Tracing rectangles on an imported bitmap

SketchUp
1

Greetings Sketchup Mavens.
I am completely new to Sketchup, with a GIS (MapInfo, Arc) Adobe (Illustrator, Photoshop), CAD (AutoCad), and Corel (Draw, Paint) background.

I imported a location snapshot and then imported a PNG bitmap of a site plan onto Layer 0. Now I want to trace the building rectangles shown on the bitmap and extrude them to 3D.

My problem is that when I attempt to draw the rectangles they are obscured by the bitmap. How can I draw my boxes “on top” of the bitmap? I realize that layers do not function with the same visual hierarchy I am accustomed to in CAD, Graphics and GIS applications, but I can’t figure out how to draw on exactly the same “elevation” on the blue axis as the bitmap site plan without the in-process guides you normally see as you draw being obscured and the resulting draw entity being obscured by the bitmap.

I can draw a rectangle and raise it above the bitmap using Move, but I have a whole bunch of boxes to draw and I need to know how to draw them either on exactly the same plane as the siteplan or, say, a millionth of an inch above it.

Can someone please help me with this?

Yours as complete beginner,
David Lanham

2

Can you share the SKP file so we can see what you’re getting?

You should be able to trace over an imported image with no problem. Did you import the PNG as an image or as a texture? One thing I often do when I need to trace an imported image is temporarily set the face style to Wireframe and Profile edges to 3 along with adjusting the color to something that is more easily seen against the PNG.

Screenshot - 12_2_2017 , 2_08_12 PM
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Screenshot - 12_2_2017 , 2_08_40 PM
Screenshot - 12_2_2017 , 2_08_40 PM296×507 16.7 KB

3

?Thanks for this. I’ll give your method a shot in the AM and also send you the .SKP, which is at work, where I will be in the morning. I understand that you might possibly have a life and will appreciate your looking at it when you have the time.

The .PNG was imported as an image.

Thanks again.

DCL

4

File is too big to send via this email thread. Do you do dropbox?

5

Sure. Upload it to Dropbox and share the link.

6

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