Hi guys,

Thanks for your answers.
Even though I'm quite new to SU, I have experience on Catia for 3D and MSVisio for 2D.
After spending so much time measuring the house in all directions and storing all this in 2D Visio, I found SU and started all over again.

So far I've modelled in detail the facade and 2 floors. I’ve used mainly nested groups and components.
I made choices: e.g. have separate groups for walls belonging to different floors. But, following that choice I don’t know what to do for staircase walls. Should I split them artificially at floor intersection, should I assign them to layers, or define attributes and create scenarios to turn them on and off?...

I discover new features every day, fantastic Plugins…
I see great models posted on the site and I understand there is more than one way to achieve a given result.
Viewed the magnitude of the task, I’m challenging the choices I made so far and seek help for this.
Indeed it would be a pity to spend time on layers when attributes and scenes are more appropriate or define objects in a way that we can’t interact with them later on.

Therefore I came up with my long list of questions that I recognize I should have chopped in pieces beforehand.

From your advice I will consider layers for time dependant activities (phases of renovation) and nature of objects (mechanical/electrical systems, furniture…).
But how to filter on a combination of the 2: electrical renovation only, plumbing renovation only… ?
What is the best for tagging floor levels to show them individually?
Can we combine layers and attributes and hide/show based on a combination of those values?

Thanks again,

J-O

Dear all,

I’m quite new to SU world so please forgive me if I raise obvious points or redirect me to the correct streams.

I have an old house.
The walls have sometimes uneven measures due to different thickness of plaster applied over the years.
I sometimes know the exact positioning of hidden elements like wooden beams, iron beams, electric wires, plumbing… and sometimes not.
The house has multiple floors.

I’ve taken up the challenge to map my house in Sketchup.
Via this work I’d like to achieve several goals:

1. Have a central repository of the measurements of all the elements of the house in a single model, including flooring, wall texture, non-movable furnitures…
2. Make a photo-realistic rendering of the house
3. Simulate renovations and transformations
4. Issue 3D sketches and precise 2D architectural plans (as-is – to-be) to be submitted to the local authorities to get official agreement on transformations

In this context, can you please give me some advice?

A) Objects to be used
1)When should I use layers?
a. For a given level/floor?
b. For a given room?
c. For electricity, plumbing, alarm…?
d. For a given material (wood, bricks, tiles…)?
e. For movable furniture?
f. Others?
2) What should I include on a layer?
a. If there is a layer for a given level of the house, should I attach the floors and ceilings respectively to different levels?
b. If there is a layer per room, should the walls separating 2 rooms be split into 2 parts to respectively belong to a given room?
c. Can we assign multiple layers to an Object?
3) When should I make a group vs. make a component?
4) In case of components what naming convention do you advise?
5) Should the walls of a given layer be defined as one entity or as many entities as perpendicular intersections with hidden edges?
6) Are there other elements than the ones mentioned above more relevant for this exercise?

B) Measures to be recorded
As for the measures themselves, I’ve chosen to round them to 0.5 cm.
When the walls of a room were originally parallel but are now not perfectly parallel due to the wall cover (plaster…), I’ve taken the average distance to keep them parallel on the drawing unless the offset was bigger than 2cm.

Should I dimension the walls with their original thicknesses and top them with layers of plaster or just represent the actual average thickness?

As I want to issue 2D architectural drawings out of the 3D model, what’s the best practice in this domain using Sketchup?

C) Transformations
For transformations modifying the structure of the house, how should I store them in sketchup?
How can I turn them on & off and issue the as-is and to-be views?
Should I put them on the same layers as the actual?

Sorry to come-up with so many questions but I’ve already invested days in mapping some parts of the house. Before going further with the rest, I want to learn from your advices to avoid redoing that job again in the future.

Thanks and Best Regards,

J-O

Hi,

Thanks for your answers.
I'll follow the advice and go for the 2D arc in SU.
If I draw it at the bottom of the door, can I use it to animate it?

Thanks,

J-O

Good afternoon,

In the 3D plan of my house, I've drawn precisely the doors and windows including the frames and hinges.
I'd like to issue the 2D plan of my house and show the swing arcs of the doors and windows.
Can you please give me some advice on how to proceed?
Shoud the arc be drawn in Sketchup on the floor plan as a 2D entity or do I need to do it straight in a tool like Layout?
Can the arc be used to drive dynamic components in Sketchup and simulate the door opening?

Thanks,

J-O