Trying to draw door swings in Layout using Shape Style down to .10pt.
As you can see on the left side of the screenshot I’m successful only one time with a thin line however the setting remained at .10pt each time. What am I doing wrong?
I have been careful to try and keep the .10pt line assignment specific to the drawn element. In other words I’ve tried not to change the “global” line assignment. But I am not thoroughly clear how to keep those separate.
Sorry, not an answer to your specific question but many of us model the door swing as a 2d graphic in Sketchup… not in Layout…
Usually as a group in a 3d door component in a specific 2d tag that you can control visibility and linetype
I am certainly no Layout expert, but after a quick try, it seems that, like SketchUp, after drawing the arc and then the line, they glue themselves automatically into a bezier polygon (right). It worked to select the arc, make it a group and then draw the line. Then they can have different lineweights (left). Is that the issue you’re having trouble with?
Turning of ‘Autojoin’ should work, too.
It’s in the contextmwnu when the line tool is active.
An alternative if you’ve forgotten to turn off Autojoin is to use the Split tool to separate the arc from the line. Then you can assign a different weight to each part.
If you are making things like this, make them as Scaled Drawings and save them into a scrapbook for future use. Then you don’t need to go through this every time.
Hey Dave, I have seen you mention scaled drawings a few times now in the forums. Can you briefly explain how they can be implemented in Layout as an alternative to modeling an object in Sketchup instead?
Is there a way to discern what parts in any of my models would be better serviced as scaled drawings in Layout?
Hi Keith.
If you are going to add elements drawn in LayOut such as Tom’s door swings, making Scaled Drawings of them makes sense to me. Making a Scaled Drawing of the door swing symbol means you can draw it using real world dimensions and match it to the scale you select for the viewport. This might be appropriate for electrical and plumbing symbols, too.
I have mixed thoughts about adding these things in LayOut. Personally I would probably choose to put all that stuff in the SketchUp file instead. That would make changes easier to manage. I think for door swings I would group the 3D door component and the 2D doorswing component together (as was previously mentioned) but give each of those components a different tag. That way the 3D door components can be turned off for the plan view scene(s) and the 2D component turned off for the perspective scenes.
Grouping the two together in SU means that if the door moves, both the 3D and 2D components get moved together and that change will automatically show in LayOut.
I expect there’s something I’m missing that would recommend adding these symbols in LayOut. If that does make more sense, the Scaled Drawing thing and creating a scrapbook for those symbols would be the way to go to add flexibility.
I agree with you Dave about having 2D door swings as a component in a nested door component together with the 3D door component.
I tend to do a lot of scaled drawing detail for my 1:20/10/5 drawings using the SU model as a template and background.
Looks like there is agreement here about locating door swings in SU.
Could I trouble you to explain in just a little more detail how this works?
Part of my concern is to get a nice thin line for the door swing. I was under the impression that line weights are best managed in LO not SU. SU does not really allow for line weight manipulation correct?
Although one can manipulate section cut line weights and things like lower kitchen base cabs will appear as thin lines below a section cut nevertheless line weight control outside of those things in SU does not exist … no?
Yes. That is correct.
You can control lineweight in the SketchUp viewports by tag so if the door swing has its own tag you can make the edges thinner than those for the walls in LO.
Correct.
Got it. … I think.
Will try it out.
OK - this is starting to make sense. Thanks
If your edge/profile thickness in SU is, say, 1 and your section cut thickness is more than 1, then in LO your wall section cut lines will be thicker than the door swing.
Here’s a quick example. Door swing is a component in SketchUp that has its own tag. In LayOut I set the line scale for just that tag to 0.4 while the viewport is set to show a line scale of 1 pt.
You could even change the color or give the edges a dashed style.
I was talking about this yesterday in terms of footing outlines and plumbing or electrical plans.
I wasn’t aware of that capacity. That really reinforces the idea that groups and components laid out in a well thought out tag structure is key to dynamic visuals in Layout. Thanks for putting that example in Dave…helped me a bit.
Hey Dave, thanks for this example…though I must admit I couldn’t intuitively find the menu you show for changing the line weight by tag.
So…for those like me…in the Dashes column…click on the displayed line type in the corresponding Tag row…and the line type settings window opens showing the available line settings/options.
A Doh! Moment for me.
Charlie
Sorry. I figured since I was showing the Tags section and the first field is “Dashes” it would be self-explanatory. I guess not.
Just a note about Line Scale. That’s actually a multiplier. Non-profile edges in SketchUp are 1 pt. Profiles if they are turned on are 1 pt. or larger based on what you have set in the style. In my example I have the Line Scale in Tags set to 0.40 pt so those lines will be at 0.40 times the Line Scale in the Viewport section.
OK,
In SU I’ve made one door swing at 3’0" as a Component with the insertion point coinciding with the radius of the swing.
I use this Component for all 3’0" doors, insert the swing at the hinge point and rotate into specific position if needed.
Then I assign the door swing component a Tag.
So far I am all set up for Layout.
Do the Pros here see a more efficient way to go about this so far?
… there’s not a way to pre-assign the Tag at the creation of the Component right?
Not if you are bringing them in from the Components collection.
IF YOU ARE CAREFUL ABOUT IT, you could make your Door Swing tag active before you bring in the door swing component. Then the components will get the correct tag. Just remember to make Untagged active before you do further modeling.
Or you could bring the first door swing component in and give it the tag. Then copy that one to place elsewhere in your model. All subsequent instances of the component will also have the tag.
Got it - thank you.
Above, Paul McAlenan refers to an “edge/profile thickness” in SU. This does not seem to be a property of Styles. Where would I look for that?
