Well done, Terry!!!1 Although its not something I use often it is a very well put together toolset!

That DAE export thing isn't a bad idea, it would certainly be a good way to diagnose a bad model... I'll have to try that...

@unknownuser said: When you say fit onto a shape, do you mean surface or single face? I figure it is a single face that could be in various shapes. I would be keen to look at what you have. cheers...Wayne

The built-in guide-delete tool removes all guides from the current context downwards. So if you are in the model context and run it then all guides go. If you are inside a group context and run it then all guides inside the group, and inside other groups/components that are inside the context group, will be deleted, but guides outside in other groups or the model itself are not removed. Note that locking a group or having guides on 'off' layers, does not prevent those guides being deleted in en mass. Of course you can erase individual guides using the Eraser tool or selecting them and using 'delete'... There are several script tools to erase guides in different contexts, and also differentiate between guide-lines and guide-points...

A Point3d behaves much as an Array and vice versa. You can make a point and adjust it's x/y/z values on the fly just as you can with an Array. So pt=Geom::Point3d.new() or even pt=ORIGIN.clone gives you Geom::Point3d.new(0, 0, 0) then pt.x=123.4 OR pt[0]=123.4 gives you Geom::Point3d.new(123.4, 0, 0) A point or array will take .x ,y and .z; as well as [0], [1] and [2]... This lets you read AND set values... pz=pt.z returns 0.0 and pt.z=1 gives us Geom::Point3d.new(123.4, 0, 1.0) etc... I suspect you are over complicating things... To get the z axis of the current 'container', test if it's the model, and if so use Z_AXIS; if not use the container.transformation.zaxis Let's assume we have an object in a container that is called 'obj' if obj.parent==Sketchup.active_model z_axis=Z_AXIS else#it's a group or component z_axis=obj.parent.instances[0].transformation.zaxis end IF you already know where the 'obj' is - e.g. you've made it inside a 'group' then it's even easier... z_axis=group.transformation.zaxis

Thanks for all the help. It is much appreciated.

Having a hard time now. Rarely is anything being sprayed, no matter the setting. No groups or components on the receiving end. FloatDomainError? [image: 0KeM_componentsprayfail-1.JPG]

Thank you Pixero - that helped a lot because as i went back to play i found out what was driving mad... (really i had given up on this! ) when you add the second scene, it doesn't save these, (since it duplicates the photo-matched) [image: dLHp_scene.jpg] switching these on, i can move through different scenes and keep the axis put...! might do a small tutorial later today if i have time..

This was written in 2012 for SketchUp v8 when Windows 7 was current. Please do not PM me in 2019 and tell me it does not work for current SketchUp versions. Things change as OSes and applications are revised. Hold up a min! I Found a workaround to force SketchUp to use Windows MRU paths... ...[ drumroll ]... 1) Open a File Explorer and create a "dummy" folder "C:/dummy" 2) Open SketchUp.. goto "Preferences" > "Files" panel. Click the browse Folder button and choose this empty folder. Your Models path should say: "**C:\dummy**" 3) Close SketchUp. 4) Delete the "C:\dummy" folder. 5) Restart SketchUp. It will now use MS Windows saved MRU paths for "*.skp" filetype. .. No custom button or menuitem needed. This was written in 2012 for SketchUp v8 when Windows 7 was current. Please do not PM me in 2019 and tell me it does not work for current SketchUp versions. Things change as OSes and applications are revised.

Most probable it's because it's not compiled to work with SketchUp Ruby. (Is it even a match for SketchUp's version? 1.8.x?) One possible cause for the crash could be that it is not compiled into a flat namespace. See my SketchUp Ruby C Extension Hello World project for notes on compiling for SketchUp Ruby: https://bitbucket.org/thomthom/sketchup-ruby-c-extension/src/5c9eb31c541b/src/Example%20-%20Hello%20World/extconf.rb @unknownuser said: <span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Must be compiled into flat namespace. Otherwise SketchUp Bugsplats.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  CONFIG</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">[</span><span class="syntaxstring">'LDSHARED'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">]</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxstring">'cc -dynamic -bundle -undefined suppress -flat_namespace'</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span>

maybe fredoscale stretch? (but yeah, more info required )

Many thanks. For some non-obvious reason, I didn't even SEE the screen_coords method of the View object. I was looking for an equivalent method or property of the point itself. Gratefully.... John MCC

Interesting posts!

Or this post ? else the Thomthom Ray tracer / Components by Bounds above works very fine but without image from you I have some difficulties to see what you want Components or groups must be horizontal above the object before the drop ! [image: KaRl_bounds.jpg]

problem was nvidia nview desktop manager

Tricky uses of the Tig's plug!

@juantxo said: (I used random because a friend told me I can use it to solve problems of browser cache but actually I don't need it so I erase it.) If caching is an issue then it's better to set the correct HTTP headers than adding random characters to the URL. Here is an extract of a PHP script I use to serve plugins in either zip or rbz format: <span class="syntaxdefault"><br /></span><span class="syntaxcomment">// fix for IE catching or PHP bug issue<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Pragma; public"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Expires; 0"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxcomment">// set expiration time<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Cache-Control; must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /></span><span class="syntaxcomment">// browser must download file from server instead of cache<br /><br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Cache-Control; private"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault">false</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxcomment">// required for certain browsers<br /><br />// force download dialog<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Content-Type; application/force-download"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Content-Type; application/octet-stream"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Content-Type; application/download"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /><br /></span><span class="syntaxcomment">// use the Content-Disposition header to supply a recommended filename and<br />// force the browser to display the save dialog.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Content-Disposition; attachment; filename=\"$requested_filename\";"</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /><br /></span><span class="syntaxcomment">/*<br />   The Content-transfer-encoding header should be binary, since the file will be read<br />   directly from the disk and the raw bytes passed to the downloading computer.<br />   The Content-length header is useful to set for downloads. The browser will be able to<br />   show a progress meter as a file downloads. The content-lenght can be determines by<br />   filesize function returns the size of a file.<br />*/<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Content-Transfer-Encoding; binary"</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">header</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxstring">"Content-Length; "</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">filesize</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">$real_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">));<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">readfile</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">$real_file</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">);<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span>

I use defoult SU Explode- right click on object. Do not need any plug in to make explode. [image: 46Ig_RC.PNG]

TIG - great! Exactly what I was looking for. Especially when working with large scenes my old workflow took some time. With your script, a menu-item & keyboard shortcut it's nice and easy. Thanks a lot Greetings, Max

@unknownuser said: there's another way to use the follow me tool that i suppose you're unaware of. -select the path first -choose the follow me tool -click on the profile face this way, you don't have to manually drag the profile along the path. doing it this way will also allow you to do what (i think) your question is asking. That draws the resulting form using the face as a starting point. In other words, if the path is 20' away it will start at the shape. I want it to start AT the path. In practice I have a series of curves drawn along a curved face. I want to extrude a shape along each of those curves. If I could just define the profile curve once and then have it extruded starting at each path's location, that would be ideal. Make sense? I'm going to look at Tig's plugin. Hopefully that will save me from having to place the profile curve at the start of each path individually.