one thought - maybe create a windows and doors module and only add the bucks for the doors and windows in the foundation. then the windows and doors modules become reusable across your other products. also maybe the option to apply commercial product names / models, etc, even if minimal drawing detail, so the reporting shows up as a commercial product (e.g Pella)

also important (maybe included under details) all the electrical outlets, switches, lights, plumbing, hvac, radiators, etc. these are the things which can make or break an update/renovation budget...

maybe check out the mechanics of an old Singer treadle sewing machine. the ergonomics of that machine were pretty.

my guess? i would find a way to generally mimic the radius (e.g. splitting the window or door frame) as an option, and presume that the window or door finishing will finalize the curved (or not) surface with jamb, extensions, etc. also i would presume the rough framing of the walls (and domed / curved ceilings ) will use various finishing techniques (e.g. curved/kerfed plywood + gwb, steamed lumber, etc) rather than expect the framing to be perfectly curved. this gives options for going from 6-8-12 sided gazebos to circular or elliptical structures...

even learned a new term "cat butt" (scalloping)! "fesse de chat" sounds so much nicer...

i had tweaked my copy many years ago to specify the layer (gwb_Layer0) and some of the general defaults and lumber size lists. however i only use it for quick drawings where i don't need them for construction drawings (i use my own dynamic components for that). however, Medeek has a number of (paid) extensions which appear quite robust and if you need not only the models but related metadata, this would be a good choice. there are also some other extensions as well - if you search the plugins store you'll find them easily.

i use draftsight https://www.draftsight.com/ and nanoCAD, and you could check out LibreCAD and FreeCAD. https://www.geckoandfly.com/27558/free-autocad-alternatives/

@alvis said:

Thanks Bryan!
A few more steps forward. It was left to make legs

oh, i thought you were talking about a "christmas story" leg (w/ fishnets) for those beautiful tassled shades...

that's a nice carriage house. what does the main house look like? in our neck of the woods (NE NJ) something that size would be called "the staff wing"

the recursion commented out is what makes it work incorrectly. however, it seems like you want to perhaps identify the group or component tag at the parent level as to where the recursion on the child parts go? otherwise, you would need to open the top level group and apply each group or component separately. on the former - that's probably some coding to identify if the parent tag is something other than layer0 and use that tag to then recursively tag all children objects.
there is a downside to that, because now all the children will be assigned tags which means to move the group or component all the recursion will have to happen again, versus having built the object(s) in layer0 and applying the tag to the parent (in which case the children will be shown or hidden when that tag is checked or unchecked).

besides the need to learn a new set of button presses combinations to turn "features" on and off (a real PITA if your used to holding the modification key while operating and then reverting), the constant "graying out" of the context menu and then later, even the edit->group or edit->component menus requiring a restart of the app. this latest version is very counter-productive (esp the latter menu graying nonsense).

its pretty common for spambots to scan forums looking for emails, tel#, and other personal information, especially if the forums list "new members" etc making it easier for the bots to pick the latest accounts for scanning.

so as a general rule - turning off all notifications / permissions to send emails / text messages / etc except for forum members is a good idea, as is restricting personal information in posts, profiles etc which may be scanned without login or as part of the wonder that is Google.

depending on what is needed for a given view - i'll also just use a image file instead of the larger model if i don't really need the model to be embedded. some folks go so far as to export a color-no-lines, lines-only, and shadows-only images (and/or make specific scenes) and layer those to get effects that a single view won't do as well (e.g. raster image overlaid with a line vector view). when doing that, i tend to make smaller dedicated SU models.

just key in the size number and you can get the size you want. some apps (i haven't tried in LayOut) let you use 6.5pt etc if you needed it. also, not all fonts scale when not "standard" sizes (4,6,8,10,11,12,etc) so 5pt 7pt etc might not appear correct with some fonts.

also noted: when i first loaded the latest version, i got an error about id being incorrect and used the "fix" link provided. that seemed ok, but then i noticed that the name-order of the layers is wrong - about 1/2 are ok, and 1/2 are not - i was assuming the order of the layers follows the regular layer when first initialized? an ability to sort the layers by name or groups would be handy
otherwise it seems like i would manually need to re-order them...

and lot's of work to "fix" ruby scripts (i'm getting a large number of errors from existing scripts - even after updates from the SketchUcation store...) including some that come with the 2014.

C:/Program Files/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/Tools/RubyStdLib/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:45:in require' C:/Program Files/SketchUp/SketchUp 2014/Tools/RubyStdLib/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:45:in require'

maybe lashing of rattan parts would be lightweight and resilient enough?

or use a grid tool (TIG's for example), explode the group (or simply edit it) and then convert guides to lines (xline to line plugin)...

if you have the pro version, use layout - a page per scene - where you could manipulate the model while the layout acts as a frame containing the text. another option might be to embed a watermark in a style and have that watermark image (containing the text) set differently for each scene - however the watermark being an image, the text is not likely to be as crisp as well as being a lot of work.

if the angles are consistent, then cropping may be the answer?