I had an important meeting and a client gave me a load of xref'd AutoCAD files... I needed to look at them (or maybe print them) and don't have AutoCAD so slung them into SU.

The first few worked, with the "import completed" dialogue box appearing on my second display but, typically, on the last import of all the drawings (all elements of the same xref'd file) SU locks at the point where the dialogue box should have appeared and I can't for the life of me find it anywhere. Has anyone else had this problem?

FYI This is on a Retina MacBook Pro connected to two Thunderbolt displays making effectively three screens.

@unknownuser said:

@jasonwd said:

The most annoying thing is that it interrupts my workflow because it makes you have another copy of the SU geometry in a separate file just for the explosion

Rather than creating a separate file, why not just copy and create a separate group for the expoded view and set that on its own layer; then create the "exploded scene". That way, if each element is a component, you only have to modify once, in a single file.

I think this came about because there were so many LayOut critical scenes in the SU file that if I created a new layer I would have to Update all the scenes with that new layer off. That's my excuse anyway!

*puts hand up

This is the one massive issue that prevents my SU/LO workflow being usable for my clients.

@calypsoart said:

My wish list at this early stage of using LO:

1. An automatic tag that reads Viewport scale. I have this in AC, find it very useful.

Yes; there are often times when it is unclear which scale the dimension is taking; maybe there should be a dimension mode where the scales are represented by different colours?

@unknownuser said:

2. Dimensions update when Model updates. Without this, LO will never become very useful to me.

Yes that would be nice... I made a video to demonstrate...

@driven said:

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

hi jason, have you tried this one...

I havn't for a while, but yes!

I think the problem is I like to show exploded stuff in Perspective and that creates challenges for seeing everything nicely in the explosion.

The most annoying thing is that it interrupts my workflow because it makes you have another copy of the SU geometry in a separate file just for the explosion

Here's Andrew on stage giving a great casual presentation that underlined the "this thing will change your life"nature of PlusSpec

...and Tommy convincing the naysayers of the ability to have a complete SU/LO workflow.

Many thanks to Rich and the SketchUcation team!

I'm greatly enjoying the socks now I'm back home in Montreal.

@ashscott said:

@unknownuser said:

but I use my model and then either pull it apart and save scenes

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid this

I would be super interested to know if you find a solution to this...

I have always been in a position that I need to get drawings out so fast that I just do it the manual way!

Normally my furniture drawings have a Furniture_exploded.skp file next to them that I pull all the elements of the model out (for instance) 500mm to get the right look.

Explode example

Also this kind of thing (can't find the layout file it is attached to). Odd that it has notes in SU for me!

JQL That is super useful! Thanks

Thanks for the sanity check Dave... I was having one of those "am I being thick or..." moments.

That is a bit of an oversight isn't it?

I can't believe that after using LO since it came out I am asking about this...

Simply- How does one dimension a hole like the attached? I tend to draw them by hand.

@tommyk said:

I haven't experimented with using textures instead of hatches for section cuts yet, but I know it is possible.

It is actually easier to simply use a SketchUp material for the section cut in Skalp - create the section texture and name it appropriately then assign it as you would a hatch in the pull down menu. Normal SU materials appear below the Skalp hatches.

Skalp dynamically creates SketchUp materials, that live in the normal materials pallet, on the fly. You can see this if you change the scale in Skalp.

Same with fixtures here; the potato thing though...

shakes head at Americans patronisingly

We call them fixings in the UK... I actually found them by googling "Fixings Layout" and came full circle back here.

Thanks from me too... it would have taken me ages to find then import all those fixings to layout.
I owe you a Mernaya!

@unknownuser said:

I love Apple and own all the mobile devices, an iMac and several Mac Pros for my home, but in the pipeline for my work…there isn’t one Mac. It can’t run Autodesk 3D Studio Max, Fume FX, or CUDA so I’m still waiting. I hope that in the future Apple will remedy this situation so that a Mac Pro can be found everywhere without any limitations. —- AKIKO ASHLEY

That pretty much sums it up for me. It would be a no-brainer if the thing had even moderately good Nvidia cards in it. It's so frustrating that Apple (and almost everyone else) views 'Pro' consumers as video editors. I'm a pro; I make a living sitting in front of many many pixels creating stuff, stuff that actually gets built into real things.

The conclusion my better half (who's machine would shame anyone* on here) and I came to is that I buy another Retina Macbook Pro and build a monster powerful PC to use as a render slave.

*I dare you step up to her hardware

@numerobis said:

But the price... The problem is, that you have to pay for the two FirePro cards - if you need them or not.
And yes, no nvidia card...

But i think the positive thing about Apple using AMD is that finally OpenCL gets a push - not sure if it is Apple related but the latest AMD cards are very close to the top nvidia cards in v-ray RT.

Hang about... are you telling me that V-Ray RT can use the ATI cards in the new MacPro?

Hey Mike

I bought my Thunderbolt monitors from Apple Refurbished (had to send one back because it had fluff behind the screen) and have my eye firmly on an almost top spec 27"er

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/G0PG6LL/A/refurbished-27-inch-imac-35ghz-quad-core-Intel-Core-i7

The only thing it doesn't have is the 4GB graphics card... but no bugger can tell me if having more VRAM will help with SU and any SU render engine that I happen to use (Maxwell at the moment but looking at the greener grass of V-Ray)

Funny that...

..my girlfriend and I had a three hour conversation about graphics cards last night and I came to the same conclusion. The problem is, I am totally entrenched in the Mac world. The studio I do most of my freelancing for is Mac based and all the software I own is Mac centric.

I don't really mind spending the dough, but it is just very irritating that Apple chose the GPU platform that no one in the 3D world uses. Fine if you are debayering RED dragon footage in realtime, but total pants for rendering 3D.

I guess I am stuck with an iMac... I might build renderbox to use as a gaming rig/renderer.

This is a very good article that comes to the conclusion that the iMac is pretty much on par...

http://www.electronista.com/articles/14/01/28/entry.level.mac.pro.makes.for.a.tempting.proposition.for.power.users/

I have been using Skalp from the moment it was released and it has changed my workflow dramatically

I tested it out last week with a furniture project in LayOut (scrap of one of many sheets attached). I did this without even reading any literature but not using patterns (our practice uses colours to represent sections) and now I am doing all the building GAs and details for a new project using it.

After meeting Jeroen and Guy at Basecamp last year I didn't hesitate in laying down the cash; these guys have a lot more up their sleeve and I am keen to support their efforts.

If anyone is interested in a workflow gotomeeting I am thinking of doing one next week to discuss Skalp?