# going from sketchup to cutlist



## moshel (Apr 25, 2008)

Hi,

This might be a silly question, but I couldn't figure out how to get this from sketchup.
After I do a design, I would like to see all groups (or components - I ususally work with groups) nicely exploded, preferably aligned the same way with dimensions so I can see what I need to cut. Is there a script or something that does this? I have found a script that outputs CSV for cutlist, but I prefer to stay inside sketchup. I almost never work with plates, so cutlist is not that good for me.


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

There is a ruby script on smustard that will explode things. I have never used it, but I hear it works ok if you like to group all your elements. I don't know if there is any that will generate cut lists or even a parts list based on groups. That would be a good idea for a ruby script….List all the grouped elements and their dimensions.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Hi Moshe,

I may have something which you will find very interesting. I've been working with Michael Robinson who wrote or maintains the current CutListAndMaterials sketchup plugin which may be what you are referencing when you say there is a script which produces CSV output for CutlistPlus. I am working on extending this script to provide detailed layouts and cutting lists using only the Sketchup script ( which we are now just calling CutList). It's almost ready for trialling. It layouts both boards and sheet goods ( it knows which is which using keywords in the material name) and has several options for laying out ( either stuff everything as close as possible or try to line up the cuts to make it easier for taking it to the shop). The cutlist has options for showing all parts or all parts grouped by size or name.

I'm nearly finished with the program, it's already on a 2nd or 3rd draft, then it will go through some trialling with a pro instructor who uses sketchup for some feedback and then i intend to unleash it on the Lumberjocks community for more feedback. It's open source and will probably do a lot of what the $$ programs do. I fully intend to support/extend it as needed to make it as useful as possible.

There is no intention of charging for it. I feel that anything that saves time and especially wood resources is good for the entire planet. I'm also more interested in having the community contribute to making this a great plugin.

There is no exploded view option but that is something I have also been thinking about. I don't think it's that hard. I believe the script on smustard has a cost.


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Looking forward to testing the application… If I am working with sheet goods, I usually plug in the cut list to another program I have that lays out the cuts on plywood in the most cost-effective way.


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

Steve, its great to hear that you are working on this application. I look forward to seeing it!


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## Taigert (Nov 20, 2007)

Steve, 
How long do you think it will be before we can try it out for you? I'm looking forward to seeing it.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm glad there's some good interest in this. It's probably just a few weeks away from a version I would call complete but it's completely working now but has some minor features which are not implemented and some inconveniences like the layout screen can't really be printed (other than taking a snapshot of the window). I don't like that and that will probably get replaced in the 'released' version.

However, it's probably just a few weeks away from a version I would be ok with having people taking a preliminary copy and getting some feedback.

In the meantime, here's some screenshots. It has the look and feel of some old Woodsmith magazines when they still produced cutlists and cutting diagrams. I hope they don't mind the similarity. It's a compliment really.


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## gizmodyne (Mar 15, 2007)

Steve,

Awesome!
It would be cool to be able to export the table to excel, also can you add feature where you indicate the percentage of overage you want and then it adds that to column view along with a total board feet.

Keep on truckin!


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## RJones (Jan 9, 2007)

How awesome is that!! Steve you are the bomb!


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Coochiemama… I like that.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Hi gizmo,

The plugin already supports cutlist output to csv format which you can import to excel. It also has a csv format output option which is compatible with CutlistPlus for those who use it. These already exist in the current version.

The screenshot obviously doesn't show everything, but on the cutlist output page, total bd ft is also given.As well, a total bd ft broken down by material is produced. Boards, sheet parts and hardware are all shown in separate lists. Models created in metric measurements is also supported for both cutlists and now layout.

You'll have to explain more about overage, so I know if that maps to an existing feature. You can specify the nominal board thicknesses you want to use and it will round up each piece to the closest dimension and figure that into the total board feet if you choose that option. These features already exist in the current v3.3 which can still get on the sketchup ruby-api newsgroup CutListAndMaterials 3.3

Enjoy the current version until then! Thanks for all the comments.


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## saddlesore (Oct 17, 2007)

Looks great! You have a bunch of willing beta testers here.


