Hi TIG,
To answer your question I manually initate an export the of data to a file, so it is static. It's not point cloud type data, I'm thinking of just parsing the file for area and distance between slices. But I think there may be the possibility to catch the data in an active form, I'll look into that.
To make the data usefull I need the ability to transform it from a raw circular area to a rectangular shape of variing aspect ratio, or have the option to not change the shape. It's hard to describe but an example would be where you would want to have a 4/3 aspect on the little end and circular on the big end, or different ratios for each end. Because the aspect ratio is changing from one to the other as you progress along the stack of hundreds of slices I imagine this is a hard thing to do? Once the shape has been transformed you would want to adjust the physical alignment, in the example drawing above I have slid them all to one side to form a flat surface. I had thought this action could be handled by an existing plugin. Then once everything is in the selected alignment you would then form the outer skin and eliminate the inner surfaces from each layer. That's what I've got so far.

Regards,
Dan

This is relatively simple example, in this case I chose to make one side flat but not quite vertical.

Thanks Tig,
I just finished the video. I totally agree, that is a great example of what I am interested in. I was unaware of the flexibility and untapped power of Sketchup. I wish I were a developer, or at least had some expirence with the various languages involved. It definately gives me more ideas about how what I want could be done. Thanks.

Hi Sam,
I have manually drawn what I am talking about before, but it's a greatly simplified version. But to clarify, just visualize something like a pyramid with hundreds of layers, only I don't need any layers in my structure only the outside skin and vertical edges if there are any. Also imagine if you were able to extrude the pyramid along a curve, or around something else...

Thanks guys.
Regards,
Dan

I would like to find a plugin or plugins to help create a visual representation of my data.

The data I have are surface area figures, they also are defined as width and height, but I would like to be able to choose to use either one. I can export the data slices in whatever increment of spacing I need 1cm per slice is normal. I want the slices of data to be skinned together, each slice becomes part of a truncated cone or pyramid depending on the data used. Extruding the data along a straight line would be OK, along curves and straight is better, but the neatest would be to make it go around other geometry like corners and switchbacks.
I know you are right about now so I'll shut up? Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Regards,
Dan

I forgot to save a new model. I had just finished and was exporting views in a few styles when SketchUp crashed. I normally save to a Drop Box but this was new and unsaved, where would it be on a Mac? I am not a Mac guru = not so familiar with the file system

@gaieus said:

Hi Dan,

Check the warning box under Preferences > General > Scenes and styles. You will get those annoying popups that ask if you want to change, save as new or do nothing...

Thanks Gai

I know I did this to myself whilst previously using SketchUp, but how do I go about resetting this so my Scenes save the individual style I was using at the time? I did try the reset in the preferences control panel.

Thanks