Great stuff… thats my admiration for the technology mindset and graphical means of communicating how its all gonna work.
Maybe AI will assist in this flick of a switch
Output . One day! LOL
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Also, relating to the original post, if LO became a stronger 2D CAD tool, I could see that it could be offered as a more affordable standalone product without SU, the same way AutoCAD LT is offered as a more affordable 2D CAD solution with limited feature set versus full blown AutoCAD that could do 3D and much more. In that case, AutoCAD LT costs a quarter of full blown AutoCAD.
With SU’s current pricing as follows:
I could see a standalone LO with strong 2D CAD tool set going for:
iPad & Web: $29 / year
Pro: $89 / year
Studio: $189 / year (extended feature set beyond Pro)
This could be a great way expand the market and get new users on a variety of budgets exposed to LO and the Trimble ecosystem. Once they see how others incorporate SU into LO, that may lead them to upgrade when they are ready.
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I’m no marketing expert but I think a lot of excellent ideas like this could be explored further.
I think the biggest thing is keep improving Layout, bring it up to speed, make it as joyful to use as SketchUp is, and Trimble and SketchUp will most certainly dominate the CAD marketplace. This has always been my argument and still is.
Honestly I don’t think the powers that be at Trimble fully understand the gold mine they are sitting on here. Everyone still has this misconception about SketchUp and Layout not being a serious contender when compared against AutoCad and Revit. We need for them to fix that mentality, pour some serious development dollars into Layout and the results will be worth the cost and then some.
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I don’t know why but drawings like this just make me happy. 
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SU Layout as a separate product is a very interesting idea. AutoDesSys with Form-Z & development of PowerCADD looks like a similar direction, even though they’re not saying FZ Layout would be dropped.
Acquiring very capable CAD products & rebadging them with further development as your own we see a lot of with bigger CAD player’s, so that could be another consideration in addition to SU Layout. Just a thought !
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Very interesting idea there!
Trimble take note, please.
Thanks for the fascinating discussion everyone. More examples the merrier to show what can be done.
I do think that it’s the passion for 3D modelling that drives the change over from autodesk products but it can be just little things that get in the way to prevent people from making the switch. Things that none of us would even consider.
I’m kind of repeating myself but it’s worth restating- I have come across quite a few architects who would definitely have become SU customers if they had the option of maintaining their existing 2D workflow while allowing them to explore 3D in their own time.
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Small win - This is possible for windows users by highlighting the text and pressing Shift+F3 to toggle between lowercase/uppercase
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I use CAD as a design tool. I started with drawing board and then AutoCAD 20+ years ago and I “see” in 3D when drawing. I have used most CAD and BIM programs except Vectorworks and almost all have inherent issues.
I love using SU and I am increasingly using it for design but hate LO - it’s almost polar opposite to the intuitive interface of SU and so clunky. I agree with Le Corb - there is a missed opportunity to get us diehard CAD users over to SU and LO.
It is easy to be critical about 2D CAD but, ultimately, when we build we use 2D drawings and the more challenging it is to create them the less likely it is that people will use SU and LO.
There is also the co-ordination aspect with SU - most consultants communicate in *.dwg files.
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Of course Layout needs to continue with improvements and to introduce genuine useful new features, but I don’t recognise Layout being the
Same in the UK. Architects, building surveyors, engineers, party wall specialists etc. There is a huge industry of people who would really rather use paper but who can draw a line in autocad because it’s the old school requirement.
I’ve been here at Basecamp for 2 days now and have not heard the word Layout once yet. Nothing in the keynote speeches, revealing the “exciting” roadmap for 25. Maybe there are improvements coming that they are simply not ready to share? Read into that what you will.
HOWEVER: I did have some meetings in the SketchUp Labs that convinced me Layout is not forgotten, and that good things are coming.
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This is exactly right, in the Construction industry (we are a Scaffolding and Falsework contractor in large scale, top tier commercial and high-rise residential) you NEED the 2D documentation, it is a contract requirement. And also the clients want dwg files for accurate 2D setouts on site, collaboration with other sub-contractors, structural engineers to do their checks in Revit and analysis software, etc.
It’s all well and good me spending 20+ hours on a 3D model and the project teams going, “wow, that looks great!” but when they ask for the 2D construction documentation, I have to go and redo all of the design in AutoCAD LT, because it is just not worth the heartbreak of trying to produce it in Layout.
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On a Mac you can do this as well. Highlight the text and right-click Transformations/Make Upper Case /Make LowerCase /Capitalize
Paul
Hey Rik,
In looking at your drawing, assuming that was all done in SU and LO, it seems you are very close to not having to redraw it in AutoCAD LT.
Assuming your model is accurately constructed, then it just becomes a matter of styles, line-weights and annotation to create nice looking 2D drawing outputs from your 3D model that can clearly communicate your design on paper. Here is how I overlay annotation on an SU viewport of my model.
In case it helps, here is a thread about line-weights and styles.
As for providing DWGs for consultants and such, here is another thread regarding how to get OK-ish DWG outputs from LO. I acknowledge that this is an area LO could dramatically improve on.
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The structural engineers that are involved in my domestic projects get a bare bones DWG output from SketchUp so that they can create their own drawings and my fully annotated detailed PDF drawings for reference.
Nobody has ever asked for a DWG version of my annotated detailed Layout pages.
For sure that may not work in other countries or with more complex or larger developments.
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We get asked for DWGs all the time.
In all fairness, Sketchup may be the wrong software for me considering the scale of our projects. Revit is probably more suitable but creating “Families” (Revit word for components) and actually modelling in Revit is much harder, complex and not as free flowing, which is why I love SU so much.
To give some perspective, our largest project to date was a $4Billion (AUD) development that has lasted around 7 years with a multi-million dollar scaffold contract (it is coming to an end right now). Here is a small portion of it 
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Did you enjoy growing “families” in that neck of the woods? …
Thanks for sharing this. It’s fascinating to see SU being used at this scale. The largest design that I ever created in LO was an office building in North Cork- budget of about 3million euros I think at the time- Although with central bank printing since then we’re probably talking 5 or 6 million.
I took it to the design stage and the client handed it over to an engineering consultancy to complete- I was a one man show. There were no requests for further information and the design was built from my drawings. I handed it over as a CAD file along with the PDF drawings.
The website mentioned there is long defunct. That’s a long story which I won’t bore you with 
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I don’t think Christopher Wren was too fussed about which CAD system to use when he built St. Paul’s Cathedral in the late 1600’s. It’s still standing, unlike some modern buildings that were designed on CAD. If Wren time travelled to today I wonder which CAD system he would favour? I think we all generally choose the most efficient tool for the job. Contrary to what some of the bigger players and their marketing departments will tell you, the more complex the tool the less efficient it becomes. It’s all about communicating an idea as simply as possible.
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