Quick Construction Drawings from Your SketchUp Model with Condoc Tools – Plugin of the Week #38
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One of the new perks on my Patreon page is the ability to vote on the extension that I cover each week. This week, my supporters on Patreon selected Condoc Tools as the extension we’re going to talk about!
This week’s extension of the week helps you quickly generate the views, scenes, and layers necessary to create a set of construction documents from a SketchUp model into Layout!
Plugin Information
Plugin Name: Condoc Tools
Plugin Developer: Brightman Designs
How Much does it cost? $250/year
Where do you get it?
You can download the free trial version by visiting www.thesketchupessentials.com/condoctools. I will note that I’m an affiliate for this extension, so if you decide to purchase, I will receive a commission.
Tool Functions
SketchUp Functions
When creating models in SketchUp that you’re going to use to create construction documents, one of the most difficult things to is create all the scenes and layers necessary to generate the proper views in Layout.
Michael Brightman has created a toolset that helps automate the construction document creation process.
It’s built around a plan generation system where you enter some information about your project (type of project, number of levels, floor heights, etc) and then it automatically generates the layers and scenes necessary to organize your model in Layout.
You’ll still have to group your geometry properly into the layers generated, but creating the views and scenes can be just as time consuming, so you could save a lot of time if you create your model properly.
It contains several other tools, including a smart section tool that automatically adds section scenes to your model, an elevation tool that will automatically add elevation scenes, a detail tool, and a property matching tools.
All of these tools make generating views in SketchUp much easier.
Layout Functions
However, the second part of this extension is equally important. Condoc’s drawing tools make generating plans in Layout easy.
When you open Layout, Condoc contains several pre-built plan types that you can drag onto your layout sheets to automatically create drawings. Views built in include floor plans, foundation plans, roof plans, elevations, sections and more.
The Condoc tools website also contains a series of tutorials, a forum, and Michael Brightman hosts a monthly live broadcast where he answers questions about the way the system works.
All in all, this seems to be a streamlined, easy to use way to generate construction documents quickly and easily in a SketchUp model. You do still have to put your geometry on the proper layers, but the automation of the rest of the processes is still worth taking a look at.
That’s where we’re going to wrap up this plugin overview. If you liked this video, click that like button down below. If you’re new, click that subscribe button for more SketchUp videos every week.
As always, leave a comment below and let me know if you’re using this tool and how.
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In either case, thanks very much for watching, and I’ll catch you in the next video.
About Justin Geis
Hi, I'm Justin Geis, and I'm the founder of The SketchUp Essentials. I started using SketchUp as part of my work as a general contractor in 2008. I quickly realized the power of the software and started using it for personal projects. I started The SketchUp Essentials as a place to share easy to follow SketchUp tutorials and tips to help everyone harness the power of 3D Modeling in their lives. When not working with SketchUp, I enjoy playing soccer and spending time with my wife and our two dogs.
