Strategy using Layout 2017 to show 45 views of a 72 MB SU model

[3Dfever]

I have been using SketchUp for many years but am a complete noobie to Layout and this forum. My computer is an Alienware X51 R2 with i7 CPU @ 3.6 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 64 bit Win 10, GeForce GTX w 2GB dedicated memory, and 256 GB SSD C: drive w 1 TB secondary storage drive.

I have drawn a highly detailed 72 MB model of an industrial park consisting of 14 buildings which are fairly closely spaced. Each building is drawn as a component which is imported into the master model. The master model includes a terrain model imported from Google Earth.

Using all these buildings, the project is to develop and present a comprehensive signage and wayfinding program. For permitting, the Town is requiring elevations of each façade of the 13 buildings that will have signage. I have decided to show the elevations with just enough perspective to show depth and context of each façade.

In the SketchUp master model, I am creating approx. 45 scenes each showing a primary elevation of interest and just enough of the adjacent buildings that will show in that view. In each scene, buildings not visible will be hidden and layers turned off as needed. I plan to render each view/scene in Monochrome, mostly to help show notes, dimensions, etc.

My question is: In order to keep the Layout file most manageable in size and use of Layout tools, is it best to:

1. File/Insert the entire model and select a scene,
2. copy and paste that window in Layout to create other windows on the same sheet/next sheet, etc?
3. Then in each window, right click Scenes/select scene?
4. Then adjust using right click/ Edit 3D view?

An alternative to this perhaps is to create a sheet for each building, then Insert that component building. This however would preclude having adjacent buildings for context (I think) in each view/scene.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

[DanRathbun]

Easiest is to use a simple extension by the SketchUp team:

http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/create-layout-file

• Note: That this extension has yet to be compiled with the new Ruby 2.2 libraries, so it cannot run under v2017 yet. (You can back save the model to v2016, run the export to generate a 2016 layout file, then open it with LayOut 2017.)

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Forum thread for talk, bugs & feature requests:

[Create LayOut File from Scenes] talk, bugs & feature requests

A topic thread to discuss use of, bugs in and feature requests for the SketchUp Team example extension: Create LayOut File from Scenes Extension | SketchUp Extension Warehouse (SketchUp Pro 2016+ Only) This sample extension creates one LayOut page for each SketchUp scene. http://assets.sketchup.com/web/ewh/s3fs-public/s3fs-public/Extension1_640x360.png

[3Dfever]

Thanks Dan for your quick reply.

I tried twice to install on SU 2017 Pro but it does show on the Extensions tab in SU.

Since the elevations are quite wide compared to the heights, I do want to have 3 or 4 horizontal shaped windows on each Layout sheet. So, it seems using this extension even in 2016 would still require a lot of moving windows around within Layout.

My main concern in the post is: Do I create an unnecessarily heavy Layout file using the method in the post? Is there a cleaner way?