The author of the popular CutList plugin for SketchUp has just released an update which you can download here. This release fixes an issue which recently cropped up in which the HTML layout page couldn’t be generated on Windows machines. He made a few other bug fixes as well. At this time there’s no change in operation for Mac users, though.
This release will download with the file extension .rbz instead of .zip. This will make it much more simple to install if you are using SketchUp 8M2 or later or SketchUp 2013. Before installing the plugin, navigate to the Plugins folder and remove both the folder called ‘cutlist’ and the file called ‘cutlist.rb.’ Next, open SketchUp and go to Preferences>Extensions. This will be under the Window menu on PC and under the SketchUp menu on Mac (to the left of the File menu). Click on Install Extension. Navigate to the location in which you saved cutlist.rbz and choose Open. Follow the prompts to install it. Close the Preferences pane when you are finished. You should see the plugin list at the bottom of the Plugins menu. When you reopen SketchUp it’ll appear in the Plugins menu in the same location you’re used to seeing it.
If you have SketchUp 8 but don’t have the Install Extension button, you are still using an old revision of it. You should update to the last maintenance release or you should download SketchUp 2013.
The author of CutList indicated to me that he has a few more bug fixes as well as some feature improvements/additons he’s working on. He said he expects a more major release “soonish”. He decided to make this minor release primarily to fix the issue with the layout portion. I’ll keep you posted as I learn more.
–Dave
Comments
I found the new version of Cut List has problems. I have a simple cabinet of Plywood. I have 2 sides and a short vertical panel. Cut List will not identify the short vertical panel.
I have 3 shelves 23x78 and 1 Shelf 23x52. Cut List shows 3 Sheets of plywood: 1 with 2 shelves, 1 with the short shelf and 1 with the 3rd shelf. It should be on 2 sheets, not 3.
Carl, would you be willing to send me the SKP file? I'd like to see what happens when I run the plugin on it. You can e-mail me by clicking on my name at the end of the blog post.
-D
Thanks Dave! Now I am committed to the 'soonish' timeframe.
Note that v4.1.6 mainly fixes the issues that people were having with the latest versions of Sketchup.
The html code used by the plugin had finally become outdated compared to the level expected by Sketchup and it was preventing layout from even running at all.
carlbeck - based on what you wrote, it should fit on 2 sheets as you indicate. I haven't made any changes to this part of the plugin in this release and there are still some cases which not optimize correctly - I think that is one of the cases. The reasons would bore you.
Until I can perfect this little quirk (and even after that), I do advise to use the cutlist layout as a tool. It gives an excellent starting point. My algorithm, which tries to simulate how we would ordinarily go about optimizing a layout, falls short due to the much higher cognitive ability of our brains and eyes to spot optimal! Stay tuned - it is one of the improvements on my list !
I'm a Mac user running OSX 10.8.4 and Sketchup 2013. I'm really pleased with this new version of Cut List. No problems with installation and everything works just fine including the layout page which displays properly. The only problem I have is with printing it. When I click the Print Layout button the print dialogue page appears but the preview displays just the text of the layout without the diagrams (the outlines of the pieces are missing). There is the option to view/save the document as a pdf from the print dialogue box but that also results in a text-only version. In short I can't print the layout. This is very frustrating as there just isn't another decent cutting list/optimisation program for Mac and I don't want to install Windows on my Mac just so I can use Cutlist Plus. Anyone else found this problem? Anyone have any ideas of a workaround?
bm, Tick the SVG box to save the layouts as Scaled Vector Graphics files. You can then open them in Safari or Photoshop or whatever and print them.
I'm not sure that the print option from the plugin was ever finished to work correctly. To be honest, I've never needed to print directly from the plugin so I haven't tried it since the plugin first came out.
-Dave
Aha! That does the trick. Thanks Dave.
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