Issues with Printing Full Scale

[izf201]

Hey all,

I’m having some issues with printing to scale on my Mac. I have 2020 Pro. I’m trying to print a drawing full scale so I can tile it to send to a woodturner. I follow the steps that I have found on online:

1. Set to Parallel Projection
2. Set to Standard View
3. Resize window/zoom extents
4. In the Document Setup Dialog Box
   a. Uncheck “Fit to Page”
   b. Set In Drawing to 1"
   c. Set in Model to 1"

At this point it will say something say something like 20 pages in the Document Setup Box. I then go to print and it shows that the first page is indeed a full scale section. The rest of the pages are blank. If I click print it will print the first page and then a bunch of blanks. When I go back to my drawing it has completely erased the drawing. If I exit the print dialog box without printing it still erases my drawing. Any ideas? Am I missing a step. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

[DaveR]

Your profile says you are using SketchUp Pro. Why aren’t you using LayOut? Setting up to print to scale is so much more direct in LayOut and you can get a better looking print.

[izf201]

Hi Dave,

I do have Layout, but have not found any instruction on Trimble/forums/youtube regarding printing full scale on this program. Do you have a preferred procedure or any suggestions on where I could find said information? The pieces that I would like to print rang in size - from 1" to 6’-8’. Any advice would be a huge help.

[DaveR]

You might start with the LayOut Essentials at learn.sketchup.com

It’s fairly simple though. Start with a scene of the model showing it in Parallel Projection and with the appropriate standard view. Save the file and then use Send to LayOut. Choose an appropriate paper size or just pick one of the existing templates and change the paper size afterward in Document Setup>Paper.

You’ll have a viewport on the page showing your SketchUp model. Set the scale for the selected viewport in the SketchUp Model panel and drag the edges of the viewport as needed to show it on the page. I would render it as Vector so it’s just black lines on white to reduce printing cost. You can export to PDF and send that file off the person doing the turning or to a print shop for printing on large paper if needed.

A scene showing a turned leg in SketchUp.

And in LO with the scale set to 1:1, rendered in Vector and on paper large enough to fit the whole thing.

Dimensions could be added as well as a top view to show the square pommel. This would then be exported as a PDF.

[izf201]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the advice. I’m still having issues. I can get to the point of having a full scale drawing in layout but cannot find a way to tile the drawing for printing. When I select print it opens the standard print dialog box showing a section of the drawing on one page but no more than that. No option to spread the drawing across multiple pages. Do you see any way around this? Thanks again for looking into this!

[DaveR]

Export a PDF from LO and then use the Poster Print option in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.

[izf201]

Thanks Dave. That worked out perfectly.