Another sketchup question

I believe it did when we first started using it. AAMOF, if I remember right it used to squawk at you if what you selected wasn't a group or component.

Reply to
Swingman
Loading thread data ...

Do your use Outliner much?

I didn't pay too much attention to Outliner at the beginning, but I use the hell out of it now. Especially on big models when I want to hide a bunch of groups/components, or rename and organize groups and components better.

Reply to
Swingman

If you are asking me.. No, still too new to this. Not sure what it is or does.

Still working on the basics, still trying to be comfortable building with it... but definetly getting better.

Reply to
woodchucker

Actually that works great! If you have not used the section tool remember that you can move it to expose more hidden layers, the dado. I was able to draw a rectangle inside the exposed dado's and pull it the thickness needed and I was done. I just had to convert it into a component. I eliminated having to expand the panel to the correct length and width and I did not have to move it into place since it was drawn to correct size in the place it would end up to begin with.

Now if I can only remember to do this in the future! LOL

Reply to
Leon

I use to keep it open all of the time, I confess, I forget why.

On another note did you see my short cut procedure I just verified with woodchucker concerning drawing and positioning a center panel inside a door frame using the section tool?? Big time and step saver.

Reply to
Leon

Section tool? I have to check that out. Offset or section... I use the offset a lot... Funny I was making a hole in a ply plate, and used the offset to draw it. then pushed it back down through the ply... from the top it looked all the way through. From the bottom no... Hmmmmm. over and over I struggled. Finally highlighted the hole, and hit delete... BINGO.. not everything works as expected, but there seems to be a way. Not always so intuitive... especially zooming... I find I have to go to the other side of the view to zoom out to re-center, so I can get to the piece I want to see. If I just put my mouse over the area I want to bring in, I still can't see the rest of that.. so goto the other side, zoom out, then mouse to the center of what I want to see and zoom in... I know I can do shift middle and drag, but that is a pain sometimes, too many operations.

Reply to
woodchucker

Section tool. IIRC it is a group of tools that you might have to select to show up from the View/Toolbars window.

You select the section tool and click it on a surface, it will immediately show a larger see through but bordered window on the surface that you clicked. Next select the border of that section window and move it toward the object. For small movements you will probably have to zoom in. If you do this right it will make the object/component appear to have been run through the planer several times to expose the insides of the pieces.

Extremely easy to use once you understand the concept. When I took drafting in school many many years ago we had to draw the section plane and draw what we imagined to be the look inside the part had we sliced away a section.

Just stick with it. It will get easier and easier. I am continuously finding faster and easier ways to do things. Just like the section plane i mentioned above. That just came to me this last night.

Reply to
Leon

You are aware that the measurement reported depends upon the precision you have set in "Model Info", right?

Reply to
dadiOH

Yes I am. Thanks.

Reply to
woodchucker

If I understand the question, yes. In my understanding, basically it is the copies of groups that add significantly to the overhead. If you only need one brick in your model, making it either a group or component won't have an impact. But if you need a thousand, making it a component instead of a group will reduce the overhead. IME, the file size issue is less noticeable than the impact on performance.

Reply to
Swingman

Ok. So I guess it is best to hold groups to a minimum.

I wonder what advantage there is to using groups rather than components other than having an additional number of named components in the drawing.

Reply to
Leon

I as a rule never make a "single part" into a group vs. a component. I do however often make a group of components into a group vs. a component.

Reply to
Leon

No, _copies_ of groups. ;)

Reply to
Swingman

Nothing wrong with that ... AAMOF, that is exactly how "Dynamic Components" are made, with "nested" components.

IOW, a "DC" Base Cabinet is a component, comprised of sub components for the stiles, rails, end panels, etc.

This allows them to be re-sized programatically while maintaining certain dimensions, as well and axis positions.

IOW, the component "rail", inside Dynamic Component "Wall Cabinet" (a collection of its (nested) component parts) can be re-sized (SCALED) in length, without affecting it's width and thickness, as well as it's relation, in axis, to other component).

Try to "scale" with a "Group", which can't be programmed to be dynamic, and all the parts will change in dimension in proportion to the amount of "scale" imparted.

You may remember that one of the first things I did when I got the Pro version of SU was to immediately start programming "Dynamic Components" for kitchen base and wall cabinets so I could populate existing space for both new construction and remodeling without having to draw different sized cabinets.

While these initial dynamic components are still handy for my use, the sketchUp 3D model world is now full of these things, most sophisticated way beyond my programming abilities/time to mess with it.

You already know this, but for those paying attention to the thread looking for more information, the below will be helpful to save for their future use.

(Don't know where this came from/who to attribute to, but it is in my SketchUp EverNote file):

~Groups:

A collection of faces and edges within a model that are isolated from other parts of the model.

Anything protected in a group cannot by affected by any geometry outside of that group.

To manipulate faces or edges within a group, or to add geometry to a group, that group must first be ?activated? by double clicking on it.

If you draw a shape on something that is in a group, it won?t ?stick? to the object unless you open the group first.

Groups can contain ?loose geometry?, guides, section planes, dimensions, text, or other groups.

Groups can be manipulated as an assembly. (Move, rotate, scale, paint, copy, etc)

Groups have their own independent 3-axis from the rest of the model, and it can be reoriented

Copies of groups are independent from one another. Once a copy is made, any changes made to one instance of that group do NOT affect the other copies of that group.

~Components:

Similar to groups, except that each copy of a component remains identical to its original. Any changes made to an instance of a component are automatically reflected to each instance of that component.

Using Components for multiple copies of the same object within a model increases the performance of Sketchup when compared to using groups to do the same thing. That?s because Sketchup only has to define a component one time, whereas with groups, Sketchup has to define each and every group even if each group is technically identical.

Components can be saved independently from the current model and imported into other models. If you make any changes to the component, you can update the reference in any models you?ve imported it into.

You can assign a ?gluing plane? to components. A gluing plane allows the component to automatically orient itself onto the face of the object you are moving it to. For example, if you had a component of a picture frame, you would want it to be placed flat on a wall. Depending upon which wall you place the component on, you would have to rotate the picture 90° and reposition it onto the wall. By defining a gluing plane, the component will automatically rotate as you move it so that it is oriented properly to whichever wall you are moving it to.

Components can be configured to ?always face the camera?. When you first open Sketchup, you?ll notice how the person inside every default model always faces you, even as you orbit around the model. You can assign this property to components too.

If you want to make an instance of a component unique from its counterparts, you can right click it, and select ?Make Unique?.

Reply to
Swingman

Sorry, I misread that ... I read:

"group of comp "group of components into a group vs. a component."

Duh ... my bad.

Reply to
Swingman

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.