A) I wish there was a simple 2d drawing module in sketchup to draw construction details - and it allowed the use of line weights etc.
The whole concept of taking a drawing and importing it into LO and then superimposing line weights, textures etc. on the drawing seems to me to be hokey at best. It certainly is double work.
When I was working on my plan, and had a viewport image properly dimensioned, labeled etc. and then later I had to move it - all those parts stayed behind, so I had to drag them individually into their new locations.
Is there a way to lock them together so they can be dragged to a new location as a set or unit?
B) there needs to be a native revision cloud tool.
C) I really, really, really, wish there was a tape measure tool in LO. I am trying to make an indication of a street on a site plan - the street is skewed, so I typed up the name of the street, rotated it. Moved it into positionThen I wanted to make arrows on either side if the street name to indicate the street direction. In SU I would have used the guide tool to align the arrows. In LO I have to guess at it.
D) Is there a way to add an element to a scrap book without opening a separate document and saving that? I just tried to save a PL symbol I made into one of the existing scrap books, had problems saving it, tried to back out of it and lost all of my new work on my plans.
A. Layout doesn’t have to be twice the work!
Look what Nick Sonder does with it… https://www.nicksonder.com/process
However, long before its arrival, I wrote my “2dToolset” to use within SketchUp…
B. There is a SketchUp “Revision-Cloud” tool - SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation
However, in Layout you could easily make a set of rev-clouds, save them to a Scrapbook, and then use them in any document, using layering, scaling etc to suit your needs…
By double work I am referring to drawing lines over lines you previously drew in sketchup to change the weight. I understand that SU works on surfaces and edges, while other cad programs work in lines, and thus the difficulty in assigning line weights to edges in SU.
Perhaps there is no other option based on that basic design of SU.
What I like about drawing 2d with SU is the ease to create objects, you can pull a rectangle quickly, resize it, the tape measure tool is very helpful, etc. What I don’t like is the tendency of using some of the tools to go into the 3rd D, the line weights changing when they cross over an object. etc.
I wish that functionality and ease of use could be added in a 2d module that would be exclusively for details and other objects that don’t need to be 3d.
I am reluctant to learn auto cad or it’s ilk to have that option, when I already am somewhat proficient with SU. In all honesty - I have not tried many other cad programs - so perhaps there are some that have intuitive and similar ease of use as SU
If the line weight issue is your main thing, you don’t have to trace. In LO make a copy of the view, set it on a layer above (“tracing layer”) and, set to vector or hybrid. Re-align (Arrange menu) over the original view. Explode it. Unmercifully, the resulting object is heavily grouped. Ungroup, ungroup until you get all edges. Delete the image of the faces and background. You can reset the weight etc. of these edges. Use the eyedropper tool to go about changing similar edges. Leave it overlaid on the original view.
I hear you on the line weights. I have mostly given them up for SketchUp and don’t do details in SketchUp) because this line weight process means revisions are cumbersome, requiring redrawing in the middle of production. I use SketchUp for drawings where I can change only the model and most of the work to output is automatic (or robot-style processing by me).
You should be able to move all objects at once in the LO document, NOT move the viewport and then all the others one by one. If you wish you can group them. so one click drags them all.
Haven’t thought about it much but if I had to draw an aligned edge. I would draw it along the street edge and move it out into the street, make it a double-headed arrow and break it by writing the street name over it with a solid fill.
I like your idea for the street arrow. Much of what you said about the layer and the hybrid is greek to me - I’ll have to try it and see how it goes. G
Same here. I am working as an architectural draftsman with Allplan (very expensive and mighty for every need 2d/3d/Visualization). But in my free time I could do some commissions with drafting simple 2d-Plans at home - for building permissions for prefab-carhouses. I would like to do this with SketchUp, but this seems to be to inconvenient. So I think about purchasing Autocad LT.
If you want a 2D drafting program that’s NOT like AutoCAD and actually a joy to work in, look at PowerCADD. Only warnings: It’s MacOS only, no Windows version, and while not exactly expensive by CAD standards, it’s not exactly cheap either.
Fun that someone suggests PowerCADD in a post I am following. I’m one of the few using it. It has some similarity to Illustrator but with CAD reference. It is Mac only, 2.5d only, but has good graphic tools. It is over-priced and barely supported in the present day. That said It’s gone on for years and years including updates, and not one maintenance fee (so I have to say, for me it was cheap). Having started with it, I’ve made my living on it and would never want to go to ACAD. It works well together with SketchUp. You need WildTools add-on to really get the best out of it.
I think for the prefab carhouses you can probably find something free or inexpensive to get you through and, of course (though I’d hate it) ,AutoCAD Lt is no slacker. How about DraftSight?
Draftsight much cheaper alternative to any version of autocad… highly recommended…
re Lineweights… I have never found the need for them… use (fill/material) colour, section line thickness control and fog to give emphasis and clarity… all of the do not require breaking dynamic the link with SU model and avoid redundant work…
Thanks RTCool! I remember that you mentioned this program earlier. But I´m looking always for a tight workflow - only one program to do multiple tasks is a good thing.
