I am working through a tile-layout problem in SketchUp and would value other modellers’ experience. Given a planar face with an opening, the layout should follow a line the designer has already drawn: for example, a joint must pass through a centreline at X=1200 mm.
In my current Ruby prototype, I select the face and an optional line outside it, convert that line to a local face axis, search possible grid offsets, and preview the cuts before creating individual tiles and recessed grout. The source face remains available for revisions. The screenshot below shows the resulting geometry around a rectangular opening.
How do you decide which constraint wins when a required joint axis creates a narrow cut at the boundary? Would you keep the requested axis and warn about the cut, or shift the grid to respect a minimum piece size? Are there other opening-edge cases that should be tested?
Testing update, 1 October 2026: the screenshot is from the earlier SketchUp 2026 Windows prototype. A newly separated FREE public beta now excludes the paid implementation. Automated tests and isolated geometry checks in SketchUp 2026 on macOS passed, but clean installation/startup, reinstall/update and new Windows testing of that stripped package are still pending. Earlier Windows tests should not be taken as validation of the new payload.
Here is the in-app test case from SketchUp 2026 for Windows. The drawn line is linked as an X=1200 mm constraint with Align joint / Must. The red dashed axis appears in the preview and on the model, with a joint following it around the opening. I would be interested in how others handle the resulting edge cuts.
Hi Dan, I work on the architectural/interior design side, and I am also developing the Ruby tool shown above. My interest is planning tile layouts in SketchUp, rather than running a tile-installation or flooring business.
The question comes from coordinating joint lines with openings and other design elements. I would like the tool to flag awkward cuts rather than silently move a deliberately specified joint axis, but I do not want to assume that a design constraint should always take priority over installation practicality.
From your experience, when would you keep that alignment, and when would you recommend revising it to avoid a narrow cut?
I do not have any experience, but have a personal project to lay linoleum tile in an office / bedroom.
So in preparation for this I have been doing some research into how to layout the tile to avoid weird skinny slivers along the edges of the room.
What I have found is that tile setters begin from the center of the room, and layout the grid so as to have approximate half tiles all around the perimeter of the room. This is required because ceramic tiles should not be cut (per guidelines) below about 2" (50mm) as the tile often cracks or shatters. It also covers glued or peel & Stick tile as small slivers tend to curl up or come unglued from traffic.
So having read this, I was wondering when I saw your post, how possibly it could be acceptable to try to cut slivers of 9mm or 18mm off the side of ceramic tile?
I would expect that openings would be treated just like another perimeter. It never occurred to me that tile setters would attempt to align tile to an opening as shown in your image. Hence this is why I asked.
So, from an interior design point of view, how important would it be to have tile aligned this way?
Hi Dan, thanks — that is exactly the practical concern behind my question. The screenshot is an illustrative test case, not a recommendation to install 9 or 18 mm slivers.
In my architectural/interior-design work, I often coordinate the tile layout with the centre lines of fittings and features: taps, niches, baths, toilets, etc. Depending on the design, this might mean a grout joint or the centre of a tile lining up with a feature. The aim is a deliberate, coherent layout. For example, a joint missing the toilet centre line by just 30 mm can look like an accidental setting-out error rather than an intentional choice. That does not mean alignment should always override practical installation requirements.
So the question for the community is really about how the tool should handle a conflict: would you prefer it to retain the designer’s specified alignment and clearly flag an impractically small cut, or automatically shift the grid away from that alignment to avoid the cut?
There is already a “Minimum cut” field and an option to enforce it. To be precise about the current implementation, this checks the base grid’s edge pieces; clipping tiles around openings or irregular boundaries can still produce smaller pieces. It is not yet a guarantee for every finished cut. In the current FREE beta, if a required alignment conflicts with the enforced grid minimum, it reports that no layout satisfies both rather than silently moving the required alignment.
Your point about treating openings as additional boundaries is therefore very relevant. The goal is to make the design-versus-installation conflict visible, not to present tiny cuts as acceptable.
To précis.
You lay out tiles from the center of their principal area [assuming a rectangle] - you decide if the tile in the middle is centered on its face or four tiles are centered on their joint intersection or an edges center. This is to minimize any ‘slivers’ of tiles that could occur around the perimeter, which can be on 2 or 4 edges.
The next complication is ‘holes’ in tiled surfaces. A column in a floor can create thin slivers on one or more of its edges - or worse uneven L-shaped cuts. Here you need to decide the least bad option - cuts at the column or the area’s larger perimeter. A window or door opening etc in a wall presents similar issues, BUT with the added complication of you having to decide if the opening’s ‘reveals’ are also tiled and if so what the tile+bed thickness is for any edge trimming and how the tiles might return to have a pleasing appearance - i.e. not two slivers abutting etc when perhaps two [near] half-tiles returning would look better.
Of course in the real world wall tiling can become very complex to set out to be its best - e.g. in a bathroom does the tub-rim dictate a horizontal tiling bed-joint or a half-cut. This depends on many factors - like tub-rim height from floor, ceiling height etc. Are internal corners better with two full tiles meeting or two [near] half-tiles to continue the ‘flow’ of the tiled walls around the corner.
All of this needs careful 3d consideration, far exceeding a simple setting out decision for some floor tiles…
@y994mxjzdv, taking into account all that has been said above I think your best option would not be some complex extention but a large overlay of the tiles that you can move around. Be your own judge.
detailed floorplan, all in one locked! group.
chosen tiles overlay (transparent) including grout dimension.
start moving the overlay over your floorplan and decide for yourself what has priority.
you can even do the same with the walls to see if their tiles layout will match the floor layout or not.
