I've got one, and it stays in the cupboard. I can't get on with it at all.

But, I swear by Logitech trackball mice (the USB marble ones). Honestly!

PS, remus, I hate to disappoint you, but there is no such thing as 'RSI', just poorly implemented ergonomic workstation set ups. My wife is an HR manager- it's her job to know about these things. She has put me straight (pardon the pun) on this issue. RSI is usually an excuse for most employers not to supply you adequate workstation set-ups. Stand up for your rights! (again, no pun....) Don't take no s***!

@amit raoot said:

I dont know why people waste money on costly CAD Software's when they can get the same results with *****CAD .
Anybody who is familiar with ****CAD can immediately use *****CAD without any training because the layout, commands, toolbars are almost same.
For architects, engineers, interior designers, builders & developers.

(links removed, and post edited)

I know this thread is old, and I apologise for acting like a moderator, when I am not, but it really makes me annoyed when hard nosed salespeople use viral marketing techniques such as the method highlighted above. It's so easy to spot, once you know the technique. Some bloke comes in with the 'hard sell', then some 'other' (usually the same person), posing with a another's name- but almost always, just one post- ie, their first post to the forum (and with the same IP address too I may add!). This is spam of the ugliest order because it is so dishonest, and as a result, I won't be touching this PCAD software with a barge pole. Shame.

As for the rest of the thread, I agree that cracked software is wrong- simply because, imho, cracking software allows the heavies to remain as the market leaders, because all those who have (illegal) copies, will be those very copies that are considered the industry standard. But I disagree with the statement about Autodesk charging so much because of illegal copies been made, as I think we are going back to the same philosophy behind Apple versus HP or Mercedes verses Ford. Autodesk charges so much for ACAD because they believe it's worth that much (technologies, R&D etc). Ridiculous really, especially for essentially what is a 2D vector application, with a bit of ACIS thrown in for a slice of the 3D experience. I'm rather pleased that Autodesk never bought Atlast software, as it may now cost thousands. It may also have ceased to exist, with the technology turning up in ACAD, Revit and Inventor (which, actually, it already has (licenced?)), in the latter two titles!

Tim, here's another;

StreamCAD

In 'early development', but I think the poor developer needs more friends/ helpers.

@tig said:

The 2D Toolset includes a fillet/chamfer tools that works in 3D too...

Oh cool! Thanks TIG

I'll have to have another go. I'm going to have to try out SU Animate as well during the next week, because I've got to do a 3D SketchUp 'walk-through' in front of an audience, Sunday week. I'm a tad apprehensive as this is the first time I've had to do this (apart from at university- and even then, they were stills in Powerpoint).

@david. said:

I feel reputable companies have a vested interest in making sure the software they sell is safe. And, there is the issue of bugs. No software is perfect, so some bugs will result in security risks.

Safe? Security risks?? I know that the American military were once hacked into because they were running Windows, but don't you think this level of thinking is just a touch on the side of the paranoid?

@alan fraser said:

Although the usage of SU by architects is second only to ACAD, well over 90% of them appear to be using the plain vanilla version...quite often a couple of releases back, due to inertia on either their part or that of the IT department....with no enhancements whatsoever...not even components...just the sampler that comes with the program or those obtained by the linkage to the 3D Warehouse. They've never even heard of Sketchucation...much less Smustard or Didier's site.

This is a very true, very well perceived observation. In fact the architect who I work for still does all his drawings by hand! I have to transfer these drawings into QCad (I don't have the budget for ACAD- not even LT, and he doesn't have the time to learn CAD), then into SketchUp (I will be buying Pro very soon). The only reason I have played with rubies is because I'm a freelancer. The rest of the department (which is part of a college) is connected via the IT department, who still use XP. My colleague who sits opposite me, uses Creative Suite 3 still, because IT can't afford to upgrade due to a very tight (and largely non-existent) budget.

Personally I think Google should licence all the best stuff (like Autodesk used to) and integrate it into SketchUp, rather than people having to seek these plugins out.

PS, I just put "Windows XP crashes" into Google, and it came back with a hit figure of 13 million (13,000,000)- which would make sense, (if we are using your logic), because;

a) XP has been around about the same time as OS X,

b) there are a lot more PC's running windows out there,

and

c) W7 is a relatively new operating system.

So like I said, completely pointless research.

@ecuadorian said:

Mystery solved.

Well, no. Not in my opinion. This 'mystery' (whatever mystery that was in the first place) isn't solved- because using Google to collate information like that is highly unscientific, and fails to consider many other aspects of why you may be getting figures like that.

For example, In 2003 I signed up with Virgin Media for the internet. They gave me a USB modem called a Thompson 330, which although ran fairly okay on my PC, gave my Mac constant kernel panics, freezing Mac OS X. If I unplugged it, the Mac was wonderfully stable all the (other) time. The 330 was one of those "free with your breakfast cereal" type modems- with software that ran independently from your network settings within the preferences window. Virgin would also refuse to give support, unless you had these crappy things plugged in to your PC.

The figures you get from these rather pointless Google searches, are probably based on information based on hits from those connecting bad "made for PC and ported badly to Mac" hardware, amongst many more factors that you are failing to take into consideration. So really this is about bad software, not Macs. Perhaps even from recent switchers who don't yet know how to run with a Mac properly, and there are a lot of them too. There's even a magazine in the UK now, dedicated to switchers!

We've got some trouble | 403 - Access Denied

(www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk)

@remus said:

There were a few dodgy ones before this but i've found this one to do everything i need.

