophy is a lot closer to AtLast's originating intention.

Not that either move is ever going to actually happen!

@solo said:

The little I do use SU for these days will get less and less

What software have you switched to?

Just to echo the consensus here Pixero: really fantastic work, and I love the style!

I have 2 grandkids (age 4&6) that I can see loving the story of a little kid with a huge voice that can scare away bad guys, especially with illustrations that are so engaging and expressive.

Great work, and good luck with the career shift.

1. Cadalog Edit-in-Place
2. BackOut
3. Throw_To
4. Selection Toys
5. CleanUp3
6. CenterPointAll
7. TIG-weld
8. FredoScale
9. Eneroth Lift Entities
10. Eneroth Solid Tools
    +
11. FredoCorner / RoundCorner
12. ProfileBuilder 3

There are another dozen plugins that I always have loaded — plus Sketchucation (of course!) and 3DXSketchUp (for my SpaceMouse) — but these are the ones I use (almost) every session.

@hornoxx said:

Can you buy a wood-shape-bender (a real one analog with plug) in a specialized shop?

@dave r said:

I expect you can buy a steam box although most people who steam bend wood would probably make their own.

Dave's undoubtedly correct that (most) pros build their own steam-bending set-up, but Rockler does sell this kit (along with plans for the box itself) for hobbyists:

Rockler Steam Bending Kit w/FREE Steam Box Plan, Hinges and Latch

All the hardware and fittings you need to bend wood to your will, including a steamer and a plan for building your own box.

https://www.rockler.com/ (www.rockler.com)

@ballbearing said:

Perhaps the cursor speed which I use with Inkscape is too slow.

I'm not sure what options your tablet driver offers, but with Wacom's you can use the tablet in either 'Pen' or 'Mouse' mode. I find Pen mode unusable because it's so slow: it's meant for pixel-level editing and drawing, so not suitable for mouse replacement.

If your tablet doesn't offer a mouse mode, then try boosting the speed/acceleration to max.

Just wanted to echo the appreciation for this plugin — and for your incredible contributions generally! I downloaded it yesterday and it's already saving me time and clicks showing and hiding.

Many thanks!

The likely reason for your rendering performance woes is that Macs use Radeon graphics cards — whereas VRay uses Nvidia CUDA for both GPU and Hybrid (GPU/CPU) rendering — so the more powerful Radeon card in the iMac Pro won't solve the problem, and neither will the Mac Mini (which uses Intel integrated graphics).

An external GPU with an Nvida GTX or RTX card would likely do the trick, but the problem is that Apple doesn't support Nvidia drivers on the Mac. I'm not sure if anyone has managed to get this setup working, but a potential option would be to run Windows on Bootcamp with an Nvidia eGPU. I've seen people manage this for gaming (https://9to5mac.com/2018/12/31/how-to-2018-mac-mini-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-egpu-windows-gaming-setup-video/), but haven't seen any confirmation with SU.

Not sure if you saw this thread, but if not it might be worth a read for you:

https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=72415

It addresses RSI issues with a change in input devices: combining a 3D mouse with a Wacom tablet. There are many ways this eases stresses on the wrist and elbow: one of them is that I never need to use the mouse wheel to scroll, because all the navigation is done with the 3D mouse.

It's definitely not a cost-free solution, but it's a great option and a productive (and fun!) way to work in SU.

It's often the case that large corporate entities define their self-interest in an overly narrow way, which results in blinkered strategic vision.

It's also true that policies that are successful in stamping out 100% of consumer misuse will penalize and alienate legitimate customers (who are the vast majority of all users) in the attempt to thwart the small percentage of miscreants.

In this case, the alienated user has been one whose innumerable contributions over many years puts him in the global all-time top ten of SU influencers / contributors / educators.

I hope that the SU team are paying attention to how certain Trimble corporate policies damage the SU eco-system, and can positively influence the future evolution of such policies.

If nothing else, create a marketing program that formalizes the sponsorship of key influencers / educators / extension developers, part of which is flowing them free licences. Hell, I would grant them an annual stipend as an acknowledgement of their past contributions and to to ensure that they can continue to enrich to the SU community well into the future.

I certainly hope that this is resolved in some way and that Didier is brought back into the fold.

@kayak83 said:

I've got the new Wacom One on order as well as the Spacemouse Navigator (wireless). Should be here in a about a week with the current Amazon shipping delays.

I think you'll really like that setup, once you become practiced with it: it took me not 10 minutes to ken the Space Mouse (though some people seem to struggle a bit more getting used to it)... and with the tablet, it's mostly intuitive — so there's little to learn — but it does take some trial and error tuning the settings to your liking. And it takes a bit of muscle-memory training to get used to the different way of context-clicking.

