I’m struggling with a model, and am well aware it could be my own workflow that’s really at fault - but when I search for advice the most common thing I come across is ‘do what works best for you’, so that’s what I’m trying to work out!
I can’t share my exact model, but I can describe the situation and if it needs a model I will make one to share.
I need to do a section view of two houses (and associated sheds/bin stores etc.) within a large development, and to make a plan view in LayOut of that section of the development. The houses are already components, stored in separate files.
I can group the houses etc., and then put a section in the group. That works perfectly except that am tired of clicking through multiple containers to edit what I want. I know I could use Outliner, but that’s more mouse moving and scrolling and clicking and I hate how it slows everything down.
Anyway - the section is in place now, but I really don’t want everything in yet another container so I explode it. And the section immediately expands to fill the model and disappears from my scene.
If I want multiple sections for multiple scenes then I’m going to end up with nested groups in groups in groups. In fact it’s impossible (from what I can see) because I can’t have the same house in two different groups. So I can’t actually do what I want to do at all with this method.
So: what’s wrong with my workflow here? Things are going to change in the model, so I need views/scenes that I can regenerate without laboriously re-grouping/exploding things…
not sure that I understand, so this might be irrelevant, but:
If you place a section cut inside a group or component, only that group will get sectioned. If you want a plan view that is sectioned on different vertical levels it will be useful to put the section plane inside different groups/components.
But if you just need a section through your whole model just place the cut plane outside all your components.
The section planes can be re-used in other scenes. If its in the right place, just turn that on for that scene. If you temporarily show all your section plans, you can just select the one you need and make that one active.
Not sure I followed everything in your post … but I can identify with having multiple buildings (each with their own SketchUp model) … all in one plan view in LayOut.
There is a facility in LayOut that you did not mentioned using … which you may find useful. In LayOut, after selecting a specific viewport (under the “Tags” menu of the “SketchUp Model”) you can set the visibility of each of the Tags, independent of the SketchUp scene.
Obviously the usefulness of this is entirely dependent upon the original Tag assignment. But with some planning … this ability to manipulate Tag visibility within individual LayOut viewports … this can be enormously useful.
Also … if you are routinely exploding and regrouping … then you have not (in my opinion) organized your model correctly. Indeed, I oftentimes realize that I am exploding a Group only because I made some sort of modeling error.
And with that in mind, I submit that you would do well to evaluate how you are using Sections, Scenes, Groups and Tags. My guess is that your models have too many Groups … and not enough Tags.
If you already have scenes for the required sections then can’t you just build your drawing in layout by overlaying the various scenes? I do this for plans with a grey line trace of the cut building and then overlay that with a section cut scene that highlights what I want to show. It’s an easy process if you manage the layers in LO to ensure your overlays are in the right order.
If you have the right scenes available, even from different SU files, then there should be no reason to be exploding & reconfiguring groups.
Thank you to everyone for their suggestions, I realise I should really have included a model - so I have made one.
What I want to do is this:
In LayOut I want to have a plan with only buildings A & B sectioned, and another plan with only buildings A & C sectioned. I can’t work out how to do it!
I feel like I’m really missing something here… Any advice would be very gratefully received!
Am sure there are several ways to solve this … but here is a generalized solution … one that can accommodate unique section planes for each building. This would be useful if you wanted to show floor plans for multiple buildings … each with different finish floor elevations. Or … if you needed to show floor plans for different floors for each building. Either way … you would need a different section plane for each building … which this scheme accommodates.
Tag each building with a unique Tag … or perhaps a unique Tag Folder. The idea is that you need to be able to use tags to turn on/off the visibility of each building.
Similarly … Tag each Section Plane with a unique Tag.
In the attached SketchUp model (below) there is a Tag Folder with Tags for each building … and a separate Tag Folder with Tags for each Section Plan.
In the SketchUp model set up a Scene for each building/section that you want to use in LayOut. And be sure to use the Camera>Previous tool to insure that ALL of the scenes that you want to “superimpose” in LayOut have the same camera position. In this example model there are unique scenes for the Bldg A Section (Floor Plan), Bldg. B Section and of Bldg. C Section.
Then in Layout superimpose in the same viewport all of the appropriate SketchUp Scenes (one for each building). In the example LayOut template (below) the first viewport (on the left) uses the Bldg A Section scene and the Bldg B Section scene. And the viewport (on the right) uses the Bldg A Section scene and the Bldg C Section scene. Size, scale and mask the viewports appropriately.
This scheme can accommodate multiple buildings … each with multiple and/or unique Section Planes. And the buildings could even be in different SketchUp models.
Check this out, SketchUp Youtube for ideas. To over simplify
Make each building a group
Place each on a tag
Open for editing
Place section plane
Make a scene in SketchUp for the different combinations
Finish in Layout for for desired views
Properly grouped and tagged is the answer. Using the Sketchup panel in Layout to select the tagged houses you want in that viewport is also the simplest answer.
Tags and Viewports are real visual power in Layout.
I also agree that the nested groups of Sketchup can quickly get out of hand. Click counts are real in pro workflows. Multiple tags like ConDoc Tools as a native feature would be an amazing upgrade to Sketchup.
@jcswright have you seen a plugin by Curic that allows for selection/editing of nested groups/components? Pretty nice tool if you have deep nesting.
I think the question I’m left with is: is there something I can do with my imported geolocation data that does more than just hide it - so that when I do sections as suggested by @PaulMcAlenan they don’t fly miles out from the main part of my model?
But this has definitely got me out of a hole.
Also thank you to @KeithBrooks - I guess Curic Select++ is the extension you’re talking about and no - I haven’t tried it but I will take a look.
