Full scale printing from SketchUp is useful for creating templates or stencils for cutting something on a bandsaw or scrollsaw. But if you’ve tried this in the past, you may have been frustrated at the number of blank pages that get printed, or maybe the printout splits up the model across 4 pages, when it could’ve easily fit onto one page. In this article, you’ll learn how to print at full scale in SketchUp with predictable results, every time.
Watch the video, or continue on below to read the article for step by step instructions.
I’ll be using this model found on the 3D warehouse: (You can click on the image below to load the model right in your browser.)
- Isolate the objects you want to print by hiding the other objects.
- Go to the Camera menu > Parallel Projection. (This is required for defining a scale)
- Go to the Camera menu > Standard views > and pick front, back, left, or right, etc. (I don’t know why you can’t just align your view to any face in the model, you HAVE TO use a standard view for some reason.)
Ok, so this is where most people trip up. When you print from SketchUp, it actually prints the entire work area, not just the model. So if you have a bunch of empty space around the model, SketchUp will allocate page space for that area, and that’s where you get all those blank pages printing out.
If you tried to print that, it would look like this:
Yup, 119 pages.
So what you need to do is resize that actual SketchUp program window, in order to change the aspect ratio of the workspace to fit the object as tight as possible. So if you’re using SketchUp maximized in full screen, you have to undock it and drag the borders of the window to fit it.
There’s an excellent extension you can install for free that will allow you to pick an object in your model to resize the window to. Eneroth Viewport Resizer².
- Resize the SketchUp program window to better fit the object you are printing. Use zoom (scroll wheel), zoom extents (SHIFT + Z), and pan (SHIFT + Middle Mouse button) to help fill the area with the model.
(There is a feature called “Use Model Extents” which, in theory, should prevent all that empty space from being printed, but during my extensive testing and research while preparing this video and article, I found that it doesn’t always behave predictably, and when it does work, it doesn’t crop as close to the model as you can when you do it manually. I started a whole forum thread on the topic, you can check it out here.)
- Verify the printer, paper size, and paper orientation by going to File > Print Setup.
- Go to File > Print Preview. This will allow us to preview the print out before sending it to the printer.
- Disable Fit to Page. (Fit to page will scale whatever is in the workspace up or down in order to fit onto a single sheet of paper. We’re printing at full scale, so we don’t want that.)
- Disable Use model extents. (See above for explanation)
- Set the scale to In the Printout = 1in and In SketchUp = 1in. (If you want to scale it to something different, feel free to do that. For example, for a 1/4 scale, you’d have 1in in the printout = 4in in SketchUp.)
When you click OK, you’ll see a preview of your printout. From there you can click print, and you should be good to go!
Here’s a bonus tip. To help you better align the pages, try applying a hatch material to the face, like the Cement Masonry Unit Texture, and then disable Use high accuracy HLR, which will disable vector output, enabling textures to be printed.
