Posts made by pcmoor

Not quite sure what is the problem, you could private message some examples; however some points

Breaking a bond is done by making the copied components unique. for groups, sometimes make unique (right click menu) is available.
If groups are the problem then running this script should help

http://ruby.sketchup.com/Sketchup/Group.html#make_unique-instance_method

If the copied groups or components have the same parent, same header then double click the title box to change its name before changing the attributes

copying does not make the item unique, so a connection exists until its broken usually by changing a size. So right click an make unique before the interaction

Some ideas for the carpet in your warehouse page,
added facearea("")/2
standard colors
you need to match then closer, maybe use the RGB values

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carpet example.skp

I add some attributes to your example, the door FACEAREA is done on the front rectangle, divided by 2 as to remove the backface from the calculation, Because its not the parent, it requires a redraw after the change in size for the parent to update its value.
There are two external group DCs to which the door references to change its material, change these and after a redraw the door changes
You can set a short cut to the redraw to make life a bit easier, but a small script would be best, so all components are up to date after the changes

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parete_TAMB_v1.skp

There a few things you need to consider

Scaling a material / face does not automatically update FACEAREA, here are some ways to get produce the result you may require.

1. Calculate the area from the input, works for simple shapes, like with the door face, height * width
2. Use FACEAREA, then after any operation, (you may need to make the component unique if their are others) scale definition then redraw.
3. Incorporate a small "scaler" DC, a technique introduced by TIG, that is say a xy 10mmx10mm sample of any material, set x=1,y=1 and hidden. This then resets the material to scale and any FACEAREA calculation. This however conflicts with the internal DC copies sizes, so provided you do not need the use of copies that have different sizes from each other, then it is the best method
   https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=289&t=66642

Texture materials need to be added to a DC as swatches, as Sketchup does not automatically load them even if correctly named in the DC.
https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/dynamic-component-predefined-attributes

You can use named colors directly without swatches as per chart at http://ruby.sketchup.com/Sketchup/Color.html

You need to consider how the user will interact with the pallet, for large number, it seems impractical to load all to the DC, so an exposed sample point maybe the solution: say, use generic swatches named doorfront, doorback, dooredge, benchtop, benchedge......this would be in a global DC, that the other DCs would reference in a template. The user would select by dropping the appropriate colors/material to the global DC. Ideal to switch and compare paint selections.

So it depends on the scope of the project, simple DCs loaded to the warehouse would have color codes and/or material textures added with swatches. Whereas a room design/kitchen could be based on the template with global options, as such, it will need some simple ruby scripting to update all the parts (redraw).

Material selection in a DC is to a group or component, not a face. So coloring different faces with attributes is not possible. You could pre-color a back face for calculation purposes though. But you need the "scaler" to automate the area calculation. Then with the material selection the rest would change. For edges of different materials, you would have to make then separate groups or components as you see fit. (note: groups are automatically cleaned from the file and components are required if you need to swap)

example attached
can paint any material
has swatches of some edge alternatives, some color, and option to match top (note use of equals in the value part of the dropdown, plus quotes around the material
the component surfaces have hidden "scalers" embedded.
the area calculated from a red painted surface

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bench top material example.skp

For the 10 shelf positions you could have used 10 text boxes, this is the simplest method.

The use of a comma delimited string within a single text box saves space on the option dialog. This requires the use of the find formula, you will note that the FIND formula produces an error if it cannot find what its searching for.

Coding is done bit by bit. Errors must be circumnavigated as there are no error trapping methods in DCs, (like if error do this.. does not exist)

The work around is to add what you are looking for to the end of the string you are searching,
https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=289&t=67899

In the shelf example, I added ten commas, so that if one just put one value in the string, each FIND needs to return a value other than the -1 (error).... Attributes: p1 to p_10

So, each FIND returns the position of the comma in the string, the MID function isolates bits of text based on the count of each symbol. MID( string, position of comma +1, length which is the next comma, minus the previous -1 ) however if length equals zero then another error, so changed the added ten commas to “0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,” .... Attributes: s1 to s_10

Now need a further check to see if the string has a comma (or delimiter of your choice) at the end, otherwise we would get another zero length in the MID formula We use the difference between the length of string and position of the last comma of the string with a comma attached. Which return 0 (false) if there is a comma in the original string or 1 (true) if not..... Attributes: check

This is certainly a bit of a mind game, but hopefully after a few or more reads it makes sense

Another clever trick is to the use of the CURRENT formula to match the copies with the positions, this saves a lot of either nested IF statements or writing out a CHOOSE statement
Z =current("pos" & copy+1)

The summation in pos (position of shelf) has a thickness of 20mm, you could have this as an attribute if required

Copies is based on whether the S values are not zero, true if so. (a return of zero is evaluated as false, whereas any other value is true)

place an option to use scale in the dropdown list, as you suggested, use a conditional statement in the lenX formula to reflect the choice, say if index=1, then current and nearest, else the fixed length selection.

