LayOut 2019 version 19.1.173 on iMac running Mojave 10.14.4
I export my SketchUp model to LayOut and proceed to size the model handles for best location in LayOut. The model is vector format with a scale of 1" - 20’. I have it set for “preserve scale on resize”. I then proceeded to annotate the model and LayOut sheet with notes, additional dimensions, etc.
During the process I discover I need to make a change to the model, so I go to SketchUp, make the change, save and then go back to LayOut to update via document setup. It updates fine but is no longer located in the same spot and I have to re-set the model handles and move as necessary to dovetail with LayOut entities I have created.
Is there a way to lock the location of the SketchUp model in LayOut such that an update is the same size and in the same location?
How about sharing your LayOut file so we can see what you’ve got. It sounds to me, though, as if you are not creating a scene in SketchUp to use for the viewport in LayOut and instead you’re using the Last saved SketchUp view for the scene. If you do, when the update takes place in LayOut, of course the model will appear to move unless you were able to exactly reposition the camera where it was previously.
Best practice for the workflow between Sketchup and Layout is to make all of your scenes in Sketchup, adjusting, view, camera details, style, shadows, etc in sketchup and saving them to a particular scene, and then associate each viewport in Layout with a particular scene. No viewport in Layout should ever be labeled as “modified” in the sketchup model inspector window because it will not maintain its position through a model reference update. “Never” double click on a viewport in Layout to adjust the view, always go back to SU to adjust the view in the scene and re-save. If your viewport is linked to a Sketchup scene then everything will be where you left it after a model update and the dimensions will stay attached.
I and others wish it did not behave this way, I wish we could control the all aspects of the viewport from within layout which would be so much faster and easier, but currently this is not possible. So the above is the best way to manage working between the two.
I’m glad that got you sorted out. Remember, every viewport in the LO file should be linked to a scene in the SketchUp file. You can use the same scene for more than one viewport it it’s appropriate. As we’ve talked about before, make sure you avoid modifying the scene in LO as doing so damages the link from the scene to the viewport.
As EF mentioned, a few users have expressed interest in being able to make changes to the scene in SketchUp through the interface in LayOut. Currently that’s not an option. Hopefully if it ever does become a feature, it is an optional one. It could wreak havoc when the SketchUp file is used for more than one LayOut project.
I think it is not about controlling the (all ready) made scenes in the SketchUp model through LayOut, but to create scenes in LayOut and have control over the same elements.
That way, the model is just the model and modelled in the modeling software, but the way you wanna look at it is presented in the presentation software.
DaveR,
Yes I will have other scenes from the SketchUp model and they will be the detail views of the areas to be modified shown on other sheets in the drawing package. I’m basically using LayOut for two things, to provide a format for an annotated construction drawing package and, as a conduit for conversion to PDF for submittal to get a permit.
