@kwalkerman said:

*Allow me to selectively lock components - I'd like to be able to supply the user with a component they can move, rotate & copy, but can't edit the internal definition.

Agree. For example, I have a sundial object that, once created, can be moved around via translation and still work find but will break if it is rotated on any axis. It would be nice to prevent users from rotating it, while permitting scaling and translation.

Maybe this is possible with a DC (including some morphing when gross changes in latitude/longitude take place) but this is just a hobby with me; I'm not willing to shell out for the pro version.

I'm struggling to understand Ruby scripting in Sketchup, and I'm frustrated by the lack of introductory tutorial material. As a practical matter, I can create a bunch of 3D text objects and orient them as I wish, but I can't figure out how to group them; topics like grouping just don't seem to be covered well anywhere that I've found.

I guess I'm looking for a decent overview that includes terminology - grouping, components, etcetera - along with how to accomplish simple tasks like this. A discussion of local versus global coordinate systems might also be helpful; I'm not sure yet whether objects have their own coordinate frame or if everything must be done in global coordinates.

I'd prefer written documentation with example code to videos, but at this point I'll settle for just about anything.

Thanks.

@kwistenbiebel said:

And when it would come to that, I hope the SU team start their own company to create Uber Awseome Sketchup II

I don't see how. The purchase will lock up all proprietary code under Trimble's control; a re-do as part of another venture would be instantly crushed by lawsuits and the non-competition clauses all employees will be required to sign as part of the acquisition, or which they have already signed as part of their employment at Google.

I would have much preferred to see the project released into the open source realm. I fully expect development, especially of the free version, to grind to a halt quickly; the only benefit to Trimble is the elimination of competition.

I'd like to have a font selector in my Ruby plugin that would allow the user to select a font from a drop-down list. I've looked around and can't find anything that offers such capability up front, nor can I find any way to retrieve a list of installed font names to build one with. Of course, any such widget would ideally behave like the font selectors in other applications like Sketchup, with each font name displayed in its own particular font.

Any guidance on accomplishing this?

Is there a way to find the baseline of 3D text using Ruby, in the sense that the baseline is the line upon which most (but not all) letters appear to rest? In the string "MyText", for example, the default bounding box for the 3d text is the lower portion of the 'y' descender, which extends below the baseline. I'd like to locate an axis so it rests against the bottom of the "M", or whatever position is defined by the font's actual baseline.