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Setting up a scale of 1:20

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  • F Offline
    franznad
    last edited by 25 Feb 2008, 16:52

    How can I set up a scale of 1:20. Also eg. Can I draw a line of a specific
    length, say 8cms which I know will print out at 8cms.
    I'm afraid the tutorial on 'scale' is gobbledegook to me and is no help. 😕
    Franznad

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    • A Offline
      Alan Fraser
      last edited by 25 Feb 2008, 16:59

      You can't draw in SketchUp at any scale other than 1:1. At least not without mental arithmetic at every stage.
      You only apply scale to 2D exports.
      To draw a line of any length, you simply start to draw it, type the value required and hit Enter.

      3D Figures
      Were you required to walk 500 miles? Were you advised to walk 500 more?
      You could be entitled to compensation. Call the Pro Claimers now!

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      • R Offline
        remus
        last edited by 25 Feb 2008, 17:53

        I suppose you could do a sort of scale by drawing the entire model 1:1, then when youve finished use the scale tool to shrink the whole model. Not really sure why youd want to though, would be a lot of work for no obvious gain.

        http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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        • J Offline
          Jean Lemire
          last edited by 25 Feb 2008, 19:50

          Hi folks.

          If you want to print a 8 cm line as 8 cm on paper, you use a 1:1 scale.

          If you want a 1:20 printing scale, your real life 8 cm lines will prints as 4 mm on paper.

          Draw the line in real size (8 cm).

          Select any of the standard view.

          Disable perspective.

          Now, in the Print Dialog box, you will be able to specify the scale used for printing. For example that 1 cm in model is 1 cm on paper (1:1 scale) or 20 cm in model is 1 cm on paper (1:20 scale) etc.

          As for scaling when drawing, it may be required when modeling very small objects. For that I simply set my units to meters and pretend that they are millimeters. For exaple, I need to draw a line of 2 mm. I enter 2 in the VCB. SU will interpret this as 2 meters (2000 mm). After my model is completed, I simply scale the model down with the Scale Tool by a factor of 0.001. Since SU will not accept this number, I do it in two steps using 0.1 then 0.01 or the reverse.

          Read the help about printing, more specially, the Printing to Scale chapter.

          Just ideas.

          Jean (Johnny) Lemire from Repentigny, Quebec, Canada.

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          • F Offline
            franznad
            last edited by 10 Mar 2008, 17:53

            Jean Lemere
            As I am new to Sketchup, could you please elaborate on your instructions regarding drawing an 8cms line.
            You say draw the line in real size 8cms. By that do you mean measuring 8cms on the screen?

            Disable perspective, not sure how you do that.

            All boxes in Print Preview and Print are greyed out in my Print Dialog Box. How do you get them working?
            You suggest reading information in Help on 'printing' and 'printing to scale'. I checked in the ON Line Search and nothing came up under these two titles. I've also checcked the pdf document on Sketchup and the tutorials but can't seem to find anything relevant to sort this print problem out.

            franznad

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            • R Offline
              remus
              last edited by 10 Mar 2008, 18:00

              I cna help you with a few points, but i dont know a lot about printing, sorry.

              1)when jean says draw an 8cm line, he measn 8cm in SU. To do this youd click the start point for the line, get it going in the right direction and then type 8cm (or the equivalent unit) into the VCB.

              2)to disble persepective, go camera->parallel projection.

              1. http://sketchup.google.com/gsu5vtviewer.html#id=13 thats the link to the SU video tutorial on printing.

              good luck!

              http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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              • C Offline
                CWatters
                last edited by 10 Mar 2008, 20:40

                Turorial here...
                http://www.liv.ac.uk/abe/students/sketchup/05b_output.shtml

                I found this works fine for printing something like elevations of a building at 50:1 but had problems printing a drawing of a 1 inch square at 1:1.

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                • F Offline
                  franznad
                  last edited by 10 Mar 2008, 23:19

                  Remus
                  I am sorry I can't seem to get your instructions. I start to draw the line and a figure appears in the VCB say 350cms. I stop, clear the VCB and enter 8cms. I am not sure what this acheiving, because if I use the tape measure to measure it, it is 350cms.
                  franznad

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                  • R Offline
                    remus
                    last edited by 10 Mar 2008, 23:50

                    ok, heres the exact sequence of mouse clicks and key presses, this should work ❗

                    1)Clcik to set start point
                    2)get the line going in the right direction
                    3)type in '8' cm
                    4)press enter

                    http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                    • GaieusG Offline
                      Gaieus
                      last edited by 11 Mar 2008, 05:59

                      Franznad,

                      You shouldn't click into the VCB and clear anything - just type. If your VCB is showing 350cm when you start drawing, you are zoomed out quite a lot for a 8 cm long line and when you hit Enter, you may see almost nothing buut if you zoom in, you will see your tiny line.

                      Gai...

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                      • C Offline
                        CWatters
                        last edited by 11 Mar 2008, 23:21

                        What Remus said...

                        To draw a rectangle 8 foot by 6 foot..

                        1)Click where you want a corner.
                        2)Move pointer to roughly the right direction as if drawing normally but do not click mouse.
                        3)Type "6',8'" (without double quotes) and press enter
                        4)Rectangle will be completed.

                        No need for other mouse clicks. No need to click in the VCB as typing 6',8' will automatically overtype whatever is in there. Note you can mix your units. For example you can type 6.5' to "mean six and a half feet" or you can type 6'6". If you are working in metric it does the conversion for you as well.

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                        • F Offline
                          franznad
                          last edited by 18 Mar 2008, 16:45

                          @cwatters said:

                          Turorial here...
                          http://www.liv.ac.uk/abe/students/sketchup/05b_output.shtml

                          I found this works fine for printing something like elevations of a building at 50:1 but had problems printing a drawing of a 1 inch square at 1:1.

                          boxes

                          CWatters
                          I don't seem to be having much luck with Sketchup. All the boxes in PRINT PREVIEW are greyed out apart from PRINTER NAME and PRINT QUALITY. I have checked out all relevant tutorials on printing but can't see what I am doing wrong. Perhaps I should invest in a book on Sketchup. How about 3D Construction Modeling by Dennis Fukai. It's based on
                          Sketchup 4. How relvant would it be to me using SU 6. The other books on SU seem to be hugely expensive.

                          Franznad

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                          • P Offline
                            pmiller
                            last edited by 18 Mar 2008, 17:41

                            SketchUp for Dummies by Aidan Chopra is only $16.99 on Amazon. Start with that.

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                            • K Offline
                              Kenny
                              last edited by 18 Mar 2008, 20:18

                              To avoid the boxes being greyed out ensure you have on one of the pre-defined views obtained with the little 'house' icons at the top of the page. You would use the top view for a plan view for example. Secondly on the menu along the top ensure you click 'camera'then 'parallel projection'. You can't print to scale in perspective. It should work for you now.

                              Kenny

                              http://www.townscapesolutions.co.uk/

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