Could one of your IT people write a program that would adjust the relevant keys in the registry? You would be dependent on your decentralized users running said program.

And here we have yet another opportunity for UI improvement.

I was wondering: with all the dissatisfaction expressed here and elsewhere over SketchUp’s recent past performance and their apparent direction for the future, how many of you are seriously considering transitioning to different software?

As for me, after I took a quick look at several options, I decided to explore FormZ. The free version will do nicely while I am getting the feel of the program. Later? We’ll see. It doesn't necessarily mean that I am dropping SU.

After I made my own decision, an often-reliable source told me that architecture students in the U.S. have mostly abandoned SketchUp in favor of FormZ. If true, that does not bode well for SU’s future.

Someone here wondered why all the kvetching about dashed lines when that feature has long been on users’ wish lists. The problem is not with dashed lines. The problem is that by implementing only dashed lines, Trimble have shown that they are harvesting SketchUp, that they intend to milk it for all it’s worth while investing as little as possible.

Those of us who are doing the kvetching had high hopes for the future of SketchUp. (Surely the late release must mean big improvements, right?) but when this lackluster release is coupled with the new pricing scheme and with Trimble’s ongoing lack of enthusiastic communications with users about SketchUp’s future, the future of the software looks bleak indeed.

I hope my pessimism is not justified.

Could not be more disappointed.

Thank you. That explains why I couldn't figure out how to do it. On to Plan B!

In a Ruby script, I would like to set a variable equal to the user's input from the keyboard with no inputbox or dialog slowing things down. It's easy as can be in Ruby: myVariable = gets. Darned if I can figure out how to do it in SketchUp Ruby.

I'm an absolute newb at this, so I'd appreciate any help you can give.

After playing around with SketchUp for years, I finally bit the financial bullet and bought Pro. Do I need it? Probably not. I'm retired, and I don't expect to do design work professionally again; but:

1. It's fun.
   And, very important to me,
2. I wanted to reward Trimble as I can for buying SketchUp and for continuing to develop it. (Google might have sold it to Autodesk. What a disaster that would have been for the product!)

I organize my hard drive such that each project gets its own folder. Every skp, dwg, rvt, and other drawing/model file that I produce specific to that project (along with their backups) go into that folder. Other relevant documents go into subfolders. This eliminates any confusion about what goes with what project and makes searches for project-related files easy.

However, I usually have more than one project going at once. When I switch projects, I want SketchUp to look for files in, and save files to, the proper folder. Setting the "Start in" line in the shortcut should accomplish this goal. It does not. It can be done directly in SketchUp, though: just start SU, click on the "Window" drop down, click on "Preferences," click on "Files," manually change the "Models" location, click on "OK," shut SU down, and restart SU.

What SketchUp does is save the Models location - along with other things - to the registry. What the batch file does is change the registry before SU starts. By using a different shortcut to the batch file for each project, one need enter the path to the model folder only once.

Does that answer your question?

Not a plugin, a batch file. You will have to change the txt extension to bat.

This batch file changes SketchUp's model folder before SketchUp is run. Here are the instructions:

Call this file with a shortcut.

The shortcut's Target is to be followed by the path to your SketchUp model
folder (in quotes.) So, the shortcut's Target line will look something like:
C:\SetSk2013ProjDir.bat "C:\SKETCHUP PROJECTS\2014-01 - SOME PROJECT NAME"

Use a different shortcut for each project folder.

The path parameter may be shortened to a project identifier only, and the batch
file will find the full folder name. For this feature to work, the folder name
must begin with seven characters that uniquely identify the project. (That
number -7- can easily be changed. Just open the batch file in an editor, and
you'll see where.) In this case, the shortcut's Target line would look
something like:
C:\SetSk2013ProjDir.bat "C:\SKETCHUP PROJECTS\2014-01"

Optionally, you may follow the first parameter with a second one indicating
what program you want to use: "LA" or "SK" or "ST" (for LAyout, SKetchup, and
STylebuilder.) Like this:
C:\SetSk2013ProjDir.bat "C:\SKETCHUP PROJECTS\2014-01" "SK"

This feature is best for people who are using the basic program only. Those
using SketchUp Pro will find it better to use this batch file without the
second parameter and then to call up the module they wish to use.

