Google SketchUp® 7 For Dummies®

Chapter 14. Creating Presentation Documents with LayOut

In This Chapter

• Finding out what LayOut is for

• Figuring out where everything is (and what it does)

• Looking at what makes LayOut unique

• Building a simple presentation document from scratch

• Printing and exporting your work

People who design things in 3D have to present their ideas to other people, and most of the time they have to present in a 2D format. Creating these presentations almost always involves the use of layout or illustration software like InDesign, Illustrator, or QuarkXPress; these programs are great, but they can be expensive and tricky to get the hang of, especially if you're not a graphic designer.

If you're lucky enough to have the Pro version of Google SketchUp 7, you have access to a whole separate piece of software called Google SketchUp LayOut, or LayOut for short.

LayOut is a program that lets you create documents for presenting your 3D SketchUp models, both on paper and on-screen. LayOut was designed to be easy to use, quick to learn, and tightly integrated with SketchUp. The people who built it want you to use LayOut to create all your design presentations; here are some examples of what you can make:

• Information sheets

• Storyboards

• Design packs

• Presentation boards and posters

• Vector illustrations and diagrams

• On-screen, PowerPoint-style slide shows

LayOut gives you the tools to create cover pages, title blocks, callouts, and symbols — whatever you need to accompany views of your model. You can create presentations ...