LayOut 3 out today... it's there. We added a point to the line - there's now a connection point and an offset point.

b

I only see the skp, not the LO document. Did the model get moved to a locked layer? Open the Layer Inspector, select the model (if you can) and see what layer it's on (little blue dot). Or open File->Document Setup->References and select the model. It should select it on the page. You can also update it / relink it here.

b

Those are Scrapbooks. Window->Scrapbooks. Look for a scrapbook that matches a particular template style. For example, TB-Contemporary scrapbook matches the Contemporary Template style.

b

It should be, and I'd be interested if you have a reproducible case where it isn't. Where it definitely is not robust at this time is if you dimension in LayOut, then make a bunch of geometry changes in SketchUp to the model. The points we attach to in your 3D model are not persistent / uniquely ID'd so that we can say that we can find the point you wanted after the geometry changed. For this reason, we'd recommend doing dimensions after the modeling has settled down.

Anything more specific? Modes of how to update the model, or workflow? We'd also suggest turning auto rendering off, and controlling model rendering yourself for larger documents (when there are model changes); you can right click on a page with dirty models and select "Render Models on Page".

b

I did successfully PDF export the file on a Mac. Interesting - it does list a Color Sync profile of "Dot Gain 15%", so I deleted the Color Sync profile on my Mac using sips, and retried the export. That worked. Jeff and I will talk about this. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

b

Depending on your document, it can get complicated quickly. I'm sure David G. would agree with me that you can always unzip the files and merge them by hand . Seriously, you COULD do that, but it would require that you have layers with matching ID's, and you'd have to hand edit the pages into document.xml and references.xml, match up the layers ID's in the pages.xml, and adjust the total page count in documentProperties.xml. And you'd have to make sure no ID's are conflicting between the original document and the pages you're adding in. In other words, it's a lot of work by hand, too. And that's probably why we haven't looked at merging documents or being able to load LayOut documents inside of LayOut documents.

We've had this on a feature list for a while, but it wasn't a big enough priority for it to bubble into LayOut 2.1. Would it be important to folks to have this... over other features you'd want?

b

Wow, that's weird. Try View->Restore Default Workspace and see if it returns.

b

Um... you just did.

PC or Mac? On Mac, command-t and the font panel has text color, and you can set opacity on the color inspector.

Make sure you're displaying the same scene with the same style in LayOut - you can use the ones in SketchUp or apply new ones in LayOut. Window->SketchUp Model and verify the scene that's chosen in the pulldown on the View tab.

b

I'm getting dimension snapping on this document with no problems, so it's not the document. And this is a setting that is per document. Try toggling object snap off and back on.

Wow, that's really strange. It's almost as if it's an image instead of geometry, but even an image you'd get an "on face" inference. Can you copy things and paste into a new document? Is it only this document, or a certain template?

Stan - yes, this is something you should understand in LayOut: it measures from the attachment points of the model laying beneath it. Maybe to reinforce this in your mind, after you've drawn a dimension in 2D LayOut of an underlying 3D model, hit space (select tool), and double click on the dimension to verify what it's attached to.

b

We have no Mac issues at this time (a possible interaction from other applications on the Mac could cause a conflict), and it's been fixed for almost a year now. If someone is having Mac issues and is on the current build (7.1), please let me know.

Barry

If you have a dimension that isn't the same as the SketchUp model, then you dimensioned wrong - we don't allow resolutions below the accuracy that we provide. Are you sure you're attached to the geometry you think you are? How far is it off, and can you post a snapshot? I sure have an easier time dimensioning in LayOut than SketchUp - you can detach, reattach, move, etc... in LayOut much much easier (of course, once you figure out how to do it).

b

I'll take a stab, but you may need to provide more info. People typically select an Ortho view, and have standard views or scenes set up. You can double click to edit your model, zoom in and attach one leader of a dimension at a time. When they're connected to the model, you'll see a blue circle around the connection point. Once you have both connected, go back to the scene setting to get the camera to it's original location. Clear as mud?

b

Sorta, through SketchUp. Read http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25189&p=216312&hilit=template+scene+page#p216312 and let me know if it's not clear.

We've also blogged some about this:

Connecting SketchUp Scenes to LayOut Templates

Follow the SketchUpdate blog for SketchUp news, modeling tips and tricks, user stories and more.

(sketchupdate.blogspot.com)

b

You can also check out our templates as an example - they all have a set font, arrow head and dimension style per template family.

Wait - you should be able to make this work: select the arrow and line style you want, then try to create a new dimension with that style to confirm this works. Switch to another tool and then back to dimension tool to draw a new one to make sure it stuck and that you did things in the right order. Then save as template. Tool defaults are written out to styleManager.xml (zipped in the LayOut document), so if you set them correctly, they should be saved.

Secondly, if you do put things in a scrapbook, they're easy to sample and use. Red ran into issues with large image files that were linked, not embedded, into a scrapbook, and then putting those images into another document, and not getting a local copy of that image. We're looking at how to reproduce this issue, but this should be unrelated to this because (a) dimensions are tiny in comparison to large images, and (b) you're sampling their style, not embedding them in your page, i.e. I'd draw my dimensions, select them all, type "s" and sample from the scrapbook to set their style.

b