Sketchup 2017 scenes not working as expected in Layout

My typical workflow involves having some VIEW scenes with only the camera saved and then having many LAYER scenes which show only a particular layer. While this still works fine in Sketchup the problem is with Layout. This method lets me cut down on the number of scenes required.

I usually build up a set of plans by inserting a VIEW scene into Layout and then stacking the LAYER scenes in a particular order and style on top of one another, this way everything stacks perfectly even if I choose a different camera angle as the LAYER scenes do not have camera info.

The problem I have with Sketchup / Layout 2017 is that whenever I copy & paste a VIEWPORT onto a new layer and then change the LAYER scene the scale and Ortho button changes and the entity disappears off the page, by correcting the scale and turning Ortho on the entity is not exactly where I would expect it to be.

In short the LAYER scene saved in Sketchup with no camera chooses its own scale etc. in Layout and completely ruins my workflow making the software unusable in addition to the poor anti aliasing support on Mac.

In 365 days the Sketchup team has managed to introduce more bugs than features into it’s product while other FREE software I use, Autodesk Fusion 360 is updated approx every 6 weeks and has come along in leaps and bounds in the same time frame.

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This is the first time we’ve heard about this problem with LayOut 2017, thanks for reporting it!

It’s the end of the day here in Boulder so we won’t be able to take a look at it until tomorrow. Is there any chance you can share the file with us so that we can see your exact workflow?

Thanks,
Marc

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Hi Marc,

Thanks for the quick reply, attached is a basic 2016 Layout file which you should be able to get the embedded sketchup file, this will show my layer method.

Try to use the same method in 2017 and it won’t work.

Also any tips for Anti Aliasing on a mac… the ruby console Test.set_AA_method(4) does not work anymore. Running a early 2011 15" MacBook pro, Sketchup 2016 looks beautiful, 2017 looks ■■■■.

Just a quick update: it’s been about 10 days since 2017 came out, and today there’s an maintenance release 1 update. Thanks for sharing the file: we kinda suck at fixing bugs we’re not aware of.

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Hmm… I can’t open that file in 2016, it hangs. It works for you in 2016? Ed: I did get it to load on 2016 on PC, the hang was on Mac.

It was created and works on 2016 using macOS Sierra on my end, would you like me to send another file…?

Here is another file.

oh really? :slight_smile: thanks for the efforts!

I’ve noticed a difference in 2017 with scaling viewports, as well. In 2016, and before, you could zoom into a particular SU view in the LO viewport, chose a scale, and the item you are zoomed into would stay visible but would be at the new scale.

Now, as soon as you choose a new scale, the view flies away to some undetermined location and it is laborious to find the view of the item. If you activate the viewport and zoom/pan through SU, then the scale gets changed and if you then change the scale back it zooms away again. I have found that I have to greatly enlarge the viewport, with don’t scale chosen, and hope I can find the view in the available monitor/LO space. Often, I have to expand the viewport, then move it over, collapse part of it while expanding another part, and finally finding the view I originally wanted.

Of course, all this can be dealt with with a new SU scene, but the act of scaling the viewport with a manually navigated view is definitely worse than it was in 2016. In my opinion, once a viewport is no longer SU active, any changes in LO should keep the viewport view centered in the viewport.

Hello,

I would like to inform that I am also interested in a solution to this problem. The lack of this functionality destroys my entire workflow.

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Hi all-

I believe that we have tracked down this issue to some changes that were made to support the new graphics system in SketchUp. We’re working on a fix, keep an eye on the release notes for any future maintenance releases of 2017 for official word that it’s been fixed. I’ll try to remember to update this thread when the fix is out.

-m

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I am having this same problem, I have now saved out my SKP file to 2015, and imported to Layout 2015, alas the problem has come along for the ride. When resizing a window in layout, layout crashes. … and thats 2015 which has always worked fine. Makes me think there is something in the EX 2017 SKP file.