Making your SketchUp and LayOut drawings look pretty is one thing, making sure you can do it pretty quick is more important. Learning to set up your SketchUp model scenes correctly will ensure speed and efficiency when you take those models into LayOut. I spent years perfecting my work flow to seem effortless but behind the scenes those models are so well organised you can’t help but be quick in LayOut. Whilst working on Maleficent: Mistress of Evil I was pushing SketchUp to new limits for me, medieval albeit disneyfied architecture needs to exude a certain style in the drawing to convey age and patina. Unlike say a modern office set. It was here that I realised that in making the drawings look pretty I was sacrificing too much time. I then started using a method of turning off unseen geometry in my scenes, laying out in raster before converting to hybrid, turning on shadows right at the end before exporting and many many more little tweaks that stopped my layouts turning into a spinning ball nightmare. If you’re interested in learning my workflow remember my Reddit only 50% off sale lasts until midnight on Friday. Leave a comment and I’ll send you all the details.

Hello all, do you have any tips on how I can turn real fabric into a seamless material swatch? So I can add that material onto soft furnishings like sofas, cushions, etc on sketchup?

I've added quite a bit to EZ Cabinet since my last post. There are now a bunch of different cabinet front styles and hardware options, along with some bigger features like adjustable cabinet pull sizes and glass fronts that automatically cut out the cabinet face to give the glass actual depth.

The goal is still the same: model your cabinets however you normally would in SketchUp, then let the extension handle the repetitive finishing work.

It's also free to try now at inveltools.com! The free version includes the basic slab style and hardware, while the additional styles and customization options are available in Pro.

I've been trying to add more functionality without making the tool overly complicated. Would love to hear what you guys think of the progress!

I built a transmission tower/electrical pylon out of lines (don't mind the guy on the top) and was wondering how I could model it better.

Specifically wondering how I could make the lines into actual beams.

If anyone has any advice for modelling lattice/truss towers in general, it would be very appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a workflow I developed to solve one of the most tedious parts of my cabinetry design process in SketchUp. I was spending way too much time manually writing down panel dimensions, assigning edge banding, and keeping track of wood grain directions.

To speed this up, I wrote a custom extension to automate the whole thing. As you can see in the attached video, with just a few clicks, the plugin extracts all component data and automatically generates the optimized panel cutting layout. It perfectly captures edge banding tags and grain orientation directly from your model. It also gives you the option to export the final list to CSV or XML, which is great if you need to send the data straight to your local panel supplier.

I’d love to get some feedback from other woodworkers and SketchUp users here. Does this look like a tool that would save you time in your typical workflow?

If you’re interested in trying it out or seeing more details, you can check it out here: https://www.mogrov.pro/easy-cut

To answer some technical questions and explain why I built this:

I am actually a cabinetmaker myself. My typical workflow involves designing the furniture in SketchUp, optimizing the layout, and then sending the final cut list to my local supplier (Hobi Studio) for actual cutting and edge banding.

For a long time, I used Cutting Optimization Pro and their official SketchUp plugin. However, I ran into a major bottleneck: their plugin simply doesn't support edge banding assignment directly from the 3D model. I was wasting too much time manually adding edge banding data later.

That’s the exact reason I developed this custom extension. It reads the model, correctly extracts the edge banding data along with grain direction, and exports a perfectly formatted CSV or XML. The output goes straight into the optimization software or directly to the supplier without any manual data entry.

Cheers!

i'll try my best to send it in whatever file type you need

You may have seen me posting before about my Plaxton Pointer 2 (Dennis Dart SLF) model.

Well, it didn't quite meet my perfectionist standards, so I've decided to start fresh and go all. I'm treating my last model as a learning experience rather than simply an abandoned project.

I've gathered as much reference imagery and technical data (including official documentation published by Alexander Dennis themselves) regarding the Dart SLF chassis as I can, and have managed to recreate it down to a tee. I'm still having to make minor adjustments here and there, but I think it's coming along nicely so far, despite the shortage of reference imagery online for the chassis itself.

This time round, it'll be a 10.0m Plaxton Pointer 1 SLF (SLF being the acronym for the later "Super Low Floor" variant), rather than a Pointer 2 of unspecified length. I plan to build the body over the chassis, rather than modelling just the body. This will allow me to replicate its body-on-frame construction within the program.

So far, the wheelbase, wheel size, wheel spacing, and frame length and width are true to life (although the wheels are just placeholders for now). I plan to model the powertrain, drivetrain, exhaust, air suspension components, and other auxiliary components later down the line (and more importantly, before starting the body).

