Any interest in Batch processing of files?

I have a framework to execute the batch processing of a set of tasks over a list of files. This is based on:

  • Tasks, which are defined as a Ruby method processing an individual file. Task can be custom (written by anybody with a top method in Ruby), or builtin (written by me).
  • Filesets, which allows to construct a set of files with various options, including wild cards. Files do not need to be just .skp files. For instance, you may want to have a set a .dxf files and automatically generate a Sketchup file for each dxf.
  • Job, which is a combination of a set of files and a set of tasks. It represents the Batch processing to be executed.

At this stage, I am wondering if there is any strong interest to have a Batch Processing utility in the real life.

On my side, I have a few examples, such as

  • Component library documentation: basically you have a set of models (say cabinets or bolt &nuts) and you generate a single layout document (and thus its PDF) including one or several viewports of each model with a particular camera and style on each page.
  • Batch conversion of skp files to previous or current Sketchup versions, as long as this is possible via the API.
  • Find specifc information in a set of Sektchup files. For instance, which model uses material XXX, or component YYY. Possibly, a variant with a find and replace…
  • Populate a set of skp models with a series of scenes, so that you can update existing models.

Currently, I am looking for complex or unusual cases, to see if the framework is robust enough.

I could have used this last year. I created models for 20 different plan sets. All used the same SKP template and all used the same LO file. All scene names, section cuts, etc. were the same (larger models required adjusting things to fit, but all were identical in presentation. I manually ‘Send to LayOut…’ each file, updated the title block (could have been clever with auto text I think) and exported. If I could have processed a folder of these it would have been a time saver.

I would have likely still needed to manually add basic dimensions in LayOut, not sure how to get around that…

A few ideas stolen from previous posts (by searching on “batch”) …

  • Batch File Reduction: purge unused resources and down-sample textures

  • Batch export of thumbnail image files (view#write_image or Sketchup.save_thumbnail) to storage for use in web interface(s) | galleries, etc.

  • Batch style changes or other properties (say, clearing geolocation or whatever) to a fileset of component files.

  • Batch printing of a certain named scene from a fileset.

  • Batch Texture Replacement : change an outdated material texture in multiple model files with a new one.

  • Batch Flip Y/Z axes for export preparation.