Now click OK, and we're ready to lay out our plans! Make them both Landscape or Portrait (whichever you prefer) and make sure the printing scale is set to 1" = 1" (Full Size). Choose CutePDF Writer as your printer, and set the page size to ARCH D, and the source to OnlyOne, then click OK.īack on the Page Setup window, choose "24 in x 36 in" for the paper size in the top seciton, and "Arch D Size (36 in x 24 in)" in the Drawing Sheet Size section. under the "Printer Paper" section, click Setup. The default plan size is going to be too small to fit much, so let's pick a standard size for plotters and large format printers - don't worry, we can print on standard Letter size paper later! If you look at the bottom of the design window you will see a tab labelled Layout1. ![]() Use the mousewheel to zoom, and hold down the mouse wheel to move the image around.) (Note: You may need to zoom out to find your parts. Once you have DoubleCad XT in stalled, open it and load up your DXF file. You need to register for a free copy with a valid e-mail address, they will send you the free license key. One that I have found that works well is DoubleCad XT: Now that you have a DXF file of your flattened parts, you can import it into many free and commercial programs. You will then enter a filename and click SAVE! On the next window you are asked for the Export to DXF Options - set this to "lines", then press OK. A window will open asking for the export unit - set this to "Inches" (or whichever you prefer). You should end up with a nice clean view of your parts like this:įinally, select all or your objects, then click File->Export to DXF or STL. Next, click the Zoom Extents icon, or press CTRL+Shift+E. Mine are arranged to be viewed from the top, so I then choose Camera->Standard Views->Top, then Camera->Parallel Projection. This makes sure there is no camera distortion in the view. Make sure they are all aligned to the same plane. Hide everything you do not want/need for your plans in SketchUp, then arrange all of your flattened pieces together. Click the OK's until you're back at the main screen. Another window will open confirming that the plugin has installed successfully. A window will pop up confirming that you want to install the plugin, click Yes. Once you have it, open up SketchUp and click on Window->Preferences, then Install Extension:īrowse to the file you downloaded ("skp_to_dxf.rbz") and click Open. In this tutorial I am using SketchUp Make (free version of the latest SketchUp), so download the. That's where our first free tool comes in. We need to export scale vector graphics (or something close at least!). Sure you can export a JPG or PNG, but those will be low-res raster graphics and not to scale. ![]() SketchUp Free doesn't have a decent 2D exporter. Once you've got the files, install them both. I recommend downloading the "Zipped Setup" version, as it includes the writer and converter (both free). ![]() THis works like a virtual printer, so you can create PDFs form any program with a print function! If you don't have the ability to print directly to PDF, you'll want to install CutePDF Writer. but how do you go from flat parts in SketchUp to a nice PDF? FEAR NOT! ThatJoshGuy is here with a collection of FREE tools to help you along your way to success! So now you've created an awesome model, and you've flattened out the parts for your plans. What? You haven't? Oh, I'm sorry, I must be getting ahead of myself.Ĭheck out these awesome tutorials by FliteTest user JasonEricAnderson to learn how to create and flatten models in SketchUp!
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