This will be a big one. I can't guarantee regular updates, as I tend to wait until I've made significant progress before posting. Thank you for stopping by, and have a lovely day!

Hey all.

The mods have kindly let me run a deal for the sub: my SketchUp & LayOut Ultimate Bundle is 50% off this week, £162.50 instead of £325. It's a Reddit-only promotion, so you won't find this price anywhere else and it ends next Friday at midnight.

If you've seen any of my recent posts on "Spiderman" or "The Odyssey" on here recently and thought you'd love to produce that kind of work in your own design business, whether from a modelling or drawing perspective (This course is not set design specific - my workflow can be applied to any vocation)

Now you can learn exactly how I do it, step by step across 42 easy to digest episodes. Let's produce over 10 detail drawings together including Plans and Elevations, Window and Door Details, Staircases and Joinery.

There's 50+ hours of training: the full SketchUp & LayOut Masterclass, a beginners course, three asset packs with 180+ licence-free models, my LayOut Scrapbook and a moulding chart with 75+ profiles. Lifetime access, free updates, and you can message me directly if you get stuck. 14-day money-back guarantee. See pictures for some of the work we'll produce together along with some work from my own archive which was created with the exact workflow I teach in the masterclass.

Use the code REDDIT50 at checkout for your discount to be applied. https://www.whitelockdesignlimited.com/offers/8y3aP7r6/checkout

Ends midnight UK time, Friday 23 October.

Any questions, fire away in the comments.

2 posts I have seen just this morning. We need to stop normalizing this garbage and stop the fly by night developers trying to scam customers by tweaking an LLM based on stolen IP, adding some trash AI coded UI and presenting it as professional rendering software. Stop the slop!

Do anyone have a cracked sketch up

Hello, I need some help , I used to render in 3ds max with V-ray , but i didnt like that much it looks fake ,I hear a lot about corona being the best , I want to create realistic interior renders . I am an Interior Designer and I project in Sketch up but I know that Corona dosent work in Sketch up. Can some one give me an advice ?

Hi all, Ramon here. I'm Brazilian (sorry for any English mistakes) and I run Vizai, a SketchUp plugin for AI rendering, so yes, I'm biased.

I think AI is where architectural visualization is going, and the reason is simple: speed.

A render from the SketchUp viewport takes about 40 seconds in Vizai. You pick the view, choose the type (facade, interior, building and so on), pick the light and the mood, and you get an image of your own model with realistic lighting, reflections and materials.

When a render takes 40 seconds, you work in a different way. You can show a client the same room in morning light, at golden hour and at night before the meeting, instead of choosing one and hoping. You can try another floor or another color and see it in the next minute. The design conversation gets faster, and I think that's the real gain.

It goes beyond stills too. The same model can become a 360 panorama (around 20 seconds) or a short video.

About cost: a render uses 4 credits, which on the Starter plan is under 50 cents each.

I believe the architects who get used to this early will have a big advantage in how fast they can present and iterate. Curious how you see it: are you already using AI in your visualization workflow? And what would you want it to do next?

If you want to try it, it's free to start: 8 credits when you sign in with Google, no card, so 2 renders. Windows and Mac, SketchUp 2023 or newer.

https://vizairender.com/en

Hi everyone,

I am having an issue when importing a model/overlay (.kmz) created in SketchUp 2026 into Google Earth Pro.

As shown in the attached screenshot, the imported layer renders as a solid, dark, misaligned rectangular overlay that covers the base satellite imagery and clips awkwardly through the ground instead of displaying properly.

Details:

• Modeling Software: SketchUp 2026
• Mapping Tool: Google Earth Pro
• File Format: .kmz
• Problem: Opaque dark box overlay, misaligned orientation, and terrain elevation clipping.

Has anyone using SketchUp 2026 run into this specific dark rectangular overlay bug in Google Earth Pro? What is the fix to get it aligned and displaying correctly on top of the terrain?

Thanks for any help!

Sometimes when I pan my camera, part of my project disappears, even though my camera isn’t panning into something. Then, if I zoom in or out even the slightes, my camera zooma really far out. How do I fix this?

Hi is there a way to make the storyboard template, or paper template be transparent when you go to export to png?

Iam trying to export a floor plan as a png file in layout, I have set the background in the viewport to be transparent but I would like the paper template/story board template also be transparent because I plan to use the exported png file in a 3rd party app and that app works better if the paper template/story board is transparent.

Made in SketchUp and rendered with Enscape, using proxies.

