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Hi TIG:
When using SU2018 there seems to be a glitch. The starting point of the leader for the elevation label is no longer "sticky" (if the surface or end-point to which leader is pointing is pushpulled or moved, the leader doesn't move with it).
However, when "Make Selected Text Dynamic" is applied to a regular leader text, the leader of the converted text IS "sticky".
Regards, John
Has anyone heard from Todd Burch within the last few days ???
If I remember correctly, he lives in Katy, Texas which is in the flood zone.
Give the ability to enter Latitude and Longitude coordinates using the same formats found in Google Earth.
Since many Toolbar titles are too long to be displayed in their Titlebar, allow a right-click on the Titlebar to display the full title besides the cursor.
Divide Edges (DE) is a nice new addition to your toolset. Thank you!
Perhaps a version of DE could be adapted to produce dashed lines? When selected only an ODD number of segments would be available, then every-other-segment after the first segment would be deleted or hidden (not sure which would be the best to go). Maybe it could be "parametric" in the sense that the user could restore the original at later time and apply and different number of segments.
LAYER MANAGER
The Layer Manager organizes geometry for user convenience which it does well. However, SU is being used for a variety of different purposes by so many people/disciplines.
I feel Layer Manager redesign needs to be a primary target of SU 2018. It could alleviate a lot of frustration for many users and facilitate modeling efficiency.
My contention is that it needs to be far more flexible/configurable, with hooks in the API that will allow developers to do their thing.
So, trash the UI.
Use the Spreadsheet paradigm. The current fields/columns would would remain the same (and perhaps unconfigurable ?) so that templates and models from previous versions would remain in tact.
The UI would be user modifiable. New Columns could be added which could be assigned properties which could be sorted alphabetically, numerically, etc., for instance: a project phase assignment and I suspect many other useful category designations needed for different disciplines.
Column order would be changed by merely dragging column headings with the mouse. They could be assigned a background color. Perhaps styles could be assigned to columns which could be toggled on or off for specific layer(s).
Layers could have sublayers ( a sublayer "level" would be assigned as a "child" column with the ability to control the indentation of each child column by allowing the user to drag the sublayer column borders sideways).
Layers could be put into groups (for 4-d construction phasing, progressive disclosures, project phasing, assigning the background color of layers in the Layer Manager. Layer Groups could be used to override certain properties of the layers contained within them. Layer Groups (and layers) could be manually reordered by dragging the layer vertically
Layers could be locked.
There would be a SOLO MODE for layers. When toggled on to Solo Mode, all other layers would be temporarily hidden. This would facilitate editing of complex models and quickly verifying that geometry has been assigned to the proper layer.
I guess you could consider this suggestion to be a Data and Geometry Management system with a Layer Manager contained within in it.
TIG, first of all, thank you!
Three suggestions for an update:
1- Would it be possible to add to the submenu, an option to specify a new (or existing) layer the leader text would automatically be assigned too?
After using the plugin, a lot for all these years, I find that the text can get in the way at times but is still is required. So being able to turn it off for certain scenes via the Layer Manager is the answer ... but I often forget to change layers before using the plugin.
2- Ability to add prefix-text to a leader's text with descriptors such as "TOS" (top of slab) or "Pipe Invert" . That text would remain even if attached to geometry that is moved but could later be edited manually by the user.
3- Instead of creating the leader with a mouse-click, have it created via click-and-drag. With the current version, many times I have to adjust the leader's position with the text tool immediately after placing it with the mouse-click.
Could there be a print-list and/or copy-list-to-file function in their UI's?
I did a search for "color" via the SketchUcation Extension Store but did not find anything that related to my problem
When I examined the colors in my model, there a some colors/textures that appear to be duplicates (with different names) or are very similar or obviously not needed. I'd like to be able to replace those with just one color.
Is there a way to search for and select surfaces by color?
Better yet, first have a means to output the number of usages of each of the model colors then, based upon that search, replace those colors that have a low usage.
I believe that Intel graphics has been an issue in the past for SketchUp.
Does anyone have any info whether this would still be an issue with the new MacBook Pro?
Also check out Affinity Designer. $39.99
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/
MAC and Windows versions.
Hi Dale:
Pretty impressive "preview" video. Thanks for publishing it.
YouTube Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa_bZE4ljbQ%26amp;feature=em-uploademail
Some questions:
1- If, for example, you were to open the Manhattan Model at a later date and needed to expand the site area, will the plugin be able to "remember" the original area's boundaries and other settings so that the added areas would be seemless with the original?
2- How would the data be imported relative to the SU model's origin? Can you determine the where model's original would be from inside the "grab" UI?
3- Since you are able to control/sync the camera in Street View could there be a way to use your algorithm to determine the height of buildings in Street View? For example, go to a residential area in Street View and click on base of a house and then the ridge of roof.
Might want to checkout Xara. http://Www.Xara.com. I gave up on Corel.
It has a good core of basic drawing tools which, when combined, can produce cool results. The tools are interactive (Corel attempted to copy most of Xara's interactive tools with v7 but couldn't replicate Xara's ease of use and speed). Can do a multitude of things. There are different products from the less expensive to the full blown Pro Designer.
Originally developed in the UK for Acorn computer in 1981, by Charles Moir ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xara ) one of the very first vector graphics apps, no MAC version. I started using it on my 386 PC's and haven't stopped since.
Lots of movie-tutorials on their website and at Gary Pristers' XaraXone
http://site.xaraxone.com/gary-w-priester/
What some artist's have produced with it: http://www.xara.com/us/gallery/
Some examples of Xara illustrations of stuff I did a long time ago (not necessarily "high-end" 
) but does show it can be an all in one app.
https://goo.gl/photos/4EvjmEd2RhWoiP1s5
Often I create holes from intersections of cylinders, for example the intersection of two pipes. Sometimes the surfaces of the intersection are deleted. See attached examples.
If, later on, I need to restore the "hole" it can be time consuming.
I was wondering about a hybrid Make Faces such that colinear and coplaner edges in a selection are used to regenerate faces. Perhaps with an options to smooth or group the result?
Even sandbox can have undesired results. I think this could aid in QUICKLY patching those problems too.
Sometimes Autofold doesn't work the way you want it to work and you have to manually drawn lines to create the desired surfaces.
Is there already a script that would accomplish what is diagrammed below (user pre-selects edges then clicks at place to where lines are to be drawn from the endpoints of the segments in the selection and then smooths the resulting surfaces)?
I do save into a project folder from which I import images into SU, but I'd like to eliminate all the intermediate steps be pasting directly into SU.