Table of Contents

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

About the Cover..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Chapter 1: Introduction to LayOut

First LayOut Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Second LayOut Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Changing the SketchUp Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Showing the Presentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Exporting the Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Document Setup and Preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Document Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 2: SketchUp Setup, LayOut Viewports

Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Creating SketchUp Layers and Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
First Inside Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Setting up the View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Overall Yard Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Interior Dimensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Text Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Second Inside Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Setting Up the First Elevation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Viewport Rectangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Rotated Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Complete the Remaining Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Third (and Last) Inside Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Section View and Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Section View in LayOut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Changing the Cover Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapter 3: Templates: Title Blocks, Pages, Layers

Exploring an Existing Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Auto-Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Layers and Unique Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Creating a New Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Company Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Page Detail Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Saving and Using the Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Creating a Custom-Sized Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Creating a Set of Custom Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Using Templates to Set Default Tool Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Using Layers and Pages for Working Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Using Templates for Streamlined Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015

Set Up SketchUp Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Create the LayOut Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Relink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
Replace the SketchUp Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Chapter 4: Rendering SketchUp Views

Modifying and Tracing a View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Isometric View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Side View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Front View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
Vector vs. Raster vs. Hybrid Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Page 1: Raster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Page 2: Hybrid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Page 3: Vector, Modify Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Page 4: Vector, Modify Edges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Page 5: Vector with Translucency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

Chapter 5: Clipping Masks and Clipping Planes

Clipping an Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Clipping a SketchUp Model View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Freehand Clipping Shape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Clipping Shape Using the Line Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Cutaways and Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Cutaway View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Highlighted View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Clipping Planes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Organize the SketchUp Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Two Front View Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Smokestacks Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Vents Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Scene Clean-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
LayOut Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Chapter 6: Labels, Dimensions, Smart Labels

Basic Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Labels with Straight Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Labels with Curved Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Dimensions in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Smart Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Dynamic and non-Dynamic Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Group and Component Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Dynamic Component Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Classifier Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162
Easy Working Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

Chapter 7: Patterns and Hatching

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Intro to Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Using Patterns in SketchUp Model Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Using Pre-Installed Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Using Custom Graphic Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Using Custom Linework Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Easy Poche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
“Fake” Hatching in SketchUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Painting the Floor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Creating Hatched “End Cap” Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Chapter 8: Scrapbooks and Shapes

Intro to Scrapbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
How Scrapbooks are Set Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Creating a 2D Scrapbook Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Creating a 3D Scrapbook Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Adding a Scrapbook Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Scrapbooks and Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Custom Styles: Labels and Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Custom Styles: Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Using Scrapbooks for Clipping Shapes (or Any Shapes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Creating the Clipping Shape in LayOut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Creating the Clipping Shape in SketchUp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Complex Shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Joining, Splitting, Grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Rotating, Moving Reference Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015

29. We want to select only the rectangle and not the 31. Right-click on any selected object and choose
chair, so click the rectangle on or near an edge, away Center / Horizontally on Page.
from the chair itself. Drag the right vertical edge until
the rectangle includes the text.

32. Click in blank space. Now the first page of the

LayOut presentation is perfect (for now).
30. The last task is to center all of the objects (model,
rectangle, and text) on the page. Objects in LayOut
can be selected like in SketchUp: either use
Ctrl/Cmd+A, or press Shift and click objects one by
one, or drag a right-to-left selection window like this:

NOTE: Just like in SketchUp, a left-to-right selection

window selects all objects completely within the selection
rectangle. A right-to-left window selects everything inside
and partially inside the selection window.

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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015

5. Change the lower-left viewport to a Left view. 9. Double-click where you want the text to start.

10. LayOut provides a few options for the label text.

6. To change the top-left viewport, double-click and Because this object is a component in SketchUp, you
orbit the chair to face toward the right, as it appeared can choose to use the component’s definition (its
before. name) as the label. The component definition in this
case is “LayOut Chair” - the name of the model you
imported from the 3D Warehouse into the blank
SketchUp model, at the start of this chapter.

7. In addition to text, the other type of annotation you

can add is a label. Click the Label icon, or choose
Tools / Label.
TIP: You can check (or edit) a component’s definition in
SketchUp by right-clicking on it and choosing Entity Info.
If an object being labelled has no name or other properties
defined, there will be no default text option. Label text
options will be covered in “Smart Labels” on page 148.
8. Set the font, size, etc. in the Text Style tray or the
Font window, and click a point on the isometric chair
where you want the label to start.

