SketchUp Pro Training Schedule: Nov/Dec 2010

Our November and December 2010 SketchUp Authorized Training Center schedule is now available. The map below contains information on specific locations, dates, and courses provided:


View in a larger map

Posted by Shara Rice, SketchUp Training Team

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Hi-res tool icons for SketchUp and LayOut

Most people don’t know that almost every single one of the tool icons in both SketchUp and LayOut was created in SketchUp and/or LayOut – by our own John Bacus, no less. Tool icons that look 3D (like Push/Pull, Tape Measure and Paint Bucket) are all SketchUp models that John inserted into LayOut. Most have no post-processing at all.

You can download Quick Reference Cards for each product.

While I was working on the updated Quick Reference Cards for SketchUp 8 and LayOut 3, it occurred to me that other people might be interested in using our icons. Having them as high-resolution images is super-useful for creating tutorials, which is something a lot of folks do. Laptop stickers and t-shirts with Follow Me on the back are also great expressions of SketchUp nerdom.

All of the icons in SketchUp and LayOut; download individual files below.

I’ve uploaded a couple of zipped folders that you’re free to grab; each icon is an individual, 800 x 800 pixel PNG with a transparent background:

SketchUp Tool Icons (8 MB)

LayOut Tool Icons (3 MB)

Please use this post’s comments to let us know what you plan to do with them.

Update: Corrected download sources for the icon files.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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SketchUp Pro Case Study: Robertson+WalshDesign

The following is from Brandon Walsh of Robertson+WalshDesign. A new SketchUp Pro user, Brandon provides some outstanding documents, all created in LayOut, showing the power of the software and the advantage it gives him due to its seamless integration with SketchUp.

I started working with Aaron Gasper and Andrew Kroh; they were the ones who encouraged me to work entirely in SketchUp Pro. We started work with LayOut on July 5th (right after the holiday) and by July 23rd we were fine-tuning the 95% set for permit. Within one month, we learned how to create a construction model in SketchUp (not just a loose design model,) learned LayOut completely, and printed the permit set. It was approved in September.

SketchUp Pro has proven to be very fast, effective, and frankly a better program when it comes to both designing and documenting projects – and we’ve figured out this program in less than a few weeks. We're going to throw CAD out the door! The process of labeling and dimensioning in LayOut was far superior to CAD; was easier to see and faster to complete for us. There's no way we'll be picking up any of the typical CAD software again any time soon – we'll be using SketchUp Pro. Any engineers we work with will receive exports right from our SketchUp model. It works beautifully.

Our documents have led to requests from contractors to do 3D imaging of projects they're working on. Being able to see things in 3D helps clients understand interior spaces, which in turn helps them make decisions so things can move forward.

SketchUp Pro is going to help grow our business significantly: On our next project, we’ll be creating a model, turning it into drawings, and setting up a “construction site laptop” that everyone can reference during construction. We can do things faster, communicate ideas more easily, create a better construction drawing set, and complete our projects more efficiently by referencing the model directly. Contractors will be able to navigate the model easily; we’ll create saved views that correspond to what they'll need. Clicking on the scene tabs is all they’ll have to do to get the relevant information. If I'm not mistaken, this is a form of Building Information Modeling – having the model on a laptop on site is going to be fantastic.

Thanks for your enthusiasm, Brandon. Congratulations on some really amazing work in LayOut.

Update: Brandon Walsh has published a terrific comment on this post's comment thread. Well worth reading.

Brandon Feltman, SketchUp Sales Team

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A recap of 3D Basecamp 2010

3D Basecamp 2010, which took place September 1st to the 3rd, was a truly unforgettable event. A total of about 250 of the world’s most skilled and die-hard SketchUp modelers descended on Boulder, Colorado for three days of learning, sharing and fun. Tyson cut together a short video that should give you an idea of what it was like:

Here’s a play-by-play of what happened at Basecamp:

DAY 1

What's an event with a great, big sign?

Between 10 am and 1, attendees checked in, loitered around and ate a big brunch in the lobby of the Dairy Center (about a block from our office.) The energy was palpable.

People chatted and ate brunch before things kicked off.

At 1, we herded everyone into the Rocky Mountain Room for the Basecamp kickoff and keynote presentation. After a few announcements about logistics (drink lots of water to stave off altitude sickness, etc) John got up and welcomed everyone to Boulder.

