@youemailme said:

No apologies necessary! I'm in awe of anyone that can write plug-ins like this, while still carrying on a "day job"! No rush, and thanks again for your contribution to the world of SketchUp!

To make a decent plugin take a lot of work. And it's much more than having an idea and writing a little bit of ruby code. That is the easy part. But testing it. Because it should run on all version of windows and os x, and on all versions of sketchup. It can conflict with other plugins. And the userinterface had to be easy to use too. Oh did I mension there are all kind of browsers and they are different on win and mac and the UI is depended on these browsers. Than there is documentation. The user want a manual and tutorial movies. You should give support on it and a lot of support as nothing to do with your plugin itself but is an os, sketchup or browser issue... Or just stupidity of the user (oh yes I switched of showing images in my browser yesterday, now I understand why your webdialog isn't showing icons anymore... But this is after a join.me session of half an hour.)
Most of the plugins make money for the users by saving a lot of time. Please respect the developers and support there efforts by paying for there hard work.

On special request a Video Tutorial about Skalp Pattern Layers (color by layer).

Skalp Pattern Layers uses an undocumented feature of Color by Layer in combination with the hidden line render mode to create an architectural section with everything white in the model except the section.

@edson said:

you are welcome and deserving of this praise.

a lengthy tutorial on the advanced use you describe from page 25 of the user guide would be very appreciated. everyone using Skalp professionally would thank you for that.

best regards.

Edson,

It's my own favorite way of working which we use must of the time in our architectural office. Special for you I will make my next Video Tutorial on this advanced way of working.

The Skalp Team.

@edson said:

as an early buyer who complained about the lack of tutorials and guides it is only fair that I come here to say that the Skalp people have been posting very instructive short videos and in large number, covering many aspects of the plugin. at this rate, they will surely cover all of it.

besides, the latest user guide is superb in that it covers in detail all the features and tells us things that are not (yet?) in the videos.

skalp is a hugely useful plugin and is worth every cent you pay for it.

Thank you Edson. We appreciate this comment very hard.
More videos tutorials will follow daily until we cover every aspect of Skalp.

Skalp for SketchUp Video Tutorials

We continue to work hard to make Skalp even beter. We just made a breakthrough in sectioning non-solids in SketchUp! Watch out to the upcoming betas...

We develop Skalp full-time with 2 people. It's our goal to make it the best section plugin there is.

The Skalp Team.

You can do a very fast force quit by typing exit! on the ruby console.
It's even a lot faster than a normal quit.

We try to post daily a new Skalp Video Tutorial. You can watch this tutorial videos on our youtube channel:

Youtube Skalp Video Tutorials

Skalp is a generic live section tool, it can work nicely together with a lot of other architectural modeling plugins.

For Example BuildEdge (www.buildedge.com)

The Skalp Team.

@jclements said:

I had a chance to visit with the Skalp developers at the SU conference in Vail this year. They have been working extremely hard to create a 1st class plugin to deal with sections. They have looked at just about every aspect of sectioning and exploited every opportunity available in Ruby; PLUS a lot of ingenuity has gone into into the design of their UI to present a full-featured sectioning tool. They have not left too many stones unturned. Skalp's documentation is good also. I expect their support and continued development will be of the same caliber.

Thanks John.

Indeed we work extremely hard on this plugin to be and to stay the best section plugin for SketchUp. And there is still a lot to do and we have still have a lot of good ideas.

@unknownuser said:

At Skalp you don't buy a plugin, you invest in a way of working.

The Skalp Team.

@kyeric said:

Truly looks like a gamechanger. I would love to develop a SketchUp model and have the ability to export a 2D section cut that retained it's original layer names (i.e. "Wall", "Floor", "Window", "Lightsaber"- you know, the usual

Really looking towards the further development of tools like this and the weaning off of other products to finish the documentation process. Unfortunately, my work is expedited through CAD at the moment. Hope to be able to use LayOut more effectively in the future along with these sorts of plugins.

Thanks for the response, Skalp!

In think that the layer feature for dxf export will be in the beta release we plan at the end of August.

The Skalp Team

@pbacot said:

Thanks! That would be nice. How about is there a way to make custom hatches if you don't own AutoCAD? Your list in the post says "build your own from scratch", so I suppose it is somehow supported within the plugin and SketchUp.

The net is full of pat files that you can use. In version 1.0 you can edit the size, line color, fill color and lineweight. A full pat builder will come in version 1.1 (free update)

The Skalp Team

realSection is become a commercial product called Skalp for SketchUp

The Skalp Team

@pbacot said:

In some posts you mention elevations. What features does Skalp have to help in making elevations? The poor control of lineweight in LO is my main concern. The edges needed for good models are often counter to the sort of clarity and emphasis needed in elevations.

We mention elevation, because you can use the Skalp patterns created with the Skalp Pattern Designer very easy also in elevation. The Skalp Pattern Designer generates tileable textures from autocad pattern files. This textures (patterns) can be used in the section or like a normal SketchUp material to be painted on the faces.

