@chrisglasier said:

[attachment=0:2r5h93b1]<!-- ia0 -->Roof walkway.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:2r5h93b1]With people, water tank and Triffid

If it were my public liability insurance policy on the line, I would be suggesting a steel deck, stairs and railing construction supported on steel SHS posts with suitably designed pad foundations. But then I am based in the UK, where Building Regulations have become more onerous.

@congellous said:

@aikibrown said:

IMHO, Depending on the size of your model, I've found that creating a LO file for each drawing, I. E. One Lo page per LO file gives fewer issues.

Having said that, LO2020 Pro performs very well now. Even with multiple pages and a 150MB model.

Genarally, keep SU models as light and as well organised as possible.

Yeah good idea can you PDF/DWG/issue all open layout files

Apologies for the belated response.

I've not really experienced many issues in exporting a LO page to PDF. As long you can refrain from using the Hybrid setting on your viewports, exporting should go well. I've also got into the habit of keeping no more than two layout files open at any one time during this process.

Now, exporting to dwg from LO is an entirely different proposition and it is my view that there is much that needs to be improved by Trimble with regard to the dwg export functionality and the quality and compatibility of the output.

Whenever I am asked to provide dwg files of my LO drawings, I find that exporting SU scenes of plans, elevations and sections directly to separate dwg files is the the way to go. I then XRef the individual components in one coherent master DWG file containing all the necessary linework and issue that. The process of generating the exports is tedious but takes up far less time than dealing with numerous phone calls from confused consultants, wondering how the hell they are supposed to work with the mayhem of vector geometry and uneditable raster imagery all dumped into model space in random positions, and often on the same layer, when spewed directly from LO.

@congellous said:

I have a 12 page Layout document
The sketch up file is 37MB

It was starting to get sluggish and I'm on an i9 suped up machine

I thought it might be material patterns so I changed them for block colour and now can barely open it ?

I've added the offending page - Is it the fills ?

With regard to your machine spec, my experience is that having the latest all singing and dancing multi core processors adds little to performance when using SU. A good dedicated graphics card and plenty of Ram is where I saw improved performance. I recall reading somewhere that the SU coding can't utilise all of the processor's cores, hence the minimal improvement in performance in simply relying on processor speed. Im running a 7th Gen i7 laptop but upgraded the ram to 32GB. I also have a SSD which helps with speed in opening and saving files generally.

As to your model, the pdf example doesn't look over complicated, but its hard tocomment without seeing a Layout or SU file.

Hi,
Just a thought. Have you checked your SU scene style settings have hidden lines switched off.

IMHO, Depending on the size of your model, I've found that creating a LO file for each drawing, I. E. One Lo page per LO file gives fewer issues.

Having said that, LO2020 Pro performs very well now. Even with multiple pages and a 150MB model.

Genarally, keep SU models as light and as well organised as possible.

@dave r said:

@aikibrown said:

but just encountered the same issue when trying to export to PDF using LO 2020 (Pro).

So the clipping mask thing from the OP has been one cause. I've also seen where a dimension or two on the page were somehow bad. In one case a few years ago the user had a bad logo image in their title block. That was obviously a different version.

It sounds like you know which page is the problem child. You could try releasing clipping masks if there are any or deleting dimensions of other content a little at a time until you can export the page. Do a little at a time. If it doesn't export, undo that change before trying something else.

In the case of the bad dimensions, after discovering they were the cause of the problem, I put in new dimensions to replace the bad ones and there was no problem with export.

Thanks for taking the time to chip in here Dave. You've certainly highlighted a few issues for me to keep an eye out for in future.

I've now looked over my layout file in more detail and can confirm that in my case, it was a single viewport that was set to Hybrid render causing the export to fail. With the setting changed to Raster, the issue no longer persists with Layout V. 2020 (Pro). I'll try registering the possible bug with Trimble.
Thanks again to all posters - all helped me get where I needed to be. Cheers.

Im a bit late to this post, but just encountered the same issue when trying to export to PDF using LO 2020 (Pro). In my case, a 3 page LO file where one of the pages would not export. I tried saving each page as a separate LO File, but that didn't resolve the issue. Also tried different viewport settings, ie. combinations of Raster or vector, or hybrid but still no joy. Was pulling my hair out and then remembered that I still had layout 2018 v. installed. I saved my LO file as 2018 version and exported to PDF with no issues. Still no idea why the problem arose but thankfully was able to meet client deadline.