John (our Product Manager) announces the release of SketchUp 8.

The house was packed.

Launching in the keynote, John talked a little bit about SketchUp’s history and where we are now: Over one million unique people use every week. He announced SketchUp 8, running through some slides to go over what’s in the new release.

Bryce gets ready to talk about the Solid Tools. Scott just finished showing Image Igloo. Google staff wore wool caps so attendees would recognize us.

After John’s news, Scott, Bryce and I took turns presenting some of the new features in 8: Modeling in Context, Solid Tools and Updates to LayOut. Tyson recorded the whole shebang; you can watch it if you like:

Afterwards, we retired to the lobby for champagne and birthday cake – SketchUp is 10 year old, after all. Basecampers were on their own for dinner, but “birds-of-a-feather” groups of like-minded attendees hit the town together. Much beer was drunk.

At the end of Day 1, we celebrated SketchUp's 10th birthday with cake and champagne.

DAY 2

Thursday morning, everyone gathered again in the Rocky Mountain Room for the beginning of the Unconference. I explained how unconferences work (participants set the agenda) and folks started pitching their ideas: One by one, attendees took the mic and told everyone what they’d like to present, learn about or just discuss. After speaking, they handed a sticky note with the idea to one of us, and we put it on the Big Board.

As people proposed sessions, we put them up on the Big Board.

After some frenzied shuffling and re-arranging, everyone headed off to 12 different spaces for the first session. Unconferences are always a little nuts at the beginning; this one was no exception. The rest of the day was spent in three more sessions. You can see the list of all 41 sessions (and read notes taken in all of them) by visiting the 3D Basecamp website.

Unconference sessions took place all over the Dairy Center.

Thursday evening, all of us trooped over to the Google Boulder office for a party on the deck. We ate, we drank, we listened to music, we talked about highly esoteric (some might say geeky) aspects of SketchUp’s development. About five hours after it started, we escorted the last revelers out of the building and locked up for the night.

Attendees gathered on the deck Thursday evening. The weather was perfect. Some folks hung out in the rotunda.

DAY 3

Bright and early Friday, we regrouped at the Dairy Center for the start of Day 3. Developers of plugins and other tools – our Friends of SketchUp – presented their amazing wares all morning. Around noon, everyone dispersed to take naps and make their way home. Check out the complete 3D Basecamp 2010 photo album and download anything you like.

Thank you to everyone who helped us make this this best 3D Basecamp yet. We can’t wait to see you all again soon.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Drafting in LayOut 3

LayOut 3 (which is part of SketchUp Pro 8) contains a ton of fixes, improvements and other tweaks that make it something you should definitely check out. If you’re already using LayOut 2, the upgrade is a no-brainer; if you’re not a LayOut user yet, it’s probably time to download a trial of SketchUp Pro 8 and take it for a spin.

We introduced four major new features in LayOut 3; they’re intended to make it even easier for you to take care of some (or even all) of your 2D documentation work in SketchUp Pro:

Angular Dimensions

When we introduced regular ol’ linear dimensions in LayOut 2.1 last year, plenty of folks told us they were very, very happy. Being able to dimension orthographic views of their SketchUp models in LayOut meant not having to export to CAD every time they needed a scaled, dimensioned drawing. Neverless, one big thing was missing: being able to annotate angular dimensions.

Using LayOut 3’s new Angular Dimension tool is a five-click procedure. Your first two clicks indicate the direction of the first line; your next two clicks indicate the direction of the second. Your fifth click positions the actual annotation on the page. It’s a flexible system that’s designed to accommodate all kinds of different situations.

Precise Move

One the surface, this feature seems kind of simple; just reposition an object’s center point to give it a custom inference location. In actuality, we created Precise Move in response to a very important – and extremely common – feature request: the ability to more easily position placed SketchUp model views relative to one another on the page.

A bit of background: When we added dimensioning in LayOut 2.1, we also added a nifty little feature called Snap to Point. It let your cursor “see” inference points on placed SketchUp models. All of a sudden, you could snap to endpoints (and other inferences), which in turn made it possible to use your SketchUp model views as the basis for 2D drawings. Dimensioning and Snap to Point made it possible to do 2D drafting in LayOut.

