Hi, I would like a feature that displays the area of a shape in Layout much like Layout displays. I am referring to shapes drawn to scale in Layout not to elements modelled in Sketchup. Sometimes I add shapes to a plan or other drawing in Layout. For example, I might hatch a complex shape that is to be measured a net or gross floor area, or an area of particular landscape planting. In my workflow, this shape only exists in Layout as it is not a building element or feature, only a conceptual zone. By drawing the shape to scale I can readily take its dimensions. I cannot easily derive an area.
That’s where math comes in.
Yeah you can use math or export the scale drawing as dwg, import it from sketchup, create a face and see its area on the entity info tray, I would do that if it’s a complex shape that would take me sometime to calculate, if it’s just circles and rectangles I’d rather do the math.
Requested a few times. I would welcome this to my workflow.
OK smartie, and I can still drive a drawing board.
Yes @fracisquitof That is what I do for complex shapes, but seriously, what about → right click on a closed complex shape drawn to scale displays area? Seems that members prefer to mock the proposal instead of actual consideration.
I think others are just presenting workarounds, not necessarily dismissing the feature request. I think it’s a reasonable request, I also might use the area of a scaled drawing surface in Layout if it were available. 
It’s a good request. I would find it useful for the same context that you described.
I think you’ve summed it up nicely.
May I suggest one or two other related considerations for the FR?
- We can copy & paste information from SketchUp directly into LayOut (this is super handy and much better than me fumbling around trying to draw with LayOut’s native tools)…
…But we can’t do it in reverse.
As Francisco pointed out, a workflow for this is LayOut → DWG → SketchUp → Layout. You can also go from Layout → PDF to measure things (if you have a product like Acrobat Pro or Bluebeam). Either way it’s inconvenient and error-prone.
- There’s no Entity Info display within LayOut. Even if I draw a shape (eg a circle) I can’t see the area, or any other geometric property. The dimension input field is just plain weird…(that applies to SketchUp and LayOut which share the same UI approach).. Writing something in text with commas feels very 1980s and is confusing. Why can’t we just see the object attributes (aka “entity info”) and edit it like in basically every other program?.
For shapes, Adobe InDesign and Illustrator have a full “Transform” control set, where you an input numbers for Length, Rotation, etc. and can see all properties (attributes), including area (to document scale).
Word has good , simple transform controls (but no Area):
Be careful with that. Copying from SketchUp and pasting into LayOut creates an embedded reference with no connection to the original SketchUp file. Each time you copy from the SketchUp file to paste into another embedded reference is added to the LayOut file which can dramatically increase the file size.
Good reminder. I explode my geometry once in layout.
I don’t use this often but its a nice workaround for drawing shapes or things for annotating Maps and general Site Plans
After you explode the viewports remember to purge the unused references.