Scenes won't work when duplicating page layouts after modifying viewport in Layout

I have run into this issue across all machine that I have worked on. I am currently using 21.1.332 64 bit. When I insert a file into layout I will typically use the duplicate selected page from the Pages tray to add more views for a document. If I use only the scenes I created in SketchUp there are no problems. If I alter a view once in Layout and then try to copy that view using the same method, the scenes no longer work. It will stay on the altered view and the only want to change that is to go an alter the view again. This completely negates the ability to adjust views. The only work around I have found is re-inserting the same file again.

I am not sure if anyone else is having this issue. I tried to scan through the forum but there are so many issues with Layout that I finally had to just post this so I could get back to work.

This should be expected because you’ve overridden the scene properties in the viewport before copying it. Reset the properties back to match the scene propeties by clicking on the Reset or Reset All button in The SketchUp Model panel.

Note that if you change any of the scene properties for a viewport, the property section in the SketchUp Model panel will have a dark background and a Reset button.

Best practice would be to avoid making changes to the viewport that result in the Camera section showing modifications. You can change the scale and tick or untick the Preserve Scale box but leave the Standard View and Ortho boxes alone. They will take the settings from the SketchUp scene. Also don’t open the viewport and orbit, zoom, or pan the camera as that will also override the Camera settings for the scene.

Do not re-insert the SketchUp model. This can create problems with multiple references

BTW, this is not a bug in the software.

Please complete your profile with Sketchup version.

It’s worth noting that the ability to open a viewport and change scene properties in that way used to be much easier than it now is. Because it led to so many problems, the default setting now is that you can’t open a viewport and muck about with it. You have to deliberately override the default to be able to do it, which is what I presume you have done. But it should only be done (if done at all) by someone who knows the risk they are taking and has a very good reason to take off the safety belt.

Maybe I am explaining this wrong. When in Layout if you double click on the window you can change the viewpoint using camera tools such as zoom extents, camera tools, etc. Lets say I bring in an image with 5 scenes. When I first insert the model into layout I alter the window size to fit the paper size. If I don’t like the way it looks on the page I double click on the view and move the camera around and using camera tools. Now I have a custom scene. I used to be able to duplicate the that page in the Pages tray then right click on the scene that is now a custom scene and select one of the 5 scenes I saved while working on the model in SketchUp. In doing so it would immediately show the scene I selected (let’s say it is 2 of 5). When I do this now, nothing happens. It remains on the scene that I modified and nothing I do will allow me to choose any of the pre-set scenes that came in with the model. I either have to reinsert a new version of the same model or I have to use the camera tools to reposition the camera for every scene I wanted. This never used to be the case. I could have a 100 scenes and alter them at will. It would never effect my ability to duplicate pages.

Like I said, maybe I am explaining all wrong. I have been using SketchUp since 2007 and only recently has this begun to happen when using Layout.

Thanks again for the responses.

Yes. And we’re telling you not to do that. What you are doing overrides the Camera scene properties for the viewport and when you copy that viewport, the new vieport’s Camera properties are also overriden so changing the scene will not change the camera position. You need to click the reset button in the SketchUp Model panel to remove your overrides.

I think I understand what you are saying though @DaveR. I can get it to work now that you explainded that in detail. While I have used sketchup for a long time I never really used Layout to its fullest and I didn’t even realize the Sketchup Model Tray had all of the features it has. Thanks again.

Once you do that your scene is modified. This has always been the case. Ideally for consistency you should always set your scene correctly in SketchUp.

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One thing I would recommend that you do is go into LayOut’s Preferneces>General and disable SketchUp Model Editing.

Make it a habit to at least leave the Camera settings unmodified. As I wrote before, you can change the scale and tick or untick the box for Preserve Scale without modifying or overriding the link from the scene. Just don’t do anything else to cause the Reset button to appear in that section.

Yes I try to do that but it is sometimes difficult for getting things exact as my SketchUp window is never the same size as my layout page so I always need to adjust something. You are all awesome, thank you for responding so quickly.

@DaveR I changed my info for future questions. Sorry for not having it updated, I don’t often come on here to ask questions, mostly to just catch up with things that are happening.

@simoncbevans Thanks for the recommendation. I have been doing what I have described for going on 14 years and never had issues. I guess I have been extremely lucky. Now that I know it can cause issues I will look out for that. Thanks again.

Best regards

I would say so. Like @Sonder wrote, this modifying camera position in LayOut has always overridden things. Best to set up your scenes in SketchUp and if you need to change the the camera position later, do it in SU and update the scene.

What is it you are doing that makes setting up the scenes correctly seem to be difficult?