Opening Skema | Project Organization

Organizing Projects

Creating a New Project

Instructional Video

Each time you log into Skema, you will be directed to your projects page. This centralized hub houses all your ongoing, completed, and pending projects.

The projects page provides a comprehensive view where you can easily manage and organize your work.

If you're new to Skema, make use of the demo tab located in the left side toolbar. This section is specifically designed to help new users familiarize themselves with the program’s features and functionalities.

Click on any demo project listed under this tab. You will gain access to a cloned version of the selected project.

Projects within the Demo folder is set to Read-Only mode. When you select one of these demo project, a clone of that project is created, opened and placed the the "All Projects" area. This setting ensures that you can explore various features without altering the original templates.

The cloned project that is created when you select a demo project is fully editable. This allows you to experiment and learn by modifying aspects of the project as needed.

When you visit your projects page in Skema, you'll find an overview of all your created and cloned demo projects.

You can create and organize folders to keep your projects structured. This helps in maintaining a clean workspace, especially when managing multiple projects.

Arrange your projects within these folders based on criteria like, owner, project phase, type, or priority, enhancing your workflow and access.

Move your cursor over the project you want to edit. Look for the three dots in the top right corner of the project thumbnail or title.

Click the three dots to reveal options such as "Rename" or "Duplicate."

Projects that are clones or duplicates of the Residential Demo Project, now function as new, independent entities. You can further customize these projects without any impact on the original demo project.

At the top of the projects page, find the search bar where you can type in the name or part of the name of a project. This feature allows you to quickly locate specific projects by entering relevant keywords or project titles, making navigation faster and more direct.

Next to the search bar, you'll find a dropdown menu dedicated to filtering the projects based on ownership.

Filtering Options:

Also, next to the search bar, you'll find a dropdown menu dedicated to sorting. Choose how you want to organize the display of your projects. Options include:

All these organizational tools—search, sorting, and filtering—are conveniently located at the top of the project menu, making them easily accessible and straightforward to use.

On your Skema projects page, find and click the "New Folder" button on the top left corner of the screen.

After clicking the button, you'll be prompted to name your folder. Choose a name that clearly represents the contents or purpose of the folder, making it easier to locate and manage related projects.

To organize your projects within the new folder, simply click and hold on a project's icon or thumbnail, then drag it to the folder label. Release the project over the folder to place it inside.

Once inside a folder, projects can be rearranged by dragging and dropping them within the folder or moved back out to the main project area in a similar manner.

Navigate to the individual project you want to classify as a favorite. On the top left corner of the project thumbnail or title, you will find a star icon.

Click on this star to mark the project as a favorite. The star icon color changes to gold to indicate that the project has been successfully added to your favorites.

To view all your favorite projects, look for the "Favorites" tab located on the left side of the screen. This tab will aggregate all the projects you’ve marked as favorites, making them easily accessible.

Navigate Favorites: Within the Favorites tab, you can browse through your selected projects and quickly access those you frequently work on or need to keep handy for ongoing tasks.

begin the process of unarchiving a project, first click on the "Archive" tab located on the left side of the screen. This tab houses all projects that have been archived or removed from active view.

Within the Archive tab, scroll through or search for the project you wish to restore. Each project in the archive will have its own listing, displayed with key details for easy identification.

Once you locate the desired project, click the three dots on the right side of the project entry. From the menu, select "Restore" to reinstate the project to your active projects list. The project will then be removed from the Archive tab and placed back into your main projects area.

Navigate to the "Location" tab and click the plus (+) icon.

Use the search bar at the top left to enter an address, coordinates, or city. As you type, a drop-down menu will offer multiple matching options.

Select the most appropriate location from the list or continue typing to refine your search.

Zoom: Use your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out.

Pan: Right-click and drag the mouse to move your view across the map.

Map Coordinates: To view the current coordinates, select "Map Coordinates" in the top right corner. Here, you can also save the coordinates.

Change Terrain View: Click the "Change Map Terrain" button on the top right corner to switch between map and satellite views.

Once you're satisfied with the view, click "Capture Terrain" to save the current view and import data from the selected terrain.

To adjust the terrain later, click on the pencil icon next to the location.

Refer to the Sketchup article on bringing in a geolocated site from the Sketchup application.

After pinpointing your location and defining the site boundary, click the plus (+) button next to the "Construction Site" tab.

Click the four-cornered arrow icon in the bottom right corner of your screen to switch to a top-down view of the site.

Locate and select the boundary tool from the top left corner of your screen to begin outlining your site.

Left click to place the starting point of your boundary.

To ensure your boundary lines are orthogonal, hold the 'Shift' key while placing points. This will automatically align them perpendicular or parallel to the previous points.

You can add as many points as needed in any direction.

To close the boundary, bring your last point over the starting point and left-click or press Enter.

Click "Save" to store your boundary settings. Once you click "Exit," the site boundaries will be projected onto the terrain.

Once you draw the boundaries and exit, adjustments or deletions to the boundaries are not possible. To modify, you must draw new boundaries, which will replace and update the previous ones.

Refer to the Sketchup article and Rhino article to see how to import site boundaries from those applications.

To modify the position of the working plane along the X, Y or Z axes, first select the grid origin located at the center of the working plane.

After selection, adjust the coordinates by entering values into the appropriate fields in the right menu.

Please note that any area below the set elevation of the working plane is considered a basement. The base level of the basement will correspond to the elevation of the working plane.

Toggle Visibility: Use the visibility toggle to show or hide the working plane as needed.

Lock the Plane: To prevent accidental adjustments, you can lock the working plane by toggling on the lock feature.

The most important feature of the working plane is the ability to rotate the grid. This allows you to align it precisely with a specific site boundary. Unlike traditional setups that use true north as a reference, you can set the project north to align with your grid. This adjustment helps in orienting your project more accurately according to site-specific geographic and environmental conditions.

Beyond mere alignment, you can set specific camera views to correspond with different canvas positions. This allows for better visualization and presentation of your project from various angles.

Utilize the camera settings to create and save multiple views, enabling quick switches between different perspectives of the working plane. See “changing cameras and saving views” article for more information on camera setting.

You can change the size of each cell within the grid itself. This tool can be used a specific grid underlay that you can then snap to for your configuration.