@tig said:
The native 'flip' tools in the context-menu and/or Scale -1 only work 'axially' - RGB / XYZ.
They also affect the original objects.
The Mirror Tool, however, mirrors just the selected objects [temporarily grouping them to avoid geometry clashes], about any picked point or line from two picked points, or [more usually] a 'plane' you define by any three picked points - therefore the mirroring need not be 'axial' / orthogonal [but of course it can be if you so wish, since picking the points has all of the usual inferences/snaps/locking etc of native tools].
The other advantage of the Mirror Tool is that it initially mirrors a temporarily grouped copy of the objects and leaves the original objects in place, a closing dialog asks if you want to erase the originals - when Yes removes them and No leaves them in place, both options leaving the mirrored copy where it was required, with the temporary grouping exploded.
So as well as doing a simple Mirror it can also Copy the objects at the same time if desired - whereas using native tools this would be a much more intensive operation as you'd need to copy objects off to the side, perhaps grouping objects to avoid geometry clashes, scale -1 [ignoring the steps needed for resetting axes etc if the mirroring-plane were non-orthogonal] and moving back the mirrored objects back into place and exploding any temporary groups...
Thanks for detailed reply. My area of Sketchup Application is architectural concepts so in my case I work in various axis orientations anyway (and reset if required to go back to original one). So having to create a custom axis for mirroring is never a big deal. But I'll definitely give your plugin a go if I find that my scale -1 tool doesn't give me what I'm after. Thanks!
in theory 