Thanks! I'll try that.

Sure you can do that but in this cas you could also insert a semi transparent png image overlay into any LO page as well. Certainly a built-in watermark solution (just like in SU) would be the ideal, ultimate solution.

Hi Max,

In the Windows version at least, you can simply drag the tray by its header (Where it says "Default Tray") and undock it. Then you can drag it around the screen independent from the main working window.

To restore it, go to View > Restore default workspace.

Hi Semih,

The only paper it could fit in 1:100 is an A1 size which is 594 x 840 mm. You will need to find a plotter to be able to print it. I also exported it to a pdf file but cannot attach since it's more than 15 Mb (high quality).

Component_12.layout

We use 1 layer for dimensioning in SketchUp. Parallel projected views for plan and all elevations. For each view incorporate all of the dimensions you want...then in 'window-model-dimensions' choose 'select all dimensions', close the dialog box and 'group' the hi-lited dimensions. Open Outliner, name the group something logical, then after export, hide the newly formed group and move on to the next view...repeat. We usually group all of the dimension groups pertaining to 1 object after all dimensioning is complete. We used to use layers....good luck with that if you try it.

George, As I don't use LO at all, I had not thought in depth about file transfers to it. I can however, understand your frustration with trying to use LO as the primary means to assemble and create graphic documents. I speculate that Dxf2Su doesn't support anything that SU itself doesn't require as surface modeler, like line weights and fonts. Wounder is it's manageable for SU and LO support different Dxf compatibilities.

In the file attached you can find both bugs:

Some text disappear when rerendered in raster mode Some lines of the section slice are not with their proper lineweight

bugfile.layout

Gaieus is correct, but could be a work around. If your A4 pages, and then want some A2 pages, you can change your layout for the new pages and work on your layout. The border around the A4 pages will also now be A2 but it doesn't mess with anything you have drawn.

So waht this means is that you will have to toggle your layout back and forth when you want to correctly print either the A4 or the A2 pages; but for editing and page layout they will happily exist in the same document.

Best workflow if they really need to be in the same document would probably be to just setup to the larger page size, and then have a mask saved in Photoshop to batch crop the smaller sized sheets. May also want to ask why they ahve to be in the same document. You can also do single document to lay everything out and then split into two docuemnts (ok, make a duplicate copy of file and deleate the A2 pages from that file and the A4 pages on the other copy of the file)

If you save to PDF your Layout generated objects and text should remain vectors, as well as any SketchUp viewports that are set to vector or hybrid.

If you open this up in program like Adobe Illustrator you can do a lot of manipulation of the linework. You can even open in Illustrator and export back to dwg file at correct scale.

Back to the symbols question,
I seek electrical symbols, architectural symbols, etc.
I have searched in LayOut, that is limited.
Any one with a learned perspective or experienced insight?
thanks
red

Hi Rogue and welcome!

The style (weight, colour etc.) of very single line can be changed in your LO documents from the Shape styles dialog (you will need to preselect what you want to change).

Also the styles of the SU drawing can be altered once you explode your model in vector or hybrid rendering mode but be aware that this will ultimately break the connection with the original SU model (practically it will make a 2D "snapshot" of what you can see in the SU model window).

As for your cylinder, I am not sure what's happening there although have a clue; in SU, go to your style dialog > in model > edit > edge settings and set profiles to 1 pixel (so that curved profiles will also have an outline but not thicker than a "normal" edge).

@daniel said:

Thanks Gaieus. Now I am embarrassed to have missed such an easy item. Can you erase this thread to hide my stupidity?

@unknownuser said:

Daniel, don't feel sorry for your missing this item. I also had to look very closely to find this out.
[...]
That's why I like these forums so much: it is great source of information, also for those who have missed certain details and I myselve are still one of those, even after many years of intensive GSU-use.

Indeed, everyone learns something new here - I'd leave it for others' sake so that they can also learn.
Actually, David, I hadn't known the answer myself either so I just opened LO to see what can be done. I was just lucky to find it. In fact, most time I open LO is just to find answers to questions on the forums; I rarely use it myself (yet - maybe in my next project).

There are no icons/bitmaps for those commands.
While you're adding the new buttons to the toolbar
right click on them and select "Edit Button Image..."

Indeed there are a lot to explore inside that zip file! PNG images of the SU model with transparent background for instance...

Cheers, Gaieus...gotta get my facts straight for this review...

No embedded animations really is pants 😠

Ah... right, cheers!

I vote for cool.

jhauswirth kindly gave me some feedback about my file.

Grey zones were actually caused by a not-so-obvious z-fighting issue. Let me copy and paste jhauswirth's answer:
@unknownuser said:

Its the shadows that are causing the problem.
In SU in the "Shadows Inspector" there's an "On Ground" option. This causes the "On Ground" shadows and shadows from regular faces that are on the same plane as the ground to z-fight. So what you can do is turn off "On Ground" shadows, then right-click on your Scene and select Update so the new shadow setting is saved on the scene.

That works. However, LayOut images still lack antialiasing and I get bad edges. I still have to try out multiple line weight/resolution settings before I'm definitely satisfied with LayOut exported files...

Cheers, Csaba...thought I was going mad...

@crt said:

Yes I did update my scenes...

😕
Yes, and with the scenes you should have updated your styles as well - that's why I asked.