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LayOut
Create drawings, presentations and construction documents.
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Articles in this category
Adding Tables to a Document
Create LayOut tables or import .xlsx and .csv data.
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Adding Text, Labels, and Dimensions
LayOut text, labels and dimensions.
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Adding and Editing Keyboard Shortcuts
Manage LayOut keyboard shortcuts in Preferences.
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Applying SketchUp Styles
SketchUp styles bundle preset line widths, colors, materials, and other similar effects. In LayOut, you can change a SketchUp model’s style in the styles section of the SketchUp Model panel.
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Applying Styles
With LayOut’s Style tool (), you can sample the style settings applied to one entity and apply those same settings to another entity.To apply a style from one entity to another, follow these steps:
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Arranging, Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Entities
Arrange and resize LayOut entities using tools and the grid.
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Automating Title Block Text with Auto-Text Tags
LayOut's Auto-Text generates title block text like dates, page numbers, or other custom text that you define. Auto-Text tags help improve accuracy and can even save some time.
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Bending Lines and Shapes with Paths and Points
Bend LayOut lines and shapes with the path editor.
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Choosing Colors
Choose and organise LayOut colours in the Colors panel.
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Copying and Pasting, Locking, Erasing, and Other Editing Tasks
Copy, cut, paste, undo and delete in LayOut.
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Create a PDF
When you export a PDF of a document, LayOut creates a single PDF file that contains your document pages. To export your document as a PDF, follow these steps:Select File > Export.
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Creating Arcs
Draw LayOut arcs and manage dashed lines in inserted SketchUp files.
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Creating Documents in LayOut
Create SketchUp documents and presentations in LayOut.
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Creating Panel Trays
LayOut panels for document editing.
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Creating a LayOut Document
The first thing you will see when opening LayOut is the Welcome Window. The Welcome Window is where you can create new files from templates and continue work on ongoing projects.
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Creating a Scaled Drawing
Within a group, you can apply a scale to a 2D drawing so that all geometry in that group reflects the selected scale. This geometry includes all native LayOut entity types.
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Creating a Template in LayOut
Reuse LayOut document designs as templates.
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Customizing Line Widths and Styles
Customise LayOut line styling and dashed lines in inserted SketchUp files.
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Customizing Toolbars and Menus
Customise or create LayOut toolbars.
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Customizing the Interface and Setting Preferences
Customise the LayOut interface.
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Document Setup
After you create a new document in LayOut, you may want to check and adjust your settings in the Document Setup dialog box. Each section of Document Setup contains options to help you configure your document.
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Drawing Basic Lines
Draw and style basic LayOut lines.
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Drawing Lines and Shapes
Draw LayOut lines and shapes.
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Drawing a Circle or Ellipse
The LayOut Circle () and Ellipse () tools let you draw circles and ellipses. These tools appear in both the Main and Drawing toolbars. You can also access the tools by selecting Tools > Circles from the menu and clicking the tool you would like to use.
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Export as Image Files
Export LayOut pages as .jpg or .png files.
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Exporting CAD Data from LayOut
Export LayOut CAD data to DWG or DXF.
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Exporting or Printing Your LayOut Document
Print, export or present a LayOut document.
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Extracting Source Content from a LayOut File
Extract source content from a LayOut file.
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Filling Shapes with Colors and Patterns
Add colours and material hatches with Fill and Pattern.
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Formatting Text
Format readable LayOut text and match project branding.
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General
LayOut General settings and Auto-Renderer controls.
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Grouping Entities
In LayOut, groups are a way to keep related elements organized in the drawing area. Groups can also make selecting and copying multiple elements easier. For example, if you know you'll always want to select a text box and a shape together, make it a group so you just need to select it once.
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Importing CAD Data into LayOut
Import CAD data into LayOut.
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Importing a SketchUp Model
Import SketchUp models into LayOut.
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Inserting Images
Images can enhance your LayOut documents all sorts of ways, from a photorealistic rendering of a proposed design to a small branding element like a logo. The following table outlines the file formats that LayOut supports. You can insert an image file in any of these formats into your document.
