Creating a Scaled Drawing
Scaled drawings are groups of geometry where the same scale applies to all parts of a group. In LayOut, the options in the Scaled Drawing panel offer more than just scaling.
The Scaled Drawing panel's Draw Mode provides a paperless canvas using real-world coordinates where you can draw at a full 1:1 scale. When you exit Draw Mode, LayOut converts your work into a group using a displayed scale. You can set scaling options before you enter Draw Mode, after you exit, or can choose to keep LayOut’s default measurements.
Paperless drawing gives you the freedom to draw past the confines of the page while SketchUp keeps all entities scaled. You can focus on design and drafting rather than page management.
Paperless drawing canvas
Mirroring the SketchUp modeling environment, LayOut’s paperless drawing canvas displays red and green axis lines originating at 0,0 on a white background by default. You can switch to a custom paper color that LayOut will use as the paperless background color. Additionally, all grid settings can be used during Draw Mode. The Paper and Grid settings are located in Document Setup. For more information about these options, see Document Setup.
The Hide and Fade rest of document slider options in the Scaled Drawing panel let you expose entities contained outside of this drawing context, controlling display behavior for groups and scaled drawings independently.
Adjusting the Scaled Drawing panel settings automatically updates the corresponding settings in Document Setup, and changes made in Document Setup update the panel settings as well. For more information on the Hide and Fade rest of document slider options, see Document Settings.
To create a scaled drawing, follow these steps:
Click Enter Draw Mode in the Scaled Drawing panel to begin your paperless session.
(Optional) Use the Hide and Fade settings to control how entities contained outside of this drawing context appear.
Start drawing.
Click Exit Draw Mode or press Esc when you’re finished. LayOut converts your work into a scaled group.
You can tell it’s a scaled group by the dotted line that surrounds it and the scale indicators.
Tip: Selecting a SketchUp model viewport pre-populates the scale of the Scaled Drawing context, expediting detailing on top of a SketchUp model.
Creating a Scaled Drawing from Groups
You can easily scale existing groups. To learn about groups and how to create them, see Grouping Entities.
Note: Scaling a group doesn’t start a paperless canvas session.
To scale groups and entities, context-click the group, choose Scale, and then select a scale from the menu.
Tip: If you apply the wrong scale to a group, use the Remove Scale command to undo your work and start over. You can choose a new scale to fix the error, but due to how additional scaling resizes geometry, it may not end up the right size.
Editing a Scaled Drawing
You can edit any scaled drawing through Draw Mode, providing a paperless canvas to add or modify entities. After you finish editing and exit Draw Mode, LayOut helps keep your document organized by grouping all entities together.
To edit a scaled drawing, follow these steps:
Select a scaled drawing.
(Optional) Specify a new scale in the Scaled Drawing panel.
Click Enter or Edit Drawing in the Scaled Drawing panel, or double-click the scaled group, to start the paperless drawing session.
(Optional) Use the Hide and Fade settings to control how entities contained outside of this drawing context appear.
Start drawing.
When finished, click Exit Draw Mode.
If you select the edited scaled drawing, Edit Drawing will reappear.
Working with SketchUp viewports and CAD files
A SketchUp viewport can't be in a scaled group. If you want to use the scaled drawing feature to draw over a SketchUp viewport, you need tolock the viewport on a separate layer. You can then create a scaled drawing on the new layer. For more information on layers, see Using Layers.
Imported CAD Files
When you import a CAD file as a referenced file by selecting the Model Space import option, LayOut retains the file’s pre-existing scaling. While you can adjust the scale to fit your document, you can’t edit the file through LayOut. And, if you import it as a SketchUp model, LayOut will import the file as a viewport that won’t change when you edit the referenced file.
With the Paper Space import option, LayOut converts the CAD data into native entities while preserving its original scale. You can create and edit scaled drawings from this data.
For more information about importing CAD files, see Importing CAD Data into LayOut.
Note: You can tell if a group is a scaled drawing by the dotted line that surrounds it. When you select a scaled drawing, you can see the current scale.
