Hide/Show rest of the model but with more control

[july_warm]

So as an example I have this large model with nested components/groups of a city, each city block is a group and each building is a group nested inside that block and each room is a component inside the building group. When I keep modeling context is always helpful, so I need to turn on/off context constantly, but I don’t always need to the see the entire city, because it’s too much info, messy and can sometimes block things I want to reference to.
Is there functionality in the API to allow me to modified the hide/show rest of model function to only show the context one layer up in the component/group hierachy, or multiple layers based on a input? Or what is the name of method I can search that handles the show/hide rest of the model so I can study it.
Thank you!

[DanRathbun]

@july_warm

Is there functionality in the API to allow me to modified the hide/show rest of model function to only show the context one layer up in the component/group hierachy, or multiple layers based on a input?

Generally no. If any ancestor context or layers used by any “up tree” context is hidden, then any “down branch” context including your local context would also be hidden.

However perhaps setting all other geometry and objects hidden that are not in the direct ancestor lineage might work. You would need to walk the active edit path in reverse order setting undesired things hidden.

• Sketchup::Drawingelement#hidden=

• Sketchup::Model#active_path

• Sketchup::ModelObserver#onActivePathChanged

You also need to save the current visible state on things so you can restore them afterward.

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I think there might be a feature request to control this in the main SketchUp Feature Request category.

It has been discussed in the Extensions category …

• Search: Extensions “hide rest”
  … finds:

Plugin suggestion - show only parent

Hi! What would you guys think about a plugin that would extend “Hide rest of model” setting? Precisely: you could show only direct “parent” of active component, so only the component nesting the active one, and hide rest of model at the same time. This would let you focus on your active component, while only the nearest context is displayed, not entire model. It could be helpful with complex models where groups are nested inside grouped groups

[ene_su]

This functionality neither exists in the API or UI. What you can do is to save out part of your project as a separate file, edit it externally, and load it back in.

[CyrilP]

Hello !
I am facing the same issue, and a plugin or a Sketchup update would be really appreciated
Hiding / Showing the rest of the model but with more controls would be awsome !
And for that, pressing Up/Down arrow keys could Hide/Show more or less of the nested groups and components.

[DanRathbun]

As noted above … this feature does not currently exist so an extension is not possible.

This would need to be programmed into the core as a rendering feature. Such core native features should be proposed and discussed in the SketchUp > Feature Requests category, (if you want those responsible who we would think monitor that category, to see the request.)

@CyrilP

And for that, pressing Up/Down arrow keys could Hide/Show more or less of the nested groups and components.

The arrow keys are already in use as axis lock modifiers for native tools.

[CyrilP]

Thank you for your answer. I’ll send them a comment

[pbacot]

Yes, this has been a desire for a long time, by many people. Not to downgrade your request, but what I do is take a copied instance of a component to another part of the model space and work on it there. So if I want to work on stair railing without walls etc. in the way, I pull the stair component (copy) out from the building and work on it in the open air.