I’ve been using SketchUp and Layout for over 12 years doing full application plan sets.
So yes, it is more than suitable.
IMO, SketchUp native tools need some improvement such as sections only allowing one colour, unless you do a workaround. 3D text still being uneditable, etc.
This would improve the speed when in Layout.
Blimy thanks that’s a lot of work for line weights which after all are some of the most critical ways of displaying in 2D …so are the line weights adjusted in the styles palette ?. And is it at all possible to adjust line weights in LO once the model is exported to LO ?.. I know vectorworks is £1600 but I do love a dedicated line palette !..
Ah apologies I have just re read Paul’s post and that explains that indeed line weights are effectively the profiles in the styles palette!….
On that basis it looks like I will have to go back to my large model and do all the line weights in sketchup before exporting to LO …unless as mentioned before there is a way of altering line weights in layout ?
Hi Tazio. Your Bio says you are using Sketchup 2018. If that is so, you might not have access to all controls. I use Sketchup 2024 and do a lot of post-processing work in Layout. I don’t do much in Sketchup itself other than assign width multipliers in styles for profiles and section cuts. I often trace over sections in Layout for construction sections etc. You can override the basic line widths and line colours using the “Tags” dropdown in the “Sketchup Model” palette.
I am a sole practitioner in the UK and have used Sketchup/LO for all my design, planning and construction work for 10 years or so. Its definitely got easier with newer releases.
How many line weights do you use James and what are the line weights.
I don’t do any annotation, boundary linework, section markers, gridlines, etc. in SketchUp – it’s all done in Layout.
So the only linework I have to consider is the model “linework” which – for me, for plans – is essentially, and generally, two line weights 0.5pt / 0.7pt or 0.7pt / 1.0pt.
Now those line weights don’t work with small value profile and section cut – hence my SketchUp style that has profiles set to 14 and section cuts at 20 and the Layout model line weight to 0.05pt.
As I mentioned previously – say the default model line weight in Layout was 0.5pt and the profile and section cut 1 and 2 respectively – in Layout your plan viewport would have section cut line weights of 1.0pt and all other line weights would be 0.5pt.
Say with this plan viewport you turned off windows and doors – then you could create a second stacked plan viewport just showing just windows and doors and set the model line weight i Layout to 0.35pt.
At one point I was using three stacked viewports – the bottom one was a raster so that I could have shadows and textures, the second was the wall plan with anything else I needed and the third was windows and doors and any other features that I wanted at a different line weight to the plan viewport.
I would then do additional line work to the plan using Layout drawing tools.
Now elevations were more difficult for me and I developed some elaborate grouped geometry and tag methods in SketchUp to get the desired line weights I wanted for elevations.
I don’t typically do this, Most of the time it is all 3D and I am not worried about line weights, one thing I love about SketchUp. I use fog to create depth, which doesn’t always work as well as I would like. Sometimes I draw translucent box over top in LayOut if it is giving me trouble. I use this method for floor plans and elevations.
I need to get better at overlaying the wall outlines as a vectorized linework, or hybrid over the raster background of the plan. This would look better and be easier for dimensioning
Drafting standards limit the number of line weights in a drawing to three, with a width scale factor of 2 between them. Thin lines are reserved to annotations and surface divisions, medium lines denote “steps” in space and divisions between objects, and thick lines to where the picture cuts through objects.
This corresponds exactly with the standard handling of SketchUp models, so setting edges to 1, profiles to 2 and section cut edges to 4 in your style settings allows you to assign a base line weight appropriate to the output scale in LayOut, just as @PaulMcAlenan is doing.
I’ve done that a lot in PowerCADD and Layout as well. I like to dial back the intensity of the raster color image behind, which you can do in PC just by dialing down the transparency of a layer, or in LO with a scrim on a layer in between. End result is the lines jump out better. I think I tried the “Donley Method” in pursuit of that and eventually ended up with a file that crashed LO and SketchUp support never could solve. I’ve cooled on that since.
In hand drafting days with pens, I generally used 4 or 5 with square root of 2 as the factor between, so every two steps was a factor of 2. Moving to PowerCADD, I was able to set it up that way, and in the early days with the pen plotter, it was a natural progression. Now I’ve mostly given up caring that much about line weight with SU because of the effort involved.
My bio is incorrect if that’s the case as I have been on 2022 for the last couple of years and have recently updated to 2024 as of course I am now on a yearly subscription as opposed to the old classic license ! ….
@Tazio , please update your forum profile. It’s a minute of work and the correct info helps us help you!
I totally agree on caring about line weights with SketchUp, I haven’t thought about line weights, basically my whole career.
I wonder how many others overlay another viewport or draw over the plans to make the walls cut more prominent in floor plans. My issue is the fog is sometimes too intense to see the walls well enough, but if I adjust it, it isn’t enough to dull down the floor below.
If I’m understanding you correctly – for a plan, why can’t you increase the value for the section cut in your style?
Or if you already do that – what do you use fog for in a plan…?
I use fog to show depth perception and lighten the background with the flooring, furniture, etc. This can help double-height spaces and stairs read better. With fog on, it often lightens up the linework of the section cut too. I have exported the section linework as a separate view and overlaid it in the past, which looks great but takes additional time. The other advantage of the section linework being separate is I can use the section linework as a hybrid, allowing dimensions to be easier.
Just curious how others do it.
I like this idea, especially the bit about them being a part of your template. 
So do you have a few in each plane that are hidden until required?
Do they have there own material and you edit the transparency value?
I may add these to my outliner (I don’t usually use Tags) and control their visibility that way.
No I create them as needed, but I have tags already built into the template for them. I had a plugin written for me that makes them.
Yes.
I can’t imagine not using tags…
Apologies I have never looked at my bio or if I had it was many years ago !..so wasn’t aware it hadn’t Been updated , a bit surprised it dosnt update automatically as you purchase the software …like most on here i originally purchased the software from boulder before it became a subscription model .
Anyway the forum has proved to be extremely helpful and I spent the weekend checking out Mike brightmans videos to grasp the concept of layering in layout which proved extremely helpful and I understand the concept now …
Fortunately as mentioned before I had been using groups and components to organise my model ready for vectorworks , and both LO and vectorworks use viewports so there is some familiarity in that sense for 2D , the exception of course being the need to layer up in LO to produce various line widths although like many on here I generally only use 3 . But being able to work in the same programme and bring the model in without worrying about the interaction between 2 different programmes is a big plus not to mention the large financial benefit of a single design package …
Now that’s a good idea, controllable fog!! I think I will start doing this!!!
Also, I can’t imagine not using tags for an architectural model. For simpler models, sure. I do use the outliner a bunch now, but didn’t use to, and am glad I added that in my workflow.
I had to do a double take – You’re doing the scrims in SketchUp itself? You can also do scrims with stacked viewports in Layout, but I think this has some better advantages.
