@brookefox said:

I use a separate 'sheet' (and layer) positioned at an appropriate Z for each view which I wish to print or document. This actually works quite well for me once I learned some little tricks, like making masks of various transparencies placed again at appropriate Z to aid in the process. I've set up plans, sections, elevations, etc. in this manner. It ain't perfect, by a long shot, and in that sense, a lot like Layout. Dave is happy with LO, though, as are many and perhaps it would suit you.

What do you mean by a 'Z'?

I've tried using the watermark feature in the free version of Sketchup to print a title box as follows but am running into one snag. I create a title box in a graphics program and then import it as a watermark. I position it centered on the bottom of the screen and print it to 1":1' scale (using the free program pdfprint to generate a 11"x17" pdf file, which I then email it to Fedex Office for printing). The problem is that the watermark resizes along with what is printed across different pfds and although I can get it close I cannot get it the same on each pdf. I've tried drawing guidelines on the screen for a 11"x17" box and then using zoom window just to zoom just inside of the guidelines hoping that will make what appears on the pdf file about the same but that doesn't work either. Is there a method to get the watermark consistently sized the same?

I did try the Cartouche plugin for a title block and although it's quite flexible the output is a fixed font and you cannot include graphics. If I create and import my own graphic I can make it look exactly how I want it to look with my logo, font, etc.

I guess my other option is to print out the title blocks separately using another program and then to just paste them on the printouts, but that negates part of the reason for using a CAD program.

I figured out that in order to change the location of the cartouche on the screen you have to click on the cartouche, then press delete, then go to settings, change x and y, then click add and only then does the cartouche appear in a new location. It seemed logical that if you changed the settings the cartouche would move according to those new settings and nowhere is it mentioned in this thread or your program that you have to hit delete first. Of course if you could not delete then you could not remove the cartouche but perhaps you could add 'Delete existing cartouche' and change 'Add' to 'Add new cartouche'. Then it would be more obvious that you must delete first.

Now that I know this, the cartouche does move when I change X and Y. But when I put in X=1 and Y=1 the cartouche does not appear on the screen or print-out (using 8-1/2 x 11" paper). Also, I am still wondering how the X and Y change position according to 0 and 1. Is 0 one side of the screen and 1 the otherside, or? How do I get the cartouche to appear on the lower right hand corner (where most title boxes appear).

This is a wonderful plugin, but I find that changing the X and Y values do nothing to change the position of the text on the screen or on a print out. I've tried 0, .5, 1 and even higher numbers(even though 0 to 1 seems to be the range) but nothing changes. Also, what was or is 0 and 1 supposed to signify? X=0 left side of page, X=1 right side of page? I would like to place the text on the lower left of the screen underneath a title box I have placed using the watermark feature.

Lastly, when I click 'record existing cartouche' a box keep pops up telling me to 'please select a cartouche before you use this plugin'. How do you do that? I thought that that is what I was doing by clicking 'settings' and then 'add'. What am I doing wrong?

Now, my wish list:

1. A %TIME variable. I often print multiple printouts of the same drawing in a day and forget which was the last I printed.

2. The box that pops up when you click on settings is so high that I can barely click the OK button as it is almost scrolled off the bottom of my screen. Could the box maybe be resized more square, ie 2 columns, so that it fits better within the screen boundaries?

3. Ability to put text anywhere on the page with the X and Y feature (which doesn't seem to work for me).

4. Ability to leave a blank line or have double spaced lines rather than single spaced.

Thanks for a great plugin.

Ok I guess you don't understand my question. It has nothing to do with backups.

I did have backups, but after I made the changes, the backup backed up the backup that was before those changes, so both the file and the backup were the same.

What I am looking for is confirmation that what I am saying is true. The components did indeed have those materials applied as they showed up as those materials in the cutlist. And, in fact, I imported the components that had nested components into one drawing in order to get a cutlist layout, and they still show up properly in the cutlist. It's when I go back to the components that are in the individual files (the ones that I made into a single component with nested components) that I do not see any materials when I click on Entity Info, yet the materials can be seen.

So, again, does creating a component out of a group of components, ie one component with nested components, result in the losing of the materials attributed to each nested component even though you can see the materials? Or, did I somehow do something else wrong that I am not aware of?

If you have 2 components, A and B, and paint each with different materials and then make both components into one component, say C, ie a component with nested components, when you later explode C it seems to me you lose the material information applied to A and B. Is this true as it seems to have happened to me with a complex design I just did. But the funny thing is I still see the material colours applied to the individual components, yet when I click on the component and click Entity Info it shows the material as being default. But it seems like the material information is there. Is there any way to get it back for that component or do I now have to go through and redo all the materials for each component?

That worked, but it gave the old component the name of the new component not the other way around, so I just undid it and did it the other way around and it named it like I wanted it to. So, I guess you choose the component with the name you don't want to have first.

Thanks!

I made a kitchen cabinet back panel and made it a component. Then much later I forgot I already had that component and made some new ones from scratch with the exact same geometry. Is there a shortcut to make these new ones the same components as that first one so they all have the same name or do I have to erase them now and copy over that component? I know I can just make them components with new, but close sounding names, like back panel B or 2, but I'd rather have the same name.

Thanks. I have to say though that it seems odd and unintuitive for the screen not to go back to your original drawing and layers, etc, if you click View|Scenes to hide the scenes. One accidental click of View|Scenes (if you haven't created a 'WIP' layer, as you suggest) and you lose what the drawing you were working on looked like and have to do a lot of work to get it back to where it was before (albeit no actual redrawing).