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Fascinating - I tried hacking a copy file and replaced all the font names but for some reason when I zipped all back together it wouldn't open in LO - I assume whatever Windows is using as the default is compressing the files in a way that LO isn't expecting
So all LO is effectively doing is parsing and modifying XML files and making compressed images for viewports. mind blown
I used an app called Notepad++
Dave, I had no idea that the .layout is just a wrapper for a zip file. That sounds intriguing!
As soon as I get out of bed I’m going to have a look! (Bring on SketchUp for iPad!)
I assume the best thing to monkey with xml is notepad?
Cool... I'm trying it out! Let's hope it plays nice with Skalp!
I have always been adversed to adding too many plugins because I use SU as the keystone of my workflow (stability is key) but I really could do with a layer manager now, particularly with multi-floor buildings.
I know jiminy-billy-bob's layer manager is now out to pasture, so can anyone point me to a solution that is robust enough to be used in a 'production' environment? I'm afraid that it isn't keeping up with all the other plugins and something might go horribly wrong!
It never occurred to me to draw freehand like that with arrows 
Thanks for the share!
I went through the mill of testing all the renderers a year ago and settled on Thea. The other option was V-ray. It was a close call, but Thea won out and I'm pretty happy with it and it's very very close integration to SketchUp. The only problem is the huge following of v-ray, there is a huge community of people using it. A bit like the AutoCAD of renderers. Getting hold of materials for v-ray is a lot easier than Thea.
The GPU rendering in Thea is so fast and integrated that I don't think it can be beaten, in fact you can stick any old GPUs in the machine and it'll take advantage of them. It also has built in support for Skalp which features very heavily in my workflow.
Awesome Dave...
... so am I right in thinking that the .layout file is just a zip file containing all the XML etc and if I just zip it and change the extension from .zip to .layout it should work??
I had a Derp! moment and pasted a viewport into a text field on the last thing I was doing before presenting to the client and now the file is totally rogered. So broken that it crashes on open.
I found the temp file but it's all separate XML files in a folder. How do you put it all back together manually?
My plan is to remove the offending page (the first page) manually and open it.
Is this possible?
Here's the folder (zipped)
@box said:
To be honest the screenshot doesn't tell us much, I assume there is a spike off to the back right.
Could you upload a model to look at.
Do you have a clean template, nothing lurking in it to make things jump about, no hidden geometry saved from something else?
Wow I actually found an instance where my machine saved it...
My template is a totally stock one with no kergiggering at all.
