sketchUcation

Overview of FredoConnect

FredoConnect is dedicated to allowing a team to work concurrently on a shared model, synchronizing the changes between team members and managing change conflicts.

The typical workflow implies that each team member:

• works on a local copy of the shared model,
• publishes the changes he makes to the model,
• updates his model with the changes made by other team members.

You do not have to specify what needs to be published and what needs to be updated; FredoConnect tracks the changes in contributing models to consolidate a synchronized version of the shared model. FredoConnect provides conflict detection and management, allowing team members to be aware of what others are changing to the model, and deciding on how to resolve conflicts if two or more team members modify concurrently the same object(s).

Videos

Discussion forum

Links to Sketchucation Forum: Main Post Latest Release

Installation of FredoConnect

IMPORTANT: Make sure that you have first installed LibFredo6.

FredoConnect is released as a regular RBZ extension file on the Sketchucation Site.

To download the RBZ file, use the red button on the right side of this page:

• Download If your are already logged in.
• Log in to get it! otherwise, in order to log in or to register to Sketchucation as a new user (this is FREE). Then you will be able to download the RBZ file.

Then, you can install the RBZ file from within Sketchup, via the Sketchup Extension Manager

If you are not familiar with the installation of Sketchup extensions and Sketchucation, it is advised to watch the video LibFredo6 installation.

IMPORTANT: Whatever way you choose, you MUST quit and restart Sketchup to get FredoConnect (and LibFredo6) properly loaded.

After the installation, you should have the following footprint in the Sketchup Plugins directory:

Documentation

Full Documentation is available (English) in the PDF below

FredoConnect - User Manual - English - v1.1 - November 2024.pdf

Sub-Models

You can extract a sub-model from the shared model and work on it with the benefit of synchronization with the rest of the team.

A sub-model is just a model with a selection of objects taken from the shared model.

A sub-model behaves like the full shared model for synchronization and lock, with one specific characteristic: the top-level of a sub-model cannot be published or updated

Variants

This feature can be used to maintain different versions of the model in parallel, while sharing and synchronizing changes across the team.

The principle is as follows:

• A Variant model is created from an instance model under a Variant code
• If an object is modified in a Variant model, it becomes a Variant Object
• Variant objects are synchronized between instance models registered with the same Variant Code, BUT not with regular models and models having a different variant code.
• Therefore the same objects can be modified differently in regular models and models having a different variant code.

  
  

  Foreign Objects

  Foreign objects are definitions that are imported from another software than SketchUp. The current list of data formats is based on what is supported natively by SketchUp, at least:

  • Autocad: DWG, DXF
  • IFC
  • Collada (DAE)
  • 3DS Max (3DS)
  • Google Earth (KMZ)
  • STL
  • Digital Elevation Model (DEM, DEF)
  • SketchUp (SKP), which is actually a method to do XRef-ing

  
  

  Shared Annotations

  Shared Annotations are small messages exchanged within the team about the model. Annotations are automatically synchronized between computers and master models.

  
  

  Information Tool

  The Object Information tool allows you to browse the model in order to get details about objects. Hovering the Team icon highlights the objects which have been last published in the instance model (somehow ‘owned’ from the instance model)

  
  

  Lock and Hard Lock

  Locking an object prevents other team members from modifying the object.

  An object can be locked

  • at top level,
  • optionally, with all its nested sub-objects. This option will also do a hard lock of the objects in the model of other team members (i.e. lock at Sketchup level)

Links to Sketchucation Forum: Main Post   Latest Release

Release History

FredoConnect v1.2a - 10 Jan 25: Extension of validity

FredoConnect v1.1a - 10 Nov 24: Initial Public Release