Sorry for the beginner question, I’ve been watching tutorials but am just unable to get this to work.
I have a large terrain model in SketchUp that I would like to print each scene on its own A3 sheet to scale (probably 1:250 but would like to tinker with this) such that I can then use these as layers in Photoshop.
I have each scene set up with the model extents shown, thinking that I could then reframe this in LayOut. When I send this to LayOut, I can see the whole model fine, changing scale to 1:250 then shoots the model off the page but I am able to find it again by making the viewport as large as possible. However, I cannot for the life of me then get the model back on the page to reframe the viewport around?
Here is the SketchUp model with the scenes I would like on their own A3 sheets.
Instead of setting the paper size to A3, set the width to something large enough to capture the entire model on one sheet if possible. 5080mm is the max paper dimension you can set in LayOut. Then export a PDF and use Adobe Reader’s Poster print feature to print it on A3 sheets if that’s the paper size you want to use. You can set an overlap if you need.
If your model is still too long to fit on a single 5080mm sheet at 1:250 calculate how long the paper would need to be and divide that by either 2 or 3 and set the paper to that width. Set up the first viewport so its left edge is aligned with the left side of the page. Duplicate the page and adjust the position of the viewport.
Here’s an example of the first very long model I came across in my collection. To show this at 1:10 I set the paper width to 1050mm. The model is centered in the model window in SketchUp. In LayOut, I initially selected A3 as the paper size and set the scale to 1:10. Then I resized the viewport by holding Alt (on the PC) and dragging the left edge out. (DO NOT double click into the viewport at any time.) I drew a line at the top left of the page, set the viewport and use Align>Left to align the left edge of the viewport with that line.
Next, I duplicated the page, moved the viewport to the left of a line segment drawn at the top right of the sheet, and used Align>Right to get the follwing.
After that export the PDF and use the Poster print option as before. Here I’ve set the paper size to A3 and little overlap. You can see how the first sheet will print on three pages. The second sheet would do the same.
I’m not looking to have the whole model on an A3 so not trying to poster print across multiple. I just want this area on an A3 (similar idea, focus on the monolith I have modelled for each scene). I have scenes set at the same view but with just shadows, just profiles and just lines such that I can layer them in Photoshop and play around with them.
My whole issue is panning my model within the viewport. It is my first time using LayOut and I must be missing something because it just doesn’t seem to work anything like AutoCAD and I’m just finding it incredibly unintuitive. If I readjust the viewport edges, the model moves with it? I can’t simply reframe the viewport? Instead I’m stuck with having to make the viewport huge to even see anything at 1:250 and its locked at this position within the viewport?
I guess I didn’t understand what you were trying to do.
To do what you describe, first center the camera on the area in your blue box. Make sure the camera is set correctly
for all of the scenes.
First thing to do is stop trying to make it work like AutoCAD. Neither SketchUp nor LayOut works like AutoCAD.
If you set the scale first or you tick Preserve Scale in the SketchUp Model window the model won’t move or resize with changes in the size of the viewport. Don’t double click into the viewport to pan, orbit, or zoom the camera. That is a sure way to create more work for yourself.
Your model is very heavy but I’ll try to set up things up as you want them.
I note that your model is located at a great distance from the origin. This will create problems for you. I’ll try to fix that, too.
Out of curiosity, do you really need the entire model if you’re only interested in that center area?
Thanks Dave. I don’t think I’m understanding the preserve scale option at all so that’s something for me to add to my research list for Layout! I’ve tried toggling it and can’t see it work differently.
Do I need to be setting my scenes up in SketchUp as I want them to appear in LayOut then rather than doing the whole elevation and reframing in LayOut? That made the most sense to me as I wanted to tinker around with scale and the extents shown. None of this will ever get printed physically.
I have multiple models with this site and then the building model as its been designed and iterated. I’ve used the same origins on everything so I can paste in place between files. I never knew this caused issues, thanks for that
For this instance I guess I don’t technically need the whole area but my computer has been handling it fine and the model and terrain will be rendered in Twinmotion and D5 later down the line. For these elevations I dont, but for diagrammes later I will. Could always be multiple files I guess.
It’s a per-viewport thing so you have to have the viewport selected before ticking the box. It gets ticked automatically when you select a scale.