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Great bit of know how Jocks.


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## bbqking (Mar 16, 2008)

Man, after that I'd hate to show you what I work from when I'm building an original piece. Recently I went through a stack of "plans" to file them for future use and I couldn't make heads or tails out of some of them. Finally did, though. It's probably a pretty sorry state of affairs, but I usually build the piece till it suits me, then do a takeoff for future builds. bbqKing


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Nothing wrong with that bbqking. Honestly, my plans are all over the place, too. Some are full sized drawings, some are back of the envelope and some don't exist at all as I made it up as I went along. I might scribble some notes in case I might want to make it again but usually, they're a load of crap when I read them later or I can't remember how I managed to cut some of the pieces out.

I think using Sketchup is good for repeated designs or for visualizing for some people or for sharing ideas. The layout stuff is useful to give you an idea of how much material you need and how to go about getting those parts out - perhaps in helping to cost materials. Honestly, it assumes perfect lumber, which is rare, so it can only be used as an aid to avoid brain hurt and to get to doing the fun stuff quicker.


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

Steve put me on the beta testing list…that ruby looks awesome! I always underestimate materials for my projects and like you said there isn't any perfect wood, but at least this would give me more confidence that I have enough material. I love automated cultists and the board layout is great too. Does it take into account the saw kerf when it's laying out the pieces?


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## aclose (Jun 22, 2008)

i'm also looking forward to trying this out. i was just Googling for 'sketchup woodworking cutlist' and this page was the first link. i'm looking forward to exploring and learning from the LumberJocks here


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## Sparky977 (Mar 19, 2008)

I definitely want to know when this program is done, as I use both sketchup and cutlistplus. I really need to look into the script to import from sketchup to cutlist also, I didn't know that was possible.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Very close now guys. Some last minute fixes after some feedback from a recent review of the 3.3 version on a FineWoodworking blog here

Dave (Brad_Nailor),
Saw kerf size is one of the things which is not currently taken into account. I had a stab at it and gave up for 2 reasons 1) I couldn't decide for now what the standard kerf sizes were. This seems all over the place so I might have to approach this a different way. 2)This is a slightly harder problem to figure into the program than I thought initially - I didn't want to tackle it this time around until I got everything else working first.

Regarding support for cutListPlus - keep in mind that I don't actually own a licensed copy, so I could not verify if the CSV output suited for CLP was correct. I just haven't changed it from what it was before. Some indications are that the file produced now is not correct for later versions. This is where you guys will come in.

Also, support for Mac's would need to get verified as I am currently windoze and linux only. ( too bad sketchup doesn't run on linux!)

aclose:
Welcome to Lumberjocks. Lots of friendly folks on here. You won't be disappointed.


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## damianpenney (Jun 22, 2007)

Steve, that looks great, what algo are you using to determine the best fit?


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Is it absolutely non-functional on a Mac?


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Hi Damian,

With a degree in mathematics and computer science, you would think I would know such things but I haven't a clue if it has a name. I guess largely it's the intuitive one made into an algorithm- roughly:
1. Sort the parts by size (largest area)
2. Fit a part in the upper left corner of the board.
3. Represent the spaces left over on the board as both horizontal and vertical spaces.
4. Fit the next part in the space which fits the 'best' ie: produces the least waste.
5. Repeat until no parts left or you can't fit any of the parts on any board

I had the idea for it nearly 14 years ago and it finally came to fruition. There's an explanation of it in the program if you are interested. If it has a name, I'd be interested to know what it is.

Slacker,
Should work on a mac. However, I don't have a mac to verify that. That's where you guys come in. There's no reason why it shouldn't work on a mac. The previous version was verified to work on a mac.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Ok Lumberjocks. It's ready for beta testing but I need your help.

I'm looking for a way to share it within this community only, so that this version has a limited distribution. My preference would be that you had to be a Lumberjock member to download it. If it has any serious issues or limitations, I want to address those before releasing to everyone.

What is the best way of doing this? There's still no way of uploading files to this site as far as I know.

I flicked an email to Martin but haven't heard from him yet. I thought it might interest him if I made this a Lumberjock exclusive pre-release. It might drive extra members.

