Printing Views of a Model in Microsoft Windows

To print your model in Microsoft Windows, you can select File > Print, click OK, and your model prints using the existing settings.

If you want to customize the paper size, scale, number of copies printed, print quality, and more, you need to choose your settings in the Print Setup dialog box and then either the Print Preview or Print dialog box. The following sections help you wade through the options.

Tip: When you print your model, SketchUp takes your current view into account. When the camera is set to a Top or Iso view, your print will reflect that Top or Iso view. See Viewing a Model for details about basic view options. If you want to print specialized views, check out how to make section cuts, save specific views as scenes, or view a walkthrough of your model.

PRO SketchUp is great at modeling in 3D. If you're a SketchUp Pro user, however, you also have LayOut, which is great at 2D. When you need to print a SketchUp model, see whether inserting your model in a LayOut document provides the flexibility and options you need for a top-notch printout. The LayOut section of the Knowledge Center can help you start using LayOut.

Table of Contents
  1. Selecting Page Setup options
  2. Selecting Document Setup options
  3. Selecting Print options and printing your model

In the Print Setup dialog box, you select what printer, paper, and orientation you’d want to use for your printout.

The following steps walk you through your options:

  1. Select File > Print Setup. The Print Setup dialog box appears, as shown in the following figure.
  2. From the Name drop-down list, select the printer you want to use.
  3. Click the Properties button to configure your printer options. The properties you can set depend on your printer, so see your printer’s documentation for details about your options and how they work.
  4. From the Size drop-down menu, select a paper size. Your options reflect the paper sizes that your printer supports.
  5. From the Source drop-down list (sometimes called the Location drop-down list, depending on your system), select a printer tray, if your printer has more than one. If you see an option for borderless printing, selecting it tells the printer to print without margins.
  6. In the Orientation area, select the Portrait or Landscape radio button.
  7. When you’re done selecting options, click OK.

After you select your Print Setup options, you’re ready to select your printing options in the Print Preview or Print dialog box.

Tip: The Print Preview and Print dialog boxes contain the same options, and selecting options in one dialog box sets your options in the other. The only difference is that the Print Preview dialog box displays a preview of your printout instead of sending your print job directly to a printer. The following steps focus on the Print Preview dialog box, because checking a preview of your printout before you print can save you time and ink.

Note: If you want to print your model to a specific scale, you need to select Camera > Standard Views and select one of the standard views from the submenu that appears. You also need to switch from Perspective view (SketchUp’s default view) to Parallel Projection view. Viewing a Model explains how to change your view. You can also watch the video Printing to Scale with SketchUp

To set your printing options in the Print Preview dialog box, follow these steps:

  1. Select File > Print Preview. The Print Preview dialog box appears, as shown in the following figure. The printer you selected in the Print Setup dialog box appears at the top. You can change your printer and printer properties again if you like or proceed to the next step.

  2. To print the current view, leave the Current View radio button selected in the Tabbed Scene Print Range area. If your model contains scenes, you also have the option of printing one or more of your scenes. To do so, select the Scenes radio button and indicate the range of scenes that you’d like to print.
  3. (Optional) To print more than one copy of your model, enter a number in the Number of Copies box.
  4. (Optional) By default, when you print the current view, the Fit to Page option, which tells SketchUp to size your print so that it fits on the selected paper size, is selected. To change the print size, deselect the Fit to Page checkbox and enter a value in the Width or Height box. The other value (Width or Height) adjusts automatically to maintain the model’s proportions.

    Tip: You can make the print size larger than the paper size, so that the image of your model tiles across several pages.

  5. (Optional) To ensure that the model fits within the print, select the Use model extents checkbox. This option only zooms to the model extents if the current view contains the entire model. If the view is zoomed in too close to the model, this option won't work.
  6. (Optional) To print to scale, first deselect the Fit to Page checkbox. In the Scale area, you set the scale by typing a value for the printed geometry in the In the Printout box and a value for the model geometry in the In SketchUp box. For example, to set a 1:4 scale, enter 1 in the In the Printout box and 4 in the In SketchUp box.
  7. (Optional) If your print size or scale makes your print larger than the paper size you selected, leave the All radio button selected to print all the tiled pages. To print only selected tiles, select the Pages radio button and enter the range of tiles you want to print.
  8. From the Print Quality drop-down menu, select your desired quality.
    • The Draft option, which prints quickly but produces a low-quality image, is great when you need a rough copy for a meeting or to show a colleague.
    • The Standard option balances speed and quality.
    • The high-definition options produce high-quality images but take longer to print. Use the high-quality options when you’re printing a model for an important presentation or to send to a client.
    • The Large Format option optimizes the printout for large-format prints such as plotters and tiled sheets; this option sets the image resolution and line weights to make your printout easy to see from far away.
  9. (Optional) If your model has a 2D section slice, select the 2D Section Slice Only checkbox to print the slice.
  10. (Optional) Select Use High Accuracy HLR to send the model information to the printer as vector data.
  11. When you’re done selecting all your options, click OK. A preview of your printout appears on-screen.
  12. If you’re happy with the preview, click the Print button to start the printing process. If you need to make adjustments, click Cancel, reopen the Print Preview dialog box, and make your changes.
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