Dashes layer: I used to do the same sort of thing for showing the outlines of rough stock and and dashed lines in exploded views and for hidden details like mortises although now I tend to show those things with the model viewports so rarely draw the dashes in LO. That layer still exists in my templates and winds up being a catchall for stuff that doesn’t belong on other layers.
Hatches are for those hatching patterns when I want to show that sort of thing. For most of the shop drawings I do anymore I rarely use that, though.
Scrim: In LayOut I will use this for masking viewport(s) underneath. Here for example, instead of going through the tags for all of the undercarriage parts and setting the edges to gray or using a style with gray edges, I drew in a rectangle on the Scrim layer and made it somewhat transparent. (Nick Sonder technique.) I added color here only to make the rectangle visible.
I also sometimes add a tag in SketchUp for what I also call a scrim and give that tag to a surface I use to mask some part of the model in a certain scene. In this case I put in the curved surface behind the assembled copy of the bench so that the exploded view wouldn’t show in the background of a 3/4 front left view.
I know there are other ways to deal with that sort of thing such as giving different tags to the components in the exploded view or grouping those components and giving the parent group a tag or using Hide. I don’t want more tags in my model file than absolutely needed and prefer to keep the same tag on all like components. All of the leg components in this model, for example, have the same tag. And I don’t use Hide as a visibility control for scenes. I only hide objects temporarily while I’m working.
Thanks so much Dave for showing examples and how you do visibilty control. Much appreciated.
I understand now the use of the scrim Layer for masking. Seem to recall that now from Nick Sonders book. Right now I have three model layers so if I need a scrim/mask, rather then change my template, hopefully it just fits into one of those three layers.
Yes, seems no matter how much I try to bulletproof my Layout template, something comes along that just upsets all the plans. Good to have an under the couch cushions layer for that stuff.
My workflow has changed dramatically over the years with the improvements in boith SketchUp and LayOut. There’s so much stuff I used to have to do manually like hyphenating fractional dimensions and adding curved leaders for the really short ones. Now that’s automatic. I used to have to type all the descriptions for components for my exploded views and now that automatic; I only have to place them.
For shop drawings my last step before going to LayOut was to turn on Back Edges and update the style. Then in LayOut I could trace the hidden detail while the viewports were rendered as raster and then switch to Vector to get rid of the back edges. And then hope I wasn’t going to have to edit the model in ways that would change those details. No need to do that with stacked viewports and Dashes for tags. Now it’s no big deal if I have to change the size of a mortise or other hidden detail.
Yes, in researching Layout templates and layers, I may have read some of your older posts. The Layers you described reflect the way things were back than. With TIG’s Component Descriptor extension, Layout improvements with stacked viewports, dashed lines and tagging some of those inefficient methods now seem like from back in the stone ages. Thanks for showing the up to date methods. Very helpful.
This software is too difficult, I really can’t learn it, give up this software, but this activation code is too expensive, so it is sold, if anyone needs it, please contact me by email: c1@ruogan.show, or Skype: c1@ruogan .show
Why can’t you learn it? There are lots of resources available to help you learn.
FWIW, I don’t believe the terms of service allow you to resell your subscription without permission from Trimble. You might want to check that. Paragraph 16.1 of the terms is very clear.
Unlikely anyone will buy a license for SketchUp 2020 now, anyhow.
