Top 3 SU plugins

[kate-art]

As i'm relatively new to SketchUp i'm keen to find out which plugins you guys use to get the most out of SketchUp. There are no shortage to choose from but if you could only insall 3 what would they be and why?

my top 3 are:
Fur
Round corners
Shaderlight (of course!)

[solo]

SDS (Subdivide and smooth)
Cleanup
round corner

(used most often)

[Rich O Brien]

Fredoscale

Bezier Tools

Thea Exporter

[thomthom]

• Selection Toys
• Tools On Surface
• Plan Tools

[boofredlay]

Weld
Round Corners
Joint Push Pull

(Subdivide and Smooth) Honorable mention.

[ely862me]

SDS
JPP
TOS

[charly2008]

- Curviloft
- Extrusion Tools
- Kerkythea Exporter

[Daniel S]

* Round Corners
* Curviloft
* SketchyPhysics

[JuanV.Soler]

2D Tools
Work Plane
Colour Edge
________________
field of use : architecture

[Burkhard]

Round Corners
CleanUp
Delete Cons ( Seems I worked to much with Lines and points )

[rv1974]

1.extrude line
2.extrude along path
3.mirror

[thomthom]

Delete Cons ( Seems I worked to much with Lines and points )

It deletes construction lines and points? That's a native function...

[Chris Fullmer]

SDS
JPP
TOS

To translate that - SubDivide and Smooth, Joint PushPull, and Tools On Surface.

Mine are:
Weld
Make Faces
Repeat Copy

[TIG]

Delete Cons ( Seems I worked to much with Lines and points )

It deletes construction lines and points? That's a native function...

But the built-in one is brutal and removes all - some such as this erase all cpoints/clines in the current context only ?

[TIG]

My three most commonly used tools:

Weld
Make Face
Mirror
...

[mitcorb]

Fredo PushPull--Joint,Vector,Normal
Mirror Selection
FredoScale,Taper,Bend

[Krisidious]

Weld
Curviloft
Thom's Curve Select

[tfdesign]

This is a good thread, as I was also about to ask the same question- but for ten plugins(!).

Three is a good number, but what still confuses me, and probably others too, who are new to SketchUp is why.

Why do you use these plugins, and what advantages to they give you over the current set of tools, and what is your main objective, taking into account, your chosen subject? For eg, are you an architect? A product designer or just a general modeller? Why are these three so important?

I've started to experiment with Fredo6's Bezierspline plugin, mainly because it is impossible to draw bezier curves by any other way in SketchUp, and bezier curves come in hand for many things, both architectural and product-wise.

I'll probably also add Fredo6's Curviloft plugin too, because the creation of organic surfaces that morph from one shape to another can also have its use, especially when modelling Victorian rendering- such as plaster.

One more only would be very hard to suggest, as many are so brilliant and useful!

Tom

[Dave R]

Weld
CutList
BZ Spline

[tfdesign]

Why?

[Dave R]

Weld: To weld line segments so they behave as single entities for selection purposes and to reduce the need to soften/smooth edges.
CutList: Nearly every project I draw these days is a plan for a piece of furniture or cabinets and my clients require cut lists so they can quote for materials. I could do it manually but Cut List takes only a couple of seconds.
BZ Spline: For drawing non-circular curves.

[tfdesign]

Cheers Dave

[Pixero]

I dont know if my most used plugins are my favorites but anyway:
Put on layer (I use it ALL the time to keep my file organised.)
Weld (I've edited it so I have it under the right click menu)
Joint pushpull (Could also be Extrude edge by vector)

[gullfo]

my top 3:
House Builder (imperial and metric)
Extrusion Tools
Weld

[pilou]

The 3 more fun (for me
Grow by Tig perfect for iteration volumes with multiple size, Move, rotate
Protrude by Jim Foltz funny automatic exotic generations
Random Painter by Chris Fullmer for some joyous variations of colors

3 in the same time

exo.jpg

[tfdesign]

Wow Pilou! That's beautiful!

[EscapeArtist]

Based on use:

Weld
Remove unused edges
BZ spline (all)

Based on coolest/usefulness (IMO)

SD&S
Curviloft
JPP

All of the above make SU easier and better to use.

[blajnov]

kate-art, it's not all... viewtopic.php?f=323&t=28782

[mitcorb]

I already gave you three--for this week. I also like to see how well I can do some operations from scratch. However, I don't think Weld has a native substitute.

[kate-art]

Great feedback guys - thanks. I find it interesting how everyone likes something different. This short thread has generated a list of 30+ plugins!