I can place it on my personal website. When zipped, it's only about 65k, so no worries about large downloads but that kinda makes it wide open to everyone.

Any ideas?


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## moshel (Apr 25, 2008)

the best way of doing this is putting this in encrypted zip and publishing the password here


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## moshel (Apr 25, 2008)

hmmmm… on reading this again, i understand that you are worried that the thread is open for everyone. one simple way would be to send the password as private message to all how are interested.


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## gwurst (Nov 28, 2007)

Yeah, a PM to people in the thread would be safest. If so, send one my way! I love Sketchup!


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

OK, I've sorted something. It's not exactly what I wanted but I can't be bothered anymore. Those of you following this forum will get the secret to getting the download, right here, right now. If you've read this far, then I consider you a trusted critic. If too many things change, then there'll just be another version.

Go to my website to the article I've written about the CutList4.0 preview
Read the article, look at the pretty pictures if you want but if you really want a copy of the plugin, click on the Lumberjocks logo and you'll get a copy.

If you have any comments or issues, post them here or send me a PM.

Having said that, I'll be gone for a few days as my partner is dragging me out for a weekend of tramping ( otherwise called hiking in other parts of the world). That sounds wonderful, except you have to remember that it is the middle of winter here! The ski season just opened.

Happy Canada Day and July 4 to my fellow N.Americans.


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## gwurst (Nov 28, 2007)

Not bad. I tried it on my garden bench plan and while I don't have it optimized to use Cutlist it did a pretty-good job. I'll have to design a project with Cutlist in mind and see how it does.


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## gwurst (Nov 28, 2007)

Couple weird things so far:

1. A couple named parts would show-up as noname.
2. Probably not the programs fault, but parts tilted at an angle won't measure correctly.
3. I got better results from deselecting minimize waste and line up parts to cut lines, but then I reselected them and ran again and the results were the same as deselecting, even though they were different before?.

Otherwise, it created cutlists almost identical to my own. Some parts got moved around, but the same number of boards were used.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your feedback!
All good comments.
1. Not sure why this is so, but this is the kind of issues I thought might crop up. Different model, slightly different characteristics. Is it possible to get a copy of your model?
2. Darn. This is, in fact, a sketchup limitation. However, I had just put in a change suggested by Jim Foltz which improves this a little by using the instance definition rather than the instance bounding box ( the bounding box defines the space aligned to the axes which encompasses the entire part, so if it is rotated, then the box is bigger ). Seems I have dropped this change going back and forth between two computers, so I'm going to update the zip file with that change back in it shortly.
3. I'll have a look at this. Interesting to hear about your results using the different options.

It's good to know that the layout matches yours. We're obviously on the right track!


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

Sweet! I will be D/l ing this later and taking it for a test drive!Looking forward to seeing it in action…thanks for all your hard work.


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

This looks pretty good. The biggest one was already mentioned. There are materials that show up that aren't in the model. Also, some items show up twice?

Here is my sketchup model if you want to play with it

Everything is a component.

Also, I assume that there is a naming convention for the sheet goods versus the lumber and hardware. Where could I get an explanation of that?

Thanks for all the work. Being in IT myself, I know how it is.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Scott,

Thanks for the model and taking the time to give feedback. I've tried your model and indeed there are a few things that I would not have expected and haven't seen before. My guess would be that the part names not found are related to the materials showing up that aren't in the model. I'll have a closer look at all these later.

*Short tutorial on using the 'part words' and 'sheet material words' fields.*

Wrt naming of the parts, there is no real convention. The fields provided are freeformat to allow for whatever convention you've used. Any word provided in 'part words' will be used to mark that component as a hardware part if the word matches anywhere in the name. Same with 'sheet material words'. Everything else is a lumber part. You can put anything you want in there that you use to identify or differentiate your parts.

The program will select a component for inclusion in the list if any of the words specified matches anywhere in the component name.