It’s better if you do set up scenes in SketchUp for the views you need in LayOut. It makes the whole process more predicatable and easier to work with in LayOut.
OK. So I set up the camera for the scene called SouthEast (Front) so the structure is nearly centered. It may not be the exact area you want but you can make that call when you correct the scene on your end. I updated the scene for the new camera position.
When I sent the file to LayOut and selected A3 as the paper size, the resulting viewport looks like this on the page. Since the part of the model of interest is centered in the model space in SketchUp, it is centered in the viewport on the page.
Now the edges of the viewport can be dragged as needed to cover the page.the way you want without having the model change size or move within the viewport. As I wrote in my first reply, hold Alt while dragging the edges or corners of the viewport to resize about the center.
Working this way makes for less work all the way around. Note that it doesn’t override the scene’s Camera properties which means the viewport is more stable than if you click into the viewport and pan the camera.
I wanted to show this as a GIF animation but your model’s geometry is so heavy that I couldn’t record a small enough GIF.
Side note: I see a bunch of incorrect tag usage. Remember that all edges and faces should be created and remain untagged.
Thanks so much for this and the detailed breakdown.
Now the edges of the viewport can be dragged as needed to cover the page.the way you want without having the model change size or move within the viewport. As I wrote in my first reply, hold Alt while dragging the edges or corners of the viewport to resize about the center.
Just so I’m understanding this right, holding alt would allow me to see more of the scene within the viewport without moving the model itself or changing the scale?
Side note: I see a bunch of incorrect tag usage. Remember that all edges and faces should be created and remain untagged.
Yes I know, the tags are pretty rough for this… it includes a dwg export from AutoCAD which includes dwg exports from SketchUp and I haven’t bothered to clean it up… oops
Holding Alt allows you to resize the viewport about it’s center.
The fact that Preserve Scale is ticked in the SketchUp Model panel results in the model not moving or changing size as the viewport is resized.
Sometimes you’ll actually want to have the model resize in the viewport as you change the size of it.
In both of those GIFs I was holding Alt while resizing.
tsk, tsk, tsk. Don’t get sloppy. Those things come back to haunt you later. Usually it’s when your deadline is looming.
So really my issue was not have my SketchUp scene set up right? I need to be zoomed in more on what I want in there first then especially with a large model? I can’t just leave the framing to LayOut alone?
Yes. Having the scenes set up correctly in SketchUp makes things run more smoothly in LayOut. The scene also gives you a sort of fixed point to return to if you ever need it.
The whole process is more predictable and less prone to problems if you avoid modifying the Camera in LayOut.
Been playing around and can’t get the scenes to line up.
Within Sketchup, the scenes are identical camera positions, the only difference is the style.
I go into LayOut, arrange the first sheet fine (shift the viewport such that the scene I want is centred). Duplicate the sheet and then change the scene to the 2nd. However, now they don’t align? The 2nd sheet has the model shifted down and to the left?
They should align if you’ve placed the part of the model of interest in the center of the model window in SU. If I were doing this I would just use one scene for all of them and simply switch the style for each viewport. No need to create multiple scenes when you want the same camera position.
The model is in what I thought was the centre within my scene in SketchUp but once scaled up, since the model is so big, it was further to the right that I wanted so I rescaled and shifted the viewport over using alt and shift.
Brilliant, I was unaware I could change the style within LayOut itself.
That is exactly what I was after, thank you again Dave.
If you select a viewport and look at the SketchUp Model panel you can see that you can change the style per viewport. You can also control whether shadows are displayed and also show or hide tags.
Here’s a quickie example. I create four styles in the SketchUp model for this but each viewport uses the same scene.
If this is the sort of thing you would do more than just once, you might make a collection of the styles you’ll need which you can access in LO. Then you don’t need to have those styles in the model itself. For the shop drawings I do for woodworking projects I created a collection of styles that I commonly use. I don’t use those styles in the SketchUp model at all. I leave the one style in SketchUp set up as my working style. Then I choose the appropriate style for the viewport. This is especially useful for my shop drawings when I have stacked viewports.
I wanted to stack the shadow style with profiles and edges in Photoshop whilst having them at scale and being able to change the profile line weight lower than what is in SketchUp.
