Connecting SketchUp Scenes to LayOut Templates
January 22nd, 2010 | Published in Google SketchUp
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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:
- Start by opening a new SketchUp file.
- Import a furniture model; you'll use this to set up the Template you're making.
- 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.
- Save your file as a Template by choosing File > Save As Template... from the menu bar. Call it "Furniture Brochure Template".
- Save your file somewhere on your computer. Call it "Furniture Brochure Working File.skp".
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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:
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Once your Template is designed, here's what to do next:
- Insert the SketchUp model file you created earlier.
- Place a different view of the model in each of the five areas of your LayOut document.
- For each, scale the bounding box to fit, then assign a Scene using the Scene drop-down menu in the SketchUp Model dialog box.
- 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).
- Now save your LayOut document as a custom Template: Choose File > Save As Template... from the menu bar. Call it "Furniture Brochure Template 1".
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Using your new workflow
Now that you're all set up, you can start saving time. Here's how to proceed:
- 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).
- Replace the stand-in model in the Template with the model you'd like to feature in a LayOut brochure.
- 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.
- Save your SketchUp file.
- 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".
- 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.
- Add custom text, labels, dimensions, graphics and photos to complete the document.
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Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist and Barry Janzen, QA Engineer