The Skalp Team

@kyeric said:

Awesome! I will give that a shot. I am also wondering if the new Skalp plugin has the same functionality. Thank you!

At this moment you can export your section directly to dxf including hatch patterns with Skalp. But the section come on a special section layer at this moment.

In the final realize (September 2014), you will have the option to keep the SketchUp layer in dxf.

Skalp version 1.0 only exports the section itself to dxf. The hidden lines are not exported in this version but this in high on our which list for the next major release.

For our own architectural office we long used SketchUp in combination with Vectorworks. Modeled everything in SketchUp and used Vectorworks like layout. Just made plot sheets and to place text and dimensions. All done with the predecessor of Skalp. When layout became better we changed our workflow and now we don't use Vectorworks anymore and do everything inside SketchUp with Skalp and Layout

The Skalp Team

@sfto1 said:

Are you going to offer the first non-beta release to beta purchasers for no charge?

Maybe we should place this a little bit more clearly, but you can read in our disclaimer:

@unknownuser said:

Ordering this beta entitles you to all 1.x updates.

Of course you get the final version, and all 1.x updates for free if you buy today. The price of the final version will be higher than the beta version.So there is no reason to wait until tomorrow!

The Skalp Team

@jql said:

@skalp said:

@jolran said:

That looks really nice, I must say.

What I think people want is the edgepatterns in Sketchup, so they can get better print in Layout. (That does come at a cost so I do understand why you use textures)

I don't think one can insert a DXF in LAyout ?
So the workflow is to export DXF. Import DXF to SKetchup and Align to sectioncut, or am I missing a step ?

Best regards/
Joel

Jolran,

We create also tileable textures from autocad pattern files for use in SketchUp and Layout. We optimize the textures for printing at 300dpi (this is the max dpi layout prints) so you want get better results with vectors. Only when we export to layout we change this texture by the original pattern definition.

The Skalp Team.

This system of yours is really great! The only reason stopping me from using Skalp is that I would have to change the way I model in sketchup to be able to have your sections working. I never model the inner parts of the building and design every detail as 2D components inside SU sections.

So (I'm sorry for stealing the thread but...) I have a feature suggestion for you:

A way to make Skalp respect those components and don't erase them when generating a new section, whilst allow them to be exported like the rest of the section. If you had that feature working, then Skalp could really become a completely must have plugin...

I would be really interested in this and if you want to discuss more I could send you some PM or whatever...

Best regards,

JQL

JQL,

This is a good idea, and it fits our future planning. We plan to do more annotation and dimensioning inside our section inside SketchUp. I discuss this with my partner and come back to you in a PM.

regards,

The Skalp Team

@jolran said:

That looks really nice, I must say.

What I think people want is the edgepatterns in Sketchup, so they can get better print in Layout. (That does come at a cost so I do understand why you use textures)

I don't think one can insert a DXF in LAyout ?
So the workflow is to export DXF. Import DXF to SKetchup and Align to sectioncut, or am I missing a step ?

Best regards/
Joel

Jolran,

We create also tileable textures from autocad pattern files for use in SketchUp and Layout. We optimize the textures for printing at 300dpi (this is the max dpi layout prints) so you want get better results with vectors. Only when we export to layout we change this texture by the original pattern definition.

The Skalp Team.

@unknownuser said:

Skalp Holiday Sale. Get 25% off until August 10, with the following coupon code HOLIDAY

Skalp has been designed and built as an easy to use yet powerful Live Section Tool. It represents the key missing features needed to realize a long standing dream: Create your stunning plans and elevations inside SketchUp.

The Skalp development Team has its roots in architecture and 3D software, but that doesn't mean Skalp is for architects or Pro users only. SketchUp is being used in so many disciplines nowadays. Which is why we intended Skalp to be as 'generic' as possible. This means we do not want to change or disrupt your specific workflow.

@unknownuser said:

We feel Skalp should just try to respect whatever and however you're doing in SketchUp and simply boost your ability to create superb drawings.

[highlight=#4080bf:3s3gf17q]Buy Skalp for SketchUp[sup:3s3gf17q[/sup:3s3gf17q]][/highlight:3s3gf17q]

Introduction Movie:

[flash 640,360:3s3gf17q]http://youtube.com/v/5WKKWbm5cg8[/flash:3s3gf17q]

The Skalp Team

@bsfranza said:

good thing is it looks like its as simple as it gets=) not so cumbersome like some other plugins around...

Our main goal is to create a generic and easy to use tool... but with the ability to be extremely powerful.

The Skalp Team

@bsfranza said:

looks ´promising - waiting for the trial though...

Trials wil come in a couple of weeks.

The Skalp Team

@lapx said:

Me too! It would be nice if it could read and tranaslate autocad hatch file. We need some cross polination of the minds on this one.
I wonder if it works on curved surfaces...I must experiment.
Thanks!

Lapx,

Take a look to Skalp for Sketchup, we have a live section tool and handle Autocad hatch patterns. We create tileable textures based on Autocad pattern files and have the ability to export them back to dxf .

The Skalp Team