LayOut Changes and New Naming System

This year, we have seen many great changes in SketchUp 2020 and 2020.1. We have seen these changes mentioned in many places, right? However, we often neglect it’s buddy, LayOut. Today, we will talk about the new naming system in SketchUp that you may be unfamiliar with. Also, the changes in LayOut 2020, such as the new Document control, new Model Views, advanced Customization etc. need a thorough going-over. 

LayOut 2020

There are a few changes in the LayOut 2020 as well. Which means, your documentation just got hiked up a notch! Let’s see what’s new in LayOut 2020.

Better Document Control

The Trimble team has been working hard to improve the communication between SketchUp and LayOut. This has been updated. Now you have more editing options right there in LayOut itself! No more switching between the two apps to update all the scenes. Well, there will be a little of that going on, still. But it's much less than before.

Model Views

Now LayOut is more intelligent and understands your model much better. To that end, now you are able to change the viewing style in LayOut without fear of losing changes. To indicate that you have made changes to the viewing style here, part of your toolbar will darken. This lets you have a hitherto unexperienced level of freedom in LayOut. What if you want your original viewport back? No worries, you can always resync.

Customization

Previously, linking a viewport to another model was a real pain in the, you know. You had to delete that view port first. Then you’d insert a new SKP. And then you’d have to resync all your scale and viewport sizes. Hurts, huh? Well, no longer. Now, if you have multiple viewports for a single model, you can link one of them directly to another model. Easy, right? But, do note that you can do that with one and only one viewport for each model.

Not only the above, there’s more. Now you can toggle tag visibility directly in your LayOut Doc. Meaning, you need not create extra scenes just for your SketchUp files. This results in improved workflow and much less going back and forth between SketchUp and LayOut.

The New Nomenclatures

The Trimble team has been deliberating over this for a while now. Without changing your workflow, the new naming conventions are supposed to give you better control over your model. The naming system is more logical now, and they sound more appropriate.

Naming changes in SketchUp 2020:

• ‘Objects’ now collectively mean groups and components. This includes dynamic components as well.
• ‘Layers’ now are called tags. 

This means you won’t have to use multiple words to mean a bunch of similar stuff now. Also, the thinking process of the designer changes depending upon the words that are used in the design interface. Not to worry though, it isn’t changing the internal workings of SketchUp at all. These are just changes in the naming stream. 

No doubt the new changes in the system of SketchUp will accelerate the workflow for newer designers as well as experienced ones. From new ways to look at your model and to understand it, to better and faster ways of documenting it has really revolutionized SketchUp’s getup. Trust LayOut to do half of your work for you!

However, if you are mch practiced with the older ways and would rather depend on your trusty old system of workflow, Trimble urges you not to leave that. Because, of course, every designer has his or her own style of work, and no amount of software coding can change your feeling for a system you have well-settled in.