@pbacot said:

I suppose the point would be to be able to modify later in LO?

Yes. I've used PDFs if I want to bring in something like a full architectural detail. But it would be nice to be able to bring in vectors directly for anything from custom section marks, symbols, and whatever else without having to draw them in LO or do the whole import through SU.

@dave r said:

You can convert an inserted SketchUp view to vector images. First render the viewport as Vector and then explode it. Preto! Vector image in LayOut.

Yes, but that means I have to import the DXF into SketchUp, lose any lineweight information, import the scene into Layout, render as vector, explode it, clean it up again...

Not exactly a "presto" if you ask me.

I did receive a reply from SU basically stating that something went wrong with the M4 installation and that I should uninstall, clean preferences, and then reinstall. They've given the following instructions for doing so (Mac OS):

Uninstall SketchUp Pro 8
Quit SketchUp. (If you have more than one instance of SketchUp open, make sure you quit all instances of SketchUp.)
Open a Finder window.
Delete the SketchUp folder from the main library:
In the left pane of the Finder, click Macintosh HD.
In the right pane, click Library, and then Application Support.
In the Application Support folder, find the SketchUp # folder, and then drag it to the trash.
Delete the SketchUp folder from your user library:
In the left pane of the Finder, click your user name, then click Library* in the right pane.
*If you're using Mac OS X Lion, hold down the Option (Alt) button on your keyboard, click Go in the menubar, then select the Library option in the drop-down list.
Open the Application Support folder.
In the Application Support folder, find the SketchUp # folder, and then drag it to the trash.
Delete the SketchUp application:
In the left pane of the Finder, click Applications.
In the right pane, find SketchUp # folder, and then drag it to the trash.
Delete the plist file:
In the left pane of the Finder, click your user name.
In the right pane, click Library, and then Preferences.
In the Preferences folder, drag any of the following files, if present, to the trash:
com.atlast.sketchup.plist
com.google.sketchuppro.plist
com.google.sketchupfree.plist
com.google.sketchuppro7.plist
com.google.sketchupfree7.plist
com.google.sketchuppro8.plist
com.google.sketchupfree8.plist
com.google.LayOut.plist
com.google.style_builder.plist
Empty the trash.

After uninstalling, we suggest repairing disk permissions:
Restart your computer.
Open a Finder window.
Click Applications.
Click Utilities.
Double-click Disk Utility.
Select your hard drive.
Select the First Aid tab.
Click Repair Disk Permissions.
After the permissions are repaired, exit Disk Utility.
Please repeat steps "a" through "i" once more.

Reinstall SketchUp:
Log in to your computer with a user account that has administrative privileges.
Please visit our SketchUp Pro page to download the SketchUp Pro 8 install file.
When the download completes, double-click on the install file and follow the on-screen instructions.

I'm going to see what I can do this weekend. With plugins, settings, and such, I want to go through and think about this carefully so as not to inadvertently lose anything.

The ability to import/insert vector images (dwg, ai, etc). Unless I'm missing something, there is no easy way to do this other than draw your own in Layout or modify the existing scrapbooks.

What is your hourly rate? For the time the plugins would save, it is certainly worth the annual price.

Well, haven't heard anything from SketchUp. Going through the Help Menu > Contact Us > Get Pro Technical Support - still takes you to the Google pages and a form to fill out.

But I'm - tentatively - working again.

Tracked things down to one Page of my Layout file that I was having particular trouble with. Two tables and two pieces of text containing several notes for specifications. The two tables were fine as was the one piece of text. The other piece of text was the one I was having an issue with. There was still a text element, but it was completely blank. Further, the layer that the text was supposed to be on couldn't be selected (along with another unused layer on this Page). The tables and text were all pushed to another layer. I should be thankful that they weren't stuck on a layer I couldn't select.

