@d12dozr said:

So you don't need (in fact, probably cannot even) pay the $95 fee if you're just buying Pro for the first time.

I don't think this is right. If you check the FAQs it states that the maintenance fee cannot be separated from the software purchase. The $95 is part of the total cost of the program for a new Pro purchaser. That's why the cost is now $590 and not $495 like it was for Pro 8. If you check the fine print when purchasing a new Pro license, I recall seeing it explained there. For that extra $95, a new Pro user will get updates/upgrades for a year, just like a person renewing their license.

I read a couple forum posts about this recently while researching the Quaddro 2000 for a new setup I'm ordering. (I haven't ordered it yet, so maybe I need to find a different card.)

https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/sketchup/d1RNOVDPSdQ
Complaint, but no solution.

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/sketchup/SIcbPalp-qc
Suggested solution generally involves toggling Fast Feedback on/off and the problem seemed to resolve itself. The third post contains a link to a Google Groups forum where someone offered some suggestions to tweak the Nvidia settings for SketchUp. Might be worth a shot.

Thanks, Marcus. I know I've read that FAQ; not sure how I missed that part.

@rich o brien said:

If you don't update you'll be paying full welly next year if it's something that floats your boat.

It sounds like you're saying if you miss an annual update cycle, that you'll have to buy a whole new license. Rich, has this been confirmed? I haven't seen anything "official" from Trimble on skipping a release.

@notareal said:

I might be wrong, but I understand that they actually don't state anything about if it's possible to update SU8 later to SU2014/2015/etc as SU 8 and earlier do not have this annual SketchUp Pro upgrades -program that can expire. Confusing - yes.

Exactly. It would be helpful if a Trimbler could provide clarification.

@chiefwoodworker said:

@wyatt said:

I haven't seen any discussion regarding the cost to skip 2013 and upgrade from SketchUp Pro 8 to SketchUp Pro 2014. Will it be $95 or would one have to buy another full $590 license to skip a release cycle?

The upgrade from SketchUp Pro 8 to SketchUp Pro 2013 is $95 plus state tax.

Sorry, but that wasn't my question. I want to know what to expect to pay if I skip 2013 and go directly from 8 to 2014. Would I pay an upgrade fee or whole new license fee?

I haven't seen any discussion regarding the cost to skip 2013 and upgrade from SketchUp Pro 8 to SketchUp Pro 2014. Will it be $95 or would one have to buy another full $590 license to skip a release cycle?

Funny, I didn't see Al Gore's name on there....

Awesome! Can't wait to try this out.

Wow, that's quite an undertaking. Looks fantastic!

Ahh, to be able to compare the top of the line.... I did mention I work for local government, right?

Thanks for the thoughts and link to the Quaddro/GTX discussion. Those are helpful. The 2x8 is a great suggestion. I did look at Solo's rigs. I think I'm going to be limited to an HP base due to some State purchasing agreements. The upside is that prices are a little less, (though maybe not as sweet as what Pete pulled together). I thought the 240W looked low; glad someone else caught that. I'll ask about that. I'll check the cost to step up to an i7 and a higher rated FirePro vs a similar Quaddro card. Most of my work will be CAD/SU so I should optimize for that since no one makes the best for both CAD and Adobe.

Kristoff, thanks for the comments and link; good info to digest. I see the Titan listing for around $1000. That's almost more than the whole computer! The mid-range quadros are around $300, which is double the AMD FirePro. Is it 2x as good? I'm not sure what the budget constraints are, but $1000 graphics card will be a tough sell. I know how much the system I listed costs and that's what the IT department recommended based on other Autocad users. There are no other SU/Photoshop/CAD users so I'm blazing a new trail in that regard.

I am hooking into a pretty robust network. There area somewhere around 500 employees where I work. Server access it partitioned and limited, but still, lots of users and lots of data. The technical details of the server are not really my thing, but if IT has recommended a workstation, I'm inclined to believe them.

Of all the things in the spec, I'm mostly wondering about the graphics card and the processor. Xeon E-3 vs core i7? AMD FirePro vs nvidea GTX/Quadro?

Isn't the GTX a gaming engine? Only the nvidea Quadro cards are recommended/certified through Autodesk. I know that means nothing for SU, but as I will share a system with CAD, I need something that works well in both programs. Does a gaming engine really help SketchUp performance that much over a workstation card?

I recently went to work for a municipality and it's time to upgrade my hardware, since the PC I'm using barely meets minimum specs for SketchUp and CAD. It won't run Adobe CS at all. Here's what been proposed:

A3J45AV -Configurable- HP Z220 SFF Microsoft Windows Workstation
HP Z220 Workstation SFF
Windows 7 Professional 64bit
HP Z220 Workstation Country Kit
HP Z220 SFF 240W 90% Efficient Chassis
Intel Xeon E3-1225v2 3.2 GHz (up to 3.6 GHz) 8MB 4C 77W GT2 CPU
AMD FirePro V3900 1GB Graphic Card
16GB DDR3-1600 ECC (4x4GB) Unbuffered RAM
500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6G 1st Hard Drive
16X SuperMulti DVDRW SATA Optical Drive

Does anyone see any huge problems? If you could change a couple things to make it better without blowing up the price, what would you change? Work will be a combination of CAD, SU, and Photoshop.

Thanks for the input.
Wyatt

Congratulations, Chris! That's fantastic news for you and SketchUp.

First make a group of your sidewalk, including the vertical faces. Use Tools on Surface (arc or maybe line) to draw the sidewalk edges on the existing vertical faces at the desired grade. Hide or delete the sidewalk group and select the new boundaries of the sidewalk. Use Sandbox Tools From Contour. You can use the same process to create the terrain between the sidewalks and the garage walls.

Really nice! Thank you for sharing.

Make sure the entire selection is within the area of the mesh. If any part of the geometry to be draped is overlapping void space, Drape and SuperDrape may crash.
If the mesh is an import from CAD, it's very likely complex and messy. See if you can clean it up, either in CAD or use a script like Vali's Instant Terrain.
Also, be sure to clean up your AutoCad import as well - no open or short lines, fully faced, etc.

I think Components onto Faces http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17306 starts to do what you're asking for.

The only thing missing from this scene is the neighbor's house the with arrow and the word "Ditto" in lights. Very nice work.