Component definition #1

You could customize the location for the local collection to be in a folder on the server. Of course you then need to have a good connection to the server to be able to access your components. Having them in a local collection on your computer means they are always available to you.

As in File>Save as…?

Ahh, now I see what you meant earlier. Thanks for the clarification.

I’m not sure you are addressing this part of my earlier post:

In your example, Dave, the component is placed in the center of an object in the overall model. SketchUp’s inferencing makes that easy. But let’s say that in the overall hypothetical model, the component is located in some less-friendly location with respect to any other features in the model. Maybe it is X inches in from the front edge of some feature, and Y inches in from the right side of the feature, etc. One could bring the component in with an initial location at the front-right corner of the feature referenced above, then move it by X and by Y with numeric precision. Is there a better way (short of pre-creating guide(s) in the overall model that anticipate where the component will go)? I’m just saying (it probably wasn’t worth it to say) that natural inferencing is not always possible for final placement.

You can create a point like I did with the crossing guidelines. They are only crossing in the center in that case because that was the appropriate location but I could have established a point or points anywehre to locate the component.Instead of intersecting guides there could be a guidepoint placed with either absolute or relative coordinates or you could use the end of an edge as the location point. There’s any number of options available for identifying the point where the component needs to go. The main point I’m trying to make is it is totally possible to place a component anywhere you need it with precision in the model.

One of the things people come unstuck on is what a component is. @MikeWayzovski mentioned it already but it’s worth looking at again. And @DaveR has alluded to it by asking what Save as you used.

A Component is a .skp file, nothing more nothing less, it’s not a .comp file or anything like that. It is a model file same as your entire complex model file.
When you use file explorer/finder to open a component .skp it will open just like any other model and you will be inside the component just like when you double click a component or right click and choose Open for editing. You are in the model, so, no wrapper, just the contents of the component in whatever form they are inside your component.
This single component .skp is what is created when you use the Right click a component and Choose Save as method. It literally takes that component out of your workspace and saves it as a .skp on it’s own with the file name of the component definition.
If on the other hand you have a blank model/.skp and you create a component in that .skp then use File/Save as, you are creating a .skp file that contains a closed component, so technically a file within a file. If you then bring that .skp into another .skp it will be double wrapped.
This confusion is the reason many 3dwarehouse components come with multiple wrappers.

You need to get your head around this to understand the file naming issues and whether or not a component already exists with that name.
I’m not sure I have managed to clear anything up with this, but it’s all in there if you can weed it out.

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After reading back through again I now understand!! as @DaveR mentioned it was down to the “save as”
I wasn’t aware of the “save as” option on right-clicking a component, doing this has solved the problem :grinning:

Thanks for everyone’s input :+1: