Just an update...It was a lot of trial and error but I got it to work! I feel so accomplished. I would make a note to any others trying to do this (or maybe I am the only knucklehead) that the "animation" does not show up when switching between scenes on the tray but only when switching between scenes on the tabs above the drawing window. Can't tell you how many times I would redraw and switch at the tray only to be very disappointed. However, best way to learn! Won't make that mistake again. Anyway, thanks again for your help!!

The RBZ file is not needed after you've installed the extension. You don't need to keep it and I would recommend deleting it. Extensions you install will be in a user directory that is not affected by uninstalling/reinstalling SketchUp. If you ever do need to refresh the SketchUp installation and replace the extensions, it would be wisest to install the extensions fresh from their sources instead of from old RBZ files you've kept. If you use the Sketchucation Extension Store tool and the Extension Warehouse to install extensions, you won't have any RBZ files to delete except the one for SCF Extension store which you need to download from here to install.

Yes. I guess that's it in a nutshell. If you choose the tool first, the offset will occur along all the edges that bound the face. Notice the face will be highlighted when you hover over it. Pre-selecting the edges gives you more control when you need it.

@dave r said: Sorted. The materials/colors need to be applied to the faces instead of to the component wrapper. Indeed. A component (as "such") will not actually be affected if you only apply a material to it "from outside" (i.e. - as Dave put it - to its wrapper only) That material will only belong to the model this component is placed in. This is not different from alignment (position, rotation...) of a component inside a model or the scale of a component when it is scaled (again) from "outside" (not while editing it). Here is a little tut that I put together on a different note but may still be interesting (does not seem to be a very popular one, as I see though): http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=39655&p=350494