@tig said:

If you meant ComponentInstance then they each have bounds.
Make a new empty bounding-box object [ bb], and then add each of the instance.bounds to that bb.add(instance.bounds).
The center is bb.center.........

Thanks for your tip. I will test the code.

@thomthom said:

I don't understand the question. ComponentDefinitions doesn't exist in modelspace - so I do not see how you would get the centre of a collection of definitions.

Can you describe the abstract of what you are trying to do?

I'm sorry I made a mistake, the type is not ComponentDefinition, but a Group. I use the following code:
model = Sketchup.active_model;
groups = [];
model.definitions.each{|d| groups << d if d.group? }
name = "left_head"
pgrp = [];
groups.each{|d| pgrp << d.instances[0] if d.instances[0].name==name }
the type of gprp is Sketchup::Group.

Actually, I want to get the center of a group with the group name "left_head", but there are several groups with the name "left_head", so I have to find the union bounding box of them.

@thomthom said:

You mean into an array? The Selection object is an Enumerable so you can iterate it as normal. It also have a .to_a method so it can often be mixed with arrays.

How do you want to "get" the entities? Iterate them?

I just want to inplement the following code:

entities = selection.entities (this function is what I wanted, but not exist)
group = entities.add_group
group.add entities (this function is what I wanted, but not exist)
bounds = group.bounds
center = bounds.center

Is there any way?

I have an array of ComponentDefinition. I want to find the center of these ComponentDefinitions.

Maybe I should find the union bounds of these ComponentDefinitions, but I did not find the way ... Could any one help me?

Is there a method to add an entity object to entities object? I searched the forum yesterday but did not find any way...

I have a selection object with several entities, I am confused about how could I get all the entities from the selection object?

@thomthom said:

I had a look at model.import and found that it annoyingly didn't return the definition to the imported model. Instead it activates a tool for the user to place it.

I created this little snippet that worked around that and placed the imported model at a given coordinate:

<span class="syntaxdefault"><br />module Test<br /><br />  def self</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">import_3ds</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> file </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxstring">'c;/cube.3ds'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> position </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> ORIGIN </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    model </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Sketchup</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">active_model<br />    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Cache camera position because model#import will change it.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    camera </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">active_view</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">camera<br />    eye </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> camera</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">eye<br />    target </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> camera</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">target<br />    up </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> camera</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">up<br />    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Begin import operation.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">start_operation</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxstring">'Import 3DS Model'</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> false </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Cache existing list of definitions.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    cache </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">definitions</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">to_a<br />    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Import model, this will attach it to the cursor.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">import</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> file </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">select_tool</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> nil </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Deactivate Place Model tool.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Find root definition because the import creates multiple definitions.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># The sub-components are maked as #internal? - so we look for the one<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># without the mark.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    imported </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">definitions</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">to_a </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">-</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> cache<br />    definition </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> imported</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">find </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">{</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">|</span><span class="syntaxdefault">d</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">|</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">!</span><span class="syntaxdefault">d</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">internal</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">?</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">}<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Place instance in current context.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    tr </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> Geom</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">;;</span><span class="syntaxdefault">Transformation</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.new(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> position </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">active_entities</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">add_instance</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> definition</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> tr </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Restore camera.<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    camera</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">set</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> eye</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> target</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> up </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># Finished! ;)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">    model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">commit_operation<br />  rescue<br />    model</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">abort_operation<br />    raise<br />  end<br /><br />end </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># module<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault"> </span>

I test the code, it works well. Thanks!

But now I find a problem about the given coordinate which is designated by me. After importing the model, the position of the model may not be the one I designated. This is because of the file I want to import. Use the Bed.skp file as an example. Suppose I have two Bed models as these in the attachment, if I import them into sketchup with the same given coordinate, after importing, however, the positions of them are not same.

I want to import model with its center at given coordinate in sketchup, no matter where the model is in the import file. Is there any way to implement it?

@thomthom said:

If the models are not SketchUp models, look at:

Model.import
https://developers.google.com/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/model#import

My original models are .3ds. Thanks for your tip!

@kwalkerman said:

Take a look at entities.add_instance:

https://developers.google.com/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/entities#add_instance

and the DefinitionList, especially DefinitionList.load and DefinitionList.load_from_url:

https://developers.google.com/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/definitionlist

--
Karen

I got it. Thanks very much!

I want to import three car models to designated positions. These position are designated by 3D coordinates, e.g. [0,0,0], [0,200,0], [100,0,0]. I want to do this just by script, without mouse. Could any one help me?