Hi,

I have to admit that there is much more work needed by Trimble to improve SU's export to CAD functionality. The situation has improved somewhat with SU 2017 release but there is still a way to go. If my practice was not heavily committed to Autodesk products then SU & Lo would be my weapon of choice for design work and working drawing production. Unfortunately, CAD remains the default in most Architectural practices here in the UK.

Are you able to share your SU or Lo file? What is your work flow? If your CAD guys are saying that your SU exports are not editable then that sounds like you are perhaps exporting raster images rather than just vector linework?

I use both SU and CAD on a daily basis and find that I can quite happily edit all exported linework in CAD. Getting the best results does require producing a highly organised SU model with all building elements isolated on their own layers. I found it helpful to create a SU template with an identical Layer structure as the company's CAD drawing template. Scenes can then be easily set up in SU to allow you to export these individual elements (foundations, walls, windows & doors etc) as separate dwg files. These files can then be imported into a CAD template to assemble the drawing as required. Think of the SU process as the equivalent of creating Autocad 'xref' or 'Writeblock' entities. Personally, I only export linework from Su using a simple style with all white background and all faces in the model displaying as white. There is no point trying to export using a textured style as the raster image will not be editable and the CAD guys will have to delete it or switch the image off in order to use the exported linework. Where hatching and shading is required, this will have to be done in CAD by your guys, with reference to a PDF version of the fully rendered SU drawing.

I highly recommend researching Nick Sonder and Mat Donley's book and youtube videos. Although Nick uses only SU & LO for his projects, he does include a process of exporting linework to CAD for his consultants similar to the way I described above. See also Michael Brightman's workflow. Michael's process involves a deeper layering structure and hence a longer learning curve but is equally as effective.

Sorry if all of this is teaching you to suck eggs, but as I mentioned above it would be easier to assist if armed with more information regarding your process or sight of a SU/Lo file.

Anyway, I hope that helps somewhat.

Good luck.

I would agree with most here. The task of providing dwg format drawings for consultants, although workable is far from perfect and really needs to be addressed by Trimble.

The following process works for me:

1. Before exporting from layout, ensure all viewports are reset to vector rendering. There is no point using the Hybrid render setting. I found that hatches and textures
   Created in Su or the raster hatching in LO will not be exported in a format that can be editable or of any use in CAD. Therefore, consultants receive a usable dwg but with no hatching. This is not ideal, but they can refer to the full pdf version.

2.In LO switch off the layers containing the title sheet line-out and title sheet text. I have instead created a standard CAD dwg template with title sheet, layers, line width and colouring already set up.

3. In LO, export drawing to paper space in dwg format.

4. Open the exported dwg file in Draftsight. Then cut an paste the drawing papers pace entities into the separate template dwg file and save as a new drawing. In paper space my background colour defaults to white and so all drawing entities are visible.

5. Select all drawing entities and change their properties. Set colour to default white or black so that visibility is ensured regardless of CAD background colour.

6. Now I simply move all line work into model space and scale to full size. Tip-Draw a couple of lines in paper space as reference points for positioning new viewports. Turn off all layers containing dimensions, leader lines and text. Then select all that remains visible in paper space and hit Ctrl x. Switch to model space and hit Ctrl V. All your line work should now appear in model space. Use the scale command to make everything full size in model space.

7.Switch back to paper space and create viewports as required, scaling and positioning them using the reference marker lines that you Hopefully left in paper space. Turn back on all the layers containing text, dimensions and leader lines. Leaving these in paper space is less of a headache than trying to rescaled them in model space.

This process takes me about 10 mins per drawing but gives consultants a usable drawing. And saves countless phone calls and emails asking how to sort out problems with drawing formatting. Yes, it is tiresome on large projects and has to be repeated for drawing revisions but I'm all ears if there is a quick method.

Hope that helps some.

Count me in for a copy!

As someone who only uses a few plugins, I'd say the approach of this book will be spot on. Learn the basic processes and then choose which plugins best suit you best.

Watching Nick's videos was what made me decide to adopt SU and LO for all of my work in the first place. Purchasing the book will be my way of saying a big thanks to him for enabling me to wave goodbye to AutoCAD.

I would be particularly interested in learning how Nick maintains the dynamic link between SU and LO when producing section and plan cuts. Hell, any tips gained from both Matt and Nick will be worth knowing.