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SketchUp 7 Released

David Richards, contributor

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SketchUp 7 has just been released and there are a number of new features that you might find useful. Perhaps the biggest feature is the new Dynamic Components. A Dynamic Component can be given variables that can then be selected to change the appearance of the component. I've attached a little video demo showing a couple of simple Dynamic Components I've made along with one of the sample components included in the program.

To make Dynamic Components you'll need the pro version but with the free version you'll be able to control Dynamic Components created by others and perhaps uploaded to Google's 3D Warehouse.

Also included with the pro version is Layout 2.0 which is a greatly improved version of of the original Layout Beta included with SU6Pro. Layout is a great tool for creating presentations using your SketchUp model, text and even other images. You can export PDF documents or create full screen presentations to show on your computer. I also use Layout for creating plans for projects I've drawn.

In addition to these features, the SketchUp team at Google have made some other improvements that will improve the way you work. One of those is that crossing lines automatically get broken. Suppose you want to create a pyramid top on a bed post. With previous versions of SketchUp you would draw one diagonal line on the top. Then you would have to draw the other diagonal in two stages stoping at the midpoint of the first. Now you can just draw the second diagonal. Both diagonals will automatically be broken.

The inference icons have been changed so that they are different for different things; an X when hovering over an endpoint and a round dot over midpoints for example. You can export larger images and imported images can be antialiased to make them look better.

These are just a few of the improvements in the new version. Take a look for yourself at http://sketchup.google.com/product/newin7.html

And here's a video from Google that gives some ideas of what they done to improve SketchUp.

Here's the download link to model of the kitchen base cabinet from my little video demo.

Dave

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Comments (4)

DaveRichards writes: Zool, what sort of "downloadable items" are you referring to? Other than links to plugins (that will work in SU6) I don't generally post downloadable SketchUp content.

Dave Posted: 6:19 pm on February 15th

zool writes: Would you please publish downloadable items in SU 6?

Google will not allow those of us using anything less than Windows XP to download SU7, for no discernible reason.

We have Windows 2000 on our work station, and have several programs that are not compatible with anything else and are no longer available. As well, there are custom written drivers that are not compatible with anything but Windows 2000. We tried upgrading in the past and it was ugly. After several expensive and time-consuming disappointments, we no longer participate in the over-costly problem-ridden upgrade merry-go-round as the touted, both by the software and hardware companies and by the chattering class, "improvements" that are anything but. Posted: 3:50 pm on February 15th

DaveRichards writes: Ted, the Report Generator does create a report that is sort of like a cutlist but it doesn't really contain the information one would want in a cutlist. The report provides attribute information about the component such as its name, layer location relative to the origin and size. If you are making dynamic components you can add attributes to the component that would appear in the report. The CSV version of the file could then be imported into a spreadsheet and the numbers crunched as desired. Posted: 6:30 am on December 4th

teamman writes: In SU V7 There is a File menu item , Generate Report which produces a component list like a cutlist but with other info I dont understand and I cant find help elsewhere

Ted Gibbs Posted: 9:21 am on November 29th

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