If there is a conflict, for example I had a part in my model called a 'partition' which was definitely a lumber part but I also had 'hardware parts', then you can explicitly exclude partition from being detected as a hardware part ( because it matches on the word part) by placing a '-' in front of the word. ie: set 'part words' to "part -partition" or in English : identify a component with the word 'part' as hardware but exclude any components which have the name 'partition'

Hope that helps.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Actually a correction to my previous response. Sheet words are compared against the material name, not the part name, though I've just changed it so that it now checks both.


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## gwurst (Nov 28, 2007)

You can get my Sketchup file here:

http://cid-258899c12334cc4d.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Garden%20Bench/Garden%20Bench.skp

Things to look for:

1. Looking from the front the right-side armrest is named but has noname in Cutlist.
2. The chair back horizontal pieces show-up twice each in the cutlist.

Things I have noticed:

1. Each part has to be named, even if it is an identical component or copied from a group.
2. Group objects pull the name from the *Name* field in Entity Info, but components get the name from the *Definition Name* field.
3. Sheet good have to be painted with a material that has one of the sheet material words in the name (sheet, veneer, plywood, hardboard, and MDF by default). Painting it white will not work. You need to create a custom material with something like "sheet" in the name for it to be recognized.

Steve, thanks again for your hard work on this. If there is anything else you need from me let me know.

Thanks,

Greg


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Greg,

Thanks for the model and the additional comments.

You may have noticed in my previous post that I have partially addressed your comment in 3. At least now, there is another option. You can change the name instead of the material or add a word found in the name if it is unique (same as for hardware). If you take another copy of the plugin, you'll have this change ( You just need to replace the ruby script and restart sketchup or open the ruby console window and type 'load "CutListAndMaterials.rb" ' and restart the plugin.

I also found and fixed one issue with the noname fields. It has to do with nested components. Ie: if you have a component consisting of other components.( or a group of components). The search for parts was including the top most component, when it should only be picking up the sub-components. This was actually in the code from the existing version, so I guess this was never found. So, a good find, thanks.

You can have another go at it now. I'm not entirely convinced that there isn't 1 more case it's not picking up but it got rid of the noname parts from the model that Scott provided.

I'll give your model a go soon too, Greg

As a rule, once I have posted that I have made a change, then that change has already been uploaded to the website.

Cheers guys for all the help.

Steve


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Ok, a new version is up at my site (still called v4.0, however). I've addressed all of the issues raised.

Greg:
1. Sheet words now work on the part name as well as the material name, like part words.
2. I've found a way to name parts which are copies of a group. This was one source of the 'no-name' issue. The copies did not have names but as long as one part using the same group definition has a name, all others will now get the same name. No changes are made to the model.
3. There is still a source of a no-name part, namely( no pun intended) the right side armrest. The issue here is that your model really does have a group inside a group on that part. Your outer group has a name but the inner group which encompasses all of the part has none. You can see this for yourself when you double click on the right arm to edit it. If you click on it again, you will get a bounding box instead of one of the faces or edges.
4. Parts tilted at an angle now get the correct dimensions. This was easy with components but a bit trickier with groups. Bottom line is that they both have an underlying definition which has the correct dimensions. When a part is created from the definition, there is another bounding box created encompassing its current location. Your seat slats now all show up with the same name and dimensions.
5. I couldn't fiind any issue with the layout options. I tried this way and that way but always got the same results. You'll have to tell me if you see anything strange there again.

Scott
As I mentioned in a previous post, I've fixed an issue with the topmost 'container' being returned as an additional part. These are now ignored and only components which have nothing but edges and faces left in them are returned as true parts. This gets rid of some redundant parts. As well there was an issue with naming parts when a hardware part was detected in the middle of the parts list. This has been fixed too.

So, take another copy and give it a shot again and see if there is anything else.

I had a lot of fun playing with your models and trying different layout options. It might help for the next 'build something out of a 2×4 contest'!

Oh, and by the way, my co-lumberjock here in Christchurch, New Zealand, moshe, informs me that I am using the classic knapsack algorithm!

Thanks for all your help!


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## moshel (Apr 25, 2008)

Just to put things in a more precise way - you are using the greedy algorithm solution to the knapsack problem.


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## pashley (Mar 22, 2008)

Not to be sarcastic (or stupid), but I'm not sure of the point of the cutting diagram?