It works with Windows 7. It should work with XP thru 8, but there is no reason to believe it will work with any Apple operating system.

---

SetSk2013ProjDir .txt

If I ever do anything meant to be useful, but this is an example from the book and is intended to be run in the raw.

Back in the day, Cadence and Cadalyst had columns in each issue wherein the author presented a small-but-useful AutoLisp routine with explanations of what and why. A lot of people got the hang of AutoLisp from those columns. I don't suppose there is something similar for Ruby?

Ah, ha!

If the file is located in the plugins folder, it executes immediately upon startup, and SketchUp crashes. If it is located elsewhere and loaded via the Ruby Console, it works as expected. Good to know.

Hmmmm. So, something wrong with this SketchUp installation, not with the script. Strange days indeed.

Thanks for checking it.

Here is cutbox.rb, an example from Automatic SketchUp:

Create the box

ent = Sketchup.active_model.entities
main_face = ent.add_face [0,0,0], [6,0,0], [6,8,0], [0,8,0]
main_face.reverse!
main_face.pushpull 5

Draw a line across the upper-right corner

cut = ent.add_line [6,6,5], [4,8,5]

Remove the new face

cut.faces[1].pushpull -5

Seems like it should work, but it crashes SketchUp every time. Remove the minus sign, and it acts as expected, but reverse the face and it crashes.

Is it a bug, or is there something wrong with the code?

SketchUp 8.0.15158; Windows 7, 64-bit

Thanks, Dave. I'll have a look at it. I don't necessarily require free, though. Do any of you have an opinion about SU Podium?

Thanks for the input, gentle-people. I appreciate the ruby recommendations. Peter got more to the thrust of my question, though, which is: is SketchUp Pro a viable alternative (based on the thread Peter pointed me to and the video therein, I think the answer is "yes.") and how does it compare to Chief Architect and Revit?

As for cost, price is a big drawback of Chief Architect ($2500 +/-) and Revit even more so vs. maybe $600 for Pro if I add a couple of commercial plugins.

What about rendering? I think that's going to be important. CA and Revit have integral rendering engines. What do y'all recommend for SketchUp, keeping in mind ease of use for us amateurs, speed, output quality, and (as always) cost?

But back after lots of changes: moving, semi-retirement, different sorts of projects, wife dying, daughter in big trouble for beating up a cop, a C5 Corvette added to the stable, and....

Before the changes, I mostly did industrial projects (good pay, no trouble getting paid, and good people to work with.) For that work, AutoCAD was entirely satisfactory. Now, in semi-retirement, I'm doing single-family residences, and AutoCAD is not satisfactory. I am looking for alternatives. I am somewhat familiar with Revit, but the folks at Autodesk have not taken stick framing seriously, and framing is of the essence for the current work. Chief Architect looks good, as does SoftPlan, although SoftPlan doesn't seem at all intuitive. SketchUp Pro looks like it might be a solution, but it seems like SketchUp is not well integrated - it takes a hodgepodge of ruby scripts to get serious work done.

I'm doing these houses more for entertainment than for money, so cost is an object.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

Cheers,

Walt

That is a lovely rendering and a handsome building.

One thing: the mind's eye does not see the vertical perspective in relatively short buildings; so when one looks at a photograph or rendered image that does show it, the building seems somehow wrong. Architectural photographers use a shifted lens to keep the film vertical. Your renderings might look better, even though they would be technically wrong, if you could somehow achieve the same result.

The kind one might find in a cat house.

@vargas said:

how do I get the elevation contour lines

You will probably have to hire a surveyor to ensure accuracy.

If you have an optical level or transit, time, and a few friends, you might be able to do your own survey. Create a grid, determine the elevation of each point on the grid, and estimate where the actual contours are between points. The steeper the slopes, the greater the change in elevation, and the more obstacles to clear lines of sight, though, the more difficult it becomes; and it soon becomes impossible for an amateur.

@unknownuser said:

how do I get the "measurements" or the floorplans?

Wouldn't it be great if thorough drawings of the masters' works were readily available for study?