Help with printing 2D image to scale on free version

[JackLetz]

I am building a model jet right now and the best way to describe what im doing is by giving a little example. imagine I take a 3D box and then unfold all of the sides so that the box is laying out flat and now I need to print that box to scale and make the box in real life.

What I need to do it convert that unfolded 2D box to a file that keeps the box at the correct size so that I can send the file to some company who can print it off on large sheets of paper. They have the measuring tool on the web version but I don’t understand how to save a drawing/2D image as a file while keeping the correct size of the object.

I did my best to explain this, any help would be great!

[DaveR]

Here’s a box unfolded shown in Perspective view.

In Scenes switch the camera to Parallel Projection and choose the appropriate standard view. Top in this example.

In the Print dialog, choose the required paper size to fit the model and choose Print to Scale.

Set the scaleas appropriate.

At that point print to PDF makes sense if you need to send it elsewhere for printing.

[JackLetz]

Thanks a lot for the well explained answer, that is exactly what I was looking for and the visual presentation made it very easy to understand. I believe that the print to scale option is only available in the paid version of SketchUp which I am open to. What is the cheapest paid version that will grant me access to this feature? I couldn’t figure it out on my own sorry.

Thanks again!

[DaveR]

I did this in SketchUp Shop. That would be the most direct upgrade from SketchUp Free.