When making drawings for clients I usually apply dimensions, text etc in Layout, but lately that’s been impossible.
Text applied in Layout 2020 on imported .skp goes partly missing (appears on some pages and not on others) when exporting to png and jpg and when it comes to pdf Layout crashes during the last page.
The only way to communicate with client is now by screendumps, and that feels quite unPro.
Previously it has worked quite nice, but lately it’s been hair-pulling frustrating.
I’m using the latest version of SU 2020 Pro on a Lenovo P50 with Xeon-processor and plenty RAM
I exported .png images from your file using LO2020 on my PC. Everything was displayed in the images as they show in LayOut. I wonder if it’s a graphics card issue in your case. I did render the viewports as Vector first. Exported image in image editor.
I exported PNG:s at 300 DPI and 150 DPI and on one page (the last) the numbers were always missing.
I then switched all the views to Vector rendering and got all the numbers OK.
I think I have seen this mentioned here before. It certainly shouldn’t happen. Vector sendering in this case is a workaround. Another workaround is to export to PDF and use a PDF editor (Acrobet, PDF Xchange Editor, Bluebeam…) to convert to images.
Yes, I’ve tried that now and then: using other programs to make a proper set of drawings, but then LO is less than half of what I paid for, to say the least.
At the same time being “forced” to invest in other programs to make the jpg’s or png’s feels like a rip off.
LO is meant to be the key to proper presentations for what I make in SU, and as a paying customer for the last decade I can’t help feeling rather unprofessional every time these hiccups happens.
These problems with jpg, png and pdf appears only now and then, I find it hard to recreate them at will.
That’s the most frustrating about them, and the dubious makeshift operations to circumvent them (i.e. occupy others machines), to make something that looks the same on paper as on screen…or as in jpg as in pdf
That’s why I alerted the developers so they can take a look at your file. I too would like things to be rock solid.
BTW, I find that in today’s world where almost everything circulates as PDF files a PDF editor is a must, not only for circumventing SketchUp problems but for combining files from multiple applications, adding or removing pages, electronic signing, adding a password, whatever.
Thank you for your efforts and replies, and particularly that you are alerting the developers.
I’ve occasionally been thinking about migrating to other systems, but (after trying out VW and it’s steeeeep learning curve) I find it hard to learn a new set of mind and commands a new CAD require in due time between projects. Yet, now and then…
Maybe these covid-times could give way for “free” time enough too look in other directions.
But I sincerely hope to stick with SU (and all of it’s plug ins and renderers I’ve invested in), and keep brushing up the final plans and perspectives for my clients via LO.
My competitors are still on an all-dwg way of presenting the same projects, and I feel like running in circles around them when LO plays with me. Not to brag, but producing a ten to twenty pages A3 set of plans and perspectives, plus renders, logos and photos - sometimes it feels like just a few clicks away.
And, yes PDF is the ultimate format for sharing with clients who doesn’t BIM, IFC or … - yet all the choices in a menu should work. As well
Files like .jpg and .png are bit maps (sometimes called “raster”). They are entirely dependent on resolution to display fine detail (and hence, increasingly larger files). The .pdf, however, is more like .eps, or .dwg (.dxr), in that they can preserve vectors native to the original and are almost infinitely scalable. Compare the clarity of a LO file rendered in raster vs. vector. If the views to the model in LO are set to raster, you will NOT get WISIWIG, especially with text fonts. Hybrid improves this, and Vector solves it … EXCEPT for such tricks that depend on bit maps to work, such as transparency, x-ray, material textures, etc.
