@d12dozr said:

@jbacus said:

What benefit do you hope to gain from a 64-bit version of SketchUp? This is really the question that needs to be discussed.

From what I understand, it will allow rendering larger models inside Sketchup without running out of RAM.

High resolution image export, especially when antialiased, does require a considerable quantity of memory. But a shift to 64-bit processing probably isn't required for improvement in this area. It would be useful to hear the actual image resolution you're trying to achieve so we can better study the problem.

john
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@khai said:

I make Poser content as a base, but which it being OBJ can be loaded into any application that supports OBJ. eg Maya, Lightwave, Cinema4D, Max, Hexagon, Carrara, Vue, Softimage, Blender, Wings3D, .... the list goes on. of those apps only Softimage, Max.. I think Maya and Cinema read DAE. and even then it's not guaranteed as supported as OBJ. infact for UVmapping work the 2 major UVapps UVlayout and UVmapper only support OBJ!

but from your answers I'm not holding out much hope of getting the point across.

I think I get your point just fine. So what you want to do is make models in Poser that can be loaded into a SketchUp scene? According to this page (http://poser.smithmicro.com/poserpro.html) Poser Pro 2010 supports COLLADA import/export.

john
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@unknownuser said:

Google, you already have all the suggestions you need. Implement some of those and get back to us with v8.1, then we'll give you some more

Of the top ten suggestions from last fall's "Product Ideas" series, we implemented (or at least improved) about half in SU8– including Boolean modeling tools, color snapshots from Google Earth, and angular dimensions. We also improved toolbars and laid groundwork for poché in section cuts. Don't let the opportunity to pitch your ideas again pass by without our hearing your voice.

john
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@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

I agree that Push/Pull operations from multiple pre-selections would be a neat thing to add. We might do something like that in the future, but it wasn't possible to do so for SU8.

Not "possible" seems like pretty strong language, particularly considering someone already figured out how to incorporate it (Joint Push/Pull).

I think you misunderstood my point. I don't mean that it is impossible for someone to write a push/pull operation that operates on multiple pre-selections. Instead, I meant that it was impossible for us to do so in the time available before the release of SU8. Simply put, it wasn't something we wanted to work on instead of the other things we did work on.

john
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@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

What benefit do you hope to gain from a 64-bit version of SketchUp? This is really the question that needs to be discussed.

Speed (particularly with plugin routines) and the ability to carry higher poly counts without considerable slowing. SU can't handle more than 1 high poly tree or car for architectural renderings.

64-bit processing will have no benefit to managing higher poly counts without considerably slowing. Performance in this area depends either on the capability of your GPU, or the clock speed of your CPU. Memory is not the bottleneck for these kinds of operations.

john
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@khai said:

but no one's using Collada!
everyone's using OBJ.

I think you have to define 'everyone.' What, precisely, is the workflow that you are trying to use? Where to you want your SketchUp model to end up, and for what purpose?

john
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@bob james said:

I find OBJ export, but I don't find OBJ Importin SU8 Pro. Am I missing something basic?

That's correct- SketchUp does not have an OBJ importer, and it never has. While it is tempting to think of import and export as being symmetrical processes, in fact they are not. An importer is considerably more complex/difficult to maintain than an exporter.

john
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@krisidious said:

personally I find it very hard to believe that a 64bit processor with 4 or more gigs of ram will take longer to perform a function like followandkeep.rb than a 32 bit processor with 3.5 gigs of ram. this plugin takes some time to calculate all of it's faces and such... with something like a complex hand rail. I expect that when exporting 3D dwgs that it will be a shorter export time. I expect that when using software addins like Vray, that my renders will go more quickly when more ram is available. If you tell me I'm wrong and that 64bit software will not help me then I defer to your knowledge of both this software and computers in general as surely someone in your position knows more about both.

I think we (on the SketchUp team) have been fairly consistent in the position we've taken on this 64-bit issue. I know it it is hard to believe that "64-bit" doesn't magically make everything faster, but it just doesn't. Some kinds of computation benefit from 64-bits, and some do not. SketchUp modeling operations do not benefit.

john
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@khai said:

what I would love to know from the SU team is this.
Why Collada over OBJ in the free edition? or in general?

Quite simply, COLLADA is a modern, open and extensible format which lives and breathes for asset exchange. I've got no problem with .OBJ per se, but it isn't as capable as COLLADA. It certainly is older, and this means that it is more likely to be supported by a wider range of apps. But I don't see how it is fundamentally better as an exchange format.

john
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@diego-rodriguez said:

a question.
if google decided to upgrade pushpull.
why not add more options?

I agree that Push/Pull operations from multiple pre-selections would be a neat thing to add. We might do something like that in the future, but it wasn't possible to do so for SU8.

john
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@rickgraham said:

Having been on the beta test process for several Autodesk products, I can say with 100% certainty that requests won't go unanswered. In one of them, they even personally emailed me for more information and how I would use it in my workflow.

I think if you were a part of our beta program, you'd find that we are similarly responsive there. There's a difference between the level of communication possible behind the protection of an NDA and a open public discourse like we're having here– but I think we're pretty open regardless. Of course openness means we'll discuss issues as we see them, not that we'll implement 100% of your feature requests. We're not a huge team, and we have our own ideas about where we want to take SketchUp.

btw: this "SketchUp is nothing but a Google Earth Plugin" meme some of you are promoting is really a bit short sighted, and I hope it doesn't prevent you from taking advantage of the cools stuff we're able to build leveraging Google's vast collection of geo-data for architectural design and planning.

john
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@fossa said:

SU's future development is crystal clear as far as I'm concerned. Someone said earlier "google earth plugin", and I couldn't agree more. Until one of the other companies decides there is enough revenue to be generated by adding some SU like tools into their product line we are stuck with SU as it currently is.

