Creating Plans and Sections in SketchUp: A Step-by-Step LayOut Guide

SketchUp’s official Help Center and LayOut guide explain a basic workflow for creating plans, sections, and scaled drawing sheets from a 3D model. This guide covers setting up section planes, preparing a plan scene, bringing the model into LayOut, and adjusting the viewport scale. The Help Center pages were updated on September 29, 2026, while the LayOut guide is dated March 15, 2023. The documents do not specify a particular SketchUp or LayOut version number.

1. Prepare the model and section planes

1. Before adding a section plane, make sure you are working in the right group or component context and that no other objects are selected. Then go to Tools › Section Plane and click a face where you want to place the plane. To lock its orientation, hover over a face aligned in the desired direction and press Shift, or use the arrow keys to select an axis direction.

2. Adjust the plane with the Move or Rotate tool. To change the cutting direction, right-click the plane and select Reverse; to align the camera to the plane, select Align View. A model can contain multiple planes, but only one plane can make an active cut at a time in each group or component context. Activate the desired plane by right-clicking it and selecting Active Cut, or by double-clicking the plane.

3. Create the planes needed for plans and sections before saving scenes. SketchUp’s LayOut guide warns that planes added later may also appear in previously saved scenes, which may then need to be revised. The visibility of the plane and the section cut can be controlled independently.

A section plane can be horizontal for a plan view or vertical for a section view showing the interiors of multiple floors. For section fill to appear, the cut geometry must form a closed loop within its own group or component hierarchy. If gaps appear in the fill, right-click the plane and select Troubleshoot Section Fill to inspect problem openings. Note that fill settings change the model style, and the style must be saved for the view to be used later.

2. Save the plan view as a scene

1. To set up the plan camera, select Parallel Projection from the Camera menu, then choose Top from the standard views. The guide gives an example of placing the plan section horizontally to show the first floor, with the cutting plane positioned 4 feet above the floor. This is an example in the document, not a required setting for every project.

2. Activate the desired section, choose a style for the view, and adjust the section fill color if needed. SketchUp styles affect the appearance of edges, materials, and section fills; styles are preserved per scene.

3. Once the view is ready, add a new scene from the Scenes window and give it a descriptive name. This makes it easier to select the view to bring into a LayOut viewport. Model tags can also be used to control which geometry appears in plans and sections. For example, the furniture tag can be on in the plan scene and off in the section scene.

3. Bring the model into LayOut and set up the sheet

1. When creating a new document in LayOut, choose a suitable template. Templates offer standard page sizes; some options also include grid lines or a title block. You can change the page size or drawing units later in File › Document Setup. For recurring work, configure the settings and then create a custom template with File › Save as template.

2. Bring the SketchUp model into LayOut via File › Insert. The model on the sheet sits inside a viewport. Choose the scene to display on the page from the SketchUp Model menu in LayOut. You can adjust the viewport’s placement and size on the page by editing its edges.

3. Set the drawing scale from the SketchUp Model menu. The documentation states that Ortho must be enabled to define the scale. If you want to keep the scale fixed while resizing the viewport in LayOut, enable Preserve Scale on Resize. When this setting is off, changing the viewport size can also affect the drawing scale.

In addition to model views, LayOut can be used to arrange titles, descriptions, and other 2D sheet elements. Preparing scenes, scales, and visible tags in the model beforehand can reduce the need to make repeated adjustments to each view in the sheet layout. In multi-page drawing sets, pages, layers, and viewports can be arranged separately.

4. Section geometry, fill, and export

If you need new geometry where the section line intersects the model, right-click the plane and select Create Group from Slice. The resulting group can be moved elsewhere in the model or exploded to use its geometry. The requirement for a closed loop also applies to section fill: an open loop may prevent the fill from appearing.

To export a section view from SketchUp as a file, select the section plane and go to File › Export › Section Slice. The documentation lists .dwg as the default file type. In the export options, True Section (Orthographic) exports the section as a true orthographic drawing, while Screen Projection also includes perspective distortion from the screen view. You can also set the AutoCAD version, drawing scale, and appearance of section lines in the same window.

What changes in an architecture and visualization workflow?

This method is useful for architecture and interior design teams that want to create plan and section views from a 3D model and bring them into a 2D sheet layout. Organizing scenes and tags helps control which geometry appears in different drawings. LayOut brings together drawing scale, page layout, and annotation elements. Editing the model geometry, tags, and views in SketchUp can make the transition to LayOut more orderly.

Before getting started, check that your files and team workflow meet SketchUp and LayOut requirements; the sources do not provide specific hardware requirements, licensing conditions, or a version compatibility table. In particular, scale preservation, the dependence of section fill on closed geometry, and completing section planes before saving scenes are points to check.

Common mistakes

• Adding a section plane in the wrong group or component context: Check the active context and selection before placing the plane.

• Adding new planes after saving a scene: Create the necessary planes first, then save the views and scenes.

• Assuming section fill will appear for all geometry: Confirm that the cut area forms a closed loop within the relevant hierarchy.

• Resizing a LayOut viewport without checking the scale settings: Check the Ortho and Preserve Scale on Resize options.