In Version 5.0
Compatibility
In this version a few features/fixes have been introduced that are not compatible with older versions of SketchUp. There are three main reasons why certain features are not backward compatible:
Bug fixes in newer versions.
API changes. Certain functions are simply not available in older versions.
Rendering engine upgrade for the HTML/JavaScript.
| Feature | Works on SketchUp | Effect |
|---|---|---|
Material Color Picker | 2021+ | Color Picker does not show |
Drawing / Exploded Views | 2018+ | Draw Button hidden |
Parts
With the new material type Veneer, we had to define how front and backside of a part are detected. Using the local axes, we define the front to be the most positive face on the blue thickness axis.
Sometimes we used the word "Edge Banding" but meant simply Edge, one of the 4 edges of a panel part. Now for all parts of type Sheet Goods, we will speak of Face, meaning the two thickness faces (front and backside where veneer can be applied) and Edge (where edge banding can be applied).
There are situations where one would want to put veneer on all 4 edges of a part, for example a table leg. This is currently not possible.
3D preview
Properties of Part now displays a 3D preview including dimensions.
Material
Duplicate Material
To duplicate a given material including its OpenCutList attributes, open the Properties of Material window and click on Duplicate. Enter a new name for the copy. If you don't change the name, a new unique name based on the old name will be given.
Load texture
From material's properties dialog, you can now load a new texture or clear the current.
Color Picker
To add custom colors for material, you can either edit the color in SketchUp or insert an RGB Hex code. With newer versions of SketchUp, you can select the color by using a color picker. Click on the left end of the Color field to open the picker.
New Material Type Veneer
Similar to Edge Banding, Veneer is a new type of material that can be applied to the faces of a panel (of type Sheet Goods). Theoretically it could also be applied to the edges (like the four sides of a leg), but in OpenCutList it can only be applied to the front and back face of a material of type Sheet Goods.
The Veneers material is available when the Paint faces tool is selected. The frontside of the part is the part with the largest dimension along the blue axis (thickness). The Smart Axes tool lets you swap front and backside of the part.
Draw
The Draw feature is available directly from the Parts List or from a Group Header. Draw will pick up the parts that are visible or that are within the group. If you want to draw only a detail, select the parts that make it up and hit draw. You can use Badges to group parts with different materials.
Presets
Presets are used in a few places to store and retrieve settings for Labels, Materials, Cutting Diagrams. Most modal configuration windows can be prefilled with presets.
When you upgrade SketchUp, a new version of SketchUp will be installed, without touching the old version and without the presets (this is how SketchUp works). To assist the user in saving and restoring Presets a new menu is available in the Preferences Tab.
To save presets from SketchUp 2021 to SketchUp 2023, save the presets from the old version of SketchUp (by first installing OpenCutList 5.0 in SketchUp 2021), then open SketchUp 2023 (with OpenCutList 5.0 installed) and import the presets.
Tools
Smart Paint
To accelerate the assignment of material (Edge Banding, Sheet Goods, …), the Smart Paint tool was introduced in version 4.0.0. This tool has been reworked to make it even faster and easier to use.
The tool has 5 functions:
Paint parts to paint an entire part. The material will be assigned to the instance. Only material that can be applied to a part will be displayed, including No material to remove any material.
Paint edges with material of type Edge Banding (1 edge, 2 opposite edges or all 4 edges at once). Edges are the SketchUp faces of a part of type Sheet Goods that have thickness as second dimension.
Paint faces with material of type Veneer (1 face or both faces of a part). Faces are the SketchUp faces of a part of type Sheet Goods that have dimensions length and width.
Sample to pick up material and select it as current material.
Clean to remove all material information from a part.
Smart Axes
In general, the orientation of the local axis is not very important, but OpenCutList uses the position and the orientation of the local axis of a component to identify length, width and thickness of a part and also its front face and back face.
It was already possible to quickly change the local axes by reordering the dimensions in the Part Properties. Now with the Smart Axes tool it is even faster.
The tool has 3 functions:
Flip to mirror a instance of a part along one of its dimensions, which can be length, width or thickness. This operation only affects the selected instance. The symbol >|< shows if the instance is mirrored with respect to its definition.
Swap length - width rotates the local axes so that length and width are swapped. This will also lock the orientation of the axes. This operation is done on the definition of the component and it will affect all instances of the part.
Swap front - backside reorients the local axes so that the front face showing a full arrow is most positive on the blue axis. The backside displays a dashed arrow. This operation is done on the definition of the component and it will affect all instances of the part.
Adapt axes is a tool that lets you set the local axes of a component without entering into edit mode. Pick a face, edge or vertex to reposition the local axes. Instead of swapping length, width and thickness, this tool also lets you reposition the axes for odd shapes.
(former, replaced by Adapt axes) Orient automatically will reset the local axes so that the biggest dimension (length) is along the red axis, the smallest dimension (thickness) is along the blue axis and the width is along the green axis. There are exceptions to this heuristic. The user can always rearrange the dimensions in the Part Properties and lock the orientation of the axes for a particular part.
Cutting Diagram 2D
In the cutting diagram for panels, the two first trimming cuts are accounted for in the total cutting length and in the count of cuts. These cuts may not always be necessary, but including them puts you on the safe side.
Improvements
Estimates
Estimates (Formerly Reports) now compute used and unused raw material weight and cost.
Reduction for Edge Banding
Edge dimension reduction is now clearly separated from the oversize. Using length/width oversize for the part and then applying a reduction for edge banding does probably not make sense. This display better shows what is going on under the hood. The material has an oversize in length and width of 10mm, but the thickness reduction for the edge banding applies to the finished dimensions (500 -1) x (200 - 1).
Renamed Terms
Tags changed to Badges
The term Tag to designate a label that can be attached to a part has been renamed to Badge. One or more badges can be attached to a part. Badges can be used to filter the list of parts.
Tag is used by SketchUp to refer to what was formerly called Layer.
Reports changed to Estimate
Report is a very general term and it does not quite describe the purpose of the feature. It is now called Estimate (verb).
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