Got it sorted out. I tried "Loft" but for some reason it wouldn't work on the curves (they were welded), that's why I started looking for the "Curvestitcher" type plugin. I tried welding them and grouping them separately so that there was no interfering geometry, but "loft" didn't work again. Odd, I usually can figure out what I did wrong. To get them to stitch properly I had to select each edge for the curve to be stitched in the same order, i.e. bottom to top, and then weld them. This got the stitcher plugin to do what I needed.

@chris fullmer said: Do you ever turn off any plugins through the extensions list in the preferences menu? Hi Chris, I don't think I have ever turned on the "Google Earth Ocean Modeling" extension. Also, while we're on the subject of the Extensions list, the description of the "Ruby Script Examples" is out of date; in v7 it describes three tools (Draw->Box, Plugins->Cost and Camera->Animations) and omits Point At Center (in contextmenu.rb), linetool.rb, and selection.rb. I suspect Google didn't update it in the v7 release because it would have meant updating all the translation files too, which key their translation entries from the exact English text. If they leave the English alone, nothing breaks and everything is uniformly out of date and the workaround is to "tick every checkbox in the list" to be able to get Point At Center enabled. Myself, I find that sloppy. Understandable, but sloppy. Also, do any of the plugin developers use this feature? Are there any plugins besides the ones Google provides in the installation that actually use this feature? I'm writing an article on how to use it and if anyone already does, I'd like to mention either the developer or their scripts by name.

@cphillips said: I have had good luck with Firebug lite. http://getfirebug.com/lite.html Ah! Firebug is one of my fav Firefox extensions. This Lite version looks very interesting!

Thanks Escape Artist and TIG. I have zoom to selected and I was looking for a way to zoom to an inference snap.

thanks i have firefox, is correct explorer 7 for win e safari 3.0 or later for mac. Now i try on mac. Flyman

Thanks Whaat.

@chrisglasier said: I'll get back on it tomorrow. In the meantime thanks for your help. Chris Here's the result: # Lists components and groups (with hidden status) in a scene @dlg.add_action_callback("findComponents") {|d, p| model = Sketchup.active_model entities = model.active_entities a = 0 array = [] entities.each do |entity| if entity.class == Sketchup;;Group || entity.class == Sketchup;;ComponentInstance if entity.layer.visible? array[a] = [] if entity.class == Sketchup;;ComponentInstance array[a][0] = entity.definition.name end if entity.class == Sketchup;;Group array[a][0] = entity.name end array[a][1] = entity.hidden? array[a] = array[a].join(",") a+=1 end #if class end # if visible end #loop array = array.join(";") cmd = "receiveComponents('#{array}');" @dlg.execute_script (cmd) } [image: jrTi_screenMachine04.jpg] Tally ho! Chris

Yup, that is the film and stage plugin. http://sketchup.google.com/download/previousplugins.html Down about 1/2 the page under "Functionality Enhancement" Once you install it, look for it under "Camera" and choose "Add Camera" or one of the other options, Chris

Jim's idea of sub-setting works to an extent. See my Roof.rb - it asks for details, makes the roof's form, then displays it with default materials and then asks for materials in a dialog and redisplays it with the materials. It is the user input that causes the pause and the screen to refresh. Using model.start_operation ... model.commit_operation with your clac's might help but it could mean multiple undo's ?

@chrisglasier said: I feel quite despondent that I continue to fail to explain namesets adequately but I will soldier on with a good old British stiff upper lip! Chris A couple of members told me privately that taking a look at "Operative content" helped. Thanks ... Chris

I have found a very good exporter to .lwo: http://www.flay.com/GetDetail.cfm?ID=2362 In fact, I have finally exported to Blender my more complex model. Of course, no textures, it's a work you must do manually later. But it's the best free solution I have ever seen

I'm not sure, it worked for me in both 6 and 7. Are you getting any errors in the ruby console? Chris

Thanks, Chris. Now I don't feel too bad about not being able to find it in the API.

For a color it's always = 255 [100% opaque]... there is a color.alpha= method but it's never ever worked, you must set alpha [transparency] for a material itself not material.color e.g. material.alpha=0.4 for 40% opacity will work but the material.color.alpha still reports 255 [100%], if you try to change it, it just does nothing ! So to recap - the fourth item in a SUp material.color array is its alpha [r,g,b,a] but it's not used ! The alpha of the material itself works as a 0 to 1.0, equivalent to % setting of opacity... http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/color.html

thnx for the workaround, haven't tried it yet tho.... but gj

Thank you very much!It is greate help to me!

@tig said: You can also do it without Ruby... Try this way... In the model select the component instances you want to be replaced - either by manually picking them (in which case they can even be a mixture of several types) OR by using the Component Browser (model-tab) and then right-clicking over the definition's icon that you want to have selected and pick 'Select Instances' - that way all of its active instances are selected. Now use the Component Browser - either in the model-tab to use components that are already within the model, or from any other 'external' location for components that are currently not yet loaded into the project - again you right-click over the definition's icon that you want 'to add' and pick 'Replace Selected'. Now the components you selected have been replaced by the component you wanted... It's possible to script it BUT it might be as easy to do it this way... There are already several component swapping scripts too... It can be done using the Component Browser, but when you have lots of components, it can be easier to select a desired component on-screen rather than hunting through the browser. Though I wrote ApplyTo before the Component Browser offered that functionality, it retains its relevance for this reason.

@rickw said: SceneExporter and SceneExporterPro will do this as well. Very thoughtful and generous, thanks. You may be interested in seeing how this relates to my templates query Chris

You could try offset.rb While I wrote it to provide standard "flat" offset capability, I noticed it does perform 3d offsets. It may not be exactly what you want, but it could form the basis for a 3d offset.

Good to see that it have been helpfull ! The automatic translation is a really good idea (in fact, I've never really try this kind of tools before... ). In fact, after some test, the google translation is better, and there are not that much big mistakes or nonsense (just when I'm going off topic...). http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&u=www.wip-archi.com&sl=auto&tl=en&history_state0= For instance, I've quickly check the Vray lessons, and it works quite well... give it a try...