Skip to Main Content
SketchUp for Interior Design
book

SketchUp for Interior Design

by Lydia Sloan Cline
January 2014
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
304 pages
8h 26m
English
Wiley
Content preview from SketchUp for Interior Design

Chapter 9

Plugins and LayOut

Objective: This chapter discusses how to find and install plugins, and how to make a simple construction document in LayOut.

Tools: Get Extensions, Export to LayOut

Concepts and Functions: Extension Warehouse, plugin, extension, script, rubies, Ruby Console, install plugins, find plugin folder, prepare the model for LayOut, link the model to LayOut, viewport, copy and resize a viewport, grips, annotate and dimension, use symbols from the Scrapbook tray, export to raster or vector file

This chapter discusses how to extend SketchUp’s native capabilities with plugins. It also introduces LayOut, a Pro feature with which construction drawings are made.

What’s a Plugin?

A plugin, also called an extension or script, is a simple text file with an rb or rbs extension that “plugs in” to SketchUp to extend its native capabilities. Think app on a smart phone. Developers use the Ruby programming language to make plugins, which is why plugins are also called rubies. Each plugin performs a specific task. Examples are: render (Figure 9-1); make Bézier (French) curves; put all loose geometry on the 0 layer; adjust scene transition times individually; perform energy analysis; add manufacturer information to a component; send the model to a 3D printer; identify too-large textures; cut openings through double-face walls; find the center of an arc… if it’s a useful function, someone has probably written a plugin for it. Plugins work with both SketchUp Make and Pro.

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

The SketchUp Handbook for Interior Design

The SketchUp Handbook for Interior Design

Rebecca Terpstra, Dana Hoffman
SketchUp For Dummies, 2nd Edition

SketchUp For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Bill Fane, Mark Harrison, Josh Reilly
Easy Watercolor

Easy Watercolor

Kristin Van Leuven

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781118627693