Yes - camera recorder works - thanks!

Is the speed per second - as in 10 feet per second? What is the the speed increase when holding shift?

Feature - sort of... Select group (doesn't work with component?) and click on "Target Selection" - works as expected but... when I deselect object keyboard controls stop working, however, camera stays locked on targeted group. This holds true when using space navigator and will also override camera orientation when tabbing through scenes.

This is actually a very useful function - except that the display is choppy/jittery as I try to move the camera and the plugin fights to keep me pointed at the target.

2 things I didn't realize - if a group is selected first then the plugin locks on to it when launched - and - it will accept multiple axis direction at the same time - x,y x,z y,z or x,y,z.

Really nice as is but this could also be the beginnings of a set of powerful camera controls - which we badly need. Now I wonder if I move the target object with an animation plugin will the camrera follow?

Thanks again - really cool,
Tim

I really love this. Feels like a cinematic camera rig. It would be really great to be able to have this type of motion play back as scenes.

I found the "a, d" keys slightly disorientating for a moment. Most people will expect the same behaviour as common game controls: a = left, d = right, w = forward, s = backward, shift = up, ctrl = down. I think new users will pretty much always be confused be a field of view change.

Realistically it only took a few minutes to figure it out. Maybe your keyboard control layout could pop up on first launch? I almost expected that I could click on your web dialogue in place of the keystrokes.

Very slick to see this kind of mechanical camera movement in SketchUp. Simple but really cool.

Thanks,
Tim

Ohhh- I type too slow.

Great news!

Nope to the copy paste.

It does paste in a square. If you try it and check the references it seems to think there is an embedded model. and... try it and then apply a new style to the blank square and it will accept the style. also It seems I can double click into a 3D orbit - just no geometry made it through. If exploded the references get updated with an invisible square png.

Definitely broken but seems to be trying.... maybe there is still hope.

I thought the "send to layout" from Sketchup might be it but it opens a whole new layout document and adds in the whole model.

Layout simply does not have the sophisticated line drawing workflow of a nice drafting package like Vectorworks. There is a strong tradition of communicating 3D projects through 2D drawings using delicate line weights and styles. When an art director says "make that line dashed" or "make that one thicker and red" it can't just happen like in a 2D drafting set up.

I believe that building projects as 3D models is a much more efficient and sophisticated way to design but we still have to commit it to paper to communicate. If you have a clean, accurate 3D build then layout is definitely the fastest way to present that model. Just don't expect it to produce intricate drafting documents in a traditional sense. My advice would be to rely more on the 3D as much as possible to communicate and use layout to add the details.

I think a good layout document can speak more clearly to a wider group of people than a traditional drawing set. Some nice 3D views, a few choice measurements, good notes and suddenly everyone has the same picture of the project - laymen, tradespeople, committee members, administrative staff, your kids - everyone.

Layout could be better - a lot better - but I think the big brick wall is mainly shifting gears.

"Why is it that if I have a dimensioned model instance and I copy and paste it to another page that all the dimensions revert to page dimensions."

For this very reason I abandoned the Auto Scale feature. I always set the scale manually, and proceed to dimension the view. Not only does this allow copy/paste but dimensions can be grouped / nudged / resized / ctr copied and so on. I guess the new array copy could be used as well. You can also use a group of dimensions on a differently scaled view and set the scale on the whole group in one click - good if you have parts with a similar relationship but different sizes.

"Or, if I stick with dimensioning in layout, it would be nice to force it to dimension at a particular plane so you don't have to spend so much time generating vector linework to snap to without getting weird dimensions due to height differences of geometry. Is it too much to ask that if you are in parallel projection that layout can only give dimensions as if the geometry was all in the same plane?"

Weird... I stopped dimensioning in Sketchup primarily because of the non-ortho behavior and have never experienced it in Layout. In fact I seem unable to reproduce the issue.

"I do tons of perspective dimensioning for intricate timber and steel configurations. Sure would be nice to be able to do that in Layout."

Curious... I just tested this and using the Auto Scale feature and it worked but nothing can be adjusted or it reverts to page scale. Could be exploded I guess.

Not using 2013 yet - will be very annoyed if the paste geometry feature is gone.

I've been using layout since it came out, well since they added the dimension tool - layout 2 I believe. It is useable but it is pretty quirky although I haven't switched to 2013 yet. The vector rendering can take a long time (5-10 minutes) if there is a lot of geometry - I only use it for hidden line ortho views after they are set to a scale and I always immediately explode them which breaks the link but leaves you with editable vector shapes. In fact it's the only way to import vector data into layout.

I don't have any real sure fire advice. Keep the edit quality to medium most of the time. Pizza? - Mac thing yes? I'm on windows so maybe it works better. I don't use any proper drafting programs so for me it is the fastest way to present my models. I suspect that if you are used to a responsive. I do have a bunch of do's and don'ts that I've learned to keep things going for me but it doesn't seem like you will be able to even use layout at all.

One thing you might try is to use it without importing a model - just to test if it works on your system at all. Bring in some images, make a few pages, add text and dimensions etc. I have found that you can copy geometry form sketchup and paste it into layout - and it seems to be more responsive than linking to a model - might be worth a shot.

Good luck (I was getting ready to buy 2013 but I think I'm going to wait a week or two and see how people are making out with it).

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. I'll give it a try when I get a minute.

Don't worry about the typo - I've done much worse and English is all I know!

Really useful, thanks! I never use display endpoints but decided to give this a try. It is very helpful in identifying extra vertices along and edge which is something that always gave me issues.

It looks to me as if this method could adapt easily to access other features that cannot normally have a keyboard shortcut assigned. I'm thinking about color edge by axis and color by layer. Others that could be useful would be display watermarks, sky, ground, and transparency.

I don't do any coding but the script looks very simple relative to any others I have looked at. This is not a request mind you but rather I'm asking your opinion. Could this be done fairly easily?

Thanks again!