Typically, all entourage is hidden in the “OFF” scene, removing clutter and improving performance. In the Scenes window, Camera Location should still be unchecked.Go back to the Layers window and turn all layers on.In the Scenes window, click the “plus” sign to save the scene.This means you’ll be able to use this scene to toggle off layers without orbiting to a different view. In the Scenes window, uncheck the Camera Location option.In the Layers window, turn off the layers you want hidden.This means when you click on a utility scene, SketchUp will not “animate” its way to the scene – you’ll get to the scene instantly. Make sure there is no scene delay and that transition time is set to 0. First, go to View > Animation > Settings.Here’s “ON” showing everything – notice that all layers are displayed.Īnd the “OFF” scene has no entourage – no trees, people, cars, street lights, etc. Sometimes I create other utility scenes as needed for specific objects. “OFF” toggles off high-polygon components whose display can slow SketchUp performance. The two most common utility scenes I create are called simply “ON” and “OFF.” The “ON” scene displays all layers in the model.
Using a scene to toggle on or off multiple layers at once allows you to change what’s displayed with one easy click. Of course, you can go into the Layers window and manually toggle layers on and off, but this can be time-consuming with dozens of layers. These scenes enable you to quickly turn off or on details, making it easier to work in the model.
There are many uses for saving scenes with the above options I’ll demonstrate something called “utility scenes” here. So clicking this scene tab won’t orbit you around anywhere, but it can change the displayed layers. Without a saved camera location, the current camera view is not saved with the scene. When this option is checked, as it should be by default, whatever layers are visible when the scene is saved are the layers that will appear when you display that scene.įor the scene shown here (to the right), named “OFF,” layers are saved, but Camera Location is not. Since this is a post about layers, the most relevant scene option here is Visible Layers. Take a look at all of the options you can save in a scene, such as shadows, axes, or hidden geometry. Note that Camera Location is not saved for this scene.īut saving views is not the only reason to use scenes. Clicking that scene tab returns you to the saved view. Simply click the Add sceneicon (the “plus” sign at the top of the Scenes window), and a scene tab is created at the top of the SketchUp window. This complicated-looking project is a prime candidate for simplification using scenes and layers.Īt its most basic level, the Scenes window is how you save a view in SketchUp. In this final post of the series, I’ll demonstrate the power of combining SketchUp layers with scenes to make model presentation simple and efficient. In Part One of this series, Bonnie discussed best practices of layer placement, and in Part Two I showed some large-model case studies of layer organization.
The following is adapted from Part Three of their series on the use of layers in SketchUp. Bonnie runs 3DVinci, which features a wide variety of SketchUp books and projects for all ages.
Daniel is a landscape architect and masterful SketchUp trainer and author. It will save you hours of time scaling screen shots accurately.Daniel Tal and Bonnie Roskes have teamed up to create – a blog on SketchUp and all things related to 3D. The Plugin is on extension warehouse and it work in Make and Pro, here is the link.
I created a free plugin that allows you to scale the screen shot and DWG independently to each other and the model which is the only solution that I know of (for windows) at this stage. This way your screen shot will have sufficient resolution. You may also need to use maximum image size: Window>preferences>openGL and tick the box next to “maximum texture size”. Don’t forget to clean up layers and purge file before exporting from CAD, try and get all geometry on one layer yet sometimes I find myself using 4 or 5, depending on the project.
I understand why it is good to import the PDF as the annotation text is missing in the DWG import, If you are fortunate enough to have access to the DWG you can overlay the DWG over the screenshot so you have snap points.