Here’s a really simplistic bookcase made using just 3 components. See how easy it is to make adjustments when everything follows the others.
Have a go at replicating this.
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Thank you very much, Box. One question I am struggling with. I thought we are supposed to make every single thing a separate component. So when I deleted and moved with Move (and copy) the Bottom to Top, and Shelves, this is how they look in my Component Window. Is that correct?
Did you purge unused in model info statistics panel? Unused components remain in the model’s collection until you purge them.
Hi Steve!
I did purge, and they remain in the component window. Maybe I am reading it wrong, but as you will note in this screenshot the Bottom (for instance) shows the copy that became the Top, even though the Top is a separate component (which I did after following Box’s helpful tutorial.)
Maybe these component pics aren’t a problem, but…
You’re not quite getting it.
A component is a repeatable object and it has a Definition, this is what it is, like a shelf. A copy of that component is an instance and and instance can have a name, like A, B or C and so on.
This means that you can have 3 instances of the same shelf with different identifiers.
If you change the ‘definition’ it is no longer the same shelf, but if you change the ‘instance’ it is just another version of the original. The instance name is really so you know what it is and where it goes, the Definition name is so sketchup knows what it is.
So in your model you should only have 7 definitions, the ones that are unique don’t really need instance names, but the shelves and the top and bottom can have names.
Look at how it shows in Entity info and the outliner.
I’ll add this vid and the model itself for you to look at.
Kitchen CabinetBox.skp (67.2 KB)
I think I understand, now. Your explanation is much better than the other tutorials on Youtube that claim once you make something a component, it is in itself unique and has no relation to anything else. That is obviously false.
Thank you again for this. It taught me way more efficient ways to model shelves