Let's say it's a cabinet with vertical sides and a number of horizontal parts, each a group. Let's say I want to make the cabinet wider or narrower. I move the appropriate side the distance required, but then I have to open the horizontal groups and change their lengths one by one. Anyone know of a plugin that would enable me to do them all at once?
Is there a Sketchup plugin that does this?
- Thread starter Lord Kitchener
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Shultzy
Established Member
Your groups should be components then changing one horizontal part will change all the others.
Brentingby
Established Member
Shultzy got it in one. Use components instead of groups for all the parts of your model. Groups just create more work.
Wouldn't the fact that the horizontal parts are all different to each other not make the use of components a bit difficult? (hammer)
Brentingby
Established Member
If the parts are different shapes, yes. You should still be using components instead of groups.
Have you tried FredoScale? (hammer)
Have you tried FredoScale? (hammer)
Brentingby":3rtpx7jk said:
I am familiar with the use of components, but prefer groups for this particular purpose because I frequently copy and move items and then modify them to suit their new position, I don't want to be having the original part changing un-noticed while I work on the new part.
I've had a look at FredoScale but it doesn't appear to do what I want.
Brentingby
Established Member
What is it that you want it to do that you don't think Fredoscale does? Be specific.
Brentingby":3duvg5g9 said:
Pretty much what I said in the first post. Just had another read of it and it seems clear enough to me, but if it would help to put it another way- I would like to be able to select a number of (different) groups and alter their lengths simultaneously in the same direction.
Brentingby
Established Member
Brentingby":3v2o71s0 said:
Excellent, thanks, I will have a go of that this evening.
Brentingby
Established Member
Results, then?
Brentingby":zs5yvi7d said:
Had a quick go last night, and again this morning, looking good. It certainly does what I want, just need to learn how to stretch by a specific distance rather than proportion, sure it's in there somewhere, just didn't have time this morning to go through it all.
Thanks.
Brentingby
Established Member
Click on the appropriate scale handle as I did in the animation, hit Tab and type the new desired new dimension and hit Enter. I moved the right side over 300mm so I added 300 to the displayed distance. Full instructions are available with the extension.
RogerS
Established Member
Lord Kitchener":278fmh8h said:
Use Make Unique.
RogerS":38zgx3yu said:
I'm aware of that facility, but there might be some complete beginners reading this who aren't.
RogerS
Established Member
Lord Kitchener":rv2mpih2 said:
They are now !!
Brentingby
Established Member
Roger, I think the problem comes when there's a lack of consistency. Some seem to think it is a good idea to make groups and convert them to components when they make copies that are to be identical. I learned from Design Click Build to be consistent and always make components. Then you know if you make a copy and want to make it different that you need to use make unique.
There are so many advantages to using components and it makes the work easier but not everyone cares.
There are so many advantages to using components and it makes the work easier but not everyone cares.
Personally I think it's a good idea to create groups, if that's what suits your way of working, then if you need a similar part you can just copy it and modify it, no need to go to the extra steps involved in making components then making them unique if you need a similar but not identical part.
Groups show up just as well in Cutlist as components.
Groups show up just as well in Cutlist as components.
Brentingby
Established Member
Yes, groups show up in the cutlist but unless you go back and edit their names, they all show up with the same name which isn't very helpful.
There are so many other advantages of using components that groups don't provide but as I said, not everyone cares.
There are so many other advantages of using components that groups don't provide but as I said, not everyone cares.
Brentingby":37d9sfs1 said:
It's not a question of not caring, it's a question of what works best in any given application.
As for having to edit their names, in some applications (such as mine) names are not necessary.
