Components to Groups
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I'm sure this has probably been addressed before, so point me in the right direction if necessary. I've been working with SketchUp for years and I feel like there should be an easy way to do this.
I've imported a very complex 3D CAD file (into SketchUp 2014). It imports nicely, except for the fact that it is consists of nearly 800 components (it appears that every individual instance of every given block is being interpreted by SketchUp as a unique component), which I do not need, and affects performance dramatically. I know I could explode everything into lines and faces if necessary, but I'd prefer to keep the various elements grouped.
Is there a way (or a plugin that provides a way) to select a large number of components and convert them all to groups?
Or perhaps I'm thinking in the wrong direction entirely?
Thanks!
Steven D.
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There is a plugin that makes components from groups but I'm not finding one that goes the other way. I don't think you would see any improvement in performance by converting the components to groups.
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@dave r said:
There is a plugin that makes components from groups but I'm not finding one that goes the other way. I don't think you would see any improvement in performance by converting the components to groups.
Thanks for the reply. As the number of components increases, the Save time increases, and when you get into the hundreds of components, that can be a quite a long time. Not to mention I'd prefer not to have 800+ components in my palette.
I couldn't find a plugin to accomplish this either, which is what made me start to think I'm missing something obvious.
Cheers!
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Even just viewing the Components palette with that many components in a model can take forever--long enough that in this case I just give up and end the program.
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There is a plugin for that, I have it but am not near my pc to work out what it is just now.
Have you considered just replacing all the identical but unique components with one original? -
Here it is
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=140679#p140679
but not much use to you as it seems to only convert one at a time.And just to be clearer on my comment above.
If you select a bunch of components you can go to the component browser and 'Replace Selected' so that bunch of unique components become instances of one component. Then purge unused and you have reduced your pallet of components by that number. -
@box said:
If you select a bunch of components you can go to the component browser and 'Replace Selected' so that bunch of unique components become instances of one component. Then purge unused and you have reduced your pallet of components by that number.
that's fine, but he says he can't browse the components palette..
i find that in this circumstances thomthom's "component dropper" plugin is way more reliable and fast than the native "replace selected" -
His comment mentioning that hadn't been moderated before I replied and I believe you mean Component Replacer.
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i actually use component dropper http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26008 did'nt know component replacer.. ill'search it..
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Same one, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
If you click the download button on that thread it takes you to replacer. -
also if you want (i'm not sure why) all of the component to be turned in groups, after running component dropper you could select all the geometry inside the replaced component and then explode all the parents components.. sorry for my bad english
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I appreciate the feedback. I'll play around. Just so you can have a better idea of what I'm dealing with, the model is of all the structural steel elements of a building, so we've got a few hundred beams (of various sizes) and several hundred bolts (of various types) and other tiny details--each being treated as a single, unique component. Going through one item at a time isn't a reasonable option, unfortunately.
When we consider that what makes a component a component is an association, you'd think there'd be a relatively straight-forward way to just remove that association while keeping the geometry.
Anyway, thanks again!
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Use have a go with Thomthoms Component Comparison to find and replace matching geometry.
http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=tt_ccIt's not without it's problems, but it may get you to a workable stage.
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I'd have no problem is SU would simply interpret the DWG geometry as groups instead of components. I sent a PM to TIG to see if he had any thoughts on the topic. I believe that once upon a time SU did in fact treat DWG geometry as groups.
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Hi, did you manage to solve your issue? I am facing a similar dilemma and hoping to find a solution. Thanks!
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