I don’t envy you the task of fixing other people’s files. I’ve done plenty of it, though.
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I had to open my mouth “Hey, we can do all of this in SketchUp and LayOut.” before I knew better.
Och! You can do it all in SketchUp and LayOut. You just need to get everyone on the same page with using it correctly. 
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Yup. Fortunately everyone in the department is on board and eager to learn.
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That’s half the battle won!
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OK, I think there is a crack in my coconut. I decided that doing hatch work in SketchUp is the better plan, mainly because these models are in a state of flux and changes occur which will make LayOut grumpy.
Using part of the instructions you mentioned earlier " . . make a scene in SU that shows just the regions you want to hatch. Turn off all the other layers. Set the style to Hidden Line and the background to white. In LO, set a viewport to that scene and stack with the scene showing the other entities. Render this viewport as Vector and then explode it." I want to create a hatch in SketchUp import to LaytOut, set the line weight and export as .png then bring back into SketchUp as a pattern.
Yeah, it’s a big circle but since I don’t do PhotoShop I thought that would be the easiest path. The problem is that I cannot increase the line weight of my imported SketchUp file. The Fill, Pattern and Stroke buttons play games with me. I need to click the Pattern or Fill button to get the Stroke button to become active. The Stroke button will change colors but the word “Stroke” is grayed out. I’m filling the office with colorful language and it’s scaring my cell mates.
What am I missing?
After you insert the SketchUp file with the pattern into LayOut, render the viewport as Vector. Then explode it so the edges become lines in LayOut. Those can then be adjusted with the Shape Style settings. You’ll probably need to ungroup the lines, too.
If you aren’t going to use an image editor, make your hatch patterns as large rectangles that you can scale to fill the paper space or bleed out of the paper space. Then when you export the images from LO, they’ll be ready to import into SU as materials.
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This is what I see. Not allowed to change the Stroke weight. Did the Vector & Explode and still get goinked.
upload the LO file.
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Select the edges you want to change and modify the line weight to whatever you want it to be. Leave the Stroke button alone.
I’ve done nothing to your file other than change the stroke style and weight.
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First, Thank You!
Second, why have a $%^@! button if I’m not supposed to use it?! I did everything correctly except click the button that is there for the clicking.
The button is there to allow you to turn on/off the border on shapes you might draw with the drawing tools in LO or on text boxes.
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Oh, Borders.
@DaveR @Charevir Here is an update: Thank you both for your assistance and advice and questioning my directive. SketchUp I know, LayOut I’m learning and your questions helped see the different workflows available. After testing and discussion with the rest of the kids in my class (OK, we are old dudes), it was decided to Hatch in SketchUp. We could not think of a single instance where a model was left “as is”, there are always modifications right up until a project is completed. The thought of remaking all the hatch borders in LayOut for each revision was rejected with extreme prejudice.
An added benefit of using hatches in SketchUp is that I believe I can “colorize” it, which we are experimenting with right now.
Thanks Again!
Good decision.
Yes. Of course you can colorize the hatching textures. You might also consider using textures that are more representative of the materials you’re indicating. Those old hatching patterns are from the past when they were done by hand or with self-adhesive films. Now color printing is so accessible there’s no reason not to use it and there’s less chance of confusion if you make drawings that are easily understood by anyone.
If you haven’t done it, you should check out the work of Nick Sonder and see how he is doing that.
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We are in the process of creating our own custom patterns/hatches along with a custom material library. We have many hatches in AutoCAD which we are recreating from scratch in SketchUp. They were goofy in AutoCAD which only made them stupid imported into SketchUp, easier to start over.
I do have the two Master SketchUp books related to LayOut. The second is almost exclusively Nick Sonder workflow. Nick does amazing work and is a pioneer.
As always, thank you.
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