I noticed an an immediate and dramatic increase in productivity with the Space Mouse, to the point that I now find it really annoying to use SU without it. The biggest difference with the Wacom tablet is threefold: how it de-pronates your wrist; how easy it is to change screen position of the cursor; and the thousands of active clicks saved every day: now simple relaxed touches instead of forearm-stressing index (and middle) finger movements.

For the physical layout at your desk, I assume you already have a fully adjustable keyboard arm? Mine has pivoting mouse trays on both sides and a slightly elevated platform for the tablet (I'll post a shot of my set-up in a bit). One of the reasons for the small Wacoms being a better mouse replacement is that the larger ones push the tablet too far to the right (assuming you're right-handed) and overly stretch the arm at the shoulder making for a more un-comfortable (and un-ergonomic) position.

Bottom line for the physical setup is that you want the total width of the input devices to be within your natural shoulder span so that all of your joints line up in as neutral a position as possible. The pivoting trays allow me to position them slightly in front of the keyboard to reduce that overall width. My tablet is at the same level as my arm rest which I find quite comfortable using the pen and it also relaxes my wrist position when I do switch to the mouse (which is now slightly lower).

If you run into problems in set-up, post them here and I'll try to help you sort them quickly. In the meantime, good luck and here's to hoping this is the beginning of the end of your RSI issues!

My 3D mouse is a Space Navigator, which is the older version of the current Space Mouse Compact. For me, if I was buying my first one now I would probably get the Space Mouse Wireless, since I do a lot of sessions on my laptop away from my office — so the portability is a big consideration.

If I was only going to use it at my desk, then yes I would get the SpaceMouse Pro for the extra buttons. (I'm planning on upgrading once they offer a Bluetooth version).

For the tablet I would buy the Wacom Intuos Small Bluetooth version. If you're buying the tablet primarily as a mouse replacement (and not for digital art) then the compact dimension and smaller active area make it a lot easier to navigate the screen. In my case I have a 13" MacBook paired to a Dell U3415W with the screen mapping as follows:
(note that you set the screen mapping in pen mode, then switch to mouse mode for use.)

Again, if you're not a digital artist, there's no need for the Intuos Pro — which varies primarily in the pressure levels (8K vs 4K), different texture sheets (for variable surface friction or 'tooth') and the pen (which is more substantial and adds tilt recognition). The new Pro Pen 3D does look nice (Aaron tried one on a recent live modelling session over at the SU Forum), and adds a 3rd button for 3D navigation, but it's a bit redundant if you're pairing the tablet with a Space Mouse.

This guy (who is a digital artist!) has several YouTube videos reviewing various tablets, and showing how to use them. This one reviews the current Intuos small and medium models:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLclWCHmrjg

I'll try to check back i tomorrow in case you have any other questions.

OK, thanks.

One other quick question: when do you expect to have your gable wall module completed?

Do you have an option for strapping between the trusses and the gypsum?

I've had exactly this set-up for the past 6 years: Space Navigator 3D mouse for the left hand and Wacom Intuos Touch (small) for the right.

I choose the small version and have the mapping set for 'Mouse' (vs 'Pen') so that I can reach any area of the screen with minimal movement of my hand. I also have the mouse speed and acceleration settings maxed out for the same reasons:

I originally switched to a Wacom tablet 25 years ago to address RSI issues I had with my wrist and forearm. I've been through multiple generations of Wacoms since and have always found them both comfortable and intuitive to use. One of the major benefits versus a mouse vis-a-vis RSI, is that clicks can be executed with a simple light tap on the tablet. That, plus the more natural wrist position, quickly cleared up my wrist and finger pain and I've never looked back.

Another tip on the settings: since you don't need to use a button for a standard click, I set the lower button for 'Right Click' (which is much more comfortable) and the upper one for 'Radial Menu' (which I usually pin on the screen during a session).

I should note though that while I find the Wacom great in SketchUp, I often revert to a Logitech Anywhere2S while in LayOut for greater precision in selecting and placing objects.

EDIT: I should note that this is primarily because of the fussiness of the gizmo tool in LO and the difficulty of finding just the right position to activate the function you desire— which is easier with the mouse than the pen. I don't use AutoCad, so not sure how the Wacom will work with it, but there is no problem being precise in drawing / modelling in SU, so I would imagine that would translate for AC.

Hope this helps.

Nice work. I really like your typical style — very clean, calm design and soothing but interesting blends of textures and colours.

And I can imagine myself living happily in pretty much any of the spaces you've shown here over the years.

Thanks for sharing!

Pretty impressive when they're all in one place, Dave!

Curious to know if you built one or more of them in real life?