Hey all,

I have a dilemma. I am exporting an SKP model as a DAE Collada file to import into Lumion. When I pull the model into Lumion there is geometry appearing in the middle of my carpark. I have gone back through my SKP model with a fine tooth comb checking outliner a number of times for the hidden groups toggled unhide geometry hundreds of times but nothing there. I downloaded and ran the Unhide all ruby and ran that a couple of time but again no luck. When I import the Collada file back into SKP the geometry is gone.

Anyone have any ideas about why this might be happening. Thanks in advance.

Very clean result Mathew, congratulations. Was this done with Lumion or Lumion Pro? I have been playing with the lumion free version and yes, heavily watermarked but quite intuitive and easy to use. Considering what you would have had to pay a specialist outfit to produce the video and stills (here in NZ anyway) it would payback on the first project.

Well, took the plunge and updated to SU 2013 and like Big mike am pleasantly surprised at the how quick it is and how well it handles larger models. I was struggling with a plus 50 meg file last week. and had this referenced into LO. It used to take SU about 3-4 minutes to crank up and open the file, now it does the same one in 15-20 seconds max. Not sure why that is but for me its feeling like a more stable programme than SU8. LO especially is great now that vector rendering is way quicker and am also liking the textures in LO as well.
Getting a new desktop built at the moment with SSD so cant wait to see how quick it is then.
As for Gripes, they are getting less but I think trimble should take a serious look at Visualarq. If SU is heading in a similar direction then I would be one happy camper

Jeff,

Totally agree, you have to use the right tool for the right job and one that is going to do it the most efficiently. In my sitaution our work can range from a simple new office fitout...(where SU excels) to a 5 star hotel that has a consultant design team of 10 and upwards.Having the structural engineer, surveyor, geotech engineer HVAC, electrical and hydraulics engineers all working from the same BIM model is key for us. Since I dont use revit but I employ Architects and technicians who do, SU has become my pencil and yellow trace on streoids. It allows me to quickly test design ideas and share them with the team.

For me, teaching myself Revit is just not a good utilisation of my time, As much as I would enjoy it since I come from a drafting background, I am better off employing people who have been using revit for many years. As a conceptual tool I think using revit would be like wading through mud compared to how quickly I can use SU. The models I do ( which I call in the office concept models) do infact have quite a lot of detail in them. Some models go through various phases of development over many months. As I mentioned in a previous post, its a real shame that all of this hard work in SU cant be leveraged through export to Revit to kickstart the detail design process. My feeling is the first time I will able to do this will pay back on any programme I purchased to perform this task probably 10 fold. Unfortunately, SU can only export a dumb block into Revit but Rhino / VisualArq also exports retaining all parametric features of components.With the cost of a Rhino and VA licence running at approx. NZ$1,600.00. I would give myself a 6 month phase in period of SU to Rhino, payback would be within the first year and just get better after that.

So for me, I will still use SU but only when it suits the job at hand like you Jeff but I think the development of SU has stagnated somewhat, either that or my expectation for the programme and where it was heading were ill founded I feel it could be the beginning of a messy divorce for me SU.

[quote="arail1"]This is a Novedge webinar from a couple of days ago that's pretty good if you haven't already seen it.
http://www.novedge.com/webinar/74

Arail,
Yea, I had a good look at that webinar, quite impressive and very similar to SU in alot of ways. I agree Grasshopper is one impressive plugin but something that would take me years to master.
Another vote here for SU to Rhino / VisualArq thread.

Well, I have been using SU for the past 7 years and am now having serious doubts after reading some of these posts whether i should upgrade or not.I use profile Builder and Windowizer 4 daily and consider them both a very important part of my workflow. If these dont work in SU 2013 then why would I even consider upgrading!!! If Trimble are not going to take this programme seriously and listen to users requests then frankly I need to seriously start looking at alternatives.
One I have had my eye on for a while which I seriously looked at a couple of years ago was the Rhino plugin VisualArq. Back when I looked at it it was at best on a par with SU so couldnt really justify the change. I have spent the afternoon looking at VisualArq videos and must say it has come a LONG LONG way since I last looked at it. Best of all it exports to Revit in IFC format retaining all the parametric atributes of the components. One of my pet SU frustrations has always been the amount of work I put into building concept models and not being able to leverage that work by exporting into say Revit for documentation. Smaller projects I have done in LO but larger commercial projects need to be documented in a platform shared by other consultants on the team like Revit.The scheduling in VisualArq looks great as well.
I would be intrested to hear if anyone else has similar feelings or has made the transition from SU to Rhino.

