Best practice when working on huge models
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Any pro-tips on working with huge models without slowing SketchUp down? (e.g model og small village with surrounding countryside)
Obviously, putting detailed objects or distant terrain on layers which can be switched off.
Anything else? Any plugins that help? -
Don't display materials while you are working. Use Monochrome face style so you can keep track and fix reversed faces as they occur.
Use components and if you have complex ones, consider making proxies that you can use to stand in for the complex ones while you are working. If you make them so their axes and origins are in the same relative locations, you can easily swap out the proxies for the complex ones from the Components window when you are ready.
Resist the urge to create excessive detail. Things that won't show up close don't need high levels of detail. Don't include geometry for invisible stuff, either. If you aren't going to show the bottoms or backs of elements in the model don't include them.
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... also consider a well thought-out layer structure which allows you to work on smaller parts of the entire model, using the scene visibility control. Also, if you have the intention to render, it makes sense to hide geometry, which is not necessary for the current camera scene.
From a certain model size, it can be useful to edit a building for example in a separate SKP file, to bring it back in place into the large model with copy - paste in place.
If you don't use a tool like Skatter, wait with the placement of 3D plants
and it doesn't hurt to save enough backups of the model - so you can return to a previous model version if something goes wrong ... -
Sometimes I like to work on components in a separate file using "Save as" and "Reload" in the contextual menu (for example a whole building as part of whole site). Partly to speed work but also to more easily isolate while working on that portion. Sometimes this also helps work because the axis of the component is the model axis in the sub-file.
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