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 Chapter 2: SketchUp Setup, LayOut Viewports

. . . so click where shown, to get the 62 degree angle.

NOTE: Later in this book you’ll see two other ways to set
tool styles. These will be shown in “Using Templates to
Set Default Tool Styles” on page 73 and “Scrapbooks and
Styles” on page 198.

Here’s what we have so far for the yard’s overall

dimensions:

30. The angular dimension has its own default style, so

to match its style to the ones already there, activate
the Style tool, click one of the linear dimensions . . .

31. . . . then click the angular dimension.

33. Linear LayOut dimensions (not angular ones) remain

attached to points in the model. So if you move the
model view around, the text of each linear dimension
stays in place, while the dimensions lines move
around to accommodate. Give it a try and see! This
32. If you want to adjust this dimension’s extension works on isometric views as well.
lines, use the same Select tool / double-click method
to edit its control points. (Angular dimensions also
have several control points, each of which performs a
different function. Try dragging around various
control points to see what they do. You can always
use Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo.)

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 Chapter 2: SketchUp Setup, LayOut Viewports

5. For each of the three copied viewports, switch to a 8. Click away from the text, and the orientation returns
different standard view (Left, Right, Back). to vertical.

9. Fix the other two text strings the same way.

6. To edit one of the copied text strings, activate Select

and double-click it. Its orientation switches
temporarily bank to horizontal (it’s easier to edit this
way).

Third (and Last) Inside Page

The last inside page of our LayOut presentation will show
an interior plan of the first floor of the house. Sectioning
a model can’t be done directly in LayOut, so we need to
7. Change “North” to “East.” add a sectioned view to the SketchUp model.

Section View and Scene

1. Return to the SketchUp model and display the
“House Only” scene.

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 Chapter 3: Templates: Title Blocks, Pages, Layers

15. Make a copy of the text box straight down, so that 17. Replace the address text with two lines describing
there are two empty grid squares between the text what Acme does.
boxes.

18. Click outside the text to complete it, and it goes back
to vertical.

16. Select should still be the active tool. Double-click the

copied text to edit it, and it switches back to
horizontal for editing.

19. Select the lower text box again, and click Align
Right.

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15. Open the Pages tray and create “Cover Page.” Move
this page above Page 1.
The cover page is now the open page, and it contains
everything from the three layers that are shared
across all pages. (To verify this, you can turn off and
on these layers.) But we want these objects to be on
the “Cover Page” layer instead.
16. Select all objects on the cover page. These objects
should be found on the two shared layers.
17. Press Ctrl / Cmd + C to copy all of these objects.
18. Turn off the visibility of the two shared layers. This
should make the “Cover Page” layer active.
Chapter 3: Templates: Title Blocks, Pages, Layers
19. Press Ctrl / Cmd + V to paste the copied elements
back in, and now they are on the “Cover Page” layer.
20. Adjust the objects on this page to look more like a
cover page. In my example, I rotated the logo to be
horizontal, and moved it to the bottom of the page.
The large rectangle at the top was widened to meet
the page borders, the “Project” box was widened, and
the other rectangles at the bottom were erased.
21. To finalize this template before saving it, make
“Default” the active layer. Also lock the “Cover
Page” and “Title Block” layers so that their contents
cannot be erased or edited.
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 Chapter 3: Templates: Title Blocks, Pages, Layers

7. Choose File / Send to LayOut. Look in “My 9. To check to see whether the dimensions are attached
Templates” and find the template you saved. to their views, move one of the views around, to
verify that the dimension lines follow.

8. Check all pages, which should all display the correct

scenes, styles, and scales.
10. Changes to dimensions are pretty easy. In the Top
view, the vertical dimension can be changed to
extend to the front of the wine fridge. Activate Select
and double-click this dimension to edit its control
points. The point that will control the dimension’s
reference is indicated below.

In this example, even the dimensions should seem

more or less OK.

