I'll give it a try a bit later and let you know the results.

Thankyou gentlemen.
I had already tried slicer but hadn't found slicer 3 which gives you the flattened copy.

Excellent, I knew I shouldn't have been so reluctant to ask, didn't want to get the old Use the Search answer.

Thanks again, now go back to arguing about who got there first.

Hi all, I'm very new here, and quite new to SU.

So a quick introduction.
I'm a sculptor and have found SU a great way to think through my designs in 3D, I can see it making life much easier for me.
I've managed to work out how a lot of it works but have a long way to go.

I've reach a point where I would like a point in the right direction, the number of threads is pretty daunting and I haven't yet found the right ones or a tutorial that applies to my specific needs.

So any links would be great if you know the ones, or even a run down if you know a simple way to do it and have the time.

So to the problem, I am creating sculptures made up of different pieces of Glass, each one a slightly different size. They are all groups. All I want is to be able to explode them out into plan form so that I can either print them out or add dimensions etc
I'm well aware and able to do it manually, but was hoping that there is a way to get it done automatically.

This one is only 100 pieces, but I have others that have far more and often multiples on each level.

Thanks for looking.

Yes I was using a cube of grouped faces, and at first I was getting a bug spat every time, now it is random.
I have rebooted and added updates and a few other bits and pieces since then, sorry that's not a very useful bit of diagnostic information but I've been doing too many things at once.

So to put it simply, It does work for me but it is unstable and I have yet to work out what, if any, conditions cause the bug splat.

I'm using the latest version of sketchup and I get a bug splat every time I try to use Eclate.

Even with a simple cube. As soon as you click yes or no on the copy dialog it shuts down and goes to bug splat.