I started by creating a new page - all of the layers worked on the new page. So I copied and pasted the two tables and the "good" text off of the "troublesome" page onto the new page and got them on the proper layer. I had the missing text in an RTF file because it is easier to edit the text on a word processor than in Layout. So I created a new text element and pasted in the text from my RTF file. Text is fine. Move back and forth between pages. No problem. Everything is good. Delete "troublesome" page and check everything again. Still all good.

Close file. Open file back up. Text is gone - just the empty text element. Fortunately, the layers weren't screwed up this time.

So the next try was converting the RTF file to a plain TXT file in case there was some errant formatting causing problems. Tried the same steps. Created a new text element and pasted in the text from my TXT file. Text is fine. Move back and forth between pages. No problem. Everything is good.

Close file. Open file back up. Text is gone - just the empty text element.

Tried a few different variations of this. Pasted in the first paragraph. That worked. Pasted in a few paragraphs. That didn't work. Went back through the text looking for any character that might be a problem. Tried things a few more times. Finally took the text into an HTML editor because it would allow me to strip any possible code away. That finally worked. Pasted the text in, saved it, and it was still there when I reopened it.

From there I was able to reformat the text in Layout - font, tabs, underlining, etc. Saved again. Still there when I went back.

I'm still not completely out of the woods, though. One unused layer on that page is not able to be selected - I could select it when I first created this new page. Not sure when it became un-selectable. At some point in my many trials of trying to get the text to work. If you select it, it highlights but the pencil icon doesn't move to it. So you cannot put anything on that one layer on that one page. The layer is able to be selected on every other page.

Also, the Cover Page layer will not display on that one page whether it is visible or not. Curiously, it will display on every other page - except that it does not display in the proper location on any page other than the cover page. The cover page has a horizontal titleblock across the bottom of the page on this layer. Every other page has a vertical titleblock down the right side on another layer. If I turn the cover page titleblock on for any other page, it displays across the middle of the page rather than at the bottom like it does on the actual cover page.

At this point I'm just happy that I can work with my file again. The curiosities are a bit of a concern only because it shows things still aren't functioning properly. But I'll have to see if starting a new Layout file from scratch with the next project still has issues or if it is just a "legacy file" thing. I'm not going to be particularly happy if all of my Layout files from past projects have issues...

Needless to say, it has been a bit of a stressful day trying to work this out today...

For reference, using the Mac version on OSX.6.8 (Snow Leopard).

I'll try contacting SketchUp / Trimble directly. This is driving me nuts...

I've run into this when trying to create a PDF of a Layout file with over a dozen pages. I've had to break it down into two or more files and export pages one to six to PDF, then seven to twelve, etc... Then join all the PDFs. I've attributed it to needing more memory.

Updated to the M4 release over the weekend - supposedly mainly just the Trimble rebranding.

But now Layout won't save changes for some reason. I make changes to a Layout file, save it, and the next time I go back in the file is back to where it was before the changes. The file info shows that it was last saved at the date and time I last saved it, but none of the changes get saved.

Have tried saving to a different file name with the same results.

Found out that the section states was caused by the View > Section Cuts had been unchecked. This happened with a couple different files, but not with others. Weird. The layers are a bit more random. Oddly, it seems like just for the scene that was open when the file was saved.

Once corrected, the files seem to be ok - that is, once I set the Section Cuts and layers, update the scene, and save the file the file is correct the next time I go into it.

It just seems like an odd glitch for an update that is billed mainly as rebranding. The other items mentioned in the release notes don't look like they'd affect file saving.

My files are opening, but I seem to be having issues with layer and section cut states in scenes. That is, layers or section cuts that were on are now off and vice versa. It doesn't look like I've lost any actual information, but it is going to be a royal pain to go through my current projects and check to make sure everything is correct.

@bmike said:

And make the tools work just like in SketchUp
I hate the way things work now. If I want to move something, I want to pick the object, then move it by hitting M.
Same for copy.

This - going back and forth where "T" is "tape" in SU and "text" in LO is almost more confusing than having "M" and such NOT work in LO.

As others have said, would really like better tables in LO.