How to break down the file
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I have a model with 9 floors of continuous plumbing pipes and mechanical ducts.
What's the quickest way to break it down so they are divided into 9 different floors? -
Be careful however. First of all, separate your geometry into groups and only put those on different layers.
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Layers are what you want. You can make each floor a layer and turn any number of them on or off in any arrangement. Take a look at this SketchUp article. You can also search for some good layers tutorials. I believe this one by Aidan Chopra talks a bit about layers.
Used correctly, layers will save your life.
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What about if I have a pipe that goes continuously from G/F all the way to the top floor? How can I separate it into different layer? Do I have to physically "break" it?
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Yes. You should use some simple, flat faces (rectangles will do) but preferably grouped. Position it where you want to separate the pipe and select the pipe > Intersect... with model. Now double clicking on the cylinder face should allow you to easily group what's separated.
(Hopefully the pipes do not go through al geometry which would make this a pain to do.)
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On the assumption that each floor, except ground and top, are essentially the same, make 1 common floor with each common element (risers, pipes, the floor, exterior walls, etc.) as separate components. Define layers for each floor, and each common element, either by floor, or all on all floors. BUT make absolutely sure you create ALL your geometry on LAYER 0.
Example follows;
01 Ground Floor
02 2nd floor
.......
09 9th floor
10 Floors
11 Piping
12 Ext. Walls
13 Int. Walls
.....
etc.Note that prefixing each layer numerically keeps them in a specific order, compared to an alphabetical sort.
Now being careful, assign these layers to the parts, a single component for the pipes (walls, etc) is assigned to layer "10 Pipes" etc.
Then all the components that make up a single common floor are grouped and that whole group replicated up for the other floors. Assign each floor group to its appropriate floor, i.e. "02 2nd floor".
This makes it easy to see just what you want.
To see everything, turn ON all layers.
To see just the 3rd floor and everything in it, turn ON only "03 3rd floor" and all of the walls, pipes and other stuff layers.
To see only the pipes on all floors, turn ON only "11 Piping" and all the floor layers.
To see only the pipes on the 5th floor, turn ON only "10 piping" and "05 5th floor".This way you can be very selective as to what you want to see. The floor to floor risers do not need to be a single pice, but will seem that way when viewed together.
You can then make alterations to each floor, by adding grouped geometry around existing components, and assigning a unique layer, or making a specific floors component unique and altering that component. In the same fashion, you can create multiple layouts for each floor, each layout being grouped and assigned a specific layer.
I do this with all my models, as it gives great latitude to the visibility of the elements. If you are working on something, you turn on only what other elements/layers you need as reference.
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Thanks for the suggestions, but I still don't quite understand how this actually works.
The tricky thing is that I will be receiving this type of file in a weekly basis. So it got to be something easy and fast to break it down repeatly in the same manner. I know how to do this in FormZ pretty easily. I still don't quite understand how it works in SketchUp. See the attached file. Or if somebody can do a little quick Jing presentation that would be great, thanks.
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Let me ask you another question. Why do you want to break the model down. Is it just for the purposes of viewing the model isolated one floor at a time, or do you need to physically have a separate file for each floor that you need then then make changes to.
If it is just a viewing issue then I would use section cuts. If you make a to level section cut you can cut for example at the top of the third floor. If you also want to cut at the bottom of the third floor (or top of second floor at the same time) then you can put everything at the top level into a group, now enter that group and make your second section cut. Now you can save that as a scene and do the same thing for all of your floors. When you get an updated model next week you can drop it right in place of this (very easy if you make your model a component, then you can reload from another file). You won't have to re-create the section cuts or scenes every week, ready to view as soon as you bring in your new model.
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