Precise Move (which is new for LayOut 3) makes it possible to take advantage of Snap to Point to, say, line up a plan view with an elevation on the same page. It’s a small thing, but you’ll use it every time you use LayOut to create a set of drawings. Take a look at the video above to see exactly what I’m talking about.

Custom Line Styles

Instead of just adding dozens of new dashed line styles to the menu of ones that are available in the Shape Style dialog box, we figured out a way to let you create what you need with a combination of three simple settings:

• Stroke Width: Determines the thickness of the line in pixels.
• Dash Pattern: Lets you choose a basic pattern to begin with. Examples are Dash-Dash; Dot-Dot; Dash-Dot; Dash-Dot-Dot — you get the idea. LayOut 3 comes with a dozen basic Dash Patterns you can choose from.
• Dashes Scale: By changing the Dashes Scale, you’re changing the length of the dashes, which automatically changes the amount of space there is between them. Each of the dozen Dash Patterns in LayOut 3 has a preset ratio that determines the amount of space between its dashes (or dots.) For example, choosing a setting of 0.5 x shortens the dashes -- and the spaces between them -- to one-half their original length.
  

CAD Export

You’ve always been able to export a LayOut drawing as a PDF; we added raster export (in the form of PNG and JPG) in LayOut 2. For this version, we decided to throw in DXF/DWG 2010. Lines in placed SketchUp model views that are rendered in Hybrid or Vector mode will export as fully-editable vector geometry. For those who need to generate CAD files for other members of their team, or who might like to add LayOut drafting to their existing multi-tool workflow, this one’s huge.

Feel free to download a trial version of SketchUp Pro 8 (which includes LayOut 3 and scads of other features) from our website.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Announcing Google SketchUp 8

Today is an exciting day around the SketchUp World Headquarters out here in Boulder, Colorado. We’ve just kicked off our third bi-annual “3D Basecamp” to a crowd of SketchUp-savvy folks converging on The Dairy Center from all around the world. I’m looking forward to some great conversations about SketchUp and 3D modeling in general over the next few days. But that’s not our only news today...

We’ve also finished work on SketchUp 8, the next major release of our favorite 3D modeling tool. We’ve been heads down and working hard for most of the last year, and I’m happy to be able to share with you the fruits of our labor.


Google SketchUp 8 includes a batch of exciting new features. We’ve made it easier to build site context models for your projects using our ever-growing collection of geo-data. We’ve added a new collection of “Solid” tools for doing common additive/subtractive modeling operations and we’ve packed out LayOut with some new features that make it easier to document your models professionally.



Ordinarily, those of you who use SketchUp in a language other than English have to wait a few weeks for a version in your language. But not this time—today, SketchUp 8 is available for download in English, French, Spanish, Italian or German language versions. (We weren’t able to get all our translations done in time for release today, but keep an eye on this blog for news about SketchUp 8 in more languages soon)

As always, SketchUp Pro 8 is available for $495 from our web store. Upgrades from any previous version of SketchUp Pro can be had from for only $95. And, of course, we’ve still got a version of SketchUp available for free. Head on over to our main website for all the details.

You can be sure we’ll be talking about this release a lot over the next few days at 3D Basecamp, but I want to make sure that those of you who weren’t able to join us in Boulder have a chance to let us know what you think, too. I’ve posted a new Google SketchUp Questions and Ideas series. I’m listening, and I’ll respond to as many of the top posts there as I can.

Posted by John Bacus, SketchUp Product Manager

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Winning more jobs with LayOut

Most people we’ve met know what SketchUp is and what it can do, and those people generally think it’s the greatest thing since the three-button mouse. But what about LayOut? LayOut? What is that? How much is it and how do I get it?

Well, if you own SketchUp Pro you already own LayOut. It comes bundled as a part of SketchUp Pro. Robbie Blance of RB3D shows us how SketchUp Pro modelers are putting their models to work in LayOut – and winning more jobs.


Robbie has created professional construction documents. Everything shown in the images above was done using LayOut, including the title blocks. Robbie says:

“I have been using Sketchup LayOut for about 2 years. Originally I used it to only to show prospective clients what their new deck was going to look like on their house. I produced an A3 presentation sheet with four views of their new deck. As I got faster with my modelling and learned more about Layout I started building the decks and patios with more detail, in fact I built them completely using all the material the carpenters were going to use, so I then started producing working drawings. Now I use Layout to produce the drawings for the development applications as well, nothing is wasted, the original concept model simply gets more detailed.”

