Try exporting as PDF, with image resolution set to high, and then rasterizing in an image editor like photoshop or GIMP, with resolution set to 200dpi, and saving to jpg.

Edit:

Had success exporting up to 2000mm (78"). Any higher and the pdf came out blank. Maybe a hard limit set inside LO.
But, PDF output set to high will export at 300dpi, so changing image size, without resampling should get your 2500mm wide image at 200dpi without issue.

Thank you TIG! Just what I was looking for. Followed your instruction for customizing the prefix and got to work!

Hi Thomthom,

thanks for the reply.

Yes, but that option only removes the polygon, the lines are all drawn with or without filled polygon.

So if I understand, text is created by sketchup directly, not by your plugin. What your plugin does is in a way, control the native sketchup 3d text tool, and keep a reference of the text content, so it can be changed afterwards.

Not easy to change I guess, or, it should be changed directly in sketchup's core.

HI Thomthom,

I've used this plugin a lot, and really really like it. It should replace the default text tool in sketchup. Thank you!

I've been doing some 3d laser cutting lately, and have been using a lot of "engraving" fonts such as this one:
http://www.ffonts.net/Machine-Tool-Gothic.font . The preview in windows font viewer is horrible, but in sketchup they work just fine. If I understand correctly, ttf fonts have to be closed shapes, but that makes for an ineffective engraving/cutting font.

I usually create the text and then explode it/edit it to remove the last segment, so I get single line fonts. This is fine, but makes the text non editable after this. Is it possible to have an option in your plugin to use these kind of fonts and not close the loops / draw the last segment.

Again, thanks a lot for all your work!

Santiago

Hi all,

I switched from dropbox to google drive recently. I've been having issues saving layout files to google drive. The problem is that, after the first save in the session, Layout has issues doing quick save to the same file, when the file is big, and the save (ctrl+S) is done very frequently.

My theory is that google drive, after the first save, takes ownership of the file while it uploads it to the cloud, and, since layout files tend to be big, it takes a while for gdrive to release it. So, if layout tries to save over the existing file, it does not get permission to save over, until the previous file gets uploaded.

This bug makes me shut down google drive when working with layout, which is very inconvenient.

Anyone else seen this?

Santiago

Hi KCDA,

thanks for the scrapbook. Looks useful for schematics.

Santiago

@jql said:

Having an option for a model displayed in Raster/Hybrid but exported as Vector for CAD.

Yes please... this is really necessary.

• Option to assign not only lineweight, but linetype to vector viewports.
• Show the current layer someplace like the window title.
• Option to draw stuff using viewport units (draw stuff at 1:50 for example)
• Ordinate dimensions (for stuff like levels in elevations and coordinates)
• Spot elevation (for levels in plans)
• Better display of dashed lines so they display properly at polyline ends. (linetype generation in autocad world).
• PDF import support in windows

I had a chance to talk to some of the developers at 3dbc, but forgot to mention most of this stuff .

Agreed. A make unique material option would be ideal.

Try this:
-Copy your base component
-Make the copy unique and save it to disk
-Open the copy and make a small adjustment to the material (colorize it). and save it.
-In the original file, reload the modified component. There should be 2 different materials in the editor, one for each component.
-Go to the new component, and edit the texture in an external editor, and paste the new texture over the old one. Make sure the textures line up. Flatten the image and save it.

When loading from disk, sketchup tries to maintain visual fidelity of components and materials, so when it finds a similarly named comp or material with different definition, it creates a new material or component definition.

I'm currently running version 353.62 of nvidia drivers, without issues. Some previous version had problems. You may need to manually download these from nvidia, and replace the ones that ms installs from windows update. Maybe by this time, the ones available on windows update are current with the ones from nvidia.

I sus had issues with NVIDIA drivers. The latest ones I'm running work fine. I'll check as soon as I have one of my machines running. The ones installed by ms did not work. I also got bsod with those.

