I really like the shingles tool. I often use it in combination with the MultiTexture plugin to give each shingle a slightly different color. Therefore each shingle needs a different matID. So to make this tool faster to work with, please implement an option to give each shingle a different matID.

Thanks

After you apply Shingle tool.
Select new shingles, or separate them to new layer, and apply Cad5 Modify->Random->Surface Random tool (with 'Object' mode)

Five different random materials are enough for roof shingles realistic look.

Hope this helps!