Dynamic components - particular characteristics required

SketchUp Dynamic Components
#1

Hi,

first of all thanks to all people spending time helping with my question.
I would like to create some dynamic components, but I’m not finding the right direction so all my effort are getting nothing. I’m not also sure what I want to make it’s possible, I tried to read the SketchUp online guide for the component and I haven’t found what I need.

I reduce all of these dynamic components in 2 different types ( attached what I would like to get).

1 Magic Cube
I want to create a scaling cube that allows me to fill a surface, like the tiles grid component provide by SketchUp, but I need to create also a partial cube, filling exactly the surface

2 Magic frame
I want to create a component that could create, in case the scaling factor is not an integer number, One more vertical piece put at the end of the object.

Thanks to all the people that could find time to help me, and also people overfly my bad english.

Andrea

Magic Cube.skp (1008,3 KB) Magic Frame.skp (255,3 KB)

#2

What adjustments do you want the user to be able to define? For example, for the Magic Cube:

  • length and width of the surface to cover?
  • size of the cube to fill with?
  • anything else?

Why not just draw it manually? It is very quick to do using Move/Copy, then scaling the last row or column to the defined face.

  1. Make a cube first, as a component, whatever size you want it to be.
  2. Move/copy as many times as needed on green axis to cover the desired length with the last cube extending over the Y length you want.
  3. Make the column of cubes into a component.
  4. Move/copy the column to extend beyond the X dimension you want.
  5. Open the column for editing.
  6. Scale the ‘top’ cube to match the length you want.
  7. Close the column component.
  8. Select the last colum, and scale it on X to the size you want to fit exactly.

Like this example.

image
image1138×898 20 KB

Filling cubes.skp (49.7 KB)

For the Magic Frame, you show overlaps at the joints.

In what plane do you want your frame to be made? It looks like the framing for a stud wall. You’d probably want that to stand vertical rather than flat.

Would this one do as an example? As cooks on TV used to say “Here’s one i made earlier.” However, it has horizontal instead of vertical intermediate pieces. You could examine it to see how it is made, and adapt to vertical or horizontal plane as you choose.

image
image1090×1028 277 KB

Frame DC.skp (70.6 KB)

#3

Don’t take this as being harsh criticism, but you need to learn some of the basics first.
https://learn.sketchup.com
You need to be able to draw the parts accurately before you can think about making a Dynamic Component. You have misaligned joints, intersecting parts and missing faces. In your framing, the first space is the wrong size.

Yes, they’re both possible with Dynamic Components.

#4

As @McGordon says, it IS possible. But for the cube filling, I don’t think it would be worth the effort of creating a DC, as it so easy to draw manually. Unless you need to do this very frequently, it would take much longer to learn how to make a DC to do it than to draw them manually many times over.

It is more worthwhile for the frame, and you may well find other people have already done it in the orientation you want, unlike mine. Search the 3D Warehouse for examples, and even if they don’t do quite what you want, use them as a model for your own DC.

But as @McGordon also wisely says, you need to learn to walk before you can run - and DCs are a big step up from learning to draw quickly and accurately.

#5

Hi @McGordon thanks for the reply, and also for the guide link ( I haven’t found yet them on the web ).
I totally agree with you, as I’m a beginner I need to model and model a lot to manage SketchUp in the right way, but the incredible jump that Dynamic Components can put on what I get from Sketchup intrigue me a lot.
Now I start to read the guide.
Thanks

#6

Thanks, @john_mcclenahan for the time you spent to reply.
Unfortunately, the solution to draw manually doesn’t work in my situation ( as I put a cube for example, but I need to create a component more complex).
For the magic frame, it works a little bit, but from your file, I’ve learned more.
Thanks

#7

This isn’t finished, it needs to deal with the case where the last ‘mid’ stud instersects the last stud:

Frame DC
Frame DC800×600 649 KB

Framing DC.skp (81.2 KB)

1 Like
#8

It should work just the same manually with any component, though it is less clear how to deal with the last column or row if you can’t just scale the component.

If you want merely to ‘cut it off’ if it is too big for the last row, rather than to scale it, then make the last component in the column unique, open it for editing, then draw a plane to cut it off, Intersect faces/With context then trim off the excess.

And do the same for the components in the last column, to trim them to width.

Both of those would be much harder to do in a DC, if not impossible in a general case.

Can you upload an example of the kind of component you would actually use, if it isn’t a cube?

#9

Hi @McGordon thank you very much :slight_smile:
You center the point!
Regards

1 Like
#10

I’ve altered it to work better when the frame is just above a multiple of 600 e.g. 1820 or 3605. In the first file this would cause the last mid stud to overlap with the end stud.

Framing DC2.skp (83.9 KB)