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added option to list

optionindex works in the same level, You can not pass it using parent! OR CU_barra_4x12!

In theory using a list and "lenx" should work, but it does not. This may be due it being an unaccustomed attribute. You have found an inconsistency or bug, however, will have to do a workaround, nominate a attribute "Lunghezza" and use that for the list and optionindex works. Then assign lenx to this Lunghezza attribute

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added extra attribute and placed within same level, then reference as needed

the problem is current returns inches for size and position, so one has to convert for centimeters
a known bug

=NEAREST(CURRENT("LENX")*2.54,100 ,500)

this is the same for facearea, you have to convert with 2.54*2.54, (/10000 for meters)

https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/dynamic-components-sketchup-function-examples

update to allow up to 10 shelves, copies calculated by numbers in comma separated string of shelf spacing

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adstustable shelves 2.skp

Have you used the filter options? Like if I filter by an unique attribute, say "door" then all other items though tallied are excluded.

So a door schedule would overwrite to an excel template, then layout would read this minus the second row, the first being the header, may also be not shown as the header in your schedule would most likely be different.

See attached with simple report saved to model, the boxes and pipes are exclude other than their total

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using reports.skp

missed this post

solution if you haven't already found it

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adstustable shelves.skp

First
Layers I believe, are the best way of isolating types, make scenes to show only what is required, so the generate report can work on a selection (select all in scene) rather than the model. Care should be taken not to have groups contain objects on multiple layers, unless deliberate and that group is opened for the report on that group only

You would use dynamic attributes to customize groups or component to contain data for the inbuilt report writer to report.
You can make small scripts to collect length, area or volume (weight) and add it to the group/component. Organisation is very important, so having cross section in the same plane, (x,y) or axis of your choosing, with length at its normal (z) is required if reporting elements (structure)

Doors can be dynamic components...features, size(dynamic), ...its a case what data is required for the drawing, and what data to attach via excel or access or other data base.

Reports can be (further) filtered in excel using VBA and fill a formatted standard report, attaching any further properties as required, Thus a very customized application can be created.

One method is to use the off-line report (a comprehensive report) and sort it externally with VBA script

window/preferences/files,

yes you can reference another DC in the drawing, however you would need to "redraw" that DC for it to update. You can install a snippet that redraws all

https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=68489

and fire it from toolbar editor
https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1&author=0&category=0&search=toolbar+editor&submit=%3F

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test reference.skp

Just to be clear, copying is not the issue, but using a copy to create a new component is. This is very much the case if a copy or instance is used in another file, isolated, changed then brought back within the influence the original.

Copies of subcomponents can cause problems if they not not made unique, even groups can retain a connection when copied. You change the formula in one sub, it effects all the others that are copies. Move a component into another file, change the formulas, call it something else, bring it back into the orginal file, the subs will "update" to the new formulas, usually the affected components will have red # errors
Reuse or repurpose is okay, but make each sub component unique within a master file, unless the sub is to be used by all (like a shelf,door) then the parent! reference is used rather than the parents attribute dialog heading otherwise cupboard1!doorwidth will overwrite cupboard2!doorwidth whereas parent!doorwith works for both

Can you share some of of your components? Maybe private if intellectual property. Stray errors can significantly slow DCs down, they can be caused via copies of subs for a new component without making each part unique.

@pbacot said:

"Material Replacer"

I believe this is an excellent idea, it works well with DCs, provide you first initialize the material. Reports okay too. I will adopt this in my workflow. Thanks!

Giacomo,
I downgraded the file to 2016
To copy and paste you need to use attribute inspector from the extension warehouse or
https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1&author=0&category=0&search=attribute+inspector&submit=%3F

then find the _option in the dynamic attributes,you will see that have URI formatting. Copy & paste the values using control c,v, You need to remove an "&" to add on further copied values

One can use an excel macro to read and convert a list too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4gcm8HXLV0 shows the use of the macro and Attribute Inspector

you need to private message your email to get the excel macro, as can not load to this forum

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build 1.skp

@orionis98 said:

I hoped there was a way to define some out-of-context attributes.

There are techniques of achieving this
sample attached where one can choose the default (global) or own input for a bench top

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build 1.skp