Also been using 10 for paid work for 8 - 9 months without major issues. Had some problems with nvidia drivers and bsod for a while, but these seem to have been sorted.

I do like it. One thing I would like to be improved is legacy stuff that ms does not remove probably to avoid breaking old outdated programs. For example, and it is probably a major undertaking, but..., there is now a new way to set things up on a machine, called settings, but we still have the good old control panel. BUt I guess that is ms. If my memory is correct, I do remember having still having windows 3.11 inside win 98 and ME.

Apple did it right, when they moved to x86, and left rosetta initially as standard install, and then as optional, until they finally decided to remove it forever. Also did this with the classic enviroment, which essentially was a virtual machine running os pre x. But, ms would probably upset some big enterprise running some obscure accouunting software from 1997 if they decide to remove legacy support.

I do like the new start menu, the live tiles seem kind of useful, and the tamed metro interface inside windows seem to be a good compromise. I do like the flat metro look, and would recommend it over 8 and 8 definitely, over 7, and certainly over xp (those candy buttons really look dated nowadays)

It is as fast as 8, if not faster, but nowadays that is all relative, with widespread availability of ssds and hybrid drives.

Sketchup works the same way it did in 8 /8.1 As previously mentioned, display scaling sucks, and skp will look terrible. Avoid high dpi screens, or stick to 100% scaling. Lets hope trimble does some overhaul of skp ui, with more modern interface elements that work better with display scaling.

I generate PDF from libre office, and then open it in inkscape, where I can save as PNG. At 200-300 DPI. Yes, layout PC needs PDF import badly!!!

If you have a drawing at 1:100, and want to scale it to 1:200, just drag a marquee around all the symbols, excluding the viewport, and scale it by .5. Text, unfortunately, will have to be changed manually. Do not group before scaling, or you'll loose all layer info. Once that is done, you can re align all annotations with the viewport.

If some dims and notes "stick" to the viewport, you can break that link by cutting and pasting the offending viewport.

RichSection plugin creates a section group slice with all the layer information from the base geometry. After the group is created, all you need to do is unlock it.

Also,for more control, try using grey for some lines in skp. Just make sure that the style you use has lines set to by material and try painting faces, instead of groups/components.

Hi Piet,

Quick test of the latest version updating some plans done a while ago. This latest version seems to update noticeably faster, and the small info dialog does not collapse onto itself as before. I´ll try and do a more in depth test later.

Santiago

Hi Piet,

I've been using your latest version.

I'm having some issues:

The main rs dialog contracts to a size smaller than it's intended one. Text overlaps, and some buttons will dissapear. This happens a lot when creating new rs, not when editing existing ones.

Section name has to be changed two times, when creating rs. The first time will default to #00x. The second time, the corrresponding layer will change it's name, the section has to be renamed manually. In setttings, I have rs create 1 scene, with section hidden, and camera aligned.

I have to change layer visibility so the layer with the rs group is visible. I remember doing this for different views that used the rs (perspective sections for example), but not for the main rs scene.

Once the scene and rs name is changed, I have to manually delete the original layer, (#00x)

Running win 10, x64

Hi Piet,

I´m having some issues with this new version 0.5.1

When I right click on a rs to update it, I get the new dialog, and then after a second right click, I can update it. Previously, on the first right click, I was able to update the section directly.

The other thing is that, once the new dialog (which looks great btw, big improvement over the previous one), takes the focus, the main window can be orbited, but not zoomed in/out. This happens without notice, so that results in apparent sluggish navigation. Is there a way to switch between modal and non modal dialogs? It may be a matter of personal preference, but I like to have all these aux windows go away once they have served their purpose. This would avoid the first problem.

Other than that, I´ve had no issues with this new version. I´ll keep testing.

Thank you!

Santiago

Hi Piet,

Here's a small sample of recent work using your plugin. All these are 100% sketchup/layout.

Thanks a lot!

Santiago