Nick,

Great informative videos I took great pleaseure in showing these to my Revit technicians in the office....the ones always telling me that SU is a cartoon / toy suitable only for concept work, thier views have now changed somewhat

A question I have relates to the various static models you have to generate various views like reflected ceiling plans and interior elevations. In a situation where you have to amend the main working model, how are these amendments managed / carried through the other models?

It is great to hear Trimble are are talking to you Nick, as others have mentioned, hopefully we will see a serious detail design tool allowing all of us to take full advantage of the hardwork that goes into an SU model at concept and PD stage.

Also, I see you use a tablet rather than a mouse, I would be interested to hear what the advantages are of using the tablet.

Keep up the great work Nick

Yep, another great Kiwi invention....go NZ

Impressive model Liam

hey thanks guys, I knew that last comment would flush some of you out. My practice is only small but we are starting to JV with larger practices on larger work. I have always relied on my SKP model to convey to my clients the design intent however, lately where we have been working in a D&C procurement with a builder, they have shown me up several times in front of my client. I turn up with my ipad and my images from my SKP model, the dam builder turns up with a physical model complete with crane etc etc. Needless to say, my client just loves it when the builder pulls the roof off exposing the interior layout of the project complete with people to give an idea of scale.

I havent built a model since my university days but recently when I was in the main foyer of a large architectural practice in Auckland they had on display a number of beautfil simple design models, very simple but elegant. Thats when I thought I really have to start seriously looking at how I can leverage off my quite detailed SKP models to build a physical model and put the builders back in there place.

I had a further play around with the unfold tool today. Its not bad, very simple and allows you to place tabs. The idea is to set the templates up in LO and print onto a heavy weight card. I will let you know how I get on and that for the responses, much appreciated.

S

I guess I am the only Architect here building cardboard design models.

Hi All,

I have been scouring the forum for information on the best un-fold program to create paper models. I have tried Waybe ( cant get it to work) Flattery (crashes my computer) I am reluctant to fork out $38 bucks on pepakura. Unfold is nice and simple but doesnt add tags. I would be interetsed to hear the work flow from other architects on how they produce quick cardboard architectural models from their skp models.

Stan

Sonder,

Thanks for the reponse. It only happens with the layer toggled to appear on all sheets. I can turn the visibility on or off but when closing the file it doesnt save the visibiliy. What I have done is gone back to having layers appear on a single sheet (like a construction grid) and copy it to the sheets I want, that seems to work OK. Thanks

Not sure if anyone else has this problem but in LO when I have a layer appearing on multiple pages and I hide that layer on some specific pages, when I save and close the file and open up again the layers appear on all pages. so I have to go back through the file and hide the layer from the selcted pages again. Am I doing something wrong? Is it a bug? or does LO simply not do this? Any ideas anyone?

Stan

Hi All,
I would be interested to hear from SU users on how they handle vehicle tracking and swept paths on site plans they are developing. To date I have generally used static dwg's of various vehicles and inserted into the SU file or in layout. It all comes unstuck when tracking a reversing truck or car. May be someone is developing a plugin for this, that would be fantastic.

John,

Top modeling mate, nurse Gladys Emannuelles Morris parked out the front would top it off Love it.

Redfox,

Your modelling is excellent and really shows the how powful SKP is in the right hands. Thanks for sharing

Chris,

These are fantastic but i was captivated by the laser projection on to the building I am wanting to do something specila for a building down here in NZ but I imagine the $$$ for this sort of technology will be right up there.

Stan

Great detail and stunning images. The only Critique I have is perhaps a lack of people in the images to give an idea of scale.

Dan, yep got it all going. Thanks for your help.

Thanks Dan, I will take a closer look.