Thanks, i will continue with Photoshop and PNG Pictures.

@bjanzen said: Adjusting the grid opacity is a regression bug. I just tried it in 2.0 and it worked, but LayOut doesn't respect grid line opacity settings in 2.1. Ouch. Sorry. b Sorry, I didn't tell you before... I did the grid (because the spacing is not really the same between x and y) using LO lines and setting their opacity to 10 (the color is black). I discovered a bug accidently But however, as I wrote in the first post, exporting my work in jpg the resulting images are exactly what I want them to be (and the same as I see in my monitor, that's ok). I was just wondering how PDF has not the same output image as jpg. That was all. BTW many thanks for your helpfull advices!

Thanx a lot Gai, you are so precious!

No problem with several discussions about an issue - it shows there isan issue - so that people will easier find it.

Slightly different. Center Point plugin.

Do you have "Preserve Scale on Resize" checked (it's in the SketchUp Model Inspector's View tab)? I just tried it with the standard views with ortho projection, and when I changed the scale on each scene, it added "(Modified)" in front of each of the scene names, but did NOT change the scaling when I changed geometry and materials. I may not be doing thing exactly the way you are, so here's what I did: I created a simple SketchUp model with 7 scenes, each with Camera->Parallel Projection, and the 7 views you get from Camera->Standard Views. I sent this to layout, and created 7 pages, each with a page matching the name of the view (top, bottom, etc...) and changed the scale to 1/4" = 1' (1:48) on each page. Preserve scale on resize was checked. I then went back to SketchUp and changed a few things (geometry of building, materials, etc...), updated a scene, saved, then back to LayOut and updated the skp model reference. Everything stayed the same for me. More info if you can, because if this is happening, I can see how it would be a pain. b

Since it seems that the windows version of LO doesn't support font kerning, the best way I've found to manage this is to write the text with an image editor and export it as png image with transparent background. Photoshop has a quite good text management and supports well text kerning. If you have to put some text labels in your LO file (i.e. 'elevation north' or 'level 04'), it's good to set up a new Photoshop file with a grid and write down the text for your labels. Don't forget size and scale: i wrote my text @ 300 dpi. Then with the slice tool cut all the labels and export them all at once with the 'save for internet' option in the menu 'file'. Save them as plain png images, since the html code is useless in this case. Now you're ready to import the labels in LO and position them. Your text will look more elegant now! I guess that you can do the some with The Gimp and most of the image editors available.

Just an FYI - we got this file, and could fix one error, but it had two major errors. The second resulted in me having to delete 5 of 20 pages which will have to be recreated. If anyone gets a file that wont open or crash, please send it in via Help->Contact Us and file a bug. If you put your information (and ask if bjanzen can take a look), I'll try to fix. Thanks to pgarch and others for helping us try to track this down. b

Yes, as an example, go to the arrows scrapbook, page Arrows | 3D | Curved. These are really SketchUp models, so you can open them in SketchUp, adjust fog, color, camera angle, etc... then insert in LayOut. b

@ebelg2000 said: Looks like it doesn't work for me either. There are many new technologies in Leopard that just aren't present in Tiger. Why don't you just upgrade to Leopard? I'm sure you can now pick up a (now old) 10.5 system disc for next to nothing. I know it's a drag, but it's like getting developers to still support OS9 or even worse ME or NT2000!

Hi Matt, I remember Andrew (aka "Utiler" here) also compőlaining about this as for him it would be the logical way (double clicking) to unlock a locked layer. Currently you need to go to the Layer dialog in the Tray in LO and unlock the locked layer these blocks are on (there is a small padlock icon next to the layer name). Now you can edit the template - then lock it again to prevent unintentional/incidental editing. (I deleted your duplicate post in the Newbie section, if you don't mind)

There's been a lot of discussion about this, mostly for architectural work, so take a look at http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=15911

Your template also sets tool defaults (font, line start/end style), and you'll notice on our templates that we have different styles to match the style of the template. You should do the same. Create a template, use the label tool to draw a label, modify it to the line style and font/font size, etc... that you want. Then sample it, and draw another label to confirm that the label tool is set to the style you want. Delete labels, and save your template. When you use this template, your label style should come through. You'll see this if you unzip your template, then look at styleManager.xml. The defaults for each tool (text, linear dimension, label tool) and default document styles are set here. b LayOut Crime Scene Forensics Dept.

Well, it doesn't necessarily seem to be so obvious as it doesn't work with thumbnails so once someone tries with them, won't necessarily experiment with the list view.

@jsteacy said: hybrid This is a bug that you can't do anything about, other than change the camera slightly like you have been doing. What version are you using? You can submit a bug and make sure to send in the example that shows the problem.

hello, there's "dim_angle.rb", but it's not beautyful dim_angle.rb

I answered (1) - cut & paste. (2) PDF embedding "just works" on Mac, not available without ghostscript on PC. b

I find printing directly from layout to be a real problem, it never gets it right. I can only imagine that the sheer size of my layout files are way too much for my printers. I've had up to 50 meg files and I just don't have the memory in the printer to handle that. I always export to pdf then print but even then, there are some problems which, thankfully can usually be solved. My models are always in hybrid mode which tends to make huge pdfs, like 50+ megs big ( which could explain why the printer can't handle that) BUT to fix this, inside adobe acrobat you can reduce the file size which reduces the pdf so much it boggles my mind. I've had a file go from 74 megs to 5 megs. I don't know what it's doing but it works and I don't lose quality of the file. BUT the problem is that sometimes after all of that the print still doesn't work, it prints one of the images and no lines or 4 out of 5 pages are fine and one is messed up even though the pdf looks fine. I traced those types of problems to missing reference files or ones that need updates, so see if your references are correct. Other than that I'm not sure. jsteacy

Well the weird thing is that if I make some changes to the model, save it then update the model in layout sometimes it renders it properly without me ever touching the style settings or the material itself. Which happened to be the case for this model I was working on which magically worked after some revisions to the model. I don't get it, it seems to be a bug. Charlie, I noticed that in the left side of the images you posted the transparency of the two pieces of wood are different in the images and I believe worked properly in the first image (Faster) but not in the second (medium). Also I just noticed, at what appears to be a bottom rail of a railing, when it hits that column it is rendered really transparent in the third image which does not seem proper to me (and is a lot more than the first image). I could be wrong though. There is definitely something wrong with looking through 2 transparent materials. jsteacy

@jorgensen said: hi jhauswirth I created the scenes inside SU. Select the model in LayOut and look in the SU dialog's Styles' tab. Do you see a style called "Modified Active Style" or a style with (Modified) in front of it? (probably the one that's selected)