I’m relatively new to sketchup and starting to use it to make 2-D drawings for a plotter. The problem I’m finding is most of my drawings are the same shape, just different dimensions. Is there any way to make a ‘form’ so that I could just enter the dimensions and a scaled drawing is automatically created? I’m currently using make '15 but have no problem upgrading to pro or changing to another recommended (reasonably priced) CAD program. I’d love to stay with using Sketchup due to its small learning curve. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Just curious - why a 3d program to do 2d drawings?
With Pro, you can make Dynamic Components and just change their size attribute. So yes, then you just need to enter the dimension and the rest will change automatically.
*This is a broad answer since I don’t know what you’re drawing and maybe there’s unforeseen work involved if your drawing needs more work than just a simple oevrall scaling.
I have to open the drawings up in another program to nest them… and I know that program works with sketchup. Do you have another suggestion for something that would be a little more tailored towards 2D?
Well to not get into too many details… but I’m making awnings using a plotter and cutter. The sides, or ‘wings’ are basically 90 degree triangles with a rectangle below. All awnings are for the most part the same shapes, just different dimensions. I would be wanting to change the triangle height, projection, and rectangle height all independently. Not all proportionally (sorry if this isn’t making sense). It sounds simple to just sketch it up each time but with all the other details with the rest of the awning its rather time consuming. Just looking for a way to cut back on the amount of time it takes to draw it each time.
Your description isn’t quite the thousand words that a picture is worth but it sounds like you should put together a library of components.
Make one of each (size) of your various parts then throw them together as needed.
But without fully understanding what it is you are drawing it is almost impossible to give you advice.
I think that a lot of cutting and CNC machine people use CorelDraw - vector and is one of the easiest programs to learn (with loads of fancy stuff that’s just under the surface.)