I don't think I've ever had a need to import a DXF file into LO so I can't help you with that one.

I'm off to get some coffee as ordered. 😄

@circus said:

Hi Richard,

I like your presentation style. Would agree with above, about line weight of hatches to fade a bit, the post production of the drop shadows sings! I am Keen to know how? Was wondering if the furniture like the dining table need half the shadow you put on the walls? Just for instant readability, floor(hatch) light , furniture next depth then walls?? Just my 2bobs worth. I check your web site weekly, waiting for your book! Clearly as you trawl the web, for sketchup the most talked about issue is the layout and its link to the documentation process. Clearly we have 3d developed with numerous programs, but its the printable documentation side which lags, only because we still use printing media! I am sure as we slowly kick the bucket, that print will disappear, but for now we need it! While there are some good updates with the latest layout, it still hasn't bridged the gap between 3d and the paper printer. Or maybe its me who hasn't bridge the gap, in short, looking forward to your book to help with my own work process of the bridging of sketchup and layout to produce printable communication!

Cheers, P.

Hey thanks mate! I'm hearing you around the shadowed furniture and hatched weight! I've previously used a shadow under the furniture (putting them on the same layer as the "fitout" ie: kitchen benches, vanities, WC etc. However what I've found tends to happen is the room visually gets smaller (more cramped) if the furniture is highlighted this way!

As this particular floor plan is for marketing purposes this visual "enlargement" of the spaces is quite advantageous! Mind you even if presenting the design for a one off client I'd still probably choose a similar treatment to demonstrate how effective the solution is at maximising spaces! I also like that the "included / not included" items are more clearly defined!

Mate I hope i don't disappoint with the book (when I get my finger out) - it is more aimed at demonstration of the use of layout as a design and presentation tool on it's own with NO reliance on SketchUp! I think others are more qualified to cover this aspect. I only elect to work the other way around as I'm a one man show need to work faster, and I prefer much more crisp output!

Yeah, that could solve the problem. Thanks guys!

I updated by latest packages from MS's KB(MS will drop or dropped support of xp soon).
I think something in components from infragistics or maybe in russian os(language dependent)

After crippling LO with large custom hatch pattern files I have spent some time reducing the file size with moderate success, they print well enough but the screen presentation when exported to PDF leaves a lot to be desired until you zoom right in to about 600% ! I may yet return to local vector hatch patching 😞

Thanks Dave, all good again

Yes. It's very good. LayOut has really gained some good stuff. The other thing, though is your Plugins folder can be localized to your user.

I haven't seen this issue yet but can imagine that your client's pdf reader messes up things with pdf layers. Are those layers so important for you? If not, when exporting, you could uncheck this option (create pdf layers from LO layers) and hopefully the problem would auto-solve itself.

@dave r said:

I agree, it would be nice to be able to control line weights independently in the SU viewport although I'm not sure how it would be done without either setting some rules based on distances as you've suggested or something else. Most of the ways I can think of it going would take as much time or more than the ways I deal with it now.

FWIW, you don't have to explode the viewport to be able to adjust line weights. You could do what I outlined above and leave the scenes un-exploded. It's still probably a work around but once you do it a time or two, the process will be quite straightforward and it is workable. You have to be able to think through and set things up in SketchUp so you have different scenes for different line weights.

Maybe the ideal, pie-in-the-sky method would be to be able to select the vector lines in a viewport and modify their weight, style, color, etc. while maintaining the link to dynamic SketchUp.

I imagine something that would use the relative distances but when I try to think of the "rules" such a code would use, it seems impossible that a logic would get what is wanted. I imagine a house treated as a solid sculptural object in a view. Then if a line lay way in front of the next surface it would be heavier etc. This would probably take as long a most renderers if it were possible.

If there were a user applied modification. LO would have to "know" which lines are which for each update- and given that the problem is in changes to the design / model, that also seems unlikely to work.Might be some hope in layers, but for a complex model the layers or groups for objects are not necessarily translatable to 2d stacked LO layers for each view.

Hi, ipsketchpi:
I searched this string: "Sketchup Layout line weight default" and got this:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/sketchup/9OIMwNb6vX4

If the answer you seek is not in there, I was thinking probably you could go find the Layout internal support folder that carries the default lineweight specification and see if you can change it. I would be disinclined to do that for concern that it may have other "repercussions"?.

I usually set all my scenes in SketchUp, then import into a Layout template. I adjust the first viewport to where I want it and from there copy and paste that viewport. I then go through and change the scnenes sheet by sheet. If I set up each view as a zoom extents and keep the scale locked, it seems to work well.

The frame trick and window size tricks are clever though! Will have to give them a go.

@bmike said:

Something I have gotten in the habit of doing is to use the 'Save a Copy As...' option. I keep my 'working' file just the client-project name, and use the 'Save a Copy As...' by adding dates to the name when I feel I need to back up or save due to severe changes or revisions.

A good plugin for this task is TIGs Archiver...

I also wish for something like this.

I would go one further, and have the label tool be a general "attribute label" tool, which shows the value of any chosen component attribute. Any changes in the model will update the label of course!

Unfortunately there's no list of upcoming features - we're not even supposed to hint about them. Believe me, I'd love to reply to request threads like this with more specific information.

Glad it's not so gruesome now. 😄

Thanks... Much appreciated... 👍

👍 👍

@unknownuser said:

which is unsatisfactory

agreed.

thank you so much!