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 Chapter 4: Rendering SketchUp Views

8. Move the image back by the same distance (negative There are no background or edge changes to note
this time), and now you have a view with modified here, but the green roof faces lose their texture
edges as well as the original background and image, and become solid green. (Hybrid rendering
textures. would have preserved this texture, but all faces
would be part of an image that could not be edited
within LayOut.) Because no edges are included with
this view, hybrid rendering would be no different
than raster.
3. With vector rendering, both faces and edges can be
edited. Explode and ungroup until each face is a
separate object. (I had to ungroup twice.)

Page 3: Vector, Modify Faces

This view uses a neat trick: starting with no SketchUp
edges, and re-creating the edges in LayOut.
1. Open Page 3. For this view, switch the style to “No
Edges.”

4. Select all of the faces, which are now LayOut shapes

with solid fill and no stroke. Turn on Stroke and set
the edge color and thickness.

2. Set the rendering to Vector.

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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015

13. We want to erase the first line, (the jagged one), but 16. Move, add, or drag control points to improve the
that line is “under” the new line. So activate Select, curve.
right-click on the new spline or on the shape inside it,
and use Arrange / Send Backward to move it down
“behind” the jagged lines.

17. Copy the kitchen view and the new clipping shape to
the lower right corner of the page.

14. Now you can erase the jagged line.

15. To edit this smooth curve, display its control points.
You can see one at each point you clicked.

18. Clip this view, and increase its size. If you remember
the scale you used when resizing the oven view, you
can use that same scale here. Then set the shape’s
border.

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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015
2. The other style is “Monochrome.” Make sure this
style is active, then send to LayOut.
3. In LayOut, create a “Shaded” and “Monochrome”
layer. “Shaded” should be on top. Move the current
view to “Monochrome.”
4. Copy the view, and blank and lock the
“Monochrome” layer.
5. WIth the “Shaded” layer active, paste in the view.
Then create a clipping shape with no fill, using
whatever drawing tool you like.
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6. Clip the view, display the “Shaded with Textures”
style, and give the clipped view a border.
7. Turn the “Monochrome” layer back on.
Clipping Planes
Until now, the exercises in this chapter have focused on
how to use clipping shapes in LayOut to control what
portion of a SketchUp model appears in LayOut. This
section shows how to use clipping planes to set views and
create scenes in SketchUp, in order to control what
portions of the model will appear in LayOut.
We’ve already done a bit of this in Chapter 2, where we
set up layers to control object visibility. This section will
go much more in-depth, demonstrating different
techniques for hiding and showing specific objects. These
techniques involve:
• Fog
• Section planes
• Rectangles for hiding
• Position Camera tool
 Chapter 5: Clipping Masks and Clipping Planes

Smokestacks Scene As before, this shows what we don’t want to see.

The smokestacks will be viewed from the left, from the
perspective of a camera located on Building B facing
toward Building C. There’s a lot to hide in this view -
everything behind, in front, and to the right of the
smokestacks.
1. Go back to the “Parallel Projection” scene. The
section plane from the previous scene appears -
either ignore it or hide it, just don’t erase it.

3. So Reverse the section cut.

2. First, we’ll hide what’s in front of the smokestacks.

Place a section plane along the left wall of Building
C.

4. Now we want to create the camera view by

positioning the camera along the right edge of
Building B’s roof, facing toward the smokestacks.
This is easiest to do in Top view.

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13. Press Ctrl / Option and drag the new control point, to
make the line into a smooth curve.
14. Click away from the leader line, to complete the
leader line changes and go back to general label
editing (as opposed to control point editing).
15. When you create a label, the text and its leader are
connected. To verify this, move the text around - the
leader should follow.
Chapter 6: Labels, Dimensions, Smart Labels
16. There are several points around the text where the
leader can be attached. By default, the anchor point is
at the center of the right or left side of the text (the
right side in this case, since the arrow points to the
right). To change the anchor point, move the cursor
to the end of the leader line where it meets the text.
The cursor symbol should include a small blue dot.
17. Drag this point to the top right green anchor point.
18. Now if you move the text, the leader goes with it,
connected to the top right corner of the text box.
19. This move makes for a strange looking curvy leader,
so double-click to edit the leader’s control points.
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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015

5. When you click away from the window once, you 8. But instead, choose the “Model” attribute (for this
can see that the “itemcode” attribute is listed, and the component, it’s the closest text we have to a model
corresponding text is listed below that. number).