Better learn to love it as is. Its not going anywhere.

Correct. We're not going anywhere. We are planning to continue developing SketchUp as "3D modeling for everyone." Exactly what we've been doing for the last ten years. Happily, SketchUp usage continues to increase at a respectable clip every month, and we're finding new users in all kinds of unexpected markets.

We don't have plans to shift our roadmap to more completely duplicate the capabilities of either the large DCC apps (like Max, Maya, Softimage, Cinema4d, or Lightwave) or the BIM apps (like Revit or Archicad). But this shouldn't really come as a surprise to any of you that have been with us for a while.

john
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@panga said:

The worst thing in Google developpement process of SU, is that they maintain a big silence before each of their release for finally releasing just some powder (despite their mutiples polls) , making SU a google earth plugin !! Com'on, is that serious ?!!

We don't, as a matter of policy, discuss unreleased features in any Google product. Similarly, we didn't pre-announce features in development when we were @Last Software. We do listen to user input, but it doesn't guide 100% of our development effort. We also have our own ideas about features we'd like to add to SketchUp next.

Generally speaking, I think we've got a good release when we've got something that the user community asked for, something genuinely new on the market, and some basic improvement to the core application. I think we did all of that with this release.

john
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@johnsenior1973 said:

@frederik said:

@notareal said:

...but a major version release - it does not add up.

Couldn't agree more... This should have been a v.7.2 or something...

~ v 6.4 for me.

SU7 and SU8 are just point upgrades from SU6 IMO. Sketchup is still an awesome programme, but it is pretty much as good as it's ever going to be.

You're just making semantic judgements- that doesn't have anything to do with our decision to increment the version number. We increment to a major version number when we think that we've made enough changes that users will want to keep both the new version and the old version installed side-by-side. If we made this release "7.2" or something like that, you wouldn't be able to keep your 7.1 build installed at the same time.

john
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@cadmunkey said:

Jeez.. no 64 bit version in 2010? C'mon Google you've dropped the ball! You beta testers couldnt persuade them?

What benefit do you hope to gain from a 64-bit version of SketchUp? This is really this question that needs to be discussed.

john
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@jaxcoffee said:

I liked grabbing the Ariel from Google Earth better. The graphics coming into 8 seem a little fuzzy to me with this new method. I'll have to test it on some other regions, but it's a little clumsy, most likely because it's new. Old work flows die hard.

The old 'from Earth' method was actually providing you with considerably less detailed data. Particularly so in the case of the terrain data, which is now pulled directly from a shiny new terrain data service that gives you direct access to the best quality that Google has in your chosen location. As far as the imagery is concerned, the new "Add Location" UI gives you exactly what you see on the screen when you press the 'Grab' button. If you want more resolution in the imagery, zoom in.

john
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@rickgraham said:

Sorry - but just about every other major upgrade that I have used (vX to vX) had visual differences. Sadly, v8 FREE visually looks EXACTLY like v7. No new visual improvements. It may be faster, speed-wise but I would have preferred to have some visual differences. It looks like a Win 95 interface for 2010 and beyond. Heck, even some betas that I've been involved in look radically different form Beta to beta.

Hi Rick,

Many users prefer that the look of the UI not change dramatically from release to release.

john
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@charly2008 said:

I can currently see no advantage for me in Sketchup 8 Pro. I, like many others, had wished that the error with the toolbar in Sketchup 7 will be corrected.

We added a feature in SU8 that allows you to save and restore toolbar configurations. Was this not the error you wanted corrected?

@charly2008 said:

Most of the additions or improvements seems to be in connection with Google Earth.

If you are an architect, it may be interesting to know that we have just granted you convenient access to Google's complete collection of geo-spatial imagery for more or less the entire world. In many parts of the world, you can now build a site model with accurate terrain, aerial and street-level photography and rough massing models for adjacent structures in minutes... without leaving your desk.

john
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@krisidious said:

I used the DWG Export in Layout3 and it seems to be kinda fake... it does export the layout lines to Auto-CAD and it converts text to actual Auto-CAD text, however the Sketchup model itself does not export out of layout as vector lines. it comes out as a referenced image in the dwg file.

LayOut is exporting the exactly what has been rendered in the model view. If you want vectors in the exported file, be sure that you have vector rendered the model view.

john
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@pixero said:

I just went there and J. Bacus answer for the 64bit question says it all:
"What benefit do you hope to gain from a 64-bit version of SketchUp?"

They really have no clue as to real world usage of SU have they?
Why am I using Photoshop 64 bit instead of the 32 bit version?
Why am I using 3dsmax 64 bit instead of the 32 bit version?
Why? Because of memory limitations, basically.
What is so hard to understand about that?

Pixero: Please be civil if you want useful interaction with the SketchUp team.

Our development team believes that a 64-bit version of SketchUp will provide little to no actual benefit to you for the majority of modeling/rendering operations. In fact, a 64-bit version of SketchUp is likely to run slower in many operations. So my question is both an accurate and relevant one. What class of operations do you hope will be improved by a move to 64-bit processing?

If what you really want is the ability to export images at higher resolutions, please ask for that. We don't really have to shift to 64-bit processing to improve image export resolution.

If what you really want is the ability to interact with larger/more complex models at interactive frame rates, please ask for that. 64-bit processing doesn't have any relevance to this problem, but we do make performance improvements in this area with every release.

john
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