@utiler said:

Just revisiting this thread; when converting colours to vector and exploding down to base elements, any colours with opacity levels altered will come in as full colour.

You could then just reapply the opacity level, though I'd be inclined to change the mode of the colour editor and add white.

Just a wild guess.......perhaps LO is trying to regenerate a (heavy/complex) model on said page......maybe you could temporarily unlink the model(s) specific to that page in your LO file.

If that allows access to that page (after unlink) than............bobs your uncle.

Charlie

Richard should probably tune in here! There are a ton of DWG tree files of this type all over the internet. Download > drag into SU > compile > drag SU file to LayOut page > vector > explode > ungroup > you may need to run the join tool around > set outline and fill > save as scrapbook.

Be mindful you can have some really heavy geome'tree 😄 in Layout as a result!

The beauty is that you have both, a nice set of trees that match for use in both SU and LO.

@bmike said:

That looks great...

Couldn't you create the drop shadows in LO? Copy all the arrows to the side, shift them all, then force them behind the arrows, shade in a transparent color? Or use layers?

I know that they aren't as pretty and fuzzy, but with layers its pretty easy.

[attachment=0:1d7spjwp]<!-- ia0 -->Screen Shot 2017-03-23 at 3.44.08 PM.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:1d7spjwp]

For sure mate, I tried this in the past with floor plans - though the hard shadow is a bit harsh, plus it doesn't represent so well as the shadow cant be set as multiply like you can in photoshop or indesign. So in the end it all ends up a bit flat!

My "Layers" Trey/Panel is always missing. My workaround is to maximize window - green button top left of screen - and then the Trey/Panel appears. I then resize the screen again. I have to do this every time I open the file.

Managing section cut widths isn't such a terrible thing, setting them up is quite easy, after that just a case of picking the right material, I use the "by layer" method, it is a little easier to manage IMO.

that works. 😄

Those videos are pretty useful, but not quite what I was looking for.

I would like to be able to export auto-text FROM layout to automatically update in an excel spreadsheet. This is the auto-text which is accessible under document setup.

LOL

I usually find that the scale of text and other graphic elements usually relevant for a D size drawing is not going to work for 11x17 or smaller presentation.

I also usually find that things are so different by the time I get from small format presentations to the working drawings this is a moot point. Dimensions needed for preliminary presentations are minimal in my approach, and may not even be the same information as wanted as for working drawings (overall height of the building vs. framing heights etc.). What I keep trying to do is create stationary that can be used on new SU models. So ideally a small scale and a large scale stationary will be available, Just reference the new project model.. adjust the model references to the size of the new building etc. Titles are ready, etc. and time is saved this way instead of blowing things up and down.

A lot of Sketchup (and Layout) is limited to a single core speed, even the 64 bit versions.

A 12 core computer is amazing for rendering with external plugins, but a higher clocked dual or quad core computer will probably get you a lot better performance modelling and producing documents in Layout.

@zain01 said:

it won't copy and paste or rather paste.

What are you copying from to paste in LO?

Thanks Baz,
As far as Sketchup are concerned it is a known bug - I just got this email from Yogesh in the Sketchup team:

*Hi Sam,

Thanks for your note.

We have two other post with the same issue
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/layout-scenes-and-scale-nightmare/34813
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/sketchup-2017-scenes-not-working-as-expected-in-layout/34210

And as mentioned by Marc in https://forums.sketchup.com/t/sketchup-2017-scenes-not-working-as-expected-in-layout/34210/11 we are working on a fix. Please check the release notes for the future maintenance releases of 2017 for official word that it's been fixed and also subscribe to the about forum posts for any further updates .

Please reply to this email if you need further assistance with this specific issue.

Regards,
Yogesh
The SketchUp Team at Trimble Inc.*

Marc's (from Sketchup) post said the following:

This is a bug related to the graphics refactor. It will affect scenes that don't save one or more of these settings: camera, shadow, axes. We've got a fix in progress!

I've been advised by DaveR and Sonder that scenes should be used for every viewport which I'm looking into and testing on some current projects - thanks again for your advice on the other thread DaveR and Sonder. Sonder - I bought your book too. Some great templates, resources and tips in there and some new working methods for me to test out - thank you.

Kaas,
I took a look at the output from Revit and it was the same - good lines but jagged text. As per your suggestion I took a look at Adobe Reader and indeed there is a setting for "Smooth Text". Voila, text looks good. Problem solved. Thanks for your help.
KrisM

Try exploding the image, it may be part of a block in the DWG file.
There is also a Texttofront command.

You would need to link the particular auto text string to a specific model instance... I often have 2-3 model instances / views on 1 page, sometimes at different scales, sometimes in perspective with no scale.

What I do is have custom auto text created that is setup for my typical scales - <s0>, <s1>, <s2>, etc. - then I just type or copy past this in my notations as required.... s0 is NTS, s1 is 1/4" - 1', etc. etc.

Happy to help. I guess if you're used to moving the extension line offsets together it can be a surprise but I think the benefits of the way dimensions work now outweigh the downside of being able to adjust them individually and maintain the association to the SketchUp model.

I assume you are referring to the SketchUp model in a viewport. You can set the model to not be scaled when you change the size of the viewport and then drag the edges of the viewport which will effectively be the same as panning. The best thing to do is change the camera position in SketchUp, update the scene and update the reference.

It is possible to double click in the viewport and pan the model but it generally is a bad idea to do so. It disconnects the viewport from the scene in SketchUp.