Posted by Brandon Feltman, SketchUp Sales Team

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A new home in Jacksonville

We offer a Non-profits Program for public benefit, 501 (c)(3) organizations to apply for a SketchUp Pro grant. One of our grantees, Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville, Inc., sent us this story about using SketchUp Pro for a house plan:

The Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Jacksonville, FL (HabiJax) is about to complete a 14 house subdivision named Paris Village. In preparation for this special project, HabiJax decided to create a new house design, the “Jackson”, and add it to the collection of plans available for selection by our home buyers.

My challenge was to provide a way for our home buyers to envision the “Jackson” without ever seeing it in person. SketchUp was the perfect solution -- it’s fast and easy to learn. As a nonprofit, the affiliate always strives to maximize resources, without sacrificing the quality of our products. SketchUp helped us do just that.

Rendering we used to advertise the new subdivision (SketchUp model rendered in Photoshop)

Choosing a house plan is always an exciting step for our clients in their path to home ownership, and generally our home buyers have to rely on seeing other houses built while they complete their 300 volunteer hours. Many of the Paris Village home buyers ended up selecting the “Jackson” model -- it has quickly become a favorite! We’ve all been very excited to watch the plan come to life as the home buyers, volunteers, and donors worked together on site.

User story, models and photos provided by Jack Spellman, Construction Coordinator, HabiJax

Posted by Chris Cronin, SketchUp Pro Team

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SketchUp goes down under...

A few weeks ago, members of the SketchUp team traveled to Sydney, Australia. We met with customers, attended the Form & Function Conference and presented a SketchUp Pro Demo to local architects at our Google Sydney office. In the next few weeks, I’ll post some of the work they’ve created in SketchUp & LayOut and include a few words on how they’re using 3D design & modeling in their offices.

For Part I of this SketchUp Pro “Down Under” series, the folks at Collard Maxwell Architects shared their story with us:

SketchUp Pro “Down Under” Part I: Collard Maxwell Architects

Collard Maxwell Architects is a Sydney-based architecture firm with a philosophy that successful architecture is the synthesis of art, technology and building economics resulting in memorable, economic and sustainable building solutions.

Alberto Sunderland, a Project Leader for CM+A, says that initially SketchUp Pro was used as a quick visualization tool of early concept work.

“The models were never very detailed and it was a tool used primarily within the office. It was used as a quick way of understanding massing and scale to determine if the design was heading the right direction."

SketchUp is used to confirm a complex set of egress stairs from a substation.

“As our skill grew we began to use SketchUp to generate models we could show our clients to help them understand the projects and to provide a quick and effective way of trying out changes before updating all our cad documentation."

Hornsby Project - Model was especially useful as the client was asked by council to explore a number of options for the façade treatment. Council signed off the changes based primarily on the images generated from the SketchUp model.

Balcony Detail - Model used to help the owners of the building understand very clearly what their balcony extensions will look like and show the builder detailed information.

“Over a period of time we began to use SketchUp Pro for tender presentations. Although we originally took the images and “dumped them” into Photoshop to create the presentation posters, we eventually discovered the possibilities of the SketchUp Pro’s LayOut tool. Combining LayOut with our SketchUp work has made the creation of simple, effective and clear presentations much quicker than our previous method utilizing Photoshop. We are very impressed.”



“We anticipate that SketchUp will become the primary visualisation tool in this office and, together with LayOut, it will be used to create most, if not all our presentation slides. The speed and ease of use of the software is amazing, and we are coming to appreciate the importance it may have within our workflow.”

Thank you Alberto and the entire CM+A staff for providing the project graphics and their story. SketchUp Pro “Down Under” to be continued...

Posted by Chris Dizon, SketchUp Pro Team

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A school for Mayan Teachers

3D models to help in visualization and communication have been one of SketchUp’s big strengths. Recently, I got in contact with Jim Fanjoy, an architect in the Peace Corps who has been using SketchUp for a school project in Guatemala. He has been using SketchUp models not only to help communicate with members of his team, but also to help bridge the language barrier between his design group and the local work force. Here's his story:

When I was originally contacted by the nonprofit for help designing the school, I did my first design proposals in SketchUp. It's fast, I used it before I joined the Peace Corps, and the renderings it produces are easily understandable by laypeople. Once we settled on a concept and started to develop it, I began showing plans and sections and elevations to the village elders and the local masons. It became clear early on that these types of drawings were causing a lot of confusion. In the US, we've spent centuries formalizing a system of presenting design data, and everyone in the construction industry has been trained to read plans, sections, and elevations. In the third world, though, most construction is done by semi-literate craftsmen with a good intuitive sense of what works, but no experience with drawings. And on a two-level, 8,000sf school, drawings were going to be necessary.