Thanks Remus. I'll give it a spin. I was having so many problems with getting certain plugins to work, that I had decided not to use them, but I will give this a try, because it is such a useful function to have.

Tom

@unknownuser said:

@tfdesign said:

it's just a case of knowing the 'tricks of the trade'

you're right, all the stuff possible with rubies are possible with native SU tools (though i really wouldn't consider attempting an SDS operation manually). a decent understanding of geometry can get you pretty far in this game but still, what you rather do in this situation:

ya dig?

Yes. Point taken. I dig!

@tim said:

QCad was utterly incomprehensible and refused to import the files.

Tim, have you had any more luck in this department?

I've been using QCad for about 5 years now (and have been using Macs for 20+ years). I absolutely love QCad! I do admit that it does choke on certain DXF/DWG files, but I would blame that on Autodesk rather than anyone else. Even some Autodesk apps also have problems opening up ACAD files!! QCad works with R12 type DXF files but nothing else.

QCad cost me about £14 (about $26 at the time). I used it all the way through my degree- when I was being forced to work with ACAD on PC's. It fooled everyone. My recommendation is to print out the manual, and ring bind the pages. There's nothing like a good absorption of knowledge while sitting on the throne!!

QCad works painlessly with SketchUp, but what makes QCad so nice (although admittedly doesn't look or behave, very 'Mac'- which is also a slight turn off), is that it is both multi-platform, and portable.

You could also try (for reading DWG files), Punch! Software's ViaCAD (which also works with SketchUp), and/or download the latest build of Rhino for Mac. ViaCAD, like ACAD, is ACIS based, and so therefore has little trouble reading DWG files. You can then export back into SU.

BUT, and it's a big BUT, on the whole, generally all CAD software hates its neighbours- which makes it all, such a headache. There is an internationally accepted format called IGES, but again models exported using IGES can also loose geometric data. SpaceClaim excels at importing rogue data, but then is Windows only

We will have to wait for Autodesk to bring ACAD to Mac OS X!
http://www.archdaily.com/19718/autodesk-autocad-for-mac-osx/

regards,

Tom

@thomthom said:

If you do rework the material editor. Please, please, please make it stop opening up every time I activate the paintbucket. At least an option to do so. Even if it's a registry setting or other hidden tweak. Just let me not have to see that window pop up everytime.

...guess it's Material-editor rant time...

No, good point!

In fact can you engineer it so it behaves in the same way as the layers and component etc panels- ie a single click on the bar, closes the window- "Mac OS 9 windowshade", manner, just like the others (OS X and XP)? Because usually I have to pick the damn thing up and move it elsewhere, or simply just close it.

The other Tom (I was christened 'Thom' too! )

@thomthom said:

I'm not a OSX user

Thom, I'm a bit confused, as you list yourself as an OSX user (in your details avatar)!

This is a very wise idea btw, Google. I too am getting confused with my big colo(u)rs palette list. Please add me to the petition to fix this.

I'm curious to know what you other Mac Leopard users think of the latest SU build. I've had to go back to v7.1.4870 because I was getting slower performance. I even had a crash- the first one in fact, and oddly enough, no crash log screen popped up either (yes, I could have opened Console).

Updating to Snow Leopard this evening, after I've backed up my hard drive.

An interesting thread. I don't use any plug-ins either. I started to, but ran into problems- like having to get to grips with how someone else had written that plug-in, and therefore it wasn't behaving how I would expect it to behave. When there is a deadline to meet, having to learn how a plug-in works can be a frustrating experience! So therefore, I don't use them.

Essentially what I found is that with most plug-ins (not all), what can be done with a plug-in is possible anyway, it's just a case of knowing the 'tricks of the trade', so to speak (I've also got a BSc degree in engineering with CAD, so that really does help somewhat).

I've just modelled an entire local Victorian-Gothic church interior with modifications, in SketchUp, for a commission for a local architect. No plug-ins were used at all. I'll post the results soon (screenshots, I'm afraid, because I'm talking 10 to 15 Mb's!).

@unknownuser said:

OK...nice chatting with ya... ....anytime!!

Good, because, when I was a young lad, my next door neighbour suddenly dropped dead after receiving a prick from a rose bush, after gardening, simply because she had chosen not to be vaccinated against tetanus.

Both my kids have had the MMR vaccination, and consequently, neither of them have developed autism.

So yes, good luck to you too!

Oh yes and PS, A good drop of autistic-spectrum can be a good thing. Just think of all those wonderful scientists at CERN who are currently discovering new understanding of the universe through particle physics! If it wasn't for them, many new discoveries especially in modern medicine and low carbon emission power generation techniques would never have been discovered.

And a Mac version? Has an update been released for Mac, or are we 2nd class citizens again? (I just tried and I got nothing )

@remus said:

Couple of other really cool things about windows 7: it opens zip files natively, it can burn .iso files to disc natively and it doesnt blank out the screen when your watching a full screen video. Small things but all very useful to me.

Again, another set of features that us Mac users have enjoyed (with a right mouse or contextual click) for years.

In order to run W7 I'm going to have to upgrade both my PC and my Mac, because both my machines won't support it.

I use both Windows and Mac. Both are equally annoying at the best of times. Mac's workflow imho is better than Windows, but Windows allows for more design software to be run.

I saw this interesting remark from Bill Gates the other day. You may find it interesting!

...and yes, there is nothing as boring as a Mac vs PC debate, but aren't they so much fun?!