I am trying to create a square tube with holes located 1" apart from each other. My goal is to show a visual representation of the holes by creating a texture I can place on the component. My other goal is to be able to change the length of the square tube without the texture adjusting to the size of the component. I am new to creating textures and not familiar with the terminology.
Smart Rotate Auto
By Looknaam SketchupHome
ⓘ About this Extension
The Problem When you accidentally apply paint to an entire Group/Component (instance-level material) and right-click on a face — SketchUp will not show the Texture / Position menu. This is because the material is applied to the instance, not the face → making it impossible to rotate or shift the texture/pattern.
The Solution Smart Rotate Auto automatically moves the material from the instance → to the face (fixing the root cause, not just a workaround) and allows you to control the pattern via 3 groups in the Toolbar:
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Rotate (Orange) — Rotates the TOP of the pattern up/right, in 2 directions, 90° at a time.
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Shift (Blue) — Shifts the pattern ↑ → ↓ ← in 4 directions, 10% of the texture size at a time (clicks are cumulative).
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Size — Scale up ×1.25 / Scale down ×0.8 per click.
Key Features
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Seamless texture continuation across faces/groups automatically using a World-Space UV anchor.
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Works with nested groups/components at all levels (recursive).
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Single Undo — Press Ctrl+Z once to undo all actions at once.
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Supports both front + back materials of a face.
How to Use
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Select the Group/Component that was accidentally painted (you can select multiple items at once).
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Click a button on the “Smart Rotate Auto” Toolbar.
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The pattern will adjust immediately — use Ctrl+Z to undo.
what ?
I don’t think that’s the question asked here…
your image file used as a material needs to be a png. holes need to be transparent.
depend on your tube, scaling is not the solution. it could be as simple as a pushpull or a move
can you share your file ? might be easier to help by looking at it.
if you wish to scale the component, like for a DC, can right click menu, make unique, then scale definition. To automate, place a DC group within the component with one or more fixed size attribute(s), this will create a new definition or update if only one.
Thank you. I will try this out. I appreciate the video you attached.
With pcmoor’s help I created this dynamic component similar to what you describe. I made the actual holes not a texture. You can use the scale tool to stretch the component and the holes adjust to the new size: Unistrut Dynamic Component - Model - 3D Warehouse