Change Axis to Groups ? Possible?
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Is there a way to change axis to a group? In sketchup I could not see any. Maybe a plugin? I looked over Plugins Index, but nothing kept my attention.
Or the only way is to make it component?
And talking about groups: is there any reason for using groups instead of (unique-at need) components? I'm a little confused... I don't know when to make entities group and when to make them components. -
@unknownuser said:
Is there a way to change axis to a group? In sketchup I could not see any. Maybe a plugin?
In SketchUp 8 you can open a group and then change the model axis - that will change the group's axis.
@unknownuser said:
And talking about groups: is there any reason for using groups instead of (unique-at need) components? I'm a little confused... I don't know when to make entities group and when to make them components.
When you create an object you will be repeating, make it a component - so that when y ou edit one, you edit them all.
When you create an object you know ill be unique - create a group. Groups doesn't appear in the Component Browser so you have less clutter there if you use groups of unique objects.
Also - when erasing groups their definition is also deleted from the model - as oppose to components where the model still exists and you need to purge in order to fully get rid of them. -
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You can change axes in v8...
A Group is just a special kind of Component Instance [as is an Image].
They all have Component Definitions.
Only Component Definitions for 'Standard-Components' get an entry on the Component Browser's model-pane, so that you can pick them for use later.
A definition is a collection of geometry and other entities - like a mini-model inside your main model.
A Component Instance [i.e. what you normally think of as a 'Component' that is 'placed' in the model] is the same as all other Instances of that Component Definition in the model. By altering its contents [i.e. changing the base Definition's entities] you will change all others too [note: with the exception of a material applied onto an Instance which applies only to that Instance]. Using 'Components' is therefore very useful when you will 'duplicate geometry' - e.g. make you building's columns components and later when you decide to change what the column looks like editing one simply changes them all. As you know if you have one column that you want to differ from the others, you use 'make-unique' on it and another Definition is made for you, with an incremented name, and that Instance then refers to that - then changes to it do not affect its former siblings...
A Group by contrast is a one-off collect of things [although glitches in SUp can result in two copies groups acting like component instances and changing one changes the other - this shouldn't happen, there should be one instance of each group's definition. If you are only going to have one instance of a collection of things then a Group will often suffice, however, if it were a Component there are advantages - you can export it as an external SKP, you can erase its one instance from the model and recover it later from the Component Browser model-pane if needed. Components can also be given properties like face-me and gluing to faces and cutting holes [door etc].So the choice is yours...
Personally I'd make components of all clearly separate collections of things - e.g. a sofa or a table.
I'd use components for repeated objects within the model or components - e.g. a column or a table-leg.
I'd use groups to temporarily collect geometry together - so for example then I can move/copy it without it sticking to other things, later its group[s] can be exploded and there will be no annoying unneeded entry in the Component Browser model-pane [unlike if I had used temporary components]. -
Thank for all explanations. Now I understand:
So, you can say that Component Definition is the "blueprint" for an instance
If I make a model which I will need for further usage, I'll make it Component, to see it in Component Browser (and of course, I will save it in my Collection), but its inner components will be groups, otherwise my Component Browser will be filled up with all sort of C.Definitions that I don't need.
Well, there are exceptions from this rule... But now is clear for me when to choose to use groups. -
@unknownuser said:
So, you can say that Component Definition is the "blueprint" for an instance
Exactly
@unknownuser said:
Well, there are exceptions from this rule... But now is clear for me when to choose to use groups.
Components has another benefit - from the context menu you can save components as .skp files. And then reload or replace with another. (Just make sure you keep them axis right.)
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@unknownuser said:
I'll make it Component, to see it in Component Browser (and of course, I will save it in my Collection), but its inner components will be groups, otherwise my Component Browser will be filled up with all sort of C.Definitions that I don't need.
Not necessarily. There are two kinds of components:
- Internal components
that you create in the model while modelling and whose subcomponents are always displayed in the Component browser - External components
that you pre-made (or got from elsewhere) and which you import from the Component browser or the File > Import menu (or drag and drop from outside) and whose subcomponents are only displayed if you expand them (see screenshot of the "In model" library - there's obviously nothing in there now but still...)
You can see if a component is external or internal if you go to its Edit tab, at the bottom)
There is one other difference between the two - when you use the Tape measure tool to scale your entire model, external components do not scale with your model. This is "probably" due to the presumption that once you save a component, it is certainly to-scale and when you are just doodling around in SU (without paying attention to your model scale) and later want to give it a real world scale, these should indeed not scale with the model. - Internal components
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@unknownuser said:
If I make a model which I will need for further usage, I'll make it Component, to see it in Component Browser (and of course, I will save it in my Collection), but its inner components will be groups, otherwise my Component Browser will be filled up with all sort of C.Definitions that I don't need.
Well, there are exceptions from this rule... But now is clear for me when to choose to use groups.There are indeed exceptions to that rule. In my work flow I only use components but I'm mainly drawing furniture to joinery level detail. All of the parts of a piece of furniture will be components even if there is only one instance in the model. i.e. a table top. In addition to the assembled model, I make exploded views and detail views. With the exploded views I will end up with an additional instance of the table top. If, as commonly happens, the client wants changes after the model is made, I don't even have to wonder if the changes got made throughout the model. Few opportunities for errors that way.
As to the Component Browser being filled up with component definitions, I've never found that to be an issue. Do keep in mind that components you've had in the model, even if they've been deleted from the model space, will still be shown in the In Model library. This is handy if you inadvertently delete the component because you can get it back. On the other hand, if you know you don't want those components, you should run Purge Unused or the Purge All plugin which will does as it says.
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