Introductory Layout Skills in Sketchup

8/11/2019 Introductory Layout Skills in Sketchup

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Layout Skills in Sketchup

First, we need a building. For the purposes of this demonstration, Iwill download/import a model from 3D Warehouse. In addition to

buildings, 3D wardhouse contains interior and exterior furniture,

people, trees, vehicles and pretty much all the components that arenecessary for presentation.

Import a Building (or build one):

You may have to EXPLODE your imported building to work with the individualcomponents. Right click, select EXPLODE.


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Preparing and image for Layout: 2 Methods

Method 1: Make Transparent images for import into Layout

Ive selected a house by Corbusier. Since I want to produce views of this house with a

transparent background for my layout, I want to put the house on a background that I caneasily identify, and delete, in photoshop. That is, there should be a strong distinction

between the building colour and the background colour.

Changing the Background Colour:

In the WINDOWS tab along the top toolbar, select STYLES. The following dialoguebox opens.

In the EDIT tab, make sure the colour is set BY MATERIAL


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Select the MIX tab, and open up the color set folders in the bottom panel. Drag theCOLOR SET you want to use from the lower panel to the BACKGROUND SETTINGS

row. I have chosen red, as it will be easy to delete in photoshop.


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Here is the same building with a blue background. Works equally well.

I have a number of active SECTION PLANES on my screen. I have turned them off, and

will export various sections as JPGs.


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Setting up Views for Layout

I want to set this up as a parallel view.

Next, I need to set my rendering style


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Examples are:


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Export as 2D Graphic

I saved my view as a jpg, opened the file in PHOTOSHOP, and exported as a transparentGIF (see tutorial on transparent images for details).


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Getting Setup in Layout

You can send your model directly from Sketchup to Layout SEND TO LAYOUT

Ive opened a generic A3 GRID BACKGROUND LANDSCAPE document for my

layout. I want to change the setting as follows.

Go to FILEDOCUMENT SETUPmake changes in the dialogue box


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Set paper size to A1 Landscape

In the GRID options, you can modify the major and minor lines same as the thicker orthinner lines. Ive left mine at the defaults.


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Select FILEINSERTSelect your GIF image.

We now have a transparent section in layout.


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Adjusting the Background

Im going to create a background colour using the rectangle tool, but first I need to select

a colour. In the first illustration, I the colour wheel, the second is colour image (makes

no difference.


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Using the rectangle tool, I made a brown background. Click on the rectangle to, and thecursor defaults to the move tool. Clicking on an edge allows you to crop or stretch the

image, and clicking on the little red circle in the middle allows you to rotate the image.

Right click on the image to arrange the order front to back etc.


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Adding Text

We can add text with or without a leader. The first illustration is a text box without

leader, the second is a with leader with text. Similar to AutoCAD, drag a text box, or

select the start point for the leader and enter text.

After adding text, we may want to edit the font, pt style, or colour.


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Any element can be easily deleted using the DELETE key on your keyboard, although

you can also use the eraser tool in the main toolbar.

You can zoom in and out of your illustration using the scroll button on your mouse.

The curve tool can be used to draw lines, curves, and freehand sketches. Hit theESCAPE button to end the line. Use CONTROL + Z to undo the last pencil stroke.


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You can modify the point style on the pencil in the SHAPE STLYE in the RIGHT

HAND TOOLBAR

There are many other possibilities, but thats a good start.


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Method 2

Modifying your Sketchup image in Layout

You can modify views in layout using the Sketchup tools. Click on the image, select the

edge of the image (it turns red), you can move it to crop the image. Click on the REDCIRCLE (compass) allows you to rotate the image.

Double clickinginside the viewport image allows you to edit the view, shadow, lighting,

and other sketchup features. (Double click outside the image to return to editing thelayout)


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When you are in the active viewport, you can use the tools in the RIGHT HAND

COLUMN, in the SKETCH UP MODEL TAB to modify the view, shadow, style, etc.


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You can modify the line type. In the STYLES TAB, in the DROP DOWN MENU, select

STYLES. From the folders below, select options. Here are a couple of possibilities.

This is one possibility for setting up views in layout, the other is to insert the transparentimage. This method results in having the rectangular shape around the image. Setting

the background colour in the image to match the document colour would be one way

around that issue.YkjePiera2009

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Introductory Layout Skills in Sketchup