Dotted lines

pbacot

Well, if you're doing drawings like that..!

But are there "removed wall" lines?

mal

Hi Guys, thanks so much for the response. Im blown away actually.

Dave R... thats a great idea with the two separate scenes. Very simple and effective. Thanks for the LO tips too, I get a bit Lost in LO, like entering the Twilight Zone.

ArCad... the mask tip looks like a very handy technique, Thanks for that. Im sure I will use it often. (I use a lot of "white-out" in my office... A lot!)

Pbacot..thanks for the example and the layout tips. Thats fabulous. And I think you're right about the amendments issue, anything that eases the dreaded and inevitable has gotta be good.

Sonder... Wow! The shadowing and materials certainly gives the drawings a lift when compared to line work. Maybe if I "fog up" the walls to be demolished, give them that ghosty look, it could be quite funky. Somehow I dont think I'll be cranking out a plan like yours this afternoon but its definitely food for thought. Cheers

Thanks again for the tips people. MUCH appreciated

Mal

mark151

Does anyone own a dashed line style (made with style builder)?

Dave R

That's an interesting idea. I just made a quickie to see what it looks like but it isn't good enough to be used for the sort of application the OP was thinking about.

I guess one could be made. I'd still just do it in LayOut and have better control over the line appearance.

mark151

I did a quick style builder too, just to see how it looks like.
Yes, it is not the best result, but could be used with drawings that will change.

I attach it, just in case someone could find it useful.

Linea tratteggiata.style

pbacot

@dave r said:

That's an interesting idea. I just made a quickie to see what it looks like but it isn't good enough to be used for the sort of application the OP was thinking about.

I'd still just do it in LayOut and have better control over the line appearance.

Thanks Dave for trying that out in SB. But just doing it in LO... you mean tracing over every line you want dotted? This would fly in the face of CAD advances in saving time (+ tedium + error), and the interaction of the output to the model (which would seem to be the point of LO). For that matter one can export to a CAD program and have it done in a few clicks.

In the style tab of LO "SU Model" window, there's a little box for setting line weight. Should be another little menu there for color and dash.

Dave R

Peter, I didn't mean tracing all the lines. I'd still just do it the way I described before. It's pretty quick and yes, you'd lose the direct connection to SU for that part of the LO document but replacing it wouldn't be hard either.

There is a dashed line plugin available from Smustard. It works but creates some issues in some cases because it divides a line into shorter segments and hides every other line segment.

It would be nice to be able to draw with dashed lines in SketchUp especially for only some lines.

pbacot

OK then.

mal

@dave r said:

In LO, I would create two, overlapping view ports one for each of those scenes. I would render as vector or and then explode the one showing the demolition. After that, the lines can be turned into dashed/dotted lines using the Shape inspector box.

Hi Dave, thanks so much for your suggestions on the Dave Method. Ive been trying to put it into action and managed the easy bits in SU but Im struggling a bit with everything that came after "in LO". Drawing new dotted lines in LO seems easy enough but I wonder if you could elaborate a bit on your comment. What I would like to know is: How do I render as vector? And how do I explode and change the lines to dashed? I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure it out and the only thing that exploded was my tiny mind lol.

It seems quite an interesting method, and any suggestions you have would be much appreciated

Mal

Dave R

Mal, let's see if this helps.

With a SketchUp viewport selected, click on the button in the SketchUp Model inspector labeled "Raster" and choose "Vector".

After rendering as Vector, right click on the viewport and choose Explode. Note: it will no longer be tied to the SketchUp model.

After exploding the viewport, the lines themselves will be highlighted. In the Shape Style inspector, choose the desired dashed line style, set the thickness and dash scale as desired.

Finished.

mal

Dave!!

That is amazing, and so easy! Thanks for the seamless instructions. Just what I needed.

Much appreciated!

Mal

mal

By the way, I had a go at the Sonder Method, thanks Nick , and it was just a breeze. Just push pull and poche, and thats it. The jobs done. Maybe if Im going to use SU, I should use its strongest attribute (3D graphics), rather than trying to bang it into shape to suit my old technique.

I did the door swings in layout using the arc tool but they turned out like potato wedges... Any tips on avoiding that?

Cheers

Mal

pbacot

Mal,
Thanks for asking the right questions. I think the Dave and Sonder "methods" should be codified. I'm going to have to review them as well.

I think the potato wedges come from the arc objects having a white fill. Remove the fill by toggle /clicking the "Fill" button in the Shape Style window (at least that's how it works on Mac--when I see the Windows screenshots it looks so different to me I'm not sure).

Peter

emerald15

@dave r said:

explode the one showing the demolition. After that, the lines can be turned into dashed/dotted lines using the Shape inspector box.

Ahhh! I didn't know LO could do that! Thanks!

mal

Thanks Peter pbacot, the wedges are gone. I even have some dotted arcs showing doors to be removed.. Happy Days

Mal

Edson

@mal said:

I did the door swings in layout using the arc tool but they turned out like potato wedges... Any tips on avoiding that?

Cheers

Mal

of course, you can do it later in LO but then you would have to it once for each door. my own way of doing this is: when I model a door component in SU I always create a hidden layer named 2D and place the door swing there. when saving a scene that shows a plan for exporting to LO I switch it on and save. thus you do it only once for each door. that is it.

mal

Thanks for the tip Edson. Sounds like a good plan. Cheers

ccaponigro

Here is another idea. I draw lines in the model and use xline from smusterd.com to change them into guide lines which are dashed. Its crude but at least you can coordinate them right on your model. So if you’re not to persnickety about line type it works and you can place them on layers or hide then as you see fit.

sketchup model