I will be starting work on a project in Sketchup shortly with a fast timeline. It would be most ideal to make the sketchup model then use layout to follow for the actual CD/permit drawing set. But I have had VERY frustrating experiences with Layout in the past (freezing/crashing/general lag - slow) which gives me a lot of pause. My Sketchup model will be used for renderings - working with Enscape and finishing in an AI (Chat/nano banana etc) for more realistic look.
Is it even possible to make an entire CD set using Layout? Or is the best workflow the more traditional route of drawing in Sketchup, exporting views to underlay into a CAD environment and draw from there? Appreciate any advice!
I think my computer specs are in my file but I am working on a Dell XPS laptop. Might try to upgrade to a MAC environment if this job comes through because in general, I am frustrating with Dell computers. If you do think there are certain specs that the computer should have to accomplish this, please share that also!
It is indeed possible and but I don’t think you should do it with a fast-track project on a deadline especially if you haven’t created Layout templates, standards and workflows. Additionally, your SketchUp model(s) should be clean, un-bloated with high polygon entities, organized with proper tags/tag folders, scenes correctly setup, etc. I think your current laptop is more than capable of producing SketchUp to Layout CD drawings – heck, my 8 year old Dell XP laptop which we keep as an extra workstation runs well enough to do our production workflow if needed.
Thanks for the response. I definitely try to keep my skp file lean but with how I model/organize etc. But I also know I am not the best and the last project I went through this on, I had so many views and I had lots of textures to make more realistic renderings. Do you have a general idea of how big of a model is too big for a CD set SKP model? I am sure it varies, but I didn’t think my model was THAT crazy that I couldn’t have my 11x17s 10-page document work quickly in Layout. I used tags, but how does that specifically help keep a model light? Would unloading all furniture on a furniture tag when you go to work in layout help? I assume not because its still in the model but.. I could see that making it lighter.
These templates that you mention on for layout - they are kept locally I assume right? I will look into creating those.
I think your main issues are creating SU models for production drawings (construction documents) and for renderings (client presentation). We keep the SU models and workflows for each of those “separate” in that the (master) building model is strictly for the development of the production drawings – these model types vary in size from 30MB residential or tenant-improvement projects to 160MB multi-family residential projects or commercial projects. This master SU model (or other component SU models of the master model) is imported as a component in a separate SU model by our interior designers that is only used for marketing or client presentations – usually these get bloated 2x to 6x file size by materials, FFE components, etc., that are needed for photorealistic renderings or animations.
The key is to know what your deliverables are (construction drawings, presentation renderings or animations, etc.) and work-out a system or workflow and standards that don’t bog down or create systematic issues/problems not only for the project but for the people working on the project. This not only applies to SketchUp modeling but also for Layout organization and production work. In Layout, depending on the project type or size, we may have separate files for plans, elevations and sections, schedules, details, etc., which allows for more flexibility for different people to work on different parts of the drawings. Additionally, for larger projects, having separate parts of the SU model and separate LO files for each drawing type not only improves perceived working speed but also provides some security in case of file corruption or file management access by different people working on the project. Early on, we learned the HARD way not to “keep all our eggs in one basket” when we had just one large SU model or LO drawing set that only one person could work on at a time or how just one corrupted viewport in LO kept crashing an 80+ sheet E-size drawing set which caused production delays, lost time and much distress.
This is not to say that we have a perfect system or methodology because we are always redefining and evolving our processes as necessary. I hope this help you and wish you much success. PM me if you want to discuss this further.
Yes, you can create full sets of plans for permits using any CAD software. Remember, Sketchup is CAD software. However, it is 3D driven so everything is created from a different standpoint. It takes a different mindset and procedures to create the views and cross sections for you plans sheets then it does using 2D CAD. I the long run, without bugs, it can save a lot of time not having to draw different views separately. I wouldn’t start out on a time crunch though.
@ch3ck5ix I am curious to hear more specifics about the projects you are doing - these are architecture projects? That sound like a bigger drawing set in Layout than almost anything else I have heard of
@RyanE Our firm does architecture, engineering and interior design from residential (single-family, custom, multi-family) to commercial (mixed-use, office, hotels, shopping centers, retail tenant-improvement, etc.). As the managing partner, over the years I’ve slowly weaned the firm from AutoCAD and Revit and as of this year our architecture and interior design departments are doing all current residential projects in SketchUp/Layout.
The large drawing set I previously mentioned was for a mixed-use multi-family project we did a while back (3 levels underground parking, street level commercial spaces [Type I podium structure], and 4 levels of condominiums on top [Type V-A]). Our LO plan sets (floor plans, elevations, sections, schedules, notes, etc.) are anywhere from of 3x to 6x file size of the master SketchUp model. And our LO detail sheets are anywhere from 8x to 12x file size of the master SketchUp model. As such, for larger projects, we split up the LO files that way we can have people working on different parts of the sheet sets.
yeah hiding the furniture tag in the CD scenes helps, LayOut just skips it, file size won’t change though. bigger thing is probably your textures. if Nano Banana is doing the realism anyway you can shrink them to 1-2k, Material Resizer does it in bulk. LayOut gets way less sluggish