Layout needs some serious attention for architectural documentation

[mp12]

Hi SketchUp team,

My office uses SketchUp + Layout professionally for architectural design and construction documentation, and while the SketchUp/Layout workflow is incredibly useful, there are a number of things in Layout that feel unnecessarily difficult for a professional documentation tool.

Some of these are relatively basic drafting functions that have been standard in 2D documentation software for a long time.

Here is a compilation of current wishlist items from my office:

1. Export PDFs as separate files

• Export all pages as individual PDFs; or
• Select specific pages to export as individual files.

2. Revision cloud tool / line type

3. More standard line types

4. Insulation line type (with scaling capability)

5. Proper flood/fill tool

Filling an enclosed area in a 2D drawing should be incredibly simple.

6. Hatch Colours

Please add the ability to change the colour of hatches

7. Dimension chains

I should be able to place a string of dimensions along a common dimension line and have them behave as a coherent chain, while still being able to adjust individual dimensions.

8. Cut holes out of fills

Please allow users to subtract a shape from an existing fill.

For example, if I have a filled wall/slab/ground area and need to show an opening, I should be able to draw the opening and subtract it from the fill.

9. Stop forcing labels and dimensions to be attached to the model

Please give us the option to create independent labels and dimensions, or at the very least allow us to disconnect an existing label/dimension from its model association.

10. Multiple section plane cuts / model isolation (this is more of a sketchup item)

Please allow multiple section plane cuts to be active simultaneously, or provide a better way to isolate different parts of a model.

11. Toggle line weights on/off while drafting

Please add a simple “Show/Hide Line Weights” toggle in LayOut.

When working on drawings, heavy line weights can make it surprisingly difficult to see and accurately draft/coordinate the underlying geometry.

It would be incredibly useful to have:

Drafting mode:

→ all lines displayed at a consistent/light weight

Print mode:

→ actual assigned line weights displayed

This would make working in LayOut much easier.

[bmike]

A good list.

@mp12

• Select specific pages to export as individual files.

Right click on a page name and ‘export’?
You have to then do 1 at a time or in small batches. Unless you want to some sort of checklist to tick and then export.

[KeithBrooks]

@mp12

11. Toggle line weights on/off while drafting

Please add a simple “Show/Hide Line Weights” toggle in LayOut.

When working on drawings, heavy line weights can make it surprisingly difficult to see and accurately draft/coordinate the underlying geometry.

Just curious, are you using stacked viewports to establish line weights or Layout generated geometry? In both cases, if you use separate layers for different line weights you can achieve this need. I do this with SketchUp stacked viewports and have 5-6 layers for each line weight assignment. When I building drawings, it’s super easy to turn off the heavier line weights so I can run dims, add notes, and even draw new geometry/masks with LayOut tools.

[KeithBrooks]

@mp12

7. Dimension chains

I should be able to place a string of dimensions along a common dimension line and have them behave as a coherent chain, while still being able to adjust individual dimensions.

can you explain this one better? I can run a string by placing the first dim in a line and then double clicking at each successive point along the string. If I press command (Mac) before I double click on a narrow dim which will get a leader, I can control which side the leader lands on. After entire row is submitted, each individual dim is editable.
What is not present is that each dim is then connected to each dim on either side. If that is what you are referencing, I totally agree.

@mp12

9. Stop forcing labels and dimensions to be attached to the model

Please give us the option to create independent labels and dimensions, or at the very least allow us to disconnect an existing label/dimension from its model association.

Love this one! A right context menu item to disconnect the leader from the viewport would be a great feature.

@mp12

10. Multiple section plane cuts / model isolation (this is more of a sketchup item)

Please allow multiple section plane cuts to be active simultaneously, or provide a better way to isolate different parts of a model.

This one is available already. You can see examples of this on Youtube from the SketchUp team and others.

But “isolate different parts of the model” is an interesting comment. What are you trying to do there? Tags don’t get the job done?

[mp12]

Yes I would like a sort of checklist set up, and preferrably and option within the export window that you can tick to export as individual pages.

This feature is available for cad exports, but not for pdf for some reason!

[Cyentruk]

@KeithBrooks

Love this one! A right context menu item to disconnect the leader from the viewport would be a great feature.

Or simply Ctrl+X to cut then Ctr+V to paste also disconnect the linked items.

[mp12]

Yes we use stacked viewports to a certain degree, however, we do a fair bit of 2D drawing for detailing using the scale drawing tool. Our models are quite large so putting too much detail in and stacking too many viewports makes the files too sluggish.

It would be great to be able to toggle lineweights on and off for drafting, purely for more precision when drawing.

[KeithBrooks]

that’s a new one! Didn’t know that little skill.

[PaulMcAlenan]

Has someone mentioned this?

You can toggle draft mode with a keyboard shortcut – this renders all line weights flat.

[ivanjones]

Pretty much everything on you list can be done in Layout now its just not like how another application does it. That said it would be good to see some development put into Layout. Im not criticizing your list but things can be done with a different method. A Label created and saved to a scrapbook doesnt auto attach, Shapes can be drawn in sketchup, its not ideal but it works. I stack viewports and dimension to a vector view port with its own style with everything but the edges I need turned off. PDF files can be manipulated in a PDF editor I rarely do this) Things like that.

[mp12]

When I toggle to draft mode it doesn’t seem to change the lineweights at all. Do you know why that might be happening?

[mp12]

Yeah, there are works arounds to some of the items on the list. however, I think they are small fixes that would make a big difference to workflow!

[PaulMcAlenan]

Without more information I don’t know why your Draft Mode toggle won’t work, however

If Draft Mode is set to Pan & Zoom Only, then unless you move the mouse or zoom it won’t show.

There are two settings – Always On and Pan & Zoom Only.

[bmike]

Are you working with a vector rendered viewport? (maybe it works in hybrid as well?)

[ivanjones]

@bmike If you were replying to my post. I do use hybrid sometimes because it does affect the output PDF a little. On most models I at least stack a vector viewport that is stripped down to just the edges I need for dimensioning. This has its own style. As is normal I dimension to wall framing so wall cladding corner trim ect is off. In a plan view (section) or section cut I may turn off things that dimensions may snap to that are not wanted plus the vector viewport has a style with thin crisp lines so with object snap turned on dimensioning is quick. Sometimes I have a working viewport where the textures have a simple style that helps speed up layout but the items like flooring are there and can be labeled for sqft or ?? then the output viewport is turned on for final output. These working viewports can have components like people or furniture turned off also speeding up render time. I would like to know if visibility affects an “update model reference” from SketchUp. It seems that Hybrid viewports slow down updates to the model. Especially on a large project with 20+ sheets and many viewports per sheet. 2026 has gotten slower updating the SketchUp model in layout. Replying to the OP working viewports can have styles that help speed things up.

[bmike]

@ivanjones

@bmike If you were replying to my post.

No. I was trying to diagnose @mp12 not seeing line weight changes with draft mode.