I am trying to do an Architectural plan in which I want to show old wall locations i.e. to be demolished, in dashed light grey lines. I have made my SKP model with scenes showing old layout vs new. Thought I could use in Layout and trace over with Layout tools and get the dashed look I wanted.
But every time I create a new page and go to my different scene, a yellow sign comes up. And when I render, it shifts the drawing and won’t align with my 1st page so I can’t just trace over. Any tips or different ways to create a Demolition Plan. Thanks!
The yellow exclamation symbol only indicates that LayOut sees the SketchUp reference file has been modified and the viewport has not been updated. When you render it, that should resolve that part of it.
It sounds like you are modifying the camera position in LayOut so when you reselect the scene, that is resetting the camera for the viewport to the scene’s camera position. If you need to move the camera, do it in SketchUp and update the scene there. Then set up the viewport without opening it to move the camera.
You shouldn’t have to trace over parts of the model to get the dashed look. You should be able to use the Dashes feature in Sketchup and leverage that with stacked viewports in LayOut.
Here I’ve create an additional scene showing only the Old Layout as dashed. Then I stacked viewports in LayOut and set the top one to that new scene.
This is even easier in LO2020 because you don’'t need the extra scene like you do in LO2019. One obvious benefit of using the stacked viewports is that you can modify the geometry in SketchUp if needed and the modification will carry over to LayOut. You won’t need to trace anything in LO to make the corrections.
Thanks. I did read about camera angle etc. But I don’t touch that stuff. So I still can’t get my head around it. I just insert my top view, parallel projection model into Layout and get what I mentioned. I am not even aware of a Camera Position in Layout?? Only SKP.
Re Dashed Features in SKP. I am not aware of this. Can I highlight lines in my model and make dashed and different colors?
Re stacked viewports, is that like inserting my model into blank pages? Thanks!!
If you double click into a viewport you can move the SketchUp camera. It doesn’t affect the SketchUp model or the scenes so if you reselect the scene in LayOut, you’ll see the model appear to move. Alternatively if you move the camera in SU and update the scene, you would see that change in LO when the reference is updated.
This is a feature added in SU2019. You can assign dash properties to layers (now called tags in 2020) and then the group(s)/component(s) that the layer is assigned to will display the edges as dashed. As always, the edges and faces in the model should have Layer 0 assigned to them. Only groups/components get other layer assignments. In 2020, all edges and faces should remain untagged and only groups/components get tagged.
This is just laying more than one viewport on top of another. Easiest thing with this is get the first one set up the way you want it and then copy and paste. Best practice would be to create separate layers in LO for each viewport in the stack so you can access the ones lower in the stack without moving the upper ones.
While you are digesting (makes me hungry for lunch) I’m going to take my son to have his wisdom teeth out. Back later.
Dave, OK I got the dash line option working. Still experimenting with the proper stacking techniques and model setups for Layout. Thanks. Any pics/models of that boat?
Just back from the tooth extraction. Sorry for the delay.
Stacking viewports: As I mentioned before, one viewport per layer. The exact stacking order kind of depends on what the viewports show. In the example I posted previously, I put the dashed viewport on top of the un-dashed. Until you upgrade to 2020, create scenes in SU for each of the viewports in the stack. When you do the copy and paste thing, copy the first viewport. Then make the next layer active, right click in empty space and choose Paste to Current Layer. This is a paste in place action so a new copy of the viewport will show up. While it is still selected, choose the new scene for it in the SketchUp Model panel in the tray.
Having another issue. FYI I updated 2020 pro. I have grouped stuff many times but trying now to group lines together and they just won’t group. They go black instead of Blue. Tried many times and can’t figure out what’s preventing them from grouping. On my work space I have an existing group which I want to group together with the other lines.
It’s the lines on the right side of work space that do not want to group. Life line appreciated.
Thanks. I did build a sailboat and Ian did sleep in its cabin but I don’t have any pictures of him doing that.
I wonder if you are mistaking the use of tags (formerly known as layers) for “grouping.” Your model shows nearly all of the floor plan as loose, ungrouped geometry which has had different tags assigned to it. Notice that the Tags filed in Entity Info is blank wit the selection.
Running TIG’s Default Layer Geometry marks all edges and faces in the model as untagged. There’s quite a bit.
Correct usage would be to leave ALL edges and faces untagged. Make groups or components to contain logical collection of edges and faces and assign tags to those groups and components.
As for your black edges, there are some duplicates that are part of other geometry.
Ugh. I spent a lot of time after I sent this, grouping and tagging most things. Your group, then make a copy seems to fix the issue. I have to find my Brightman work flow book (we moved and books still in boxes) and apply appropriately. But I think I am getting a better concept of model organizing now. Thanks for your help!
I didn’t make a copy. I just made a group and then moved it away to show that there is more geometry.
Among other things, groups and components are objects used to isolate entities from each other and in the case of raw geometry, prevent unwanted connections. For example you don’t want the furniture to become part of the walls so you wrap up the chair geometry in a component container. You could put your wall geometry into a group or component container to prevent the doors and windows from merging with the walls. The same would apply to the cabinet work in the kitchen.
Tags are properties applied to components and groups primarily to allow control over visibility in scenes in SketchUp or in viewports in LayOut. The accepted best practice is to leave all raw geometry untagged. The pencil icon remains set for Untagged in the Tags panel (in previous versions of SketchUp the term ‘Layer’ was used instead of ‘Tag’ but they are used the same way.) Then you assign other tags to just the groups and components in the model.
If you want to change which objects are displayed in the viewport in LayOut, you can adjust things in the SketchUp Model inspector panel.
This leaving the geometry untagged and creating all geometry as untagged makes for an easier workflow because you never need to worry about which tag is active when you are editing a component or group.
Another use for tags is to assign dashes if you want to use them like I showed yesterday. Additionally you could show objects in different colors based on their tags if you wish.
I get the concept, and have used, grouping and understand better it’s workflow relation with layers/tags. So I am inclined to group lots of stuff i.e. exterior walls, interior walls, doors , windows, floors, ceilings, cabinetry, etc.
But what exactly do you mean “raw geometry” Can you give me an example in lets say my drawing or a typical room layout?
Dave gave a great explanation here. Basically raw geometry is an edge or a face. These are the basics of what you model and should all be “untagged”. All raw geometry should then be grouped and then tagged. You can also nest groups to eliminate extraneous tags. For instance you don’t need a tag labeled “first floor walls” or “first floor windows”. You only need to state the item (“walls”, “windows”), not the location. Then you have a separate tag labeled “first floor”,”second floor” and so on. That way you have a main group like “first floor” that contains multiple groups like “walls”, “windows” etc.