Spanish is a second language for all of us (the masons speak Q'anjob'al, a Mayan dialect), so I thought that the language barrier would be the biggest problem. Instead, I had to present the entire set of drawings in a non-traditional way that could be understood by the work crew. Using SketchUp, I modeled the building in much more detail than I normally would for design visualization. Using axonometric and three-point projections, carefully placed section cuts, and a lot of layers, I made drawings that show how the building would look during different phases of construction.

Complex systems, like the plumbing to catch and contain the rainwater for domestic use, are presented in perspective for easier visualization. Zoom-in details are presented only where they are critical, so the craftsmen will have the flexibility to use their traditional knowhow where it can save materials or labor. The various scenes from SketchUp were then brought into LayOut, so they could be labeled and printed out for the workmen.

Since SketchUp can be found in almost any design office, it also makes a good communication medium between consultants. I emailed my SketchUp model to an engineer in the US, to get his feedback on a few structural issues. My village is located on a remote mountainside in the highlands, and we have no phone lines or mail delivery. Via cellular internet and SketchUp, I had his response the next day.

SketchUp is also helping during construction. When there was some confusion on how to lay out the decorative "Mayan stairs" on the ends of the classrooms, I modeled them in more detail and dimensioned all the critical masonry measurements. I had the drawing to the masons the next day.

For more information on the project, you can visit the project's website and you can see reports of the construction progress on Jim Fanjoy’s Peace Corps blog. Jim, thank you for sharing all the information about your use of SketchUp on this project.

Posted by Chris Dizon, SketchUp Team

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Case Study: McCarthy Building Company

McCarthy Building Companies uses SketchUp Pro to streamline and enhance current processes which increase collaboration, improve quality, and reduce cost. Below is an excerpt of a case study we received from McCarthy. Visit our website to read the complete case study (and see more models).

McCarthy serves its clients with the latest technologies to solve their toughest construction challenges. We're true builders who utilize technology to augment our hands-on experience. That combination ensures clients get greater control—from preconstruction to completion. On-time scheduling, higher quality, safer projects, and better costs are just a few of the ways customers benefit from this unique approach. McCarthy also has a nationwide network of builder specialists, yet we maintain permanent offices in local markets too. That means we deliver expert solutions leveraging national best practices, plus strong sub-contractor relationships locally to help lower client cost and drive better results. It also means we have adeeply-felt obligation to give back to the community in every city we work in from coast to coast.

Challenge
Buildings and jobsites are becoming more and more congested and difficult to envision from just a set of 2D drawings. Designers and Engineers are creating structures in a 3D environment for placement in a 3D world. Building systems are rapidly evolving to implement new technologies that have not yet been implemented into construction before; resulting in challenging interfaces. It is no longer acceptable to go into a meeting with an owner with a hand-drawn site logistics plan. As a result of these challenges, McCarthy has instituted the use of Google SketchUp as a virtual construction tool to adapt and overcome to the challenges of the ever-evolving construction environment of the 21st century.

While working in conjunction with BSA LifeStructures this model, presented through LayOut,
was used to communicate the site logistics during construction.

Solution

McCarthy is committed to continuous innovative improvements to our building process. Utilizing SketchUp, our teams have been able to convey critical information in all phases from pre-construction to close-out, enhancing our Virtual Design and Construction services.

Site logistics - We have found that by creating a site logistics plan utilizing SketchUp, we can now show owners where we will be, and how it will impact their employees and clients.

RFIs and Virtual Mock-Ups - Our field staff is now finding solutions virtually, using SketchUp for RFI’s, mock-ups, self-perform concrete, and other details.


Virtual Construction Visualization - SketchUp has also been used to create concrete lift drawings to help the trades visualize the task from start to finish – potentially catching any accidental omissions before starting actual construction.