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Introducing the LayOut Interface
The LayOut interface contains the tools and features you need to create 2D documents and presentations from your 3D models. LayOut and SketchUp are made to work together.
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Labeling Items in Your Document
With LayOut's Label tool (), you create a label entity with a text box, a line (technically called a leader), and an arrow or endpoint pointing to a specific item in the drawing area. The following figure illustrates a few ways you can customize labels:
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Create LayOut documents from SketchUp models.
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LayOut Tools
LayOut default toolbar tools.
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Making Rectangles
LayOut rectangle tools and dashed lines in inserted SketchUp files.
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Making a Clipping Mask
Mask a model or image to a shape.
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Managing Changes and Updates to SketchUp Files
Edit geometry in SketchUp and viewport settings in LayOut.
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Managing and Navigating Pages
Manage and navigate LayOut pages.
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Marking Dimensions
LayOut's Linear Dimension () and Angular Dimension () tools can label a distance or angle. In the following figure, you see an example of a linear and an angular dimension.
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Offsetting a Line or Shape
Offset LayOut lines and shapes.
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Performance
The Performance section is full of options that can help you adjust the way LayOut handles graphics to improve overall performance.
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Perspective and Scale
A SketchUp model’s view can affect both perspective and scale. You can choose any of SketchUp’s standard views in LayOut in the SketchUp Model panel under Camera. By default, most SketchUp models are in Perspective view. Changing to Parallel Projection, an orthographic view, can better show a model’s scale.
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Presenting Your LayOut Document
Show LayOut full-screen with View > Start Presentation.
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Printing Your Document
Set up and print LayOut documents using the steps in this guide.
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Rendering Models
When you make changes to a SketchUp model in your document you may need to render that model before it reflects those changes. You can control how and when LayOut renders your SketchUp models in the Viewport section of the SketchUp Model panel.
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Saving a LayOut Document
Save LayOut files with File > Save or File > Save As.
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Selecting Scenes
Switch SketchUp scenes in a LayOut viewport.
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Selecting Things
Select and edit one or more LayOut entities.
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Setting Preferences
LayOut’s Preferences dialog contains options that can help you customize LayOut in a way that works best for you. Each section of Preferences covers a different set of options.
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Shaping Polygons
Draw LayOut polygons with three or more sides.
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SketchUp Model Effects
Adjust model effects in LayOut's SketchUp Model panel.
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SketchUp Models in LayOut
SketchUp and LayOut are designed to work together. When you bring a Sketchup model into your LayOut document you can make changes to that model without going back to SketchUp. You can then sync up both your LayOut document and SketchUp file, sharing changes across both.
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Splitting and Joining to Create Complex Shapes
Join and split LayOut lines and shapes.
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Typing, Importing, and Changing Text
Although documents tend to include more visual elements than text, you likely want a little text to add headings, bullet points, or other text to your document.In LayOut, you use the Text tool () to type text into a bounded or unbounded text box.
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Use the Zoom and Pan tool to view your model
LayOut provides several options to help you navigate your documents. The Zoom tools () and the Pan Tool () can help you focus on a specific part of your document or give you a wider view of your whole document.
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Using Inferences
An inference point is another point in your document you can use as a guide when you draw or move an object. LayOut’s inference engine is similar to SketchUp’s with a few differences that make how inferences work in LayOut unique.
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Using Layers
Control LayOut page entities with layers.
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Using the Drafting Tools
LayOut’s drafting tools can help bypass unnecessary selections and eliminate extra work when performing simple 2D tasks like detailing and diagramming. These tools can be found in the Main Toolbar.Fillet and ChamferFillet and Chamfer share space in the LayOut interface.
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Viewport Camera Tools
Select a LayOut model and open Edit 3D View for camera controls.
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Working with Dashes in SketchUp Files
In LayOut's 2D paper space, you have the most control of the quality and styling of the linework in your SketchUp model.To get the most out of your model in LayOut, you'll want to set up scenes that capture model views and styling, and also assign tags to objects whose lines you want to style distinctly.
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Working with Scrapbooks of Reusable Entities
LayOut’s scrapbooks help you store and access a wide variety of reusable entities. The Scrapbooks panel contains several premade scrapbooks for common entities like arrows or signs.
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