I may be asking for the impossible - but I’m sure someone else must have the same problem…I do architectural sections through timber frames using layout. When I cut a section through I want the rectangular ‘timber’ to have a cross ‘X’ through it as per standard architectural annotation. At present I am using the line tool in layout to draw a cross on each cut. Does anyone know of a plug-in or setting that would do this for me? Thanks in advance.
Sorry, but even in LayOut 2018, there is no “live” extension API yet. (However, version 2018 took a step in this direction with API exposure to the LayOut document objects which can create, open and modify .layout documents from within SketchUp.)
Your forum profile indicates your still on SketchUp Pro 2017.
A step in the right direction is the following from the
SketchUp 2018 Release Notes, What’s New? section …
Named Section Planes
It seems simple, but naming something is the first step towards making it easier to find, organize, and edit that something. Now, even when your section planes are hidden, they’re right at your fingertips. Here’s how it works…Create a new section plane and choose a name for it and a short symbol that will display in your modeling window. Your section plane is now a unique SketchUp entity that can be found in Outliner and manipulated in Entity Info. Use Outliner to quickly find, select and edit specific planes. Use Entity Info to edit naming conventions and organize section cuts into layers, then control the visibility of your section planes, cuts and fills via Styles.
Filled, Styled Section Cuts
We have added Filled Section Cuts to SketchUp 2018. To access, open Styles > Edit > Modeling and toggle ‘Section Fills’ on or off, and set your desired fill color. When section fills are toggled on, SketchUp will render a fill on top of cleanly modeled sections. We’ll even help you troubleshoot geometry problems that are preventing SketchUp from recognizing the section you want to fill. Access troubleshoot mode through the section plane context menu when Section Fills are on.
It seems that section fills may be solid colors at the present time.
(Someone correct me if I’m wrong here as I haven’t yet tried out this new feature.)
Thanks - Profile is a little out of date - I am on 2018 pro so I had noticed the styled section cuts, maybe I will have to move with the times and change my look - thanks for the assistance
There is still some paid extensions like Scalp that may do better styled cut faces.
I model all my timber components with extra internal faces to show as crosses on section.
I have tried two methods one i create an extruded cross and make it a subcomponent of the timber section and scale the master component instance to fit my timber sizes you can scale the X component instance to only show on section and not on elevation. this has also the advantage that you can switch off or delete the X. I also just model the internal faces directly this can work better if you are chamfering bits of timber.
Both ways add a bit of complexity and more faces to the model though but do exactly what you want to achieve.
1 Like