nEVEn: Settings & Preferences

1. Overview: Accessing nEVEn Settings

The Settings dialog is your central control center for appearance, proactive reminder behaviors, project time logging, and office-wide studio configuration.

The Only Way to Access Settings:

To keep your 3D modeling viewport completely uncluttered, Settings is accessed exclusively through SketchUp’s top menu bar:

Extensions ➔ nEVEn 2027 ➔ Settings

Top Menu: [Extensions] 
             └── [nEVEn 2027]
                    ├── Run Manual Scan
                    ├── Checkpoint
                    ├── Save Checkpoint Prompt
                    ├── Purge + Save
                    ├── Purge + Save + Rescan
                    └── Settings (⚙️) ➔ Opens Settings Carousel

The settings dialog is presented as a clean horizontal carousel. Navigate between cards using the left/right arrows (◀ / ▶) at the top, or by clicking the pagination dots at the bottom.

2. Card 1: Appearance (Dark & Light Theme)

Seamlessly match nEVEn to your preferred studio workspace and lighting conditions:

• nEVEn Dark Theme: Sleek high-contrast cyber-dark palette engineered for long modeling and rendering sessions, reducing eye strain.
• nEVEn Light Theme: Clean daylight aesthetic optimized for bright office environments and client presentations.
• Instant 1-Click Toggle: Click SWITCH TO nEVEn LIGHT/DARK to update all nEVEn dialogs immediately without restarting SketchUp.

3. Card 2: Auto Scan Prompts

Keep your SketchUp models healthy with proactive audit reminders:

• Automated Prompts: When enabled, nEVEn displays a non-intrusive prompt when opening or saving heavy models, or when active modeling operations push the model into elevated strain.
• Driven by the Adaptive Cadence Engine: Rather than spamming the user on rigid timers, prompts adapt intelligently to your model's condition and scan duration:
• Healthy (Stable) Models: Prompts trigger on a relaxed 30-minute cycle.
• Elevated (Caution) Strain: Prompts adjust to 25 minutes.
• Critical Watchdog State: Prompts tighten to 5 minutes to help you identify runaway polygons or textures before SketchUp freezes.
• Heavy Model Politeness: If a large model takes longer to scan (> 20s, > 34s, > 60s), nEVEn automatically doubles, triples, or quadruples the prompt interval so you enjoy uninterrupted drafting time.
• Prompt Options: When an auto-scan prompt appears on your screen, you have 3 instant choices:
• START nEVEn SCAN: Runs the diagnostic audit immediately.
• ASK LATER: Postpones the prompt so you can continue modeling without interruption.
• MANUAL ONLY: Disables future automatic popups so scans only happen when you manually click Run Scan.
• Unattended Action (Timeout): You can configure what nEVEn should do if a prompt is left unanswered (cycles between START nEVEn SCAN, ASK LATER, or MANUAL ONLY).

4. Card 3: Checkpoint Reminders

Ensure you never lose design progress with automated checkpoint prompts:

• Reminder Frequency: Configure how often nEVEn prompts you to take a checkpoint (default: 30 minutes, adjustable in 15-minute increments via stepper buttons or direct numeric entry).
• Reminder Popup Actions: When a reminder appears while you are working:
• CREATE CHECKPOINT: Saves a checkpoint immediately.
• ASK LATER: Snoozes the reminder for your next work interval.
• MANUAL ONLY: Silences automatic reminder popups so you create checkpoints only when you manually choose.
• Auto-Save & Purge Preferences (Configure Modal):
• Auto-Save Model: Automatically saves your active .skp file in sync with the checkpoint.
• Purge Unused Data: Automatically clears unplaced components and materials before saving a checkpoint (choose between Native or deep Absolute purge).

5. Card 4: Project Time Tracking (Free vs Pro)

Accurately log active design hours without manual timesheets:

• Active Drafting Detection: Automatically tracks time spent drawing, orbiting, and editing, pausing automatically after 5 minutes of inactivity or when SketchUp is minimized.
• Pro Edition: Full session logging and lifetime project hours. Session statistics are displayed directly in your session logs and diagnostic dashboards, and time tracking can be toggled ON or OFF at any time.
• Free Edition: Time tracking is reserved for Pro licenses. In Free mode, this card displays GET PRO to upgrade.

6. Card 5: Studio Mode (Central Tracking & Excel Reports)

Designed for architecture firms and visualization studios to manage multi-workstation projects:

• PIN-Protected Security: Requires a 6-digit administrative PIN to configure, preventing accidental changes to studio settings.
• Workstation Identifier: Assign distinct workstation names (such as "Architect Workstation 1" or "Visualizer PC") to identify which computer performed modeling work.
• Central Studio Folder: Point all office workstations to a shared office server directory to centralize activity records and configuration.
• Export Studio Reports: Export comprehensive project tracking logs, session durations, and optimization metrics directly into Excel (.xlsx / .csv) for project management and client billing.

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