Looking for some help to avoid the layout updates from taking every dimension and turning them red. Something probably very fundamental here and appreciate the help.
Hard to tell without something to work with. Share the LO file. What changes are you making in the model before you update? Generally the red dimensions indicate that at least one end of the dimension has become disconnected from the model and that usually occurs when the geometry in the model has been changed and the Persistent IDs are lost.
That means that your dimensions are not connected to your model, you can select them all right click and select reconnect with the model, sometimes not all of them are connected automatically, you’ll have to double click on them and a red dot will show you what part of the dimension lines aren’t connected with the model
I guess I’m not sure how they are not connected to the model as the original work completed to insert the dimensions originally were placed onto the object of the model (using object snap). It is only in recent work that this all going to red condition has occurred. One item that I think may be at work here, I did a save as on the model at one point as it seemed more advantageous to overwrite the file than to put the changes back into original model file.
Follow up soon to see where this goes. Thank you.
This would be a prime reason that the dimensions would become disconnected. Relinking to a new model would disconnect the dimensions.
Thank you, this works. As noted above, not sure what the disconnect is as the dimensions were inserted using object snap and it is only recently that all of the dimensions are now disconnected.
Your recommendation is very helpful and much, much, much quicker than re-dimensioning.
Thank you.
yeah, I was afraid of that when I did that. But, with that said, I put the dimensions back in on the new file to the model, I thought… and now even this minor plan edit took all dimensions to red.
thanks
As I wrote in my initial post, if your edit in the SketchUp model results in losing the original persistent IDs, then the dimensions will lose their connections.
It might be some of them will automatically reconnect if you select all of the dimensions, right click on one, and choose Reconnect.
Sorry, you lost me on the persistent ID information. I know I need to understand the inner workings more than my current level.
I do appreciate the opportunity to learn and your quick assistance is very helpful. Thanks again.
And, as I clean up some of the dimensions that would not reconnect to the model, I am being more deliberate and looking for the info under the cursor that identifies the model component that I am dimensioning to. I think this makes sense… anyway, onward and upward.
Every endpoint or intersection in the SketchUp model has what is referred to as a persistant ID (PID). That’s what the Dimension tool is connecting to in the model. Those PIDs are unique to the model so if you replace one model file with another model file, you wind up with a new set of PIDs and the existing dimensions aren’t going to be connected to them. If you delete some geometry and replace it with new geometry, the PIDs will be different for the new geometry and again, the dimensions would be disconnected in LayOut. If you dimensioned to a guideppoint or the intersection of a guideline with another guide or an edge and then deleted the guides, you’d lose the PIDs associated with those guides and again the dimensions would lose their connection.
That’s a very good idea. Make sure you are anchoring the dimensions to the right elements in the model.
I really do appreciate your advice here and others. This makes a lot of sense.
This is a great forum and thanks for your involvement. Have a good night.
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Use ‘Save A Copy As…’ to save where you are at the moment. Then keep your currently model working on changes as you go. This should keep dimensions attached… but if you do any large changes (solid tools, pushing / pulling new openings, deleting / redrawing lines / faces) you may lost the connections.
Often I will open a file, all will be red. I will save it, close it, reopen and things seem to reconnect. Otherwise, because I have all dimensions on a layer I can right click the layer, select all entities, right click one of the selected dimensions and reconnect to model…
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This is a great tip. Thank you.
Consider that each time an object is deleted or replaced by another, the PID will disappear and the dimensions will be disconnected.
Reconnecting them isn’t really a safe option, in my opinion, because they can randomly connect to points on objects that you didn’t intend originally. Dimensions are an important part of documenting a project and my advice to you is that you reconnect the red dimensions one by one if they are just a few, or redo the dimensioning altogether if there are too many dimensions that turned red.
NOTE: You know that you can create running dimensions by clicking a point, then clicking the second and afterwards you keep double clicking for each of the next points? This makes dimensioning somehow faster to create than to edit.
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I thought the point of the PID was such that if you correctly set the dimension line to the model object, then, the beauty here is that if the wall moved the dimension would adjust automatically. I may not have that right, but that was my understanding and has shown to be right in my work so far.
And connecting one by one is extremely unproductive. Spent close to an hour before I had the advice of this latest chat/forum. And for those dimension that do not update, I then know exactly what dimensions are not connected to the model and can make that very clean and deliberate edit to make sure I have it right that time.
Thanks for the tip on the running dimension string and makes a lot of sense. I was not aware of that.
That’s one point of PIDs. If you erase geometry and recreate it or you do other things that remove the PID from at least one point to which the dimension is anchored, you’ll lose the connection. Same with replacing one model with another even if they look exactly alike.
Did you try selecting all of the dimensions, right clicking on one of them and selecting Reconnect?
And yes, I selected all the dimensions, right clicked and hit Reconnect. This worked perfectly and it identified those dimensions that were clearly not connected to the model originally (staying red). Those that stayed red, were deleted and new dimensions created that are now connected to the model. I was moving quickly and missed that the software does indicate if you are clicking the dimension to the model, originally.
Thanks