Over the years I, like I think most of us, have learned the hard way how to avoid having my LO viewports, their dimensions, etc shift around on update; however, I find myself stuck with a similar issue in LO at the moment.
The SKP and LO files (in the Dropbox link below) were created in a previous version of LO. I have not touched these files in several months and decided to update them to 2022. Upon update to 2022 the dimensions are as you see in the attached image. I have attempted everything I know to do to resolve this kind of issue, but with no luck.
Notes:
One thing you will notice is the two LO pages, and their viewports, each reference the same SKP scene. The first page appears fine (although is does have one dimension that is also askew), and the second does not.
Also note that the SKP file is an Xref from the main SKP file for this project. The SKP file at the link is only used to generate scenes (all of which but one were deleted for the purposes of sharing this file).
In the SKP file you will see I have a Tag Folder called “Xref Alignments”. These are to ensure the reloaded xref model is in the correct location. Since I had not touched these files in quite some time, I wondered if maybe the model was somehow in the wrong location and was causing these problems. I believe the model is in the correct X and Y location, but wondered if the elevation of the model on the Z axis was causing the problem. Changes to the elevation of the xref model on the Z axis had no effect on the dimensions in LO.
Share the LayOut file. Your screenshot shows that you are modifying the Camera position in LayOut away from the scene’s camera properties. When you update the reference and the camera goes back to the position set in the scene, you wind up with this sort of issue.
So as before, the Camera position has changed ftom when you placed the dimensions and labels. After your “XREF” changes it’s difficult to see exactly what change you made but I expect at some point you reset the Camera Properties in the viewport. The labels and dimensions are still anchored where they were but the model as moved within the viewport.
This sort of thing could also happen if you perhaps copied the model and placed it in a different location, then deleted the original which had the dimensions and labels attached to it.
So best practice is avoid doing anything in LayOut that results in a Reset button being displayed in the Camera section of the SketchUp Model panel.
I will circle back to the purging details you have shared.
Regarding the dimensions problem, when you say “at some point you reset the Camera Properties in the viewport”, as I understand it there are two ways to do this:
In the LO “Sketchup Model” window I could go into the Camera section and change the selected “Standard View”, and uncheck “Ortho” or “Preserve…”. I never do this. And by never I do mean absolutely never.
The next way I understand this could be done is to double click on a viewport. I also never do this, but the “never” does not rise to the same “absolutely never” level as above. In this case, on very rare occasions I have accidentally double clicked a viewport while I am working within LO. This action opens the SKP model, but in that situation I immediately recognize what has been done, hit the escape button, and go to Edit / Undo Sketchup Edit.
Are there other ways in which a camera position change happen?
That’s good. It would help if you go into LayOut’s Preferences and disable the option to edit the camera position by double clicking into it.
There are other ways but those are the most common. Copying the geometry into a different location in the model space could be one. It’s unfortunate that you don’t have a copy of the LO file from shortly before the dimension and leader anchor points moved relative to the paper. It would make it more clear what exactly happened.
I changed LO preferences to no longer allow SKP edits.
I went into Time Machine back to February 1st and opened the SKP and LO file (they opened with SKP 2021).
-The SKP model in both the 2021 and 2022 (the one you saw today) versions have the model in the exact same location in model space (x,y, & z).
Between the model you saw today, and Feb 1st model opened with 2021 I confirmed that the camera position for the scene “Foundation for CDs” are both identical for each model (see attached)
The February 1st LO model does not have the dimensions going off to the askew point in the top right of the screen.
Everything seems to be good with the SKP and LO models I shared today, but they will not reconnect to the model in order to correct this dimension issue where these dimensions are now pointing to some random (?) point off in the top right of the screen. Anything else that can be done to correct this globally, or am I left to correct these dimensions one by one at this point?