Results
By modeling our RFI’s, site logistics plans, building mock-ups, self-perform concrete, and many other details, we have found increased efficiency, better quality, and reduced costs. The aforementioned products have allowed us to improve our relationships with Owners, Architects and Subcontractors creating a collaborative environment that is beneficial to all parties.

As a leader in BIM technology, our vision is clear and we have been able to reduce cost by utilizing SketchUp to pass those savings onto our owners. One of the reasons Google SketchUp is such a powerful tool at McCarthy is the small learning curve and low cost. Most of the BIM systems out there have a larger learning curve and higher price. SketchUp’s ease of use and the availability of extensive online training, has allowed our teams to remain on-site and implement their new tools faster. SketchUp has allowed our quality department to standardize and visualize our best practices for our Building Enclosure Program, allowing these models to be used as a baseline for future projects. McCarthy holds an annual SketchUp contest throughout the company to enhance SketchUp’s use. Google SketchUp is now being utilized in almost every department from owner presentations to RFI’s. SketchUp has allowed us to continue to have the hands-on approach we need to be the best builder in America.

Posted by Chris Dizon, SketchUp Pro Team

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Connecting SketchUp Scenes to LayOut model viewports

Here's a juicy little factoid that experienced SketchUp Pro users know: When you're working with multiple SketchUp model viewports in LayOut, it really helps to create corresponding scenes in your SketchUp model.

The primary reason for this is pretty simple. While it's easy to pan, zoom and orbit your model view around in LayOut until it's exactly right, there's no easy way to save that view in case you need to come back to it later. If there's a particular camera angle you want to use in your LayOut doc, it'll save you time in the long run to open the model in SketchUp and create a scene with the view you want.

Follow these steps to associate a scene you've created in SketchUp with a model viewport in an existing LayOut file:

1. In LayOut, right-click on a model viewport and choose Open with SketchUp from the context menu.
2. In SketchUp, use the navigation tools to frame the view you want.
3. Add a new scene to your model (View > Animation > Add Scene).
4. Save your model.
5. In LayOut, right-click on the model viewport and choose Update Reference from the context menu.
6. Make sure the model viewport is selected, then open the SketchUp Model dialog box (Window > SketchUp Model).
7. In the "Scene" drop-down menu, choose the scene you created in Step 3.

LayOut's SketchUp Model dialog box lets you assign a specific SketchUp scene to a model viewport.

Voilà! Your scene is now associated with your model viewport.
Using section cuts in LayOut

There are a few situations when you MUST use SketchUp scenes in combination with LayOut viewports. One of these involves section cuts. Because you can't create, activate (or de-activate) section cuts directly in LayOut, you have to set up scenes to be able to make use of them*.

In this example, I've modeled J.R. Davidson’s Case Study House #1, and I want to create a two-page LayOut doc as a presentation file. The first page will show a bird's-eye perspective; the second page, a first-floor plan. I use a horizontal Section Plane to produce the plan view (see below).

I use a Section Plane (Tools > Section Plane) to create a cut plan view of this building.

Still in SketchUp, I save a scene for each of the two views I want to present in LayOut:

I create two scenes in my SketchUp model.

In LayOut, I create a two-page doc and insert the CSH#1 model on each page. Using the SketchUp Model dialog box, I assign one scene to each of the two viewports (one on each page).

I assign each of the scenes I created to different viewports in LayOut.

*It’s technically possible to show/hide section cuts in LayOut by making clever use of Styles, but even that has its limitations. Section cut visibility in Styles is either on or off; as soon as you add two section planes, you’re back to needing Scenes. For this reason, I prefer sticking to Scenes all the time -- it’s simpler and it works all of the time.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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Moving dimensioned model views in LayOut

Moving stuff around on your LayOut pages is a pretty simple operation: All you have to do is use the Select tool to put things where you want them. (You can also use the arrow keys to nudge elements around in small increments. Holding down Shift while you nudge multiplies the increment by a factor of ten).

If you've dimensioned a SketchUp model view, things can get trickier. Since each dimension is technically a separate element, and since dimensions are connected to the underlying geometry in your model, moving things requires you to be a little more intentional about what you intend to move:

Selecting and moving just the model view causes any associated dimension to do everything it can not to move. Extension lines (leaders) stretch and shrink to stay connected to the model, but the rest of the dimension tries to stay put. See below:

Moving only your model view causes your dimensions' leader lines to stretch.

