You have double posted - in the other thread there is some useful advice please read it. If you use Ruby code to reset the formula to be a fixed number how can you expect it to be a formula again later on? You must change the attributes that the formula is using to effect a change that is not permanent! The formula cannot be changed in anyway without changing how the DC works. There are also other DC Ruby tools to scale objects too...

And there isn't an easier way

PM away...

If you insert DCs then they are automatically made unique by design, so editing the attributes of one only affects that one. Unless you have nested DCs... when the unique containers could then contain repeated versions of the same DC, which of course will change globally should you edit any of that DC's attributes in one container. A DC that is copied in a model will be just that - a second instance of the same DC - so editing one will then change the other too - but that is useful if you have six identical widgets and you want to change their manufacturer en mass. So have attributes you want to remain unique attached to the container DC so each unique instance has unique attributes, and conversely any attributes you might want to capable of change en mass should be attached to a nested DC, so then changing one will ripple through to several.

I haven't created any of the sub components yet. I just finished up my job here, and am going to be moving back down to San Diego for school shortly. I should now actually have the time to get these models going. I'll post them as I work on them. Thanks all, Matt

hi rich, I visited the site and was very much impressed with DCs there. I have never seen Dcs as rich (no pun intended...) in possibilities as those. I downloaded the free cabinet and was again impressed by the wealth of help in the way of videos and tutorials. I'd be willing to help if it is not too heavy in terms of time commitment. regards.

No, I tried. It didn't change. I've 'solved' my problem by working in inches in the Component Attributes. As long as the user sees his own units in the Component Properties (which is the case), it's fine with me, for now. The problem in the second post is more irritating though. But it seems to be OS related, for it happens only on my Win-Vista machine, and not on the mac I borrowed. Sadly, I only have a license on my windows machine, and not on the mac, so I had to put up with the 8 hour time limit. I'm able to put properties on to child components by opening them in such a way that the parent component is not displayed in the Comp. Attr. window. But that sucks, cause I loose the ability to click-reference parent properties. Type type type. Bah.

I am afraid that it is not possible. Every time you make a copy of a DC and alter its attributes, the Component browser acquires a new component definition. Only exact copies of a DC remain under the same definition. Selecting a bunch and applying the same change to all of them creates a new definition for every single member of the bunch, so the only way to keep the bloat in check is to apply changes to only one instance, and then to make copies of that. Anssi

Hello Everyone, No need to think anymore. I have found the solution, attached here. Angle VS Length.skp

@jimstockman said: Thanks Jeff, I've already been down that road which is fine for a single window or door, but I require more complexity. I require walls with varying numbers of windows and doors at specific x/z coordinates on the face of the wall. I can segment the wall to whatever level of complexity I need using your solution, but it's cumbersome and really not very flexible. the DC i posted could be modified to incorporate more windows and doors using the Copies behavior.. i'm not sure how much you experimented with the dc but it does allow for specific x/z coordinates of the window.. as you say, it's cumbersome and i didn't feel the need to spend a super long time building the DC with more options.. @unknownuser said: I can also build a wall segment with a single hole and add connected wall segments to that, each with its own positioning of the hole until I complete the entire length of the wall. I think that absent some level of scripting, I'm not going to be able to get into the inside geometry of the wall to manipulate the position of the hole. right.. what you want to do is not possible with dynamic components unless you follow the route similar to the example.. well, there are a couple of other ways to do it but maybe not as elegant as you'd hope for.. you'd basically have separate solid components moving around inside the main DC.. for instance -- the wall is just a single solid 3D rectangle, then you have blocks which will represent the doors/windows cutout and those are positioned/sized according to user input.. after everything is in place, you'd use the solid tools to intersect the objects and create your holes.. at the same time as the hole cutting objects being sized/posititioned, you'd have your doors being sized/positioned as well so after the solid tools operation is finished, the doors will be sitting inside the wall with proper cutouts.. i have another workaround that i do but it's even more confusing than that ^ so i won't get into it at this time. other than doing some of the steps outlined above, ruby is where you need to be looking at as it's going to be much more flexible though i suspect it will also be much more cumbersome for you to arrive at a solution. especially if you don't know any ruby good luck

hmm. i don't think you're going to be able to accomplish this with dynamic components.. i'm not quite sure how the jumpers are supposed to look when filling the awkward shaped roofs but i assume they will be cut on angles.(?) basically, if you can't use standard sketchup's Scale,Move, & Rotate ( , , ) tools to modify the components then you can't do it with DCs.. (there are workarounds such as shown in this stair building dc of mine.. i made the video to show the suTeam some requests of mine but you'll probably be able to see the limitations you're up against here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QYs1lcrAck ) so, try taking one of your jumper components and using only the tools i mentioned earlier, conform it to your desired shape.. is it possible? also, with DCs, you can't just click on one of the odd surfaces then have the components populate the area automagically.. you'd have to enter all the parameters manually via a component dialog which would be easy enough to do with the rectangle shape but once you get into the varying angles/cuts/etc, you're going to hit a dead end.. this would be more suited to ruby and there are people on these forums that could (probably) make a plugin for you but, it's so specialized of a plugin that i don't think they're just going to make it and publish here as nobody but you needs it.. it seems like a situation for contracting one of the writers to build the plugin specifically suited to your needs.. if this is for your business, i'd say it's a route you may want to explore as it's going to save you tons of time over drawing these things manually per each roof.. i don't know how much they'd charge to do something like this but if it were me, i'd be expecting something in the $100-$500 range(?)

@probuild said: what about the onClick? yeah, you can do that too using SET() in this case, i just added an onClick behavior to the parent then entered Set("door_vis",0,1) (and if you prefer, you can use TRUE or FALSE instead of 0 and 1) so now, in this example, the door can be hidden via the Component Options window's dropdown list OR with the onClick dc_parEx_withOnClick.skp

jharchar, It's possible. I posted an example DC with consecutive animations in your first sliding door post: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=289&t=37691&start=0 If you're interested in only the animation feature of DC's, I agree KeyFrame is a good choice.

Dan, There is a predefined attribute named ImageURL which you can point to an image using a url. For example, http://mysite/myimage.png Dynamic component predefined attributes: http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=114551

Just a note - you could also have done the concurrent animations by placing 2 (or more) animate functions on the same onClick function, just seprate them using a semi-colon: onClick: animate(X, 0, 36);animate(Handle!RotY, 0 , 90)

Is this available for download, or is it just for your use?

I have done a similar one too, and I guess that what you request is mathematically not possible. Anssi

[quote="Saladyne"] I've created a fairly simple dynamic door called 'Door Multi' (search under BaxStudio), also attached. Also it was created on the PC version of Sketchup 8 so I don't know if it will work properly on a Mac. Any positive criticism/feedback would be gratefully received. And links to 'good' examples of Dynamic Components would be greatly appreciated! Hey thanks for a great component. I have just checked it out on my Mac and it seems to work fine. Its great to see a component that not only works well but looks great as well. I love Google but the components they come up with like doors, windows etc. are fairly lame. I have uploaded a DC called "block wall" http://bit.ly/kUCsmN See what you think of it. Its not perfect and anyone who would like to improve it I would be delighted to share credit- would love to partner up with people who want to make DCs commercially. Any takers?

@tig said: It is the angle between the 2 radii at the 2 ends of the chord... Right. After reading your post a few times, I realized that I was looking at the whole thing wrong (way over thinking it ) Your post made me realize there's a right triangle (or 2) in there. Right triangles I can deal with ok.

Congrats Jeff. I've been following this discussion only because I wanted to say we lost another good man to code The great unwashed will welcome you back when you're ready