#OrbitFromHome: 10 at-home learning resources from SketchUp

We’ve all had to adjust to working from home, which means keeping in touch with colleagues, family and friends remotely. So, to keep you occupied and to help develop your SketchUp skills, we’ve rounded up top 10 learning resources from Trimble that you can benefit from while you #OrbitFromHome.

1. Learn the SketchUp fundamentals from this self-guided course. Reminder: it’s free and subtitled in more than 100 languages!
2. If you’re more experienced at SketchUp, dive into the Skill Builder video playlists and polish up your skills.
3. Discover the Podcast, SketchUp Talk! A great companion to listen to while you’re orbiting away on the axis.
4. Still tight on time while working from home? In under 60 seconds, explore these Quick Wins packed with powerful skills.
5. Curious about how other professionals are using SketchUp? Learn from the best and brightest in our customer case studies.
6. See it all live! Tune in to live model challenges - every Friday at 12 pm MT. Don’t have time to catch it live? Watch the recordings.
7. Try out some of the other products you have access to as a SketchUp Pro Subscriber! Spend some time learning LayOut, share projects with Trimble Connect, model online with SketchUp for Web, or check out SketchUp Viewer for your mobile device!
8. Looking for new ways to customise your workflow? Explore our Extension Inspections to find the perfect plugin for you.
9. Tired of dressing up with nowhere to go? Recover your sense of style by learning how to make (and personalize) your very own 2D Component!
10. *BONUS!* Share how you’re staying inspired over the next few weeks by tagging your designs with #OrbitFromHome for a chance to be featured on Trimble’s social channels!

Whether you’re using your free time to become more proficient and efficient at SketchUp, getting workflow tips from other SketchUp users, or leaning because of your love of design during these times, we hope you’re staying healthy and taking care of yourself and your loved ones.

For further help with SketchUp, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us: https://www.symetri.co.uk/products/sketchup-pro

What You Need To Know About SketchUp Layout

SketchUp is one of the most popular 3D modelling software solutions in the world.

Here are a few key facts:

• 33,500,000 Annual Activations
• Over 1,000,000,000 completed Projects using SketchUp
• 109,000 followers on Twitter
• 759,000 followers on Google +
• 370,000 likes on Facebook

An intuitive and quick to learn 3D conceptual design modelling platform, SketchUp enables more participation and collaboration across workflows.

However what is less known is the Layout tool in SketchUp and I’ve been asked many times recently “What is Layout, what does it do”?

LayOut is a tool for creating documentation from your SketchUp model and is part of the SketchUp Pro Suite.

Layout combines SketchUp models with text and 2D vector illustration to help you produce beautiful presentations, permit submittals, construction documents, and other dimensioned drawings. It allows you to produce professional drawing sets, provides powerful dimensioning, drawing and page layout tools to create working drawings and presentations from SketchUp models.

How it works

You start in SketchUp, draw your project and create scenes to show the different views. You can send the file to LayOut, add dimensions, labels, other text, photos and then export a PDF file to send to a client or use it to do a presentation on screen.

The dynamic link between the SketchUp model and the LayOut document means that any edits you make in your SketchUp model, will be reflected in the LayOut document. Drawings can also be exported as DWG/DXF files for use in any CAD program and you can combine dimensions, text, and graphics, add logos and title blocks to LayOut templates for brand consistency.

LayOut also has the ability to assign different drawing scales to SketchUp model views and dimension them without leaving LayOut and without using a separate CAD tool.

Drawings are dynamically linked to 3D models and SketchUp models are dynamically linked to your LayOut file so any changes you make in SketchUp are automatically reflected in your documents.

Lastly, you can link to files in the cloud via Dropbox, Google Drive or Trimble Connect.

  

A single LayOut document can be used for both printing and on-screen presentations as well as to create high-resolution large format prints which you can export as PDF files for onward distribution, or to present directly from the application... in 3D.

Explore LayOutby watching the videos below:
 

To learn more about SketchUp, please contact Excitech – https://www.excitech.co.uk/Products/SketchUp-Pro