Your main issue here is that you have the wheels changing direction by "mirroring" the cluster/row (of 3 wheels) across it's origin by using a negative length and sliding it over (offsetting). While clever, the wheels' positions aren't fixed, so they seem like they're getting it when they really don't know where to be. There may be a way to effectively use negative length for a component (I avoid it), but I'd suggest keeping it simple while you better your grasp the nuances of DCs.

Simplest solution: Add your position to each wheel (or set 1 with 2 copies) and add RotZ=parent!divert_direction. For the wheel group, add a Divert_Direction attribute (=parent!Divert_Direction) so you now have a pass-through attribute from the model to the wheels.

You'll probably also have to modify your position X if/then statement to account for the removed negative length formula

I set mine to shortcut to the "`" key (above Tab)

Are there any similar uses for the ";" that we may not know?

FYI, SU '17 currently saves user-created templates to:

> Users > YourName > AppData > Roaming > SketchUp > SketchUp 2017 > SketchUp > Templates

Cheers

Has anyone figured this out, by chance? I know it's been a while, but I have an application for it, and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how to make it work. For mine, it's more of a "snake" component, where the user begins with one part, then selects 1 of 3 interactable "buttons" that creates a copy in one of the directions, turning the copy to fit. The link below should make sense of what I'm saying. Thanks in advance!

BT

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@chris fullmer said:

Ahh, yes I was thinking about this Jim, and I thought it was simple. But I started playing with it and in about 5 minutes I saw just how not simple it really is. The random width means that the amount of copies will vary depending on the width of the books. That is tricky!

I had a thought on placing them though. Each X should be the X of the previous (called "LastX") + the LenX of the previous (called LastLenX"). So what about each component passes its X and LenX out to a custom attribute in the parent component. So the next copy created would look to "parent!lastX" and "parent!LastLenX" to figure out its new X. Then after it sets its X and LenX, it writes its current state to the parent, overwriting the previous states and the cycle continues. So it runs like this

Copy0
X=parent!LastX + Parent!LastLenX (These values will be zero since they have not been filled yet)
LenX=3 (randomly chosen)
<<<Sends X to parent!LastX>>> (which is 0)
<<<Sends LenX to Parent!LastLenX>>> (which is 3)
Copy1
X=parent!LastX + Parent!LastLenX (Now this reduces to 0 + 3)
LenX=2
<<<Sends X to parent!LastX>>> (which is now 3)
<<<Sends LenX to Parent!LastLenX>>> (which is now 2)
Copy2
X=parent!LastX + Parent!LastLenX (Now this reduces to 3 + 2)
LenX=4
<<<Sends X to parent!LastX>>> (which is now 5)
<<<Sends LenX to Parent!LastLenX>>> (which is 4)

Anyhow, its all theoretical since I am not on an SU7 enlightened computer at the moment. I hope that makes sense. In my mind it does, but I'm sure it will probably fall apart due to something I've forgotten. Anyhow, think about it

Chris

Has anyone any better suggestions for a portable sketchup ('16) machine? I'm buying just so I can do DC programming away from my desktop, needs to be presentable, smooth, responsive.... I'm willing to wait a short while if something better is coming out soon. Thanks

Is that the only solution? I'm trying to avoid encasing, as my hierarchy is already getting out of hand

This may be a dead thread, but I'm having the same issue with '15. First time the 3D Text tool has given me any trouble, but it's exactly the behavior you describe. I'll let you know if I discover anything.

Sketchup Pro '15
Windows 8.1 x64
ASUS Desktop
i7@3.20GHz
12GB RAM

@quantj said:

I suppose there's a math formula for this, I just don't know it. Otherwise, if you don't plan on having many copies, you can do a really long IF statement to hide copy 3, 6, 9, etc). Maybe add another variable to test copy# so that you can easily change what Nth number you want hidden.
Thinking out loud, I'm thinking having a variable to calculate the total copies/# (like 3)='A', and with that number you'll get the total amount of copies you need hidden. And then somehow get every 3x# up to 'A' hidden...

Ok, I was trying to avoid If/Then statements, but I got it to work with your suggestion, so time to move on. Here's what I have:

Variable (var) = 2 or 3

For the "white pickets" hidden every 2 or 3 instances:
=IF(COPY=0,0,IF(COPY=var1,0,IF(COPY=var2,0,IF(COPY=var*3,1,0))))

For the "blue pickets" shown every 2 or 3 instances:
=IF(COPY=0,0,IF(COPY=var1,0,IF(COPY=var2,0,IF(COPY=var*3,0,1))))

Thanks for your help, everyone. If there's a more elegant solution, I'm all ears. Otherwise, this will do. Thanks again!

BT

@anton_s said:

Usage: Select any group/component, right click, and select Hide Every nth Instance option.

Excellent script, thank you, but not ideal for this application. I need something in Dynamic Components so that the object (say a white picket fence) can be scaled to length AND the user can specify the interval of hidden components.

The flip side to this is a second, overlapping set of pickets (say, blue), that show up where the others were removed. This formula is easy using COPYMultiplierdistance, but hiding the white ones that the blue ones replace is where I'm stuck.

Thanks again

BT

I hope this hasn't been covered somewhere else, but I can't find it anywhere

To keep it simple, I have a variable that is set by the user (say 3), and I want to hide every COPY multiple of that number, including the original.

So, I'm hiding COPY 0.0, COPY 3.0, COPY 6.0, etc.

Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

BT