Dimensioning Specific Parts of Model
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Hey guys,
First of all I just want to say I am blown away by the community here. I have been playing pretty with SU seriously for about a year now and just recently found this great community.
I have two questions pertaining to LayOut:
1.) I have not found a way to effectively dimension models for shop drawings through LayOut. If I want to dimension an entire model, it ends up getting very unorganized and messy in a hurry with all of the dimension strands. Ideally I would like to have four different views, each having dimensions pertaining to that particular view. Is there a way to toggle on and off dimensions for use in different views of the same model? I would like to execute it such that if I go back into the model and need to make a change to the model, that the dimension strands in LayOut will be in sync.
2.) While drafting woodworking projects I would like to have a sheet in LayOut for each piece of the model. This way I can make a cut list and can dimension each piece individually and make notes etc. If I do not break the model down in LayOut it is very difficult to print all of the dimensions and see how the joints work together. Each of the pieces are their own component.
Glad to see others out there who love to play in SketchUp!
Happy New Year and thank you for your help!
-Adam
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Hi Adam,
Let's see...
- Unfortunately, the answer (currently) is that there are no dimensioning tools in LO. You have to do all your dimensioning job in SU and send the model to LO like that.
- The way is to create scenes in SU with the respective parts visible on them (you can control their visibility by using layers in the respective scenes) then export the model to LO where you can flip between these scenes (either with dimensions on or off).
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The way you solve 1. is similar to how you solve 2.
You put dimensions that you want on each view on their own layer. Then for the scene that you are going to use them on set layer visibility to show the correct dimension set.
You can create a dummy scene that does nothing but change layers, and then use second scene to control camera view, shadows etc. In layout I can chose one of these, and then choose the other one. They work with each other so long as one doesn't over-ride the other. For example the scene with your camera view also has layer settings saved.
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This method of using scenes works as an effective way to workaround the lack of dimensioning in SketchUp. That is really interesting why they did not include this in LayOut; seems that dimensioning should be a cornerstone of presentation and print software. The idea of using a dummy scene is a great idea, thank you for the tip.
Thanks for the help guys!
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We use 1 layer for dimensioning in SketchUp. Parallel projected views for plan and all elevations. For each view incorporate all of the dimensions you want...then in 'window-model-dimensions' choose 'select all dimensions', close the dialog box and 'group' the hi-lited dimensions. Open Outliner, name the group something logical, then after export, hide the newly formed group and move on to the next view...repeat. We usually group all of the dimension groups pertaining to 1 object after all dimensioning is complete. We used to use layers....good luck with that if you try it.
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