Here’s the completed cabinet label:

6. When you click away a second time, the label is
complete.

9. Since none of the refrigerator text options was ideal,

we can go back to SketchUp and fix one of the
attributes. In SketchUp, open the Component
Attributes window for the refrigerator and find the
7. Now start a new label on the cabinet whose
attribute for the text currently being used in its
properties we looked at in SketchUp. Because the
LayOut label: “ItemCode.”
previous label used the “itemcode” attribute, LayOut
assumes you want to use that attribute this time as
well.

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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015

6. For the patterns to align with one another, use the
Style tool to sample the pattern in one room . . .
8. Find a grass pattern from the “Site Patterns” category
and apply it to this new rectangle. Because these
patterns are based on graphics, and not simple black
or white linework, changing the fill color or
translucency has no effect on the pattern.

. . . and apply it to the other.

7. Now we’ll make a rectangle for the plot of land the

house will sit on. Create a rectangle surrounding the
floor plan, which has the same pattern and fill as the
room you just sampled. Use Arrange / Send to Back
to place this new rectangle “under” the house.

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8. There are a couple of ways to make changes to a
material. For this material, click the House icon in
the Materials window, to open the list of in-model
materials. Then find the swatch for the wavy line
pattern, and double-click on it.
9. This opens the material editing window. Change the
image size to make it 3 or 4 times larger. You can also
change the base color - light blue is used here.
Chapter 7: Patterns and Hatching
The material updates as you’re editing it.
10. When you’re finished editing, go back to the Select
tab of the Materials window (PC) or click the Close
button at the bottom of the Edit Material window
(Mac).
11. Close the group.
12. Create a scene for this plan view, which is what
you’d use in LayOut.
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 Chapter 8: Scrapbooks and Shapes

13. Unlock this layer. 17. Make three more copies of this view.

14. Change the text at the top to describe the new arrows,
changing the text bounding box if needed.

18. Change the scene of each copied view.

15. Lock the layer again.

16. Use File / Insert to bring in the first arrow. Remove

its background and set the style to Hidden Line.

19. Save and close the “Arrows” file once again, and you
can find the new page in the Scrapbooks tray.

What if you wanted to create the arrows in LayOut?

1. In a blank LayOut file, use LayOut’s various Arc
tools to create one of the arrows.
2. Use the Join tool to create a single arrow shape from
the chain of arcs, and set a Stroke and Fill (or no fill).

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SketchUp 2015 Hands-On: LayOut 2015

15. This works the same way: change the text, then edit 17. Now insert the bounded text . . .
the line’s control points to touch both the model and
the text.

. . . and place it here.

16. Remember, you can add or delete control points. To
change this to a two-segment leader, drag one of the
middle control points onto another one.

18. Edit the text and start typing, without line breaks.
Because the text is bounded, the line breaks are
inserted automatically.

NOTE: As we’ve seen, you can also use the Ctrl / Option
key while editing control points, to make curved leader
lines.

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 Chapter 8: Scrapbooks and Shapes

6. To make the shape easier to use in LayOut, erase its 10. Save and close the cloud scrapbook file.
face, leaving just the edges. (To do this, right-click 11. In a new LayOut file, insert one of the models used
on the face and choose Erase.) earlier, such as the Hopkins campus. Bring in the 3D
cloud from the scrapbook.

7. Save the SketchUp model.

8. In LayOut, edit the clouds scrapbook you created
before. Use File / Insert to bring in the SketchUp
cloud model you just saved. Move it into blank space
on the scrapbook page. Because it has no face, it is
not filled. 12. This cloud is a SketchUp model, so orbit the cloud to
an isometric view. The bits of the cloud “closer” to
you will appear larger, which can make for an
interesting looking clipping shape.

9. So that scrapbook users will be able to differentiate

this cloud from the other ones we created directly in
LayOut, add some text indicating that this cloud is
3D. (Meaning its position and orientation can be 13. Adjust the orientation of the SketchUp model of the
campus as well, if needed.
changed, since it comes from SketchUp.)

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