Hi Fredo6 --

Fantastic script, love being able to scale non-axis aligned!

When scaling, I saw the global unit position is displayed in the status bar as it scales. For example, taking a big box and scaling it down displays [~500] when it passes 500 in the Z-axis.

Is it possible to have the distance moved display as well? So, if the box's top face was at 700z and was scaled down to 500z, the status bar would also display [-200].

Or, better yet -- Have an option to swap the scale percentage in the VCB for unit distance. So, instead of the VCB saying 0.71, it would say -200. Having this option lets objects be scaled by the model unit for exact face location (rather than eyeballing a percentage).

I needed a way to change the color of a line -- then I found this plugin -- thanks!

Has the idea of using components instead of groups already been suggested? If the 2D Line Style created as components (or was an option), then the "Always Face Camera" could be used.

For wide lines, this helps the 2D Line maintain a thickness to it from any camera angle (and potentially the same color strength by not falling into shadow).

?

haha duh on my part (was equating "i" to inches as "m" to meters)

Hmm, this sets the actual size of the object. I was looking for an additive distance. So typing in 256" on a 512x512 object will make it 512x768. Instead it makes it 512x256.

Actually, Fredo6's Scale shows unit measurements in a tooltip manner, so it's closer to a solution!

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=17948

Is there a way to have the Scale VCB show the Unit measurement, not the percentage? Sometimes you don't know how far you want to move it, but you want it on a multiple of 2 (for example).

Gaieus' info about scaling post move to a VCB unit kinda of works. I have a two problems though. My Units are inches and I have "i" bound to invert-selection. So I can't enter "256i".

Maybe there's a way to have scale snap to the current "Unit Length Snap"?

Ah -- here's one I found myself wanting this morning --

A browser option to swap or condense materials. Select a bunch of materials in your list and swap them all for a different material.

A fun side note with using XPadder --

You can hook it up to use SketchUp's native walk, look, and collide. If you modeled a building, you can walk around in it with the gamepad. A lot easier than the mouse! It's almost like playing game...

@thomthom said:

@alz said:

A UV key-nudge for transforms (position, rotation, scale). A reset transforms (position, rotation, scale, all).
Can you elaborate on this?n Not sure if I fully understand.

I just realized this branches over to UV editing and not the core idea behind your Material browser, so it might not make sense. But in the vibe of paint control, it'd provide a way to push and pull UVs via the keyboard. I think there's already some plugins out there that do this, so it's probably not the best suggestion for your time

Wow -- Very cool idea ThomThom!
Very promising interface.

I love the idea of directly painting any face!

Copy/Transfer UVs are good - via local or global.

Groups are good. Would there be a way to preset groups? Or perhaps an option to display a tree-view of the Material directory. I hate getting confused where I'm at in the current browser. There's no need for Favorites, just show me a directory tree

When viewing materials in the model, perhaps a usage-counter when listing details? How many faces or objects are using that material (with a right-click "select all users")

A UV key-nudge for transforms (position, rotation, scale). A reset transforms (position, rotation, scale, all).

A simple name search field. Have a big list (even nested)? Just type "brick" and it'll then only list all "brick" materials.

Is this correct or incorrect?

The only way to bind keyboard shortcuts is:

• by exposing it as a plugin action
• by describing it within a plugin tool

The problems:

• If done via a plugin action, each desired shortcut needs to be have a dedicated plugin listing.

• If done via a plugin tool, that tool needs to always be active to have the shortcut be active. But within SketchUp, you can only have one tool active at a time, which means the shortcuts would turn off if a different tool was used.

Or, am I overlooking something obvious?

Off-topic --
Is there a way to suppress / remove native Content Menu entries?

Is there a plugin that can draw soft edges right off the bat, instead of drawing a series of edges, then CTRL + Erase over each one to soften it?

Perhaps a simple CTRL + Draw to draw soft edges?

I actually wanted a Center East option today and realized it wasn't there.

Expanding the options shouldn't be hard, but the menu could get kinda crazy. Something like this would work:

axis=menu.add_submenu("Orient Component Axis")

	top=axis.add_submenu("Top")
		top.add_item("Center") { function }
		top.add_separator
		top.add_item("North") { function }
		top.add_item("North-East") { function }
		top.add_item("East") { function }
		top.add_item("South-East") { function }
		top.add_item("South") { function }
		top.add_item("South-West") { function }
		top.add_item("West") { function }
		top.add_item("North-West") { function }

	middle=axis.add_submenu("Middle")
		middle.add_item("Center") { function }
		middle.add_separator
		middle.add_item("North") { function }
		middle.add_item("North-East") { function }
		middle.add_item("East") { function }
		middle.add_item("South-East") { function }
		middle.add_item("South") { function }
		middle.add_item("South-West") { function }
		middle.add_item("West") { function }
		middle.add_item("North-West") { function }

	bottom=axis.add_submenu("Bottom")
		bottom.add_item("Center") { function }
		bottom.add_separator
		bottom.add_item("North") { function }
		bottom.add_item("North-East") { function }
		bottom.add_item("East") { function }
		bottom.add_item("South-East") { function }
		bottom.add_item("South") { function }
		bottom.add_item("South-West") { function }
		bottom.add_item("West") { function }
		bottom.add_item("North-West") { function }

Er, wait... is this a request for a "gizmo" to move, rotate, or scale (around object center or object origin)?

Something like this:

That would be fantastic to have! (even better, snap it to the current model unit... then you can do precise movements without having to post-enter VCB units every time)

Reference link to wikki's plugin:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=20346&p=170277

I created the gizmo model for an external editor using SketchUp [see file attachment]

Gizmo.skp

Missed this one -- nice little addition! I hated having to add temporary lines to find corner snap locations

If anyone is familiar with 3ds MAXSCRIPT, here's a Quadrulate script someone made. Granted it's not much use for SketchUp, but maybe some of the concepts in it will help someone find a ruby solution for SketchUp.

http://www.scriptspot.com/scripts/web_upload/Gene%20Crucean/quadrangulate.mzp

(*.mzp is just a zip file for Max)

Awesome -- all very helpful bits of info!

Very cool! Thanks for the examples, TIG!

The difference between 'point' and 'vertex' is construction point vs. edge point?

(newb question here)

With "ComponentInstance" and "tranformation" you can move a selected component around.

Is there a way to move a selected point around? Or does it get complicated by having to select an edge, then find the points in it to move?

Thanks for the explanation, Tig!

I have a better perceptive on why things were happening the way they were.

Yeah -- that's what I typically do. I just verified it again in case I was doing something weird, but it still triangulates funny. The edge is one object, but triangulation treats it as the original multiple edges.

Checking out the Context Menu, "Explode Curve" is available on welded edges, so I'm guessing the weld.rb isn't a true "make into one" function.

There's the trick to heal edges into one by temporarily drawing a new edge perpendicular from the break then erasing it (but that can be pretty time-consuming with a hundred edges or so).

I have the basic weld.rb plugin, but I'm encountering some odd things --

When I weld a simple line of edges to become one, then triangulate selected faces, those faces fracture along the original individual edge segments, not the weld (single) edge.

Is there some way to completely weld an edge and have SketchUp consider it a single element? Also, is there a way to weld multiple edge segments into single edges (if adjacent)?

I'm converting models back and forth and having a slew of weird triangulation issues because of these segmented edges. I'm trying to find a method where I don't have to rebuild a hundred faces and edges.