Thanks John! It's very useful app.

Plot: I realize there is potential for a slowdown, probably similar to that when you go to Xray mode, but when the model is "finalized for presentation" that could very well warrant having specific Scenes saved with this view mode turned on; it would certainly facilitate the print-output or when there is a need for a closeup which examines specific details. The surface appearance can change depending upon edge-length and detail, model scale, and the smoothing/softening properties of the intersecting geometry. Part of the idea for the suggestion, aside from doing the actual physical intersecting, was to eliminate tweeking smoothing and softening properties by merely superimposing non-smoothed "virtual-edges" representing the intersection. Bob: I use a similar method already. But with more "organic" or dense geometry, the method can be time consuming and not conducive to making fast changes at later date; it some cases it might involve reconstructing the original geometry (or retrieving early versions of the model). Regards, John

Try this script which Sdmitch created. Edit a "top level" instance, make a selection (can be a group, a component, loose geometry or any combination of them), then run the script from the Edit menu > item "Cut selection within Comp Instance and Paste in Place from all Instances" (it is a long description, change if it if you want one less lengthy). You will be given an option to place the objects to be pasted onto a specific layer. I tested it in SU2014 and SU2014. Cut and Paste in Place.rb

Rick, I understand perfectly what you and others are saying about the "eventual/emminent?" release of v7. I did want to test the waters ... if there were some scripts in near "beta" phase, then it might warrant a change in my strategy for the near term.

@taffgoch said: Huh! Bizarre... ...actually it is there, but 'invisible.' I generally use the 'point at center' plugin for circles. I created a circle centered at the origin, used the 'point at center' context menu command, then deleted the circle. No guide point is visible, but if you select with the 'right-drag' select box, the 'entity info' box indicates a guide point is selected. Doing the exact same thing, just off center, creates and displays the guidepoint. Turning off axis visibility makes no difference, so that's not the problem. You can select and move the guidepoint, but it remains invisible! To me, this behavior looks like a reportable bug... Regards, Taff Yes, left>right selection reveals these guidepoints in 'Entity Info' but right>left does NOT! (*) Another thing is that they are actually there. Move them 50m from the origin and do a 'Zoom Extents'. You will zoom out in a way that these invisible points are on screen. I don't know how (in what way) they could contribute in causing the 'Clipping Plane' effect when they are far from the origin. You don't seem to be able to use them for snapping to. My advice: don't create any guidepoints in the origin itself. (you can snap to [0,0,0] anyway) Or maybe only with the 'Tape Measure' tool by draging from the origin (dashed line incuded) Wo3Dan (*) thanks Gaieus / (right is where your thumb is left, right? )

Ah, true - I wasn't even thinking of teh content! SCF LOGO!!!

Yeah! I like this

Thank you, Fred06. This will help me out when I have to place reference points at equi-distances along a path or simplifying existing curves.

I have updated the script to make it remember values between calls. http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=8917

I also want a script to export dwg file with select entities.

I noticed after performing the intersection command on group 2, and deleting the section plane and half the pipe, the green element at the intersection with the vertical pipe appeared to have hidden edges. In fact, when I clicked on a surface of that object, it selected the entire green object, as if it were an object or component. I think that is why the intersecting face is not being created. When I recreate the two pipes and intersect them, I don't have that problem.

Merce, Didier. Regards, John

@jclements said: I was thinking it would be cool if you could associate sound (at least a narrative) to a Scene Tab or even an entity. If the SU Viewer is used, then when a the Scene Tab is clicked on the narrative would play or, if the Scene Animation is played, the narrative would be played as soon as the Scene is queued (the Scene's minimum display time would be restricted by the length of the narrative). If the model is opened in SketchUp, then allow the presenter to trigger the narrative by Control-Clicking on Scene Tab or entity (if the cursor passes over a "sound-entity", the cursor could change color or shape to indicate a narrative is available; likewise, the Scene Tab would have a different color or tagged with an icon to queue the presentor it has a narrative). Good ideas, John! I'm not sure it can be done exactly as you describe, but maybe close enough. Sorry I can't make a commitment to working on it - hopefully someone will pick up on the idea.

I think it removes unused lines from the faces in the current selection.

Link fixed.

I initially implemented skyboxes in pure Ruby in SU. # skybox functionality class MyViewObserver < Sketchup;;ViewObserver def initialize(stub) .. build a definition using 'stub' as filepath skybox = Sketchup.active_model.definitions[dname] @skybox = Sketchup.active_model.entities.add_instance skybox, Geom;;Transformation.new @skybox.locked= true end def onViewChanged (view) @skybox.locked= false @skybox.move! view.camera.eye @skybox.locked= true end def remove @skybox.locked= false Sketchup.active_model.entities.erase_entities @skybox end end def add_skybox $skybox = MyViewObserver.new("~projects/Ruby/skybox/space1") Sketchup.active_model.active_view.add_observer($skybox) end ie Sketchup will move the skybox along with your camera. Works OK - only let down by SU crazily aggressive bounds on Z when it draws. Adam @alan fraser said: Texture Maker will generate a cgi landscape and sky and export it in a variety of formats...including a skybox. Screenshot and result attached below. Sky boxes are used extensively in games and work very well. They can be used well in SU, as Adam says, but only really from a very fixed viewpoint....that being the centre of the cube. Games get around this by locking the skybox to the viewer. As you move through a first person perspective shoot-em-up the skybox moves with you, so always appears in the correct perspective and always infinitely distant. This obviously isn't the case in SU. I realise this thread has drifted slightly away from Ruby, but there's a challenge for somebody. Skyboxes can work well in SU, but generally only if you move a few feet...or catch a glimpse out of a window, not up and down streets. Of course you can make them really huge, so that any novement by the viewer is very slight in comparison...but then you get clipping problems. The simplest solution is simply to map a panoramic image around a cylinder. Here is a very old thread from the old forum, now transferred to Google Groups. So old, in fact, that it predates SU's ability to map around cylinders, so I had to do it by slicing the image into sections...but the resulting skps still work ok for most situations.

The 3d exchange facility allows import but no export and is at an additional cost.