Showing edges in color according to the main axes

[glro]

Insert a component far from the origin 0 0 0, and give it the right orientation, is difficult because the global axis are not visible in the window

you have to memorize where they are, or zoom out to see it, and then zoom in again to insert the component precisely

Sketchup gives the possibility to color the objects edges according to their direction, which is great because this way, you always know where the main axes are, even if you are far from the origin

Would it be possible to write a plugin that would toggle the edges color to the main axes, just by pressing a key on the keyboard?

---

[Gaieus]

Jim's custom toolbar plugin has such a button.

The one right to it will toggle endpoints - also a good thing when trouble shooting or connecting mesh.

[glro]

@gaieus said:

Jim's custom toolbar plugin has such a button.

[attachment=0:381h7ksq]<!-- ia0 -->CustomToolbar.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:381h7ksq]
The one right to it will toggle endpoints - also a good thing when trouble shooting or connecting mesh.

thank you

yes, i realized it later, and that i could do it myself...

As an alternative to buttons, i like to use keyboard shortcuts; so i slightly modified Jim's plugin to assign a key to it

Here is the code, without any garantee; it works with me, but i only copied and pasted, cannot explain what i did in detail ...

require 'sketchup.rb'

# Add a menu item to launch our plugin.
UI.menu("PlugIns").add_item("colored_edges") { colored_edges }
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

def colored_edges

mod = Sketchup.active_model # Open model
ent = mod.entities # All entities in model
sel = mod.selection # Current selection
 
ro = Sketchup.active_model.rendering_options
  ecm = ro["EdgeColorMode"]
  if ecm != 2
    ecm = 2
    Sketchup.set_status_text "Egde Color Mode; by Axis"
  else
    ecm = 1
    Sketchup.set_status_text "Egde Color Mode; Default"
  end
  ro["EdgeColorMode"] = ecm

  end
  
def axisedge_validation_proc
  if Sketchup.active_model.rendering_options["EdgeColorMode"] == 2
    return MF_CHECKED
  else
    return MF_UNCHECKED
  end
end