Layout wishlist

[samyell77]

Ive really enjoyed working with LO so far but there are some features (mainly from other packages) that would benifit LO massively. My wishlist is below . . .

•General speed increases, re-draws and re-links take an age with some files.
•Better handling of files that are being accessed by machines on different operating system platforms so that links are not broken due to drive mapping issues on different platforms.
•Stop render function so you can choose to stop a page from rendering if you spot an error instead of having to wait for every view to render (I know there's auto render but it would be great to be able to stop a page from updating and be able to update views individually or collectively)
•Ability to use drawing labels with common and page only editable sections
•Infinite zoom
•Better handling of vector views - too slow at present
•Automatic page numbering - and ability to add pages in order, ie add a page at the beginning of a 10 page doc and it will be page 01 rather than page 11. Number pages by order but be able to change names
•Batch export for pages from LO documents - being able to export a page and have it take its name from the page name in LO rather than the overall LO document.
•Multiple page sizes in same document (A4 and A1 for example)
•Ability to reference model info from selected SU models in order to get component counts
•Better handling of spread sheet data (cells, columns, tabs etc)
•True text box sizes instead of oversized text boxes ie text box is a snug fit to the text rather that lots of spare space to left and right of text
•Styles palet for text - ability to name styles for dimensions, body text, notes, titles etc
•Better ability to link scenes with LO so that sections and elevations retain their scale and dont throw dimensions out
•Latest saved view causes lots of issues - you should have to save a scene in order to send a file to LO

I find LO great for super speedy details but it really starts to struggle in my opinion if you start making too many changes to SU files or start creating large LO documents with multiple pages and multiple references.

Cheers

Sam

[fouronethirty]

can layout work on layer management, like on autocad, where you can hide the lineweights, ive noticed that layout starts slowing down when i start adding new lines and so on,

[fouronethirty]

i wish layout adds a little more zooming in capabilities, and the layers managing system, if that happens, i,ll be very happy then

[fouronethirty]

yes, i agree, hope layout make its improvement, its a great software though, but its a little bit of a slow mo when i start adding ines and changes,

[Dave R]

Show us an example of hiding line weights.

[fouronethirty]

i dont have a sample of hiding lineweights., i was jst wishing layout wud be able to have a tools like that,

[Dave R]

Perhaps you could explain it more, then? I don't find any performance issues with LO when I add draw in lines of different weights.

[fouronethirty]

well, you can find some if your working with lots of lines or large drafting works, i guess hiding lineweights would make LO works faster

[Dave R]

I work with large LO files all the time. i've never had any slow down because of line weights.

[fouronethirty]

i see, maybe i have to work on it to fix it, i appreciate your time, tnx,

[samyell77]

Better compatibility with excel / spreadsheets / table. Its a very long winded process at the moment (export csv, copy to excel, reformat, copy to word, final format, insert to LO with varying results!)

Thanks

[Dave R]

I agree about better text handling for data in tables although I do get dependable results going from CSV>Excel>Word>RTF>Insert into LO. It would be nice to be able skip some steps.

[pbacot]

Yes, more integration. They gave us something now we want more of the same!

Is a short cut Excel—> print pdf—> insert to LO? When you re-save the pdf LO can update. I guess you are getting some editable text your way? I used to concern myself with that in Excel to CAD but now find it better just to go back to Excel for changes.

I try to avoid Word where possible, but can't give up Excel yet (although it also drives me nuts at times). For drawing work I might try using Apple "Numbers".

[Dave R]

Right clicking on the text box in LO brings up "Open in text Editor" which on my PC opens Word. I can then quite easily edit the text. the tables I use don't have a grid like the table has when copied from Excel into Word. I convert the table to tab separated text in Word.

[samyell77]

Thanks Dave R - this is what I do too but I need to display cells / spreadsheet borders and what ever way Ive tried seems problematic. Better compatibility with tables and spreadsheets would be great - it would save a lot of time reformatting for a lot of people and just cuts down on margin for error. The PDF method could work but the ideal would be to be able to link to an excel table or effectively display a table (with borders) in LO. The mac version allows you to copy and paste a block of cells into LO but the PC version doesn't allow this.

[pbacot]

The print to pdf method displays whatever you want of the excel file.

Would be nice to have the

[samyell77]

Print to PDF but its another file to have to store, update etc. Direct referencing of an excel file would be great!

[fouronethirty]

more zooom
cant edit small detail when you have big drafting project, wish nxt version of l.o has that. it would be awsome

[samyell77]

More zoom and better snapping in raster mode so dims can be added accurately without switching to vector as it slows the drawing down considerably.

[Edson]

one feature I do wish LO had is the capability to export to dwg/dxf the same layer structure present in the reference SU file.

dwg/dxf files exported from LO are not of much use to the consultants architects keep sending files to all the time because the layers they contain are LO layers not the ones used to model the original SU file.

[utiler]

one feature I do wish LO had is the capability to export to dwg/dxf the same layer structure present in the reference SU file.

dwg/dxf files exported from LO are not of much use to the consultants architects keep sending files all the time because the layers they contain are LO layers not the ones used to model the original SU file.

I couldn't agree more, Edson!!!

[samyell77]

Agreed again - layer structures in DWG/DXF exports would be great. Perhaps as a tick box option if you are happy to increase the size / complexity of the file?

[fouronethirty]

i bet their doing something about this layout wishes:)
i wud wait for that to come out, new layout, dat wud be very nice ,

[seven.sides]

More fully featured text editing tools allowing control over tab sizes.
Capability to make tables within layout.
Retain Excel cell border formatting on copy and paste to Layout.

[samyell77]

So when is the next release?????

[Gaieus]

So when is the next release?????

Next time

[samyell77]

Damn - worth a try, thought I might catch you sleeping!

[Catalyst]

My Wishes are:
Spell Check.
Find and replace text string.

[bmike]

LO on a Mac catches spelling errors as you go. Pretty nice surprise coming from Vista.
Overall spellcheck would be nice, but then I'd have lots of additions to my dictionary for construction abbreviations.

I'd love it if it had 'editing' mode, or something similar to scene states, but applied globally.
I want global control to put it into a fast vector based linework only mode so I can dimension and annotate, then switch it back to 'rendered' mode with line weights, sketchy edges, scenes, shadows, etc.

[caronte01]

This, from working a lot with layout lately:

Find and replace text. (same as on any word processor)

Make unique copy of a viewport (allow a copy of a viewport to link to an alternate version of the sketchup model)

More options for the style tool (match properties). In addition to styles, match layers.

An option to input measurements in different scales 1:1, 1:5, etc. Useful for drafting on top of ortho views.
Components!!!!

Improvements in snapping (object snapping and grid snapping do not always cooperate, layout will not snap to section cuts at times.)

A fix for the bug where a view is slightly shifted horizontally,but it's snapping points remain on the original location

A fix for vector pdf's becoming raster after updating some references. I can live with pdf, instead of linkable xls or doc files, as long as it works correctly.

Improvements to dwg export (all the ones previously mentioned)

Great tool, love working with it!!