Layout and Dimensioning

dammerel · 9 Jul 2008, 04:51

Hi All
I have been playing with layout a bit..you know if I could dimension in layout It would be nice !

Andrew

Gaieus · 9 Jul 2008, 08:14

Yes it could - the problem is that you cannot snap to the model's geometry there.

dammerel · 9 Jul 2008, 09:09

Hi Gaieus
I do small to meduium mechanical designs, i have been using inventor for years
In sketchup or layout is it possible to have a detail (ssay a baseframe) to shown hidden lines, what i mean is if something is behind a object than it is drawn as a dashed line - remember your tech drawing days! - i love sketchup quick and easy.also if I export to autocad the solprof/soldraw command will not work because the model is NOT a solid. i'm just looking for a workflow..BTW i'm in australia

Andrew

Gaieus · 9 Jul 2008, 09:23

Hi Andrew,

The fact is that LO can show whatever display dtyle you choose in SU. No more but all that are available in SU. You just simply "export" your model to LO where you can also orbit, pan what not as in SU.

If you use a bit of transparency on simple, white faces I can imagine that lines "behind" a bit faded but the lines are native SU lines.

There is a ruby at Smustard's that fakes dashed lines for you in your model however. This line display can be exported to LO just like any other style.

also, you can export dimensions from SU and they can also be printed (although admittedly there are still some quality issues with this as LO is still a beta program).

dammerel · 9 Jul 2008, 09:48

Gaieus, have you used this script? The description said to select the lines you want to change -how would you do this ? andrew

Gaieus · 9 Jul 2008, 09:52

No, I haven't (I'm not an architect after all and need not do these kinds of drawings) but as far as I know, the script divides the lines into segments and hides avery other segment. Therefore you have to select the lines you want to turn dashed first.

Obviously in your case - when you want to display different views and turn the lines that are behind the current, topmost surface, you should use the script differently on each view (which may turn your workflow quite slow I'm afraid).

Dave R · 31 Aug 2008, 20:44

Dammerel, the dashed line script runs in SketchUp, not in LO. To create dashed lines you'll need to do it in SketchUp.

I have found that dimensions and screen/leader text is difficult to read once the model is imported into LO. I replace or cover the SU dimensions and text with text boxes in LO. This seems to work pretty well for me.