I’m a new user and I’m having big trouble scaling my drawings. For example, I’d like to create a drawing of a room using the scale 3/4" = 1’-0" and want the dimensions on the SketchUp drawing to reflect the real dimensions not just the inches the various points moved. I’ve tried everything I can think of without success. To me this seems like a basic drafting concept. What m I missing?
Thanks
Jim in MA
Draw the floor plan at full size in SketchUp. Create a scene for it and make sure the camera is set to Parallel Projection and the Top view. Send the drawing to LayOut selecting that scene for the viewport. In the SketchUp inspector window, select the desired scale or add a new custom scale if you wish.
DaveR,
Thanks for answering. Very complicated, may too complicated. Think I’ll ditch SketchUp and go back to using pencil & paper. I can throw out a basic floor plan using a scale and a pencil faster than ding all that.
Shame there isn’t a better, easier way to make a simple to scale sketch. I’ll search the Internet to see what I can find. I don’t mind paying for a program if it’s easy to use. SketchUp is too difficult for my needs
Jim in MA
It really isn’t that hard Jim.
Check your private messages.
I agree with Jim, Super Aggravating!!! I need to draw quick 2D architectural components shop drawings and 1:1 is my only option ? that is not really a 2D “program”, it would be nice if it could be used as a stand alone program,
Is there anyway to just be able to click on the Dimension Style box and have it be responsive so you can draw in 1/4"=1’ on a d size or 11 x 17 ?
What’s wrong with using it as it was meant to be used in conjunction with SketchUp? It will be aggravating if you insist on using it the way it was not mean to be used.
I will eventually, but selecting a scale to draw in seems fairly basic to my simple mind, No ?
Draw in SketchUp at full size. Scale the drawing in LayOut as desired. No eventually about it.
It’s flat out simpler to draw at full size instead of figuring out a scale.
Your right , I just found the Parallel Projection on Camera, works much better, still wish i could draw in Layout though, the more tools/options the better , i like 2D, my brain dose not always want to look at 3D
You can draw in 2D in SketchUp easily and there are more options available for drawing in SketchUp than in LayOut. And it’s easy to do both 3D and 2D from the same drawing if you make it in SketchUp.
Is that what construction Document is in the templates ?
You can certainly start with that template if you want but you don’t have to. That one just starts with the camera set to top view. You can make that setting from any other template, too. Don’t get hung up on the templates. They are only example sets of parameters that define how the camera is set, the colors used for the background and some other styles. You can make those settings yourself. Most people wind making their own default templates to suit their own needs.
I like where this thread is going. I have been a Sketchup user for a long time now and use both sketchup and layout for my profession. While I understand how layout works regarding scaling off a sketchup view port, I can realize a lot utility from being able to draft traditionally in layout as well.
There are lots of times where I need to communicate a simple project with subs, vendors, co-workers. All of whom require CD’s, be it preliminary or final. Lots of times I dont require the model to communicate the scope and having to model it just to turn around and convert it to a floor plan or elevation just becomes extra steps in the process. I would be able to draft it and annotate it in the same amount of time I would model it, thus increasing my productivity. It would not replace the modeling, just allow me to chose my work flow depending on the project I am working on.
Where I would not approach a complicated project this way, I would fully be in favor of adding this functionality to layout. All the functionality to do this already exists in the program, it simply requires adding the ability to draw at set scale sizes.
I have to agree with Dave here sorry guys. There are distinct benefits in having the 3D model, everyone was born seeing the world in 3D. We were all taught to relate a 2D drawing back to 3D and once we know how it becomes second nature. I think the point is that many customers do not understand the 2D side. I can not count how many times I have heard a customer say "If I only knew it was going to be that size, or look like that I would have changed it before construction.
It seams to me the hard thing is drawing in 3D and then creating screens and styles yet we have Plugins to do this.
With layout and Sketchup you have the best of both worlds.
Andrew,
I can not agree more with the value of the 3D model and how that allows me to communicate projects with customers, and the fact that they don’t understand CD’s. However, I then have the inverse problem that other trade professionals don’t understand 3D models (Let alone the ability to share the large files, or their ability to open them even if I got them the file) A model of a residential space does not tell my electrician where the outlets are going to be, the amp requirements for a stove, how many recessed lights, where the breaker box is located, that an extra line is required for floor heat. This example only relates to one trade. Often I have 8- 15 trades, all requiring different information that the model will not communicate.
My position requires two very different types of communication. On one side I need to present a picture to my client, that being the 3D model. They do not care about the size of the waste line for the toilet. However, where my plumber is concerned they care a lot about the required size of a waste line for a toilet, as well as the supply line and the vent stack.
As I have two requirements for communication one visual for the client and two specific for the trades, we have a system of two programs to help us with these different lines of communication; Sketchup and Layout. It seems like different users have different needs for the software we use, and as a good developer, it seems ideal to me that they offer the ability to the user to use the software as they find fit.
Drawing in CAD or SketchUp, etc is all done on a 1:1 scale. The place one actually gets a scale is in the printing. With SketchUp set to parallel projection and top view, the drawing can be printed to scale (2D). Set the scale in the Print menu. One cannot print a 3D drawing to scale as there truly is no scale in a 3D drawing as it is in perspective and lines diverge/converge.
In the Print window (go to File>Print) make sure you uncheck “Fit to Page” in the Print Size section. Not doing so will defeat any scale settings.
The settings for 3/4" scale would be:
In Print Out .75"
In SketchUp 1’
Sounds like good info, except
When I go to File /Print in either Layout or SketchUp, I don’t see a “Fit to Page option to uncheck.
In Layout, under Preferences, under Scales my setting is “3/4” = 1’-0" (1:16)"
I don’t have a selection called “Print Out" in either mode.
Do the setting change when using a Mac?
Where are these found,
The settings for 3/4" scale would be:
In Print Out .75"
In SketchUp 1’
JimD
For SketchUp on a Mac, these settings are found on File->Document Setup.
OK, found that box and un-checked it. No change. What about my other questions?
News flash. You were born in a 3D world, and you’ve been looking at things in 3D ever since. It shouldn’t be such an alien concept at this point.
-Gully