I needed a similar result in order to export to Revit. Here's a link to that post and the solution. Thanks to sdmitch. http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323%26amp;t=62940

Have you tried contacting the SketchUp support people?

@dave r said: Do you use LayOut at all? Thanks for the reply. Intermittently. Primarily as a means to export 3D views of SketchUp models, not for CDs which come out of AutoCAD LT in my workflow. LO generates a much better image quality than Rhino so sometimes I'll import my Rhino work to create perspective views out of LO. Therefore, none of the big improvements of the last release affect me much.

Okay, I feel pretty stupid. I was looking at the page linked from the Extension Warehouse and forgot I wasn't in the Sketchucation thread. I saw no replies and wondered if it was a dead plugin or something. But there are 15 pages of replies in the actual thread. Maybe I need a new, stronger brand of coffee?

Why there is no multithreading? Why there is no support for alembic files? Why Sketchup is so slow in terms of saving large files? Why there is no support for fast import of obj files?

Thanks for the replies. It's intriguing - a built in ability to explode the view of your model into a 2D graphic than manipulate it in an image editor without having to go through a whole export / import / insert process. For most CAD applications like AutoCAD, layout is really just a window on to the model space with some limited controls, primarily scale. This feature of LO suggests something entirely else.

I thought they were very nice. I think all the Olympic opening ceremonies within recent memory have been very nice. The torch lighting was done well (each host always tries to do something unique). I did notice, though, that this was the first one I recall where the Olympic flag was not accompanied by an honor guard when raised.

Thanks for that. It worked but with some drawbacks. The original image I was using was an Arroway texture so it was tiled. Painting a rectangle with the edited version and then saving it and reimporting loses the tiling. Also, for some reason the original wrapped itself around the tree trunk cleanly, showing little of the faceting that occurs when wrapping a cylinder with a texture but the re-imported image breaks up along the facets. Not sure why. I guess the answer is to go back to the original image, save it under a new name and make the necessary changes in Photoshop. But I find that to be unfortunate because, minor though it may be, SketchUp's material editor seems to always give me exactly what I want, whereas Photoshop tends to feel like taking a battleship out for a Sunday boating on the lake. Anyways, thanks for your reply, I'm sure the technique will prove useful in many situations. Have a good Sunday ...

We've all been there. The learning is the fun part. Well maybe not when a client is waiting for a render and you can't figure something out, that's gray hair and ulcers. Other than that - FUN FUN FUN!!!

Dome light is an incredible feature. Image based lighting is where everything is heading. I read an article about Pixar's Monster University being totally lit using IBL.

I selected 'use maximum texture size' ignored the warning and for some strange reason changing tools is no longer a problem. No idea why that should be but everything else was as has been suggested here so I wnet for broke and tada. Just been using sketchup 2013 for a few minutes and normal service has resumed. Clicking about half a dozen times to get a tool change. What is going on?????????

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain that. Sometimes it's the simplest things that seem to be obstacles in the day.

@unknownuser said: *Users who purchased V-Ray for SketchUp between April 15th, 2013 and the official release date will be eligible for a free upgrade there ya go. I thought there was an upgrade price as well as a full purchase price, but I guess that just goes to show how much of the marketing/sales info I'm aware of around here.

@jiminy-billy-bob said: You can also change the default material color in the "styles" window. Thanks for the reminder. That tip will also come in useful going back and forth between the two programs.

You can add this to the Duhduh thread!