It's an infrequent and usually non-repeatable bug in SUp that Mirror.rb seems to encounter now and again. Some set ups and systems seem more prone than others. I developed this version of Mirror and the BugSplat comes when you mirror collections of certain types of geometry that aren't grouped - can't see a common denominator AND I've never had one***. You can try grouping before mirroring and exploding afterwards and see it that helps. It seems to be something to do with the way/order that SUp processes grouped objects - Mirror.rb temporarily groups your selection, makes the copy and mirrors it and then if desired deletes the original - it's often this deletion can lead to these rare splats.

There is a recent discovered clash between the Demeter.rb script and Mirror.rb (and Grow.rb) because Demeter has an aider-plugin called blankslate.rb and that seems to rewrite a bit of the way SUp+Ruby processes groups. This causes a crash every mirror+delete-original so it's unlikely to be your cause since it's intermittent ? ***I HAVE experienced that !

Until someone in SUp+Ruby fixes the flaky interpreter and group manipulation coding then occasional splats might randomly occur. So save beforehand and try pre-grouping what you are about to mirror - please let me know if you get any joy...

To fix it manually you can Save_As the nested component [made of sub-components] 'externally' (you just hover over its icon the the compo'browser and select off the context-menu...). Then erase any instances of it and purge the model of unused compos. It and it's sub-compos will purge if they haven't got instances. Then import the externally saved comp back in and now you have one compo that's made from several nested compos BUT only one compo shows in the browser !

You can get weird effects if you paint the front of the face transparent and the back of the face an opaque material. You can only see through it one way...

Also you need to have transparency 'switched on' in the current style's settings... Edit > Face Settings > Enable Transparency = Ticked...

Hope you don't mind Jean, but I added a couple of steps at the end to make the roof 'hipped'...

Pagoda_roof[1].skp

@unknownuser said:

A git is a stupid irritating individual or idiot, Joe.
Glad things went well for u. Look forward to the photos.
Cheers

I'm a backwards 'git'...
In all ways I hope I'm the reverse...

In the UK we do have general contractors, site agents, foremen or project managers who do coordinate and control the tradesmen, but at the 'coal-face' there is still some 'group rivalry' - e.g. joiners think carpenters are rubbish, electricians think they are the "bee's-knees", everyone thinks labourers are thick, architects are gay and out-of-touch with reality etc etc [all of this is of course totally wrong - except for some aspects !]... ... ...

UK timber is specified in mm sizes rather than inches, length is in metres and increment by 0.3m - so 1.8m,2.1m,2.4m,2.7m,3m,3.6m,4.2m,4.5m,etc ~= 6',7',8',9',10',12',14',15',etc. 25mm ~= 1" and nominal timber sizes go in steps of 25mm - e.g. 175mm x 50mm ~= 7" x 2" - with smaller sections tending to mimic the old 'near part of an inch sizes' - e.g. 6,12,19,25,32,38,44,50,63,75mm... So as has been said a simple conversion is pretty easy, BUT the timber you get delivered isn't quite so simple... Some timber yards supply European and N American stuff that can be mixed sizes and then...

A piece of carcassing or "rough sawn" softwood - that would used for fencing etc - at 175 x 50 will vary by several mm, piece to piece. Timber can be got 'regularised' on two opposing or on all edges, so 175 x 50 would be say 169-170 x 44-45 as ~3mm is machined off each face - it varies: also if a piece is ripped from a larger one the saw-cut width is also lost, so half of 200x50 is not 100x50 but more like 98x50, which is then perhaps regularised down again tp 92x44 !

Wrot/Wrought or "Planed" timber is similar in size to regularised - with say 3mm off each planed face: PAR = Planed All Round. If you want PAR timber you specify its finished size and it's then made from a larger piece machined down to that - so you can get 100x50 PAR BUT it'll be made from a piece perhaps originally 125x63 (or a ripped half from 225 > 110 > 100 PAR). This makes it a bit more expensive as you are throwing away quite a bit of wood. If you want something PAR that's "around" 100 x 50mm BUT you can live with 94 x 44mm then specify that size PAR, since the wood you are going to make it from is less and will cost perhaps 20% more for a few extra mm... If it's only a few pieces then perhaps it's OK, but if it's dozens of linear metres it adds up. The 'old' way was to specify planed timber as 'EX' so "Ex 100x50mm" - and you'd expect it to arrive a bit smaller, but exactly by how much would have been planed off was a lottery: you'd assume 3mm per face BUT could be 2 to 4mm ! Many companies still use 'EX' in plane timber descriptions, BUT with modern planing machines it's easy to be specific for what size you will get delivered - especially if the bits are fitting together without further planing or working, and the finished size might then be quite critical.

Note that base sizes of Softwood - Deal, Pine etc, will also differ from Hardwood - Oak, Beech etc...

Try this site to see what's available:
http://www.southbucksestates.co.uk/index.html
The 'Shop' link has lots of interesting sub-links with pictures and sizes...