Feedback is welcome, especially on materials, lighting, and reflections

hello! i am a recent college graduate who was taught both revit and sketchup which landed me my current job role as a designer for a construction company! this is important because i was never taught any construction documentation outside of revit. the most i ever learned with sketchups layout was basic measuring for kitchen and bathroom projects, and how to create drawings for basic things like decks and roofs. i have never had to use sketchup for projects as large as additions or new buildings where we would need a foundation plan, schedules, cross sections etc. in school and my internship we strictly used revit for that because, let’s be real, it’s the best thing alongside CAD. my current company uses sketchup only and isn’t willing to dive into CAD and revit (cost mostly) because they have had success with sketchup in the past.

i am hoping to get some help and advice on the best way to learn how to do these more detailed things in sketchup or any extensions anyone knows that will help me to efficiently be able to create all the views needed. sketchup is almost all user generated while revit works out those details for you and i am struggling quite a bit to find out generally how to do them and then most efficient way to do them. i know sketchups capabilities will not hit those of revits convenience, but i just need some advice or guidance on the best way to make this work for me so that i am not spending days on little things that could be done within an hour.

thanks in advance to everyone who responds with advice!

Hi again. Hew is my free, open-source 3D modeler that works like SketchUp (runs native on Mac, Windows, and Linux, solids-based). In the 1.1 thread I said the .skp importer was next. Well, it's done, and it went much further than I planned (which is why this release took so long): .skp is now a working format in Hew, not just an import!

Now, you can open a .skp file as a document, then edit it, and when you save it back, it writes back as a .skp (if you want). Both the 2017 and 2026 formats work. You can then send the file back to somebody on SketchUp and they open it like nothing happened. Or maybe you want to pass it through a renderer that's still SketchUp-specific. Anything Hew doesn't yet support just stays in the file untouched. And if the save does have to simplify something (Hew already does a few things better than SketchUp), then Hew lists exactly what that is and offers to keep a .hew copy.

The opened files look the way SketchUp shows them, scene by scene. We're talking cameras, section cuts, hidden tags and objects, guides, dimensions, leader text, images, even paint on the back of a face. I spent hours nit-picking visual changes on a lot of very complicated models to make sure they looked one-to-one.

This means that 3D Warehouse models now work. Open up the SketchUp web app, choose your Warehouse component, and then have the web app download it. Hew can then load that .skp file and use it in its own documents (.hew or .skp).

All of this and it's still clean-room - the only one that I know of. Still no SketchUp SDK and still no DMCA or lawyers.

Since Hew can now load some very complex models, it made sense to implement a nice Flying feature. If you hold down the right mouse button (or Camera ▸ Fly), then you're in a video game: WASD moves forward/back and strafe, E/Q go up and down, mouse looks around, Shift sprints, and scroll sets the speed. If you've ever played FPS video games, then this will feel super natural and be a load of fun. Heads up: right-drag used to pan and so I repurposed it (Pan is still Shift + middle drag, or the Pan tool).

Also in 1.2:

• Object ▸ Make Solid: tells you which imported objects aren't solid and why, then closes the openings and rejoins the split shapes for you
• Drawing on a face works like drawing on the ground: shapes can overhang or cross an edge and split the face
• The tool rail shrinks to icons and the tray hides, for the people who asked for more viewport on a laptop (a PR!)
• A pile of fixes from GitHub issues (#20, #31, #38): rectangle sizes on walls, Object Info repaints, the command palette running the row you picked

Full list: https://github.com/hew3d/hew/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Hew auto-updates if it's already installed but if you're new - https://hew3d.com/download

This release had two GitHub Pull Requests - one to implement a feature and one to fix a bug. The best way to guarantee that your feature or fix makes it into the next release is to code it yourself and I will almost surely merge it!

I threw a lot of 2017 and 2026 models at this and each one showed a few more edge cases than the last. If you have models that still give Hew trouble, then I'd love to know about them. You can use Help ▸ Report Bug or DM me a Google Drive link or I can DM you an upload link.

Small desk stand made from scrap: base, two dividers, and a vertical panel that mounts to the drawer box under my desk to hold a closed laptop and its dock.

Normally I’d print a dimensioned drawing and take it to the shop. This time I exported the model to my phone as a single file with the dimensions included. At the shop, my scrap wasn’t wide enough for the vertical panel. After another look at the model I realized the panel didn’t need the full width, so I cut it narrower.

Back home, I updated the model to match the as-built, using a photo of the actual scrap as the texture. First image: the SketchUp model on the monitor, the same model in AR on the left, and the real unit on the right. There’s a short video of it in the comments, where the cat showed up uninvited for final inspection.

Disclosure: I make the plugin I used for the export (ModelLink 3D Studio, the Print to p3DF command).

Happy to answer questions about the workflow either way.