How to Keep Component Axes Visible?

BSquared18

Hi,

I use SketchUp to build 3D models for X-Plane, and I use Jonathan's (aka Marginal) plug-in to animate model components.

The orientation of a component's axes affects how a rotation animation works. I was able to get the correct axis orientation for a component on one wing and need to duplicate it on the sister component on the other wing.

Is there a way to copy a component axis from one component to another?

If not, the workaround I was thinking of involves using the Pencil tool to draw lines along all three axes and move that set of lines to the sister component as a reference for reorienting the axes on that component.

At one point, I made the axis visible using "Change Axis," and while fiddling with various keyboard keys, I got it to remain visible when I selected the Pencil tool. But I don't know exactly what I did to make it happen and cannot replicate the process. Anyone know how to do that?

I tried the different approach of going Window --> Model Information, and checkmarking "Show Component Axes." The problem is that the model is very large and as I zoom in on the axes, they shrink down to virtually nothing. Is there a way to keep that from happening?

Sorry about the long-winded explanation. Does anyone who took the time to read all this have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Bill

Wo3Dan

@bsquared18 said:

.....Sorry about the long-winded explanation. Does anyone who took the time to read all this have any suggestions?...

You could say that again (doesn't matter), so I hope I got it right.

1. Open the first component that you want its axes orientation of.
1. Save a new scene, maintaining the style! including the components local axes.
  (you could even just save the axes in a new scene without camera position or anything else (see the 'Scene Manager'))
1. Leave the first component's editing context. The new scene still has the local axes as new drawing axes, to select whenever you need them.
1. Enter the editing context of the second component. Select the new scene to get its axes.
  (advantage when no camera position was saved in this new scene!)
1. Adjust the second component's axes according to the current drawing axes.

It sounds long-winding but only takes a few steps.

BSquared18

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll try to keep my followup shorter than my initial post!

I had tried using Scenes before to save the axes but apparently don't quite understand how to do it because I wasn't able to make it work.

First, when you say "maintaining the style," does that mean check marking the item titled "Style and Fog" in the Scene Manager?" Or something else?

Second, should "Include an Animation" be checked or not?

Third, how exactly do you "select the new scene" to get its axes? I was able to save the scene but am not sure what those final steps are for accessing the axes again and using it to replace the current axes.

By the way, following up on my initial post, is there a way to click on any keyboard key or combination to make a component axes stay visible while doing other things?

Thanks,
Bill

BSquared18

Will be looking forward to any more info about Scenes for future reference.

However, I solved my problem for the present case. I finally realized that the way to keep an axes visible while using other tools was to click on Edit Component. Then, I used the Pencil tool to draw lines along each axes. I used the Text tool to label them R, B, and G. Finally, I made a copy of the lines, created a component, moved the component to fit on the other wing, and tried various orientations, such as flipping the component to get a mirror image of the lines. Turned out that an exact copy of the lines without flipping did the trick. And because of the lines, the orientation of the axes was exact.

Life is good!

Bill

numerobis

@bsquared18 said:

Is there a way to copy a component axis from one component to another?

I'm not sure if i understand what you want, but to copy the axes you could copy/paste the component with the correct axes or make a dummy component and copy the geometry of the wrong oriented components into the new one (cut+paste - and after making it unique). Or copy a group instead of the component and turn it into a component later, if you need it.

The size of the component axes can't be changed i think.