Feature or Extension request - export text from SU to CSV

[AK_SAM]

Please can we have some way to export all Dimension text from a sketchup model into a table (csv)?

Being able to export different types of text (leader text, dimensions or screen text) from SketchUp into a CSV would allow us to prepare Bill of Materials quantities very easily.

We would need the ability to export all text, or just Selected text. Ideally any leader text would also be exported along with a column saying what it is connected to (name of component, name of material, etc).

@ene_su this seems like something you could put together quite readily.

[ene_su]

I don’t currently have much time for extension development, but I find the idea intriguing to entertain.

How would you envision this in practice? A separate reporter? Should only Dimensions be exported and groups/components without them be ignored? Should Dimensions be manually labeled in SU so you know what each value represents in the exported table?

[AK_SAM]

Yes the idea is that I could go into my model and add a dimension (or leader text) to anything that I want to know sum the value of. Like bits of timber, or faces, or whatever.
If the tool included all leader text or free text, then people could also use it to export notes (comments or markups), or add up the values of all faces in a model (like the Plot labeller tool does).

This could include dimensions that are part of a component (or group), like the pink ones below.

A reporter would be nice, just for the simple fact that people would make great use of it when calculating the total length of a number of pieces of wood, or the total area of a number of faces. (right now …what do we do? manually calculate the values, or transpose them into a table?..not fun).

But a simple CSV table output isnt such a bad thing.

In the example of the image, if i selected everything then table/report might output as follows:

1.93
3.31
1.50       PinkTimber
1.50       Pink Timber
1.50       PinkTimber
1.50       PinkTimber
2.75       PinkTimber

1.0        Greensquare
2.0        Yellowsquare      

The pink timbers are components "PinkTimber"
Blue timbers are loose geometry with manual dimensions

Selecting the items to export is great, but there could be an option to export “all” text entities.

I assume this is all possible to set up using DCs and Generate Reports…but it’s often a total pain and no one bothers. When you’re dealing with simple rectangular bits of wood it’s not too bad to create a report (XYZ are fairly easy to understand) but when dealing with more complicated shapes or component “families” it gets pretty confusing and often leads to errors.

Cheers for considering this!

PS i hope Trimble don’t take you off extension-creating duties altogether… !

[AK_SAM]

A lot of the use case for this could be solved if there was a simple reporter built into Entity Info or the Measurements field.

[3DxJFD]

Hello @AK_SAM, I read your comment and followed the link here. This problem has likely already been resolved but I worked through it as a practice exercise.

You can generate reports with functionality similar to the Dimensioning & Text Tools using Dynamic Components (DC). In the image below, text and dimensioning are omitted. Instead, a ‘template’, “Timber_Maker” DC is highlighted. The Component Options and Component Attributes menus are shown on the right.

You can input dimensions in the Component Options panel, or use the Scale Tool to adjust the size. I used Move+ctrl to copy the DC to create the ‘timbers’ shown.

I then replaced definition names under Entity Info to prepare for the Generate Report step.

Oh - for this example, I made two Custom Attributes: “Timber_Size_LF” (This is the LenX/12 of the DC) and “Timber_Size_SF” (The (LenXLenZ)/144 of the DC). For the sheathing-like pieces I changed custom attribute function for square feet to (LenXLenY)/144. There are different ways to do this, but this seemed to work here.

Then select all DCs and Generate Report. Here are the Model Attributes being used:

The output looks like this:

One could create their own naming conventions and select different attributes to suite their own organizational and output needs. The downloadable .csv could also be formatted to ones’ liking.

I saw in the original thread that others are formatting .csv for LayOut.

At any rate, one could still use Text and Dimensioning Tools as well as Tags with the DC.

Thanks for putting the idea out there. It made for good practice as I learn the ropes!