I also don't agree. Performance and speed depend on how a program is designed to utilize memory. Performance to me, is not just speed, but capability. To negate the possibility that SU can't provide more capability going to a 64 bit format would be unfortunate. I think we will all look back some day and laugh at the days of 32 bit programming.

What about animation export? Or high res .jpeg export? Why wouldn't processes like these work faster, similar to the benefits 64 bit processing provides other render engines? Same would go for LO.

The only way this occurs is if the reference link is not updated or the link is broken.

@thomthom said:

Firehose!

Ok, sorry to burst the bubble, but I contacted the SketchUp team to verify this and they replied that there is no 64bit builds of the next SketchUp version.

They have no knowledge of anyone in the team ever making this claim.

They also stressed that they have a company policy to never reveal specific information on new features about the next version prior to it's release.

And they still told you this to post on a public forum? The reality is, eventually 32bit programming will be a thing of the past. Maybe the next version is still 32bit, but eventually it will have to move in the same direction of everything else out there.

@thomthom said:

@unknownuser said:

I'm hopeful! I need to start using all 64Gb of memory in my new machine!

Why? When have you run out of memory while using SketchUp?

Well it would be impossible to run out of memory when the max capable of the program is less than 4gb. I do use other 64 bit programs, that clearly utilize the extra memory. So yes I'm always hopeful for more speed. I know you are not saying SU is as fast as it needs to be. Correct?

I'm hopeful! I need to start using all 64Gb of memory in my new machine!

Tig is correct. I am a pretty much a stock SU user. I don't use many plugins at all that are related to modeling. One of my hopes this year is to experiment a little more. It doesnn't take me all that long to generate the line work for a plan with my current process. At most 10 minutes per floor with a larger home, but that does add up. I certainly would love to have the linework generated perfectly with a simple click.

Thanks for the compliments folks! This is actually a great subject, as I spend most of my time in the SU model, prepping it for LO. This makes your layer structure very important. Some real quick basics I use in my workflow:

1. Group by floor level (even if there are mid levels)
2. Assign overall layer control to each level (first floor, second floor, roof, etc)
3. Within each group, model using components and groups as much as possible.
4. Immediately establish your scenes for LO

Number 1 and 2 let you toggle overall views with a single layer, regardless of the layers assigned to individual groups and components contained in the main groups.

Number 3, for obvious reasons, simpifies the never ending processes of changes.

Number 4, allows you to see necessary editing in the model for your final scenes right from the start.

These are just a couple of basic rules I follow on each model to help speed up the flow.

@gaieus said:

@solo said:

And then there are those days when SU just does not want to achieve the result in your head.

Ah well, I have that with pencil (or as a matter of fact, with my wife) too.

And as your wife will tell you, it all comes down to "operator error"!

It really helps to isolate individual geometries into groups when doing a complex roof. I see that roof broken into at least 12 individual groups. When you do this, it is much easier to resolve the intersection geometry. This is especially true if you intend to resolve the resulting ceiling underneath.

@yojimbo1 said:

Screen shot of Layers in my current LO project. I have watched a tutorial on "pages and layers" in Layout several times but this Layers page still is a complete mystery to me. I understand the concept of "layering", however I feel like this thing has a mind of its own. I am missing a crucial piece of understanding in this puzzle.

Not sure how one layer gets attached to a page, or unattached.

The right column that has the icon of a single or multiple pages: You click it to toggle between the two. In that screen shot, you have two layers "unique elements" and "on every page" set to be on every page. Any entity that is drawn or copied to those layers will appear on every page in the file.

You can actually set every layer to be on every page if you like. Then you control each page by visibility only. I do this to certain layers if I want to quickly reference something from another page. An example would be site plans. I set a contour lines layer to be on every page, but I don't necessarily want to print contour lines on every page. In that case, I just use the eyeball to control each page.

@chris fullmer said:

I could see a scenario where it happens.

If you have set your model to automatically fix problems and not let you know, then SU will fix all non planar faces and broken face loops and stuff. Sometimes in the process of fixing things, geometry gets deleted. If you have it set to not warn you that it is fixing your model, then it may appear that geometry is being randomly deleted.

That might be a possibility.

Yes this is possible. Happened to me many years ago. It is due to inaccurate modeling by the user. For a long time on a particular house mode, I couldn't figure out why this was happening, until I found the error myself.

In my case it was a single roof plane that was not aligning correctly, so when the fix dialogue box would come up, I would click "yes" and the roof plane would disappear. Once I re set the roof, it never happened again. So I have experienced this, but only once in 2006.

The visibility is also very powerful. You can really control aspects between a couple pages in a single set.

Set your dimensions to "auto" when dimensioning a perspective view since that view has no scale. You probably have it set to 1:1.

Look on the right side of the layers - you can chose the layer to be on multiple or one page. The layer you are working on is set to be on all pages. You could possibly be seeing it appear on only two of the seven pages if the visibility (eye ball) is off on 5 pages.

Sorry, I was referring only to the smoothing aspect. This has been discussed here multiple times. The disappearing geometry is new to me. I have never seen that. Check that you haven't accidently assigned the geometry to a hidden layer.

This is a known glitch. It happens if you save while something is selected. Get in the habit of unselecting items before you save, and while not working on the model (it can happen with autosave as well).

The element above is the top of a 3 story stair tower. Here it is finished (unfortunately the photographer couldn't easily capture the element, but it gives you a better idea of scale:

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

Here it is freshly installed.

are those 6x6s ?!

They are 12x12's - 200 psf snow load. The structure is 18 feet in diameter - center point to center of segment of course

@utiler said:

That sounds neat, Nick... would love to see the process pics...!

The piece is a center steel knife plate with 8 plates. It is 54" in diameter. In the first video, that google released on my process, there is a small segment showing the model of this element.

No shop drawings were prepared other than the SU model.

Here it is freshly installed.

Gai, definitely a compliment! Props to you.