Selecting the model view AND its associated dimensions THEN moving everything causes everything to stick together as a single mass; most of the time, this is the behavior you're after. Here's what I mean:

Selecting your model view and its associated dimensions lets you move everything at once.

For this reason, I like to group together (right-click > Group) model views and their associated dimensions to keep things tidy. To edit a group, just double-click.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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How are you using LayOut?

Over the years, we've gotten to know a lot about how our customers are using SketchUp Pro. What we've learned has helped us to educate professionals in other, related fields, and has done a lot to influence the development of our product. In short, we love to see what you do with the tools we make.

When it comes to LayOut -- SketchUp Pro's 2D companion app -- I think there's an opportunity for us to learn even more. Since LayOut 2 launched in late 2008, we've seen a huge increase in usage, but we don't have as many user stories as we'd like. We want to know more about how folks are using LayOut, and we want to see (and show off) more examples of the inspiring work that's being done.

If you're using LayOut, we'd love for you to take the time to tell us how: Please submit a case study (it doesn't need to be very long) by following the instructions at the bottom of our Case Studies web page. We'll do our best to feature your work on our blog, in the SketchUpdate newsletter, and on our website. Any architectural LayOut documents that we receive may also be showcased in our booth at the AIA National Conference this year -- fame and glory in Miami!

This is a great way to get your name out into the community; you'll also be helping us to understand more about the uses of LayOut in a variety of industries. To submit, just check out our Case Studies web page. When you're attaching files, it would be great to have your original LayOut file; it makes printing a whole lot easier (don't worry -- we won't share your original files with anyone).

One more thing: You can also find great examples of other people's submissions by filltering this blog for User Stories. Thanks, and we can’t wait to see what you’ve done.

Posted by Nancy Trigg, Manager Sales and Operations, SketchUp Pro

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Text box shortcuts in LayOut

Our developers programmed a neat little time-saving trick into LayOut; it has to do with how you create text boxes with the Text tool. Basically, you can set a text box's justification (left, center, right) and alignment (top, middle, bottom) by deliberately drawing it in a specific way. Here's how it works:

• Draw from upper-left to lower-right to create a Left-Top justified text box.
• Draw from lower-left to upper-right to create a Left-Bottom justified text box.
• Draw from upper-right to lower-left to create a Right-Top justified text box.
• Draw from lower-right to upper-left to create a Right-Bottom justified text box.
• Hold down Control (Command on a Mac) to create a Center-Middle justified text box.

Simple, but effective.

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist

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LayOut 2.1 gets its very own book

While there’s a healthy selection of books about SketchUp Pro, there hasn’t been a book dedicated entirely to LayOut – until now. Longtime friend-of-SketchUp and writer Bonnie Roskes has just released Google SketchUp Hands-On: LayOut 2.1. The book is written in Bonnie’s usual step-by-step, hands-on tutorial format, and it covers pretty much everything you need to know about LayOut:

• importing and exporting
• updating models
• templates (modifying existing ones and creating your own)
• layers and pages
• drawing tools
• standard views and scales
• dimensions
• labels and text
• clipping masks
• rendering (raster, vector, and hybrid)
• scrapbooks
• hatches and fills
• cutaway views

This PDF is the Table of Contents for the book. You’ll also learn how to use SketchUp layers, scenes, and styles to get the most out of your LayOut presentations. Watch the video below for a tip on how to use scenes in SketchUp when importing models into LayOut:



If you have SketchUp Pro, check out Bonnie’s book and see what you’ve been missing in LayOut. If you haven’t upgraded to SketchUp Pro 7, or you need to purchase a license, please visit the SketchUp Pro store.

Posted by Laura Allen, Sales Operations Coordinator

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​A discussion about creating construction and working drawings with LayOut

​Over on the SketchUp Community Forums at SketchUcation, there’s a long and interesting thread about using LayOut for construction and working drawings. In some ways, it’s become a philosophical discussion about what constitutes a “construction drawing” (given the advances in 3D technology and rendering) – SketchUp modelers are never afraid to dig deep into these kinds of things. Some of us have been following the discussion closely, and we think readers of this blog might want to check it out, too.

