Merci pour le Plugin. : )

@jonb42 said:

I have investigated this "free" plugin thoroughly and can say that unless you already own the very expensive Trimble RealWorks software you cannot use this plugin. It can't import point clouds from any other source than RealWorks.

Another SU option is Bentley's Pointools but this is $1400.

Better, try Undet http://www.undet.com/software/for-sketchup-v1/ which can be "rented" for 50 euro a month.

Jon

Thanks for that Jon, much appreciated. I don't understand when I have access to Trimble Business Centre (which comes with an expensive Trimble scanner) that I can't use the plugin with it! Bizarre.

This is my #1 wish for layout.

Thanks Marc,

That saves me a headache!

Well done lads.

Some day people will look back in bemusement at the fact that there aren't tens of millions of people on here...

Eric, thanks for highlighting this. Really appalling way to do business. I'm going to check this out.

Cool plugin. Cheers.

Apologies if this has been already covered but I can't find a reference.
How do I change the train direction? Both when placing the train and when the train has been placed already?

To find materials & plugins folder for Mac users:

Find SU2014 folder in Applications
Right-click on SU folder and select "Show View Options"
This directs you to the Contents folder

Navigation Path is:

/Applications/SketchUp 2014/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Content

Uh oh... No I'm afraid I'm experiencing problems again. The viewports in LO are not playing nice with my model. Strangely the previous beta release (candidate 4) was much more stable.

@drewcoparker said:

fionmacool,
What does the model look like in an image, exported directly from SketchUp? What are your OpenGL settings in SketchUp? Is hardware acceleration on or off? If you were to check or uncheck (whichever is different than what you had) the hardware acceleration setting in SketchUp and then send to LayOut, do you still see the problem? Thanks.

Well done- Your suggestion worked! It seems as if some setting needed a jolt to get it working. I unchecked hardware acceleration in SU and found that it seemed to fix the problem in LO. Then I tried checking it again and the problem didn't return. Now I'm back to enjoying SU 2014.

Thanks for your response.

Here is the LayOut image and SU file.

Note that it doesn't make any difference which SU file I use. The model view is set to raster. I can't get LayOut to display raster properly. Vector and Hybrid are better but are still problematic.

LayOut Test.skp

I should have raised this a lot earlier in beta testing but thought it was such a big problem that it would get sorted.

SketchUp models aren't appearing at all properly in LayOut. I can only see a couple of lines in the view- The model is completely transparent no matter what style I choose to display.

Total breakdown of LayOut! Anyone else have this problem?

Nice drawings Mike.

Bitcoin would be an awesome way for people to get paid on sketchucation. No transaction fees and it is easy to pay small amounts. I would be very enthusiastic about paying for good plugins etc. with BTC.

For example, SCF could have a central "bank" for deposits paid in. People could note with their deposit which plugin/ effort/ etc. they are paying for.

Am I crazy? Probably. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong... How's about it?

@pgarmyn said:

@fionmacool
I guess you want to hide section-lines between different elements?
There is a beter way to controle that. I will make (soon) some "how to" videos. I will post them with the next update.
I want to keep the nesting & layer structure of the section-group identical to the model. To syncronize visibility and invisibility if certain layers are switched off.
It can become an option if you can really convince me of the advantage in a standard workflow to produce several sections of one model.

Thanks for your reply. OK so I'm not sure I understand you entirely... but to answer your last point- definitely multiple sections are desirable for each model- all technical drawings require one plan and one vertical section at least. The problem at the moment is that the 2D section info is "behind" the section cut so that it interferes with visibility. Does that make sense?

When talking about BIM you need to ask yourself what you're looking for.

Take the words "Building Information Modeling"- What does it mean? It means Information about a Building through [the interface of] a Model.

By that definition, SketchUp is BIM software.

Software companies like to confuse the issue when talking about features of their software, such as parametric modeling, room areas, scheduling, etc. They give the strong impression that anything else is not BIM. This is total deception. Don't get me wrong, these features are hugely advantageous for massive greenfield modular projects, but where one-off buildings are concerned you need to seriously question the return on investment where your platform requires you to create bespoke parametric elements for every single object in the model.

How is SketchUp BIM?
Surfaces contain area data.
Groups & Components contain volume data.
Objects can be programmed (including parametric and other features)
SU exports data to spreadsheets.
SU supports energy analysis, cost analysis
SU Pro creates construction documents (when you know how- Nick is a great exponent of this process)
There are a vast and growing number of automated plugins for ease and speed of virtual construction (e.g. 1001bit tools, Buildedge, etc.)
SU files are now accepted by Tekla BIMsight.
SU interacts very nicely with Google Earth.
There are several add-ons for rendering SU models.

I don't know what your requirements are and maybe you are right to go for the above packages- but I just question the need for parametric-only software for bespoke limited/ one-off building design & construction.

@pgarmyn said:

@fionmacool said:

Awesome plugin pgarmin. It is exactly what i've been looking for as an automated approach to the methodology in my book "Construction Documents Using SketchUp Pro & LayOut". There are one or two small refinements I would like to see ..... interested in co-authoring a publication. Thanks.

I'm still working on the 'refinements' but i don't have much time.
Co-authoring... : As you may have noticed, English is not my native language. Making a good tutoral is not evident. A small video can be very efficient .... .
I must say that there are some very good tutolals on this forum.

Good luck with your book.

Hey sorry for the long delay and thanks for the response- I would be delighted to show off your plugin in a free video here as well as including it in the book.

One big wish I would have for the plugin is to enable the 2D information to "float" above the model. This requires the section cut to be grouped with the building while the 2D info is outside this group. Please see the examples attached where the section info is floating one inch above the model.

Note also:

The line colours are set to "by material" so all groups that require definition are coloured black or dark while their internal surfaces are textured individually.

The colour of the section cut is set to a light hue and a thickness of 1 unit.

Well done Paul. Thanks for those. Just stumbled across them. : )

Awesome plugin pgarmin. It is exactly what i've been looking for as an automated approach to the methodology in my book "Construction Documents Using SketchUp Pro & LayOut". There are one or two small refinements I would like to see that will really make this singPlease email me: paul @ viewsion.ie to let me know if you're interested in co-authoring a publication. Thanks.