Hi
I want to use Sketchup to create 2D floor plans from imported DXF files. I’ve managed to import the DXF file but can’t work out what I need to do to start editing it to create a nice looking scale floor plan.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?
Thanks in advance.
The .dxf file will import as a component. To proceed with modeling from it you either open the component for editing or just use it as a reference while you redraw the geometry. Often you’ll get a cleaner model if you use the imported geometry as reference. If you’re going to use the geometry directly, I would recommend untagging all of the geometry. You’ll have to generate faces in component before you can go 3D.
You say you want to create a 2D plan but will you need to go 3D at some point?
Sketchup doesn’t have anymore the scale printing feature, if you want to create nice scaled floor plans I recommend you to use LayOut, one of the softwares included with your sketchup pro subscription.
You can make 2D drawings on sketchup but the software is designed to create 3D objects, it lacks of some features to create good looking plans, the most important is line widths, on sketchup all the lines have the same width except for profiles and section lines, but there’s no way to prioritize elements on a plan, all of them have the same hierarchy, On layout you start by setting the paper size, add the viewport containing your sketchup drawing, then you can change the line styles, color and width for every tag on your sketchup file, for example you can set grey or any other color with a thinner line to distinguish objects that aren’t so important on a plan, like furniture, vegetation, people etc. and objects like walls or columns with a thicker line and a color more predominant visually, you can fill areas with hatches and add measurements according to the scale you are working with among a lot more things that need to be done on architectural construction document.