[archigrafix]

François and JD

Discussion about the MXS detail is very interesting...
As François said we sometimes (often) need more detail on the proxy representation.
Your two point of view are right to me and solution is a different approach

In fact user should be able to choice the way he wants the proxy to be represented:

1- Let Maxwell propose its default cube geometry
2- Or let the user define its own geometry (a sketchup drawing of his choice)

JD I feel it is not so hard to do...I almost succeed at doing this myself. I have changed the geometry of the Sketchup component that refers to the MXS... It works fine ONLY problem is when I ask Maxwell to update the proxy source...badaboom! It gives me back that nice cube representation.
I feel it wont be so hard to you introducing an option that would preserve that new personnalized geometry no?

[archigrafix]

I'll stick with 8...

me too... but not because of the plugin...
worst sketchup release ever!

Not yet tested I am always carefull with all the plugins I use that wont be yet compatible...

So bad than that Povaratti? I thought there was very little improvements?

[numerobis]

I thought there was very little improvements?

Improvements for the user:

- some new features in layout ..... if you use it - i do not
- Extension Warehouse ...... if you were not able to load your plugins yourself from sketchucation it might be useful, but there where also the Sketchucation Plugin Store plugin for some time now, which does almost the same and already has more plugins listed than the official warehouse... i think this plugin might be one reason why we have seen the update now and not later this year... but who knows...
- new toolbars which should fix the old toolbar problems in sketchup ..... great "new feature" this should have been a free fix years ago and now it is sold as great innovation...


Improvements for Trimble:

- $$$... Extension Warehouse ..... i think this will be the base of their new business model, a plugin store like the apple app store
- $$$... a higher program price (~50%!!!)
- $$$... a subscription model with $95/year (adds up to maybe ~70% more compared to the old update scheme)
- $$$... no commercial use of the free version ("Sketchup Make"... LOL) anymore


great update after 3 years...

[archigrafix]

I thought there was very little improvements?

Improvements for the user:

- some new features in layout ..... if you use it - i do not
- Extension Warehouse ...... if you were not able to load your plugins yourself from sketchucation it might be useful, but there where also the Sketchucation Plugin Store plugin for some time now, which does almost the same and already has more plugins listed than the official warehouse... i think this plugin might be one reason why we have seen the update now and not later this year... but who knows...
- new toolbars which should fix the old toolbar problems in sketchup ..... great "new feature" this should have been a free fix years ago and now it is sold as great innovation...


Improvements for Trimble:

- $$$... Extension Warehouse ..... i think this will be the base of their new business model, a plugin store like the apple app store
- $$$... a higher program price (~50%!!!)
- $$$... a subscription model with $95/year (adds up to maybe ~70% more compared to the old update scheme)
- $$$... no commercial use of the free version ("Sketchup Make"... LOL) anymore


great update after 3 years...

That was what I feared...I felt an Autodesk atmosphere around Trimble...make more and more money. I feel I am gonna stay on SU7 for some more years

[povaratti]

...with all due respect, how do you think these programs and their communities develop? Support companies like Trimble and Autodessys, or you'll have one option and all their products start with Auto-.

Trimble may be gearing up for a subscription model, but I'm guessing that its going to need those dollars to keep up with its expanding user community. Its just the way businesses grow, from my perspective...if you want blame a company, how about Google for screwing around with it, sucking the intel out of the user base and code and then bailing on the community when they realized it was a commitment and not core to their business.

If your fine with the old version, then why complain about what you haven't gotten for free ?

I am looking forward to using Maxwell with SU 2013...I hope we can see it well before 2014. Any info from Next Limit on what we can expect will help us all plan for our future efforts.

[JDHill]

Hopefully not too long, but it would be irresponsible for me to put a number on it. As I wrote above, SU2013 requires deep changes to the plugin; when it is compatible, it will be a substantially different plugin (on the order of half its code having been removed and replaced with completely different code), though hopefully this will not be very apparent on the surface.

[numerobis]

...with all due respect, how do you think these programs and their communities develop? Support companies like Trimble and Autodessys, or you'll have one option and all their products start with Auto-.

Trimble may be gearing up for a subscription model, but I'm guessing that its going to need those dollars to keep up with its expanding user community. Its just the way businesses grow, from my perspective...

Ah, ok... so this is the reason that there has been no progress in the last year... they need the money first...
When it grows and gets improved everything would be ok - if the higher price reflects the greater value of the program. But i don't see it growing.

If your fine with the old version, then why complain about what you haven't gotten for free ?

?!? Why should i be fine with the old version? Would i "complain" about it if i would be fine with what i got in v8? And what? Free? I don't understand this part... I'm speaking about "Pro" and not "Make" (..."Make" )
I was waiting almost 3 years for a new, improved version of Sketchup. They made surveys for most wanted features to pretend that they listen to their customers - and now... there is nothing new in it, only a new price tag!

[fv]

JD, clear about the time needed for the new plugin.
Do you think there are some improvements with SU2013 to write the plugin for or is it all just different and not much more than a redo that requieres your time.
I am hoping for things to get better in some way, maybe you as a plugin developer sees improvements we don't.


Francois

[JDHill]

As far as hoping that things will "get better in some way," that is pretty vague. Is there a specific thing that you hope it will improve?

[fv]

Hi JD,
I meant to ask if there is anything "under the hood" of the new version SU2013 that makes your life easier to make the plugin. Or the plugin better in any way.
Improvements under the hood in SU 2013 is what is talked about on the Sketchucation forums.
Francois

[JDHill]

I don't see anything to make a plugin writer's life easier, unless you count the Extension Warehouse. That could only be considered the case if you are supporting nothing but SU2013, though. Otherwise, it just means you have yet another package to build (.RBZ), in addition to those supporting pre-2013 SU, and a new distribution channel to deal with, in addition to whatever method you use for distributing packages supporting pre-2013 SU. Since we already had nine packages to deal with, and since Extension Warehouse cannot handle the Render Suite plugin, I have not yet decided how I am going to deal with this.

Performance-wise, any new SU release can affect the execution speed of certain types of Ruby code, so there could potentially be some kind of improvement there. However, we don't have any code that would fall into such a category, other than the Standalone plugin's Ruby-based MXS exporter, and I have not yet done any specific benchmarking of that. Regardless, as a Render Suite user, you should not really expect to see any change related to this, since you don't use the Ruby-based MXS exporter.

Comparing the Silverlight UI to the HTML one, you'll notice that the HTML one loads a bit faster, since the browser doesn't have to load Silverlight. That's not specifically related to SU2013, though. Note, though -- none of this is to say that you will not see improvements, but rather that I don't see any specific reasons to believe that you will.

[fv]

I would say;
support only SU2013. The only reason I am not updating is because of not being able to use Maxwell.
The update price for any pro-user is too low to consider. SU2013 is said to be somewhat faster as well.
Others might feel different.

I would say as well that the EW should just lead you the version for Sketchup "make". Any pro user will just get into the render suite with Studio and all regardless of the EW. As long as you are present at the EW you keep up with the competition. Not being there at all is not good I think.

Happy to see a speedbump at launch. Since I launch the manager and close it regularly. Freeing up windowspace.

Hope that Maxwell keeps its commitment to Sketchup. I see a lot of architects in Holland doing much if not all of their work in Sketchup in the first stages of the design process. Even when they have invested heavily in other CAD packages like Revit.

There is a well know Apple service provider in The Haque were seminars are held regularly by experts on software related matters. These are well visited. I will be giving a seminar on architectural designing with Sketchup/Maxwell in October.


Francois

[numerobis]

Others might feel different.

yes...

[fv]

sorry numerobis...

[numerobis]