I guess it is suppose to give you an idea of how to cut the parts from the board? Sort of like putting the pieces of a puzzle into as small a space as possible?


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Hi Patrick,

Why indeed would you want a cutting diagram? There are a few reasons
1. Regardless of whether or not you have a cutting diagram, eventually you are going to have to cut some wood to get a project built. How many boards do you need to buy? If you go by the board feet measured ( or calculated by something like the cutlist plugin) you're going to find that it falls short. Why? because when you to to cut the pieces out of the board, you'll find that you will inevitable have waste. By having the cutting diagram, you can see how much waste there is going to be and you know how much to get when you to the lumber yard.

2. You've got a lot of parts to cut and you want your parts to be as accurate as possible before you even do anything else to the pieces. Ideally you want one setup for each size of part, so that you can cut each of the parts which are the same size at the same time. The cutting diagram lets you visualize how parts may be laid out to minimize on the cuts and the number of setups.

3. Ok, you've decided to build your project out of sustainably harvested plantation teak. It's selling for $50/square foot(!) for 3/4". You might be interested in using those $200 boards as efficiently as possible. A cutting diagram may also be used to minimize waste. Even if you have waste if you could have a larger part left over which you could reuse for another project vs having a lot of offcuts, you've saved yourself some money and you are using the planet's resources efficiently and responsibly.

So, to sum up, it gives you more accurate project requirements, it minimizes setup time and shop time spent cutting the boards while increasing accuracy and finally it helps to use the resources as efficiently as possible.


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## MNedman (Dec 1, 2007)

Steve, I just came across this thread this afternoon and I have downloaded the plugin from your site. I am so excited to start using it because creating sheet layouts manually is so cumbersome.

I have installed the plugin into my sketchup plugins directory, but when I go to run the plugin I get a window which opens up and says "This Program cannot display the webpage"!

Help!


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## pashley (Mar 22, 2008)

Thanks, Steve. SO, the plugin you provided generates a diagram of how to cut the stock with minimal waste. Got it. Cool!


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

Nice summary Steve. I did the cutlist for my current project (the one linked above) the same way this program does it except by hand. In other words, I broke up the parts and layed them out on planks to see how I could get the most from the boards and how many I would need to buy. I was able to buy the exact amount of lumber I needed.

Now what the program doesn't take into acccount is how to lay out the cutlist by grain pattern. For example, you might want two drawers to continue the pattern of a board accross a cabinet face, or you might want two panel stiles to be cut side by side so they look continuous. That's O.K. with me though because given enough money a person could take this hobby into the manufacuring realm and just buy robots to do all the work with CNC routers and the like. I try to walk a thin line between total use of hand tools and machines.

BTW, Has anyone noticed how we have totally taken over moshel's original thread? Thanks buddy


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## ChicoWoodnut (Dec 15, 2007)

O.K. Steve, this is looking pretty good. The total component board feet is dead on. The layout isn't quite right though. The biggest issue is that my panels are bookmatched so I can get two for the price of one 

What might be helpful is if the program were to produce another sketchup model of all the boards with parts overlayed on them as a starting place for manual fiddling.

At any rate, I will find this useful exactly as it is.

Thanks!!!!!


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## moshel (Apr 25, 2008)

Hey! that's why this thread actually started! however, its far from being trivial. sketchup ruby api lack some of the functions needed to implement this feature (like duplicating things easily or creating a new group from several other things)


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Mathew,

The plugin output creates a new web page using whatever your default browser is, so make sure popups are enabled before using the plugin. Also make sure the cutlistui file from the zip file is in your plugins directory. This file contains the html page templates needed by CutList to create the output.


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## MNedman (Dec 1, 2007)

Thanks Steve, that was the problem! When I extracted all the files in the zip file to the Sketchup plugin directory it worked perfectly!

Thank you so much for taking the time to create such a useful plugin! You have just saved me countless hours and wasted material by creating optimized sheet layouts automatically!


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Scott,

Thanks for your comments. Yeah, this program is a tool, like any other in your shop. It doesn't replace you and the decisions and changes that you might make as a craftsperson. (Sometimes, I even change the design in the shop to suit the board I am using) There's actually several things it will not do, but as you point out, it serves as a pretty decent starting point and can be useful as is.


