[Plugin] Groups to Components
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That's the thing - ignore the working context or not... ?
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IF you are to replace all instances of a group with a component surely you'd [usually] should do it across the whole model.
Perhaps if there are 'other-context' instances of a group [which is easily checked by getting all instances and comparing their parents against the current context parent ?] then a simple dialog along the lines of"There are Instances of Group 'xxx' outside 'active_entities'\n Make a Component of these too ?" Yes/No- which would allow the user to choose to leave some unfixed or fix all...........
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I'm wondering if this isn't a feature fit for this plugin after all.
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There is a plug in Make_components by Matt66 I think is the author. It will change groups to single or one overall. Is there any diff here??
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@mac1 said:
There is a plug in Make_components by Matt66 I think is the author. It will change groups to single or one overall. Is there any diff here??
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=17590
@matt666 said:
- Make a group of just one entity (right click or menu plugins/Make group)
- Make a component instance of just one entity (right click or menu plugins/Make component)
- Convert each entity in the selection in a single group (right click or menu plugins/Convert on single groups)
- Convert each entity in the selection in a single component (right click or menu plugins/Convert on single components)
- Convert the selected component into a group (right click or menu plugins/Make group)
I don't see any Group -> Component feature there... no?
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Might be partly duplicate functions - but a key feature in this script was the naming: the definition inherited the group's name, not the instance.
@mac1 said:
I use it very often to convert single groups to components especially in models where some one has used a number of identical groups.
Does SketchUp still consider them copies of each other? If you select one and open Entity Info - does it say "Group (3 in model)" ?
If so, Selection Toys can convert them into components in one operation. -
I use it very often to convert single groups to components especially in models where some one has used a number of identical groups. Then you can use the component browser function of replace selected to replace all these converted groups with one component. Caution there is a quirk with the program. You also have to include in your selection a line also. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=28395
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@thomthom said:
Might be partly duplicate functions - but a key feature in this script was the naming: the definition inherited the group's name, not the instance.
@mac1 said:
I use it very often to convert single groups to components especially in models where some one has used a number of identical groups.
Does SketchUp still consider them copies of each other? If you select one and open Entity Info - does it say "Group (3 in model)" ?
If so, Selection Toys can convert them into components in one operation.Don't remember but you can take say 50 groups and then convert them to a single component or individual components (50) If my memory is correct it did use the same name for the component as the group number but what I don't like is how it moves around in the outliner and in a large model you have to then search to find the ones converted to replace as noted above
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Here is a good test case for you if you want to go crazy. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sketchup/thread?tid=0a9b7b20ecc8e1bf&hl=en The model uses a number of identical groups and those should be reduced to a single definition
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I did not see any model to download... where about in the thread is it?
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@thomthom said:
I did not see any model to download... where about in the thread is it?
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thom hello.
thanks for the new plugins.
a question:
what is the difference with the "Group copies> Convert Into components" of your plugins SELECTION TOY 2.0. -
@diego-rodriguez said:
thom hello.
thanks for the new plugins.
a question:
what is the difference with the "Group copies> Convert Into components" of your plugins SELECTION TOY 2.0.This one converts each group instance into a component instance. (plus it transfers the name to the definition)
Selection Toys will convert all instances of a group into instances of one component definition.
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Matts plugin is still buggy, he has been very busy and not able to update many of his scripts - on the other hand Fredo's scale tools include a group to component command, so Thom you don't really need the extra effort for this plugin - but perhaps a CTRL toggle between the wider context and not could be handy...
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@cadfather said:
Matts plugin is still buggy, he has been very busy and not able to update many of his scripts - on the other hand Fredo's scale tools include a group to component command, so Thom you don't really need the extra effort for this plugin - but perhaps a CTRL toggle between the wider context and not could be handy...
Ref Matt's tool is Buggy but I can work around by just including a line I draw in my selection and has worked Ok for me that way
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Thank you, Thomas!
Might I suggest this plugin could stand as it isand another be created to deal with the issues mentioned above where there are identical instances of a group and rename this plugin"Groups to UniqueComponents" or something similar to describe what it does ... a quick and dirty conversion.
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i'm looking for a method to simplify an xfrog tree using perhaps this plugin, or matt's, but i'm running into problems with the component axes.
the idea is:
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make each leaf (1.5"x1" rectangles) into a component.
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in the component window, i replace the selected unique leaf components with a single leaf component.
the glitch comes with the fact that each leaf is tilted to a different angle, but component creation scripts seem to set the axes identical to that of the world axes (see pics below). thus when i replace the selected components with one single component they all end up angled to the exact same direction. so is there a way that i can do this and maintain the orientation of each individual component? ie. can an option be included in this script to set all component axes exactly the same relative to each 'unique' component?
good if axes of each leaf is the same, maybe here:
bad if axes of each leaf component is different relative to comp.:
thanks!
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That is a good question. I got X-Frog trees myself - have it on my todo list somewhere to find a way to optimize them.
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Maybe my component dropper plugin will work for this...?
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thanks for the tip, thomthom. i see solo proposed the idea in your component dropper thread. i am experimenting with it on a few trees. it actually makes the workflow quite a bit faster and easier, but does not keep geometry in the exact original orientation.
thus, i'm creating components of each leaf (painfully slow), using component dropper to make them all the same (instantaneous, even for thousands of leaves), and then using chris fullmer's scale and rotate multiple to give them a little bit of randomness. i'll show you a tree with some stats when finished - it's slow, but i think will yield a more natural chaotic result than the original trees - xfrog tends to be too fractal and perfect in my opinion.
a note however, your 'groups to components' works almost instantly, whereas the same function with matts plugin took several minutes. perhaps at some point this script could be updated to work on non-group entities as matts does, but with more efficiency.
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