As always, much appreciated Dave. Thanks

did you have an solution?

It depends on what the details are and how you need to show them in LayOut. It might be easier to model them in SketchUp and create scenes to use for viewports in LayOut. After you've set up the viewports (making sure you do not modify the Camera properties) you could save as a scrapbook so those viewports are available to drag in to your CDs when needed. For 2D symbols and such, it would probably be better to draw those in LayOut as Scaled Drawings than to draw them in SketchUp. Make sure you group the elements of each symbol so they behave as a single object. I would suggest that you make sure you keep your SketchUp detail model files as lightweight as possible. When you add one of those viewports from the Scrapbook to your CD you are adding the SketchUp file as a reference which can bloat your LayOut file and possibly cause performance issues depending on your hardware. You can see that if you add one of the supplied 3D arrow objects from the Scrapbook. [image: 1736695645811-screenshot-1_12_2025-9_26_13-am.png] Another option that may help with file management is to create details in SketchUp and then after rendering the viewports in LayOut as Vector or Hybrid, exploding them so they become LayOut drawing objects instead of SketchUp viewports. This would reduce their overhead in your CDs because they no longer carry the entire SketchUp model. Different options depending on what you need exactly.

@Aartrace1 you have overridden the Camera property for the viewport which tells LayOut you aren't interested in the Camera property from the scene in the SketchUp Model. Note the Reset buttons and the dark gray background in the Camera section of the SketchUp Model panel. [image: 1734539328737-screenshot-12_18_2024-10_26_41-am.png] When you copy a viewport that has had scene proprties overridden the overrides get copied, too. Best practice is to avoid overriding the Camera properties in LayOut. There should be no reason to double click into a viewport to pan the camera and no need to manually select a Standard view or manually tick the Ortho box.

@agifford87 What version of SketchUp/LayOut are you using? If 2023 or 2024, make sure you untick the Output Override box in LayOut's Document Setup>Rendering. When that box is ticked, LayOut will render raster viewports as Hybrid or Vector depending on which option is selected. Both Hybrid and Vector rendering result in Vector linework. To show the sketchy line style the viewports must remain Raster rendered. Example: Same scene with a sketchy line style. [image: 1728392315588-screenshot-10_8_2024-7_57_26-am.png]

@zulesg You can model wall internals in 3D, and Section will show you the contours of each element's cross section. However, to automatically display them with appropriate hatches is not possible in Sketchup. It's a feature found in BIM software, like Autodesk Revit. Sketchup acts more like 2D CAD application here. That said, you can send the sectioned scene of a model to Layout, and add hatches manually by drawing shapes and choosing pattern for them from Layout Scrapbooks.

@djh Scale doesn't make any sense for Perspective views. That's why it is only available for Parallel Projection. Create scenes that show the model the way you want to see it in LayOut. When you insert the SketchUp file into LayOut, the boundary of the first viewport is determined by the size of the paper. It's unlikely that the aspect ratio of your paper matches the aspect ratio of the SketchUp model window. If the paper is oriented in Landscape mode, the height of the viewport will be set as a percentage of the height of the paper. The width of the viewport will probably get cropped a bit. That depends on the aspect ratios. If you only want a single viewport on a page, set up the scene so the model is well within the resulting viewport. You can use the Advanced Camera tools to show the safe area in the SketchUp model window. Figure out the aspect ratio of the paper you are using and either select a camera with the same ratio or create a custom camera to do that.

@Sekta said in Size to fit Text Shortcut: I tried the unbounded text, it behaves the same. Are you saying Make Unbounded works for your needs?

@Dave-R Thanks for the reply anyway.

@kzrdvd also note that the viewports must be rendered as Raster in LayOut. Hidden Geometry will not be displayed in Vector or Hybrid. Do you really want to show all the hidden geometry in the model or are you wanting to show hidden features as I have on the left in this image? [image: 1721742120526-screenshot-7_23_2024-8_40_39-am.png] This requires a different method if this is what you want.

@utiler Please rate our automatic layout export features https://youtu.be/RZZHyFv9fE4?si=s3FTAur6YxQcu7Ql

@chaours1 Do you have any idea on the slowness of changing scale on layout (in my case several long minutes at least 5...)? Version Computer OS etc It should not take that long... Version Système d'exploitation de l'ordinateur etc. Cela ne devrait pas prendre si longtemps...

@Dave-R Got it! Thanks Dave...it did seem like overkill to lock both the viewport and the layers, but it seemed like one of my viewports was shifting (even though camera positions weren't changed) and I thought maybe I had been double-clicking into the viewport(s) w/o realizing it. Still not sure what I did, but it seems to be working now.

@TIG Thanks for your collective wisdom folks, your efforts are appreciated.

@Dave-R Yes, I avoid modifying the camera in LO. At least I have a better understanding of this glitch now and can compensate for it. I also need to be more concise with my models and make better use of tags and visibility. I'm also fortunate enough to have Studio here with the massive power of Vray 6, which is a great incentive to be more organised with it's render layer capabilities.

yes, the reference-to needs the target drawing# and page identifier (name or #) to be entered manually. i usually create one first then copy and edit as needed. the target page, you have options for auto-numbering

I have the same work flow for years and never have an issue, sketchup files, excel, layout files all in a local onedrive folder. No corruptions but I do have to close excel to update the data in layout and have gotten used to working that way. My guess, as I'm no IT guy, is how onedrive handle excels autosave feature where everything you do is saved immediately meaning the file is always being held by onedrive and layout doesn't like it. I've always wondered if turning autosave off would fix it. Or, because the feature exists, means layout can't never get full access to the data (because onedrive and excel are always connected) thus it's a Microsoft problem, not a layout problem. and potentially why most people are scared of corruption.

Look at this set of links in the SketchUp forum. I think you should find the answer you need there.