It treats all boards as if they were perfect. Hardly possible. There will be changes you'll want to make to get around bad spots on the board or to get the best grain.


It doesn't handle grain direction. Actually it could but there is no standard way to represent this in Sketchup.
so there is an assumption that grain runs in the direction of the longest side of the part. This is certainly not always true.


It assumes 0 kerf size. Ie: Boards magically are parted at the particle level without any sawdust. It may be possible some day, but not currently available, not even from Festool. It's possible to factor in a kerf size in the layout but it's currently in the too-hard basket and wasn't worth adding in initially.


It doesn't factor in the possibility of resawing. ie: if parts were thin enough and the board thick enough, then it could get multiples of the same part out of the board by resawing. Right now it rounds up each to the nearest available board size. Having said that, if you layout with no board thickness options ( deselect all of the 'quarters' options) then it will lay out everything according to the actual thickness of the part. You can then visually determine if several of the layouts could come from a single board.

Which leads me to Moshe's original question and Scott's request: *Layout the parts in Sketchup and let us hand manipulate them* . With a 3d browser you can see stacked parts and also make any adjustments you see fit. I think that's the next logical extension of this tool. I've messed with the internals of Sketchup enough to know that this is entirely possible and it's relatively simple to extend the tool to do yet another output format of the layout results.

Stay tuned….


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Argh! I am so jealous… I got a Mac, and from some of the early postings, it appears as if this enhancement does not work for Macs?


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Slacker,

Not exactly.

What I said was that I don't have a Mac so I cannot say with 100% certainty that everything works on a Mac, however, there is nothing about the implementation which relies on a particular version of operating system or browser. It uses standard Sketchup interfaces, standard ruby and uses basic html and java scripting.

Someone with a Mac just needs to try it ( that's where you, as my new beta tester, comes in!) and report back and confirm one way or the other. If there is an issue, I will fix it.

I also said the the previous version of this plugin was reported to run fine, without problems.

Personally, I think it will work fine.

Has anyone with a Mac tried it?


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

I have not been able to get the CutList to work on the Mac. I may be doing something wrong, so here's is what I did.

To start at a point where someone has already shown it works, I downloaded the nightstand that someone posted in this discussion. I selected all items in the file, opened the plug in and got a window titled CutList 4.0, a left and right arrow, and a partial home icon. The rest of the form was blank.


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## moshel (Apr 25, 2008)

This might have something to do with the browser you use. is the default browser safari?


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Hi Slacker,

I downloaded Safari for Windoze and compared opening the html page for the output ( ie: ../Google/Google%20SketchUp%206/Plugins/cutlistui/cutlistui.html ) with 3 different browsers, Firefox, MSIE and Safari and got the same results with all 3. ( If you do this, you should get the normal startup page which you would see when you first select CutList from the menu. The tabs and the help should all work at this point ). If you can try this too and report the results, we may be able to get to the bottom of this..

Btw, did you make sure to extract the entire zip file to the plugins menu? including the cutlistui folder ( which contains everything else you need to make the plugin run)? That seems to be a common problem.


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

To be sure, I have never used the plugins in Sketchup, so I am certain that I am doing something wrong. Here is a finder screen shot showing where the plugin files are located. As best as I could tell, this is the correct location…









Here is a screen shot of the nightstand that someone posted. I selected all components, hit the Plugins menu, and selected CutList…









I can open the html files on Safari, but the idea is to open it from Sketchup, no? I followed the instructions from the article on CutList 3.3 shown in Design.Click.Build. I am sure that this is some fool thing I am missing.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Hi Slacker,

Brilliant, you're doing everything right. Thanks for going to the trouble of posting the screen shots. That helps.

I was playing around a bit more with the 3 browsers and I did come across 1 thing that did not behave the same way in Firefox and Safari - I thought it was just a quirk of running the web page in the browser instead of through Sketchup- turns out the MS IE was more tolerant (that never happens!) of something I had done not quite kosher.

