Idea for an active selector
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Hey all. I have been thinking about this for a while, but my knowledge of ruby script is an absolute zero.
Before getting addicted to SU, i did my models in ArchiCAD (well, still do..), and I am thinking of a way to mimic a function that is very useful in this software:
whenever you press the shift button, regardless from the active tool, the selector becomes active allowing you to select other parts of the model. When you release the shift key, the tool that was active returns to be active.
This allows you to work in a very fast way in archicad, and is the number one thing I miss from that program.
Any of you ruby script wizards can think of a way to do this in SU?
I hope I have explained myself, and that I gave you something to think about..
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I think the problem youd have here is that a lot of the tools in SU already use the shift key as a modifier.
Other than that it does sound like a very good idea. Perhaps with another key though?
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Since it would apply to "all tools", that's something that would be better implemented in the SketchUp core and not in Ruby. I'm not even sure if it would be feasible or practical to implement in Ruby, as there would have to be a couple of Observers installed to track this. A shift key is generally just considered a modifier key (like control or alt).
With Ruby, a Tool has to be active before keystrokes can be listened for. So, based on that... I'll stick with it's not feasible and drop any hope you might have had for it not being practical.
Todd
P.S. I believe Corel lets you do that too, but they use the space bar (IIRC) to toggle between an active tool and the selection tool. I like the feature too.
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@remus: I had thought of that too. Another key would be the same, space bar perhaps?
@todd: there is a script that activates the selection arrow as a default, when you open SU, instead of the line. I had a look at the code and it works with a "listener". I think something similar could be done, if not i won't think about it any longer
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I'm still looking forward to the day when someone makes a lasso select tool that only selects visible kind of like the eraser tool except lasso. (sorry if this might seem kind of off topic, but hey this could be packaged into the same kind of select tool?)
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"Suspend Groups" would be another good tool that could be mimic from Archicad
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