drawing to scale

[foorked1]

it is possible to draw to scale in sketchup, i cant seem to figure out how people do this?

 

than ks

[batteryoperatedlettuce]

yes!

 

Of course you can draw to scale. If you are importing a dxf/dwg CAD file you should set up the units in sketchup before you do this.

 

Select Window>Model Info>Units

 

Once you have selected the appropriate unit system you are OK to import drawings from CAD.

 

When drawing in sketchup, let's suppose your drawing a rectangle, after the first click you are free to input any unit of your choice. The figures will show up in the bottom right corner. If you do not specify a unit after the figures, sketchup will use the default units, which you selected via the Model Info menu.

 

However at any time, you can specify a unit measurement regardless of the system you are using. This means that if you are using feet & decimal inches and someone tells you to draw a 50*50cm carpet tile, all you need to do is click-release to begin drawing a rectangle and then enter 50cm , 50cm. The resulting rectangle will still be drawn according to your unit system, but sketchup does the math for you and converts what ever numerical information you enter into what ever unit scale you selected.

 

The default unit system is Architectural (Feet and Inches) if you want to change the default go to Window>Preferences> The system Preferences menu will appear. Under the title Drawing, expand the roll out and choose a default template. The next time you create a new file or restart sketchup, the unit system will default according to the template you selected.

 

Sketchup has the simplest rescaling function in the universe. If you import a model/drawing and you find it is not to scale, Use the ruler tool to measure a single edge for which you know the distance. Immediately after you have measured, enter a value i.e. 55cm ; 10m ; 15" etc. An alert will ask you if you wish to rescale the model. Warning - this will resize the entire model. If you want to resize a single group, component or object use the scale tool.

 

Hope that helps.

[batteryoperatedlettuce]

I should also mention that if you need to print to scale you also need to set up the units accordingly. You can do this in File>Print Preview>Print Size options.

 

You may only print to scale when using one of the default views: Top, Bottom, Left, Right or ISO, with perspective switched off. Camera>Perspective (toggle on or off)

[shangriladida]

CAD datas are accurate.

 

Just set up the measuring unit in model info in sketchup, make sure the unit used is the same as the CAD's unit. If the CAD uses mm, set ur models into mm too.

 

After doing this, u can adjust how many mm u want to extrude from point A to B. After clicking one of the surface to be extruded, simply type how many mm u want the surface to be extruded. The numbers will appear at the right bottom corner at ur skp window.

 

Or if u have problems with measuring. Just extrude the surface and snap ur mouse to the related line on the CAD lines(note that u must import ur CAD files ok?)