sketchUcation

WARNING : Layers panel is not maintained anymore. It is open-source, anyone can contribute and update it. Here is the repo : https://github.com/jiminy-billy-bob/Layers-Panel

Layers Panel replaces SketchUp's layers window. It reproduces every feature of it, and adds the ability to group layers, lock layers, sort them, hide/collapse groups, choose which layers will be rendered, etc.

It was designed to be very similar to Photoshop's layers panel, as I use it a lot and find it very handy.

Layer states:

Render feature:

Your feedback would be very appreciated, improvement ideas, features, etc...

If you encounter any bug, please tell me, with instructions to who reproduce it. And please include your OS, SU version, and IE version. Click here:

Click here to report a bug

Warnings:

• Some people got corrupted files using this plugin, so be careful, backup your work, and use at your own risk!
• Although the undo/redo support was improved a lot since the beta versions, sometimes it still messes up (rarely), which prevents you to redo some operations.
• By using this plugin, you agree to send completely anonymous data, used to improve it.

Recommended : Windows Vista-7-8, OSX 10.7+, Sketchup 8+, Internet Explorer 9+

The way you sort/nest layers is simple, just grab the handle on the left of a layer/group, and drop it where you want. To choose the depth of the nesting, move the layer to the right or the left, like this :

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Shortcuts:

CTRL+G : Group selected layers

CTRL+SHIFT+G : Ungroup layers

CTRL+A : Select all

CTRL+E : Merge selected layers

ALT+click on layer visibility : Isolate layer

CTRL+click on layer visibility : Isolate layer in its group

SHIFT+click on layer visibility : Toggle all highlighted layers

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Right-click on a color to change it. (Sketchup 2014+ only)

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Add a new group

Add a new layer. Hold-down click on the button to access extra options

Delete highlighted layer(s) and all its content

Delete highlighted layer(s) and move its content to layer0

Delete highlighted layer(s) and move its content to the active layer

Toggle color by layer

Collapse or expand the group

Drag and drop layer

Make layer the active layer

Toggle the layer's visibility (See shortcuts below)

Toggle layer's visibility at rendertime (See below)

Lock highlighted layer(s): It can't be deleted or purged from within Layers Panel (It can still be deleted or purged from Sketchup)

Move the selection to the highlighted layer

Select highlighted layer's content

Highlight the selection's layer(s)

Make the selection's layer(s) active

v1.2.2

• Layers Panel is now open-source

v1.2.1

• Fixed a major issue that could corrupt the model (Caused by SU14 and below)
• Fixed States dialog
• Added API methods

v1.2.0

• Added an History dialog, to easily revert back if groups/order disappear
• Added a right-click menu
• Fixed an issue causing an infinite undo loop
• Fixed encoding issue with non-english characters and alphabets
• The dialog now remembers its position in OSX
• Fixed minimizing
• Added support for KeyShot5

v1.1.1

• Fixed a major issue that would freeze Layers Panel when using several features (e.g adding a group)
• Added an API that allows other plugins to interact with Layers Panel

v1.1.0

• Added layer "states" (with new dialog). States allows to save snapshots of the current layers visibility, and restore them later.
• Fixed several bugs

v1.0.6

• Improved "add layer" menu (Hold-down the add layer button), based on Jim's great "Add layer" plugin
• Fixed "Win32api" error when opening a file from a different drive than sketchup's. (Thanks to Dan Rathbun and TIG)
• Fixed layer colors vanishing when switching scenes

v1.0.5

• Fixed major issues that would freeze Layers Panel, or delete every groups
• Added API for rendering

v1.0.4

• Added better feedback when sorting multiple layers/groups at once
• Added support for Podium V2+
• Fixed support for Indigo

v1.0.3

• Fixed multiple important issues on OSX

v1.0.2

• All selected layers are now sorted together
• Added shift-click for multiple selection
• Fixed issue when copy/pasting from another instance creates a new layer
• Fixed minimize/maximize

v1.0.1

• Fixed bug with undo operations

v1.0.0

• Added layer colors for SketchUp 2014 (Right-click on a color to change it)
• Fixed issue with undo operations

v0.10.2

• Better management of multiple models opened on OSX (You need to pan/orbit/zoom to trigger the change)
• Added debug dialog
• Fixed bug at startup

v0.10.1

• Fixed options dialog on OSX
• Added Command key for shortcuts on OSX
• Fixed naming issue with Google Earth terrain

v0.10

• Added compatibility with Keyshot renderer
• Added "Add layer on new pages"
• "New layer" button hold-down time is now faster
• Minimize/maximize should work better

v0.9.1

• Fixed options dialog on OSX
• Disabled automatic display of floating toolbar on OSX
• Fixed "Add layer hidden on new pages"
• Fixed clash with RichSections plugin
• Several bug fixes

v0.9

• OSX support
• Fixed clicking on layer's name not selecting it

v0.8

• Added ALT+click on layer visibility : Isolate layer
• Added CTRL+click on layer visibility : Isolate layer in its group
• Added SHIFT+click on layer visibility : Toggle all highlighted layers
• Added button to highlight selection's layer
• Added button to select highlighted layer's entities
• Fix copy/paste between instances

v0.7

• Added a dark bar at the top to minimize/maximize the dialog
• Added CTRL+G : Group selected layers
• Added CTRL+SHIFT+G : Ungroup layers
• Added CTRL+A : Select all
• Added CTRL+E : Merge selected layers
• Added different color for groups
• Layer0 is now selectable
• Fix bug with sorted groups
• Potential fix for IE version bug

v0.6

• Fix scene auto-update (This is now an option)
• Adds an options to hide the warning for outdated IE versions (This is intended for people with the warning appearing even though their IE is up to date)

v0.5.2

• Fix bug where "old layers" (created before Layers Panel was installed) were not listed
• Fix bug where groups couldn't be renamed after being nested in another one.

v0.5.1

• Fix gap at the top when hiding the render toolbar

v0.5

• Displays a warning when drawing geometry to another layer than layer0
• New Delete button that moves content to the current layer
• New button to set selection's layer as current layer
• New button to move selection to highlighted layer
• Now supports Podium render
• Option to purge unused groups
• Option to hide the render toolbar
• Option to open Layers Panel when Sketchup starts
• Potential fix for rename bug

v0.4

• Adds the ability to choose which layers to render (Works with Vray, Maxwell, Indigo, and Kerkythea)
• Fix bug when having too many layers
• The dialog now remembers its size and position when closed
• Fix focus jumping at the top of the dialog

v0.3.2

• Fix bugsplat when deleteing/purging layers with Outliner opened
• New naming conventions (For the Extension Warehouse)

v0.3.1

• Fix group names disappearing

v0.3

• Locking layers (Works only when purging or deleting from the plugin's menu)
• Ability to add a layer only visible in the current scene (New pop-up menu when holding the "Add layer" button)
• Layers Panel is now a toolwindow, but you can't dock nor collapse it
• Two different delete buttons, for better performance (The red cross deletes the layer content, the green arrow moves the content to the default layer)
• Several bug fix

v0.2

• Fix bug with existing layers