I think Todd means locking components or groups so they can't be edited or erased. I think Ever meant locking the whole model (sic drawing) in a way so that it can't be edited etc. Read-only PDF-like I guess - this has been looked at over the years but no one has come up with a good way of locking a model (making it permanently 'read-only'). It could probably be incorporated in an update in v.7 quite easily - if we wanted it - a File Menu item called say "Save_Protected" - which then prompts you for a password on saving and later any recipient is prompted for that password after opening, if they want to make it editable or perhaps save it...

The groupg's bounding box (bounds) has max and min XYZs. Find those and use something to find the mid-way between them (= the center)...
Assuming that your group is named 'group'...
...
max=group.bounds.max; min=group.bounds.min
mid_point=Geom::Point3d.linear_combination(0.5,max,0.5,min)
...
Unfortunately plain text is left justified. However you could place some 3D-text centred - see my TextTag stuff for clues

Here's an AutoLisp tool I wrote a while ago (it's zipped as .lsp files can't be uploaded 'raw'). Obviously you'll need AutoCAD with AutoLisp enabled to Appload and then run it on the DWG file BEFORE trying to import it into SUp. Basically it takes any selected Text such as Z-heights in metres, works out what the text is in real numbers, and then moves them in their Z to suit (this version takes m heights and moves in mm, BUT it's easy adjusted to do other unit combos), it then adds a 3D-point at the Text's origin - you might need to move the 3D-points over the +markers... For more info see the first few lines of the .lsp file itself... you can open it in a plain text editor (like NotePad.exe)... That's how I wrote it !!!

text2d3d[m].zip

Now I see...

Here v1.1 - it works the same as before, BUT if the selection includes faces then it now assumes you want to include those faces' edges in the selection (visible/hidden/smoothed) even if you haven't explicitly picked any edges: then when it inverts the selection (and say you delete the now selected stuff) any previously selected faces AND their edges are retained...

Feedback please...

Gaieus - you might want to move this to the Ruby realms...

invertselection.rb

I wrote 'invert selection' almost 2 years ago... What would you like it to do differently - exactly ?

You are confusing DWF and DXF (Drawing Web Format AND Data eXchange Format).

DWF is a read-only version of a DWG file (=AutoCAD DraWinG) - much like a PDF, that is a read-only version of a DOC or similar file. A DWF can be converted to a basic DWG with certain software - much like you can extract the text from a PDF if you have some tools. It can then be used in SUp with limited data.

DXF is an old type of a 'text version' of a DWG file (=AutoCAD DraWinG). You easily can open and read a DXF as text, and see what is meant to go where on which layer etc - it IS complex BUT it's still decipherable. It is simply a text version of the binary DWG file - so it's much bigger as the data is split out in easier to read coded packets. DXF is used for data transfer between programs that can't directly read DWG format. By now many programs (like SUp) can read native DWG - unless it's the very latest version where they play 'catchup', BUT many programs still allow DXF import - other programs (e.g. Bryce) only export in DXF so it's good to be able to get that data in even though it's not as 'compact' or perhaps as 'clean' as DWG...

Isaac Asimov bit a much earlier skit on the newfangled 'Book' v. CD/computers... and he also did another on how to do even the most complex calculations with only a 'pencil and paper' - a revolutionary idea someone comes up with in a future society that's dominated by computers doing everything that has forgotten the 'basics'... the hero sees that if he copies the symbols on the monitor screen onto a flat surface (paper) with something that makes a mark (pencil) he can reproduce unique representations of his thoughts without a keyboard and manipulate numbers to get answers - he invents both writing and basic maths in one go ! ...

I am an avid IT geek and love stuff all like SUp, BUT I am amazed when youngsters in my office have to discover that after years at college there's a simple but magic tool that lets the ideas in their head flow down their arm and into their hand and from there onto a piece of paper - the "pencil" - so they can communicate with others AND themselves. That's not just any old pencil, but a proper trad wooden one that you have to sharpen... the hi-tech hypodermic-needle propellers and fine-liner pens don't hack it when you need to get simple idea out of your head into the real world...

SketchUp is the nearest I've found to a pencil in the IT world... BUT plain old pencils and paper still have their place...

I recently did the same and out of the box it was a pain. I downloaded the latest driver etc and in the new Mouse Control Panel I reset the wheel to be treated a 'middle-button' and that seems to have fixed it...

I did an AreaFormat tool a while ago... see: http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=12808#p12808
It could easily be adjusted to suit your current units if they are not listed...

And there's more...
Don't think too hard, it'll hurt...

An oldie...
BUT too true...

I think "get_product_family" is part of 'attribute' ruby stuff that you might have tried ?

My Archiver.rb script adds a File menu function to make an archive of the model as you wish (they are a snapshot of the model at the moment you make it NOT the last saved version). You could make a shortcut key to do this for you... I did dally with a timed version - and this was recently requested again, but pressures of other things (like 'real work') got in the way - for big models auto-archiving every 10 minutes whilst you are in the middle of doing something is NOT good as it can take some time. YOU should make backups of your model at regular intervals that's what 'Archiver' is for. They are named after the model and dated/timed/user-named and put in a folder with the model...

Even if it's not 'free' it is 1/10th $$$ of ACAD ?