Trimble Layout for Set Design

“What exactly is Trimble Layout?” Is something that I hear a lot. Trimble Layout is an annotation system for SketchUp that lets you turn your models into clear and attractive working drawings. But! IT ONLY WORKS WITH SKETCHUP PRO!!! So, the bad news is; you have to have SketchUp Pro to use Layout. In fact, you have to buy SketchUp Pro to GET Layout. Sorry. There, I said it. Let’s all bow our heads solemnly for a moment…

The good news is that if you have bought SketchUp Pro, Layout comes along for free! That's right, FREE!! More good news! Layout is the perfect tool for making working drawings of sets (provided you use SketchUp). There are those who would disagree with that statement, vehemently, but they are not on my Art Station e-commerce page, are they? Take that, Naysayers! Seriously, there are plenty of ways to make working drawings of sets and do it well, with and without SketchUp. But if you use SketchUp, Layout is the cheapest and most convenient way to do it, and I might add it is also probably the fastest. I am deadly serious when I say this; look at my face…see, deadly serious…Trimble Layout is also ludicrously simple to learn to use. But I warn you, you can't use Trimble Layout by itself! You have to have a SketchUp model of your set to work from!

Trimble Layout has been the forgotten stepchild. Very few unified tutorials explain how the software is used from the bottom up. Until now! This is a five-hour (+/-) tutorial course that covers all of the tools, windows, viewports, and above all, the workflow you need to use Layout to make working drawings of your sets (or anything else you model in SketchUp). In this tutorial, you will learn how to import your SketchUp model and use it to compose working drawings at 1/4":1' scale. You will also learn how to make larger-scale detail drawings up to and including full-sized sections. You will learn how to make interrupted elevations and multi-layer cutaways using clipping masks and you will learn how to make and use custom drawing templates.

The package Includes:

+/-5 hours of tutorials explaining every facet of Trimble Layout

Pre-sectioned SketchUp models for all the projects

Templates for drawings (both in metric and Imperial) with drawing symbols

Finished Layout files of the main project.

White papers for all projects.

This series requires that you have SketchUp Pro as well as Trimble Layout. You can use any version of SketchUp Pro, back to SUPro 2018, but Trimble only supports versions 2021, 2022, and 2023, so the more current you are the better.