A couple of caveats before you make the jump:

• Since the thread has been going for over a year, many people’s opinions are based on the version of LayOut that they were using at the time of their post, including the Beta version. Please pay attention to the date of the post as well as its content.
• The SCF are great because they cater to SketchUp experts and novices alike, and the members are a talented and passionate bunch. As such, you’ll see a healthy debate and, occasionally, strongly-worded comments. SCF contributors are often our biggest supporters as well as our most outspoken critics.

Now that that’s out of the way, enjoy the thread – all 11+ pages of it!

Note: If you’re not already a SketchUcation member, you’ll want to sign up to get access to all of the example images and files.

Image courtesy of Tebbs Design Group

Image courtesy of Paul Lee

Image courtesy of NZ Strong Construction

Posted by Chris Cronin, SketchUp Team

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Connecting SketchUp Scenes to LayOut Templates

Both SketchUp and LayOut include Templates: pre-designed files which you can use as a starting point for your own work. There's a way to use custom Templates in both applications to simplify your printing and presentation workflow. Basically, you can set things up so that a SketchUp model automatically populates a multi-page LayOut document with a number of pre-set views.

This technique allows you to auto-populate a LayOut Template with a set of Scenes from a SketchUp file. (Click to enlarge)

The key is to use Scenes in SketchUp that correspond to specific viewports in a LayOut Template. LayOut will automatically populate each viewport with the right model. Confused? Read on for a concrete example...

Let's say you're a furniture designer who always needs to produce a three-page brochure for each new piece you design. The three pages are:

• Page 1: Glossy Perspective View
• Page 2: Isometric View
• Page 3: Orthographic Views (Top, Front, Side)

Getting set up in SketchUp

The first thing you need to do is create a SketchUp Template that you can use for each furniture piece:

1. Start by opening a new SketchUp file.
2. Import a furniture model; you'll use this to set up the Template you're making.
3. Create a Scene for each of the views you want to show in your brochure. In this case, there are five: Perspective, Iso, Top, Front and Side.
4. Save your file as a Template by choosing File > Save As Template... from the menu bar. Call it "Furniture Brochure Template".
5. Save your file somewhere on your computer. Call it "Furniture Brochure Working File.skp".

Create Scenes in SketchUp that correspond to the model views you want in LayOut. (Click to enlarge)

Getting set up in LayOut

Every brochure you create will be exactly the same except for the furniture and a bit of text. The logo, the contact info and the general layout shouldn't change. After all – your brochures are part of your brand identity. Since you're about to create numerous LayOut documents that are all very similar, you (wisely) choose to create a custom Template. You start by creating a new three-page document that looks like this:

Create a LayOut document with placeholders for the Scenes you created in SketchUp. (Click to enlarge)

Once your Template is designed, here's what to do next:

1. Insert the SketchUp model file you created earlier.
2. Place a different view of the model in each of the five areas of your LayOut document.
3. For each, scale the bounding box to fit, then assign a Scene using the Scene drop-down menu in the SketchUp Model dialog box.
4. For the orthographic views (Top, Front and Side) on page 3, you can also assign a scale – in this case, 3/4" = 1' (1:16).
5. Now save your LayOut document as a custom Template: Choose File > Save As Template... from the menu bar. Call it "Furniture Brochure Template 1".

When you "Send to LayOut", the Scenes from SketchUp auto-populate the LayOut Template you created. (Click to enlarge)

Using your new workflow

Now that you're all set up, you can start saving time. Here's how to proceed:

1. Open a new SketchUp file using the Template you created earlier. In this case, that's "Furniture Brochure Template". You can choose to start with a specific Template from the Welcome to SketchUp dialog box (Help > Welcome to SketchUp).
2. Replace the stand-in model in the Template with the model you'd like to feature in a LayOut brochure.
3. Go through each Scene and make sure your model looks right and fits properly in the modeling window. Zoom, Orbit and Pan to correct the view, then Update the Scene.
4. Save your SketchUp file.
5. Choose File > Send to LayOut from the menu bar.When LayOut opens, find and choose the LayOut Template you created earlier. In this example, that's "Furniture Brochure Template 1".
6. Go through your LayOut document and check to make sure the new model looks right in each viewport. Where it doesn't, correct the view.
7. Add custom text, labels, dimensions, graphics and photos to complete the document.

A brochure in LayOut created with another piece of furniture (Slinky Occasional Table by Maxime Garcia – moboille on 3D Warehouse) (Click to enlarge)

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist and Barry Janzen, QA Engineer

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