I have been using SketchUp and Layout for more than 8 years, and everything was fine, especially in recent years; creating 2D drawings was fun through Layout. Not anymore! The viewports keep distorting the plan when trying to adjust the viewport size. Having the preserve scale, of course, on. I tried adjusting the analysis, but it didn’t work. It takes so much time to produce problematic output since every correction takes forever! Does any one else experience the same?
Can you share the LayOut file? Otherwise we will all be guessing.
Which version of SketchUp and LayOut are you using? Your profile seems out of date.
sorry i cannot attach the file, i get a message that its too big
Upload the file to a file sharing site like DropBox and share the link.
You have to make the file accessible. Currently I get Access Denied when I click on your link.
I hope this works better
Yes. It did.
Which viewport is distorting and in which direction are you resizing it? Can you show a screenshot?
I’m not seeing any distortion when I resize the viewport of the fireplace. It’s slow to update due to the the bloat in your SketchUp model but when it doesn’t update there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with the view.
I do see that you have overridden the Camera properties for many of the viewports in your document. That’s not the best workflow. If anything happens to reset the Camera for the viewport it can create a lot of extra work for you. It would be better to create scenes in the SketchUp model that show things as you need in LayOut.
Out of curiosity I had a look at the model. I noted a little bit of incorrect tag usage.
There are a number of excessively large textures. SketchUp will downsample those textures so they wind up creating file bloat and slow down rendering in LayOut without any benefit.
There are aa lot of very hi-poly objects in the model that also slows things down without adding anything useful in the model. I ran CleanUp3 which helps a little.
Still, there are objects that could tolerate being put on a diet.
Cleaning up your model will help with your work in LayOut.
Thank you so much for your input; it’s greatly appreciated. Truth is, I’m just drawing without taking care of the sizes and general “health” of the model. Do you have any suggestion as to how is should proceed to clean it?
Στις Παρ 25 Σεπ 2026 στις 2:51 μ.μ., ο/η Dave <notifications@sketchup.discoursemail.com> έγραψε:
Unfortunately this is the cause or problems for many users.
As for cleaning up your existing model, I would start by looking closely at the objects you’ve gotten from sources like the 3D Warehouse. Either work on them to reduce them or replace them with lower poly objects. For example, do the books on the bookcase really need the curves on the edges of the pages? Do the book covers really benefit from the rounded edges?
(BTW, this bookshelf would give a librarian fits. ;D )
This bed and the hanging lights are good examples of high-poly objects that are really overkill for what they communicate in your model. Simpler versions could do the same thing.
Remember that every edge in the the model as well as every pixel in textures needs to be considered for rendering in LayOut. Keeping those numbers as low as possible helps to reduce the time spent in modeling and rendering. You need to find a suitable balance between detail and low-poly counts for your work flow.
Running CleanUp3 can help to simplify the model to a point but you might also have a look at Skimp (look in the Extension Warehouse) to further reduce your objects. I used Material Resizer to reduce the sizes of the huge materials.
Going forward I would suggest that you follow the common wisdom about adding entourage from sources like the 3D Warehouse. Don’t add the component directly to your project file. Instead, download it into a separate SketchUp file so you can examine it and either clean and simplify if needed or reject it and look again. Once you are satisfied that the component will bring value to your project, copy it and paste it into the project model. Although that seems like extra work, it will pay off in the long run. Also, if you take the time to clean up and simplify a component from the 3D Warehouse and you think you might possibly use it again, save it in a local collection or to your Trimble Connect storage so you don’t have to find it and clean it up again to use it.
I guess we still haven’t see what you were referring to as distortion in the viewports when resizing them. Was it just a case of not waiting for the viewport to render?
So many valuable points made! I will follow your instructions word for word.
About the distortion, it is partly temporary, meaning it takes a loooong time to bring any changes, even the simpler ones, like resizing the window having to preserve scale. It also loses the determined scale; i.e., let’s say I have a viewport with the scale at 1:50, and I move the edge to center it on the model, having ticked the preserve scale option. It will temporarily distort the image and adjust the scale to a random number. Having used Layout for many years, I see a very big difference in the time it takes, as well as the difficulty of getting the outcome I am going for. And believe me, my older models were also very heavy, as you can imagine 
Στις Παρ 25 Σεπ 2026 στις 4:36 μ.μ., ο/η Dave <notifications@sketchup.discoursemail.com> έγραψε:
The long time to see changes in the viewport stems from the “heavyness” of the model as well as your chosen style with Ambient Occlusion turned on. So you are paying for “just drawing without taking care of the sizes and general “health” of the model.” I forgot to mention the style thing previously. It’s fine if you want to use Ambient Occlusion but save adding it until you are nearly finished creating the LO file. Then either edit and update the style in the SketchUp model or change the style for those viewports in LayOut. (I created a collection of styles that I typically use in LO projects and select from that collection in LO per viewport. In SketchUp I just have my working style.)
The scale of the viewports may appear to change before rendering but it should catch up. Normally rendering should be fast enough that you wouldn’t see the distortion anyway.
Set up the scenes for your scaled elevations and plan views with the camera set to parallel projection and the appropriate standard views. Don’t change to Ortho in LO and don’t open the viewport to move the camera.
Thank you so much for the solutions you proposed and for taking the time to help me! I greatly appreciate it
This is what happens. I had this Floor plan in 1:100 scale, and when I resized the viewport, the scale changed to 1:116…
Στις Παρ 25 Σεπ 2026 στις 4:36 μ.μ., ο/η Dave <notifications@sketchup.discoursemail.com> έγραψε:
You’ve overridden the Camera properties. As I wrote a couple of times, you need to make a scene with the Camera set to Parallel Projection and the standard Top view in SketchUp. Use that instead of overriding the Camera in LO.
OK I’ll do that thank you
Στις Παρ 25 Σεπ 2026 στις 7:26 μ.μ., ο/η Dave <notifications@sketchup.discoursemail.com> έγραψε:
Dave,
What level of PC might handle such bloat of any? Just an arbitrary question having worked with many engineering departments that regularly work on extremely detailed models (solidworks, etc).
Agreed there is no substitute for good model hygiene and drawing commensurate to representation.