Basic Drawing/Drafting in SU

mhuberlarch

I'm encountering two very basic drafting problems in SU.

When I import a jpeg with my site plan base image, and then draw on top of it, the line doesn't appear on top of the image, but underneath it.
Sometimes I bring in line work already drawn in CAD (as a DWG), however there are times I need to draw/draft on top of a hand drawn site plan. Unlike most examples you see, very rarely do I encounter a plan that is all right angles, with parallel lines. I'm having a lot of trouble just drafting the basic line work before I can extrude the faces.

Any suggestions? I've seen people change the camera to parallel projection/top and draw on top of it. they make it look easy, but when I draw on top....lines don't show up.....and rarely are the lines and shapes perpendicular or parallel.

Thanks!

Dave R

Generally, when I need to draw over an imported image, I temporarily change the edge color to red and the profiles to 3 or 4 to make them easy to see. When you import the image, make sure you are importing it as an image and that you are putting it on the ground plane (red/green plane).

As for drawing off axis, there are several strategies you can use. If the edges are short, zoom in closely. You may find it useful to place intersections of crossing guidelines to give you snap points. Inferencing can also be leveraged for that.

You might also consider updating to SketchUp 2016 for the improved inferencing tools.

JQL

Adding to Dave's tips:

After importing the image I usually scale it and explode it, setting up a material at the correct scale in a flat rectangle plane.
I'm then able to draw on that rectangle using sketchup tools.
If a section of the building is not orthogonal I group it and set axis inside;
This way you can have several diagonal groups, but work on each group easily as they all have ortho axis inside.

mhuberlarch

Thank you for the prompt replies! I'll give these tips a try.

I am using SketchUp 2016 and the inferencing system doesn't seem all that helpful. It seems to fight me when doing basic drawing/drafting. It's probably because I'm new to this and need much more practice, but is it possible there are any settings I need to change for the inferencing to work best?

Thanks again for your help!

JQL

It's not a question of settings but of setting up your mind to it. Inferencing in Sketchup might be one of it's stronger attributes. Try using:

Arrow keys;
Look for tool tips when hovering edges, faces or vertexes;
Holding down shift key when those tool tips show up.

mhuberlarch

Thanks JQL and others! I appreciate the assistance. I definitely need a lot more practice on the basics.