Anyway, I found the issue and fixed it and I can now report that all 3 browsers work the same way for all aspects( that I could test without Sketchup). I think this might have affected you since Safari was affected.

My suggestion is to download the zip from my website again. You can just replace file cutlistui.html from the zip file and try again. Let me know if this works now or if something is different.

Thanks for your help.


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Excellent… many thanks. I got some things to do tonite, but I will play with it tonite. Did I say play? I meant, ahem, test the software.


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Sorry to say, I went and downloaded the fixes for Mac, and just replaced all the files you saw in the screen shot from before. The program behaves in exactly the same manner as before. So sad…


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Did you ever try to install cutlist 3.3? Did that work?
The other thing you could do for me is to open the ruby console window ( Window->Ruby Console). Run it again and cut and paste everything that comes out on the console to a PM to me. These might give me some clues as to where to look next or whether we are at an end to what is currently possible. 

Apparently we are stuck using IE on windows and Safari on MAC with Sketchup. Setting another browser as the default will not work as SU ignores the default browser setting. Also reading some other threads, there appears to be known issues between SU and Safari for web dialogs ( ie: the main interface provided by SU between it and a web page). See this recent post on this very topic:
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=10576

This may unfortunately have no solution until SU7. That would be rather a disappointment to me.

In any case if you could do those couple of things above I would know if there might still be some hope.

Sorry that I don't have any good news!


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Never got around to installing cutlist 3.3 (the article in Design.Click.Build was very specific about it being only for PCs). I need to head out to work soon, and then I have to drive to Miami for family fun. I will endeavor to do that then.

In the meanwhile, I opened the ruby window, and there is nothing in there. Here's a screen shot…









There is something fundamentally wrong here. I wonder if I saved the plugin to the right place. I played with the PC version at work yesterday afternoon and it is sweet! Will this work with other browsers (Foxzilla)?


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Cheers Slacker! I think you did everything right. Methinks there is something more seriously wrong here than I'm going to sort out in this forum in a great hurry. We may have run into some of the basic issues being discussed in other forums. We'll just have to declare CutList unsuitable for Mac's at this point, until I find a way around this or Sketchup fixes these issues ( or lets us choose our browsers - hint, hint!)

I'm going to release Cutlist 4.0 as is for now. More on this in the next post.

Happy July 4th everyone


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## Slacker (Apr 7, 2008)

Well, thanks for trying. I may just have to fire up my PC and get cut lists.

Of interest, I loaded version 3.3 (can't just go to work without trying one more thing), and in the Plugins menu got two items: CutList generator SU5 and CutList generator SU6. The latter gave me the same result as before, but the former actually created a couple of .csv files that I was able to open and view.

Something is better that nothing. Ta ta. Happy 4th.


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Well, that pretty much confirms that it wasn't anything I did in this version and that it's a fundamental issue. The old 'SU5' was nothing but a generator of the CSV output without the web page which is why it works. We took that out of this version because it didn't seem all that useful anymore. Maybe that was a bad idea.

Thanks for sticking with it, anyway. Enjoy the long weekend!


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## daltxguy (Sep 7, 2007)

Well, it's time to release the current version. I've just created a blog which summarises the features, points to the various information sources for the plugin as well as providing the link to the plugin.

The plugin can be downloaded from here now
My website provides more info on features, limitations, known issues as well as another link to the download.

The LJ blog has a full set of screenshots and a brief walkthrough of how to use it. This is being released to LJ readers first before it's being published anywhere else.

good luck and feel free to post any comments, suggestions , questions and any bug reports either in this forum or the blog.


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## asmang (Oct 11, 2008)

I feel like an idiot as I can't get this to work within Sketchup. I'm using Sketchup 6 on a PC with version 4.0.6 of cutlist. Could anyone post a quick installation/run tutorial or point me to an existing one?

I looked at the screenshots from Slacker and droped my extracted files into the same location… nothing seems to be working in that after I click the "Cut List" menu option from the Plugins menu, it opens a web browser that says "this program cannot display the webpage" (IE7).

*UPDATE* 
I figured out the problem… bad unzipping on my part. I redid the extract and all's good. 

Thanks for your help!
Greg


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