Hi, I have created two shelves which I made identical, but because they are positioned at different places the shelves look the same still, but when I edit them as a component - the original shelf is edited in the right places, but the other shelf (other part of my shelf component #2) gets edited wrong because of the placing of the shelf - it is rotated according to the design layout.
What I need help with is to know if there is any way to actually create similar objects or duplicates and after they are readily edited the correct way - can I group them all and create them all as a component so that when I colour map one, they all get colour mapped the same etc.
Sorry I cannot upload images of the shelves from SketchUp, even after resizing them to the point where I cannot see the images on this laptop which was still too large of a file for here to uploadâŚ5kb as the maximum upload amount! Really? LOL anyway - please help, greatly appreciated.
There is a fault in the image upload currently. You can always photo bucket or similar and add the image that way.
You can flip or rotate components so they work in relation to the model.
Any instance of a component will take on any editing you do within any one of the components. While painting from outside will only affect that component.
If you create a Component and place instances of it in the model, editing any one of them will affect all the others identically. In Window->Model Info->Components there is a check box for âShow component axesâ. If you check this, the axes for each individual instance will be displayed in the model and you can see where, for example, editing the end near the origin will affect the other instances. You may need to flip the other instances along one or more of its axes so that the changes go where you want them.
Ok, so the problem with this - after I tried it, is that I realized what you were both telling me only when I started doing it, but I tried this before and the shelf is not symmetrically designed, one side is thicker than the other, if I rotate the object - it will never be the same unless there is an option like in Photoshop where I can flip the object to create the thick piece on the other side with the one object - easily, without having to push-and-pull it manually to make it the same as the other in itâs new position. I hope this makes sense.
To clarify: I have 1 shelf with its back facing the left of a wall and the other with its back facing the right of the wall. The wall is a separation. Shelf 1 has the shelves closer to the right and shelf 2 must have shelves closer to the left. If I rotate shelf 1 (being a component) it will show the shelves closer to the right but they must be close to the left. No way of rotating it to make it what I want, the only solution is changing the model manuallyâŚ
This is why I hate components, because I have to make it unique, but then still edit it manually and create it as a new component afterwards. What a process!
I hope you see my dillema haha also the main objective is to create a component afterwards so that I can colour map them, thanks though
Even though I got help with two objects by flipping oneâŚI still hope SketchUp is one day able to create an option if you make a lot of objects which look similar or explode them - you are able to select them all and create them as one component for material mapping.
Maybe there is an option or plug in but I do not know of one?
From reading your posts here, I have to think youâre working too hard because you donât undersatand how to use components correctly. Instead of looking for a plugin, perhaps you need to learn to use the tools youâve got at hand.
What Dave is saying is you may be having to do more work than you need to to achieve what you want.
Think about physically building a set of book shelves.
Basically you make two boards the same for the top and bottom, two for the sides and whatever number of shelves you want.
So in Sketchup you only need to make three boards, make them components and you can throw a bookshelf together in seconds. And any woodgrain you put on one shelf will be the same on the others until you decide otherwise.
Dave meant that if you donât know the right things to perform your task, you might do it anyway but not as fast and simple as possible.
The upload works alright for me, try that tab with an arrow above button.
The components can be altered only from outside by scaling or flipping or rotating or moving and still be the same component. But once you explode it or make it unique there is no connection between them.
Maybe try mapping them before you make them unique or you do other changes to them ?
Box and ely963me are both right. One sure sign youâre working too hard is your talk about exploding and remaking components. It really doesnât have to be as difficult as youâre making it.
I think you may be misunderstanding the request. In the simple example it was possible to get the desired results by flipping an axis, but what if for some reason some parts needed to be flipped, and others didnât. Like, if the shelves are thicker nearer the end wall, but there is also an ornate item on the left end of the shelves (that is, by the thick end in one case and the thin end in the other case). Flipping the whole component axis would fix one thing but not the other, you might have to create two variations of the component.
So, the feature request could be to have components that have parameters (say, flip this part but not that part). Could dynamic components be relevant here?
Thanks Bill, that was my dilemma before so that is a good point - thank you for bringing it up.
Maybe I need to elaborate on what I am trying to achieve or how I do it (the long way)âŚ
I am building a full model of a house which needs to be colour mapped and rendered.
Therefore it is vital to make many objects which have to be colour mapped the same and some may have to be edited uniquely depending on position or elements of the pieces. For example I may need to change the thickness of one shelf as Bill said.
The reason I do not make a component first hand is because once I do - it limits me to change things like, say:
I need to join the shelves and 2 shelves must be different sizes, amoung the many bunch, I do not want to re-create the whole shelf from scratch so I will have to explode it or make it unique if it is a component, once that is done I want to make it back to a component in order to colour map all the shelves by putting a finish on one (the point of components).
Or, when I have downloaded a model from the warehouse which is a bunch of the same objects, I want to colour map them all with only one of them being the example, I cannot make them a combined component, wellâŚunless you know any other ways to do this combining, as I know Sketchup, there is non other ?
I have to explode the component to edit the one. I do not see how that is working hard, there is no other way.
I will have to make them in sections then. That is why I just asked if there was a way of joining them as a component. I see there is not so I will do it another way.
Sure there is another way. If you are making that component different from other instances in the model, make it unique. then open it for editing. No exploding required.
Yes, I have mentioned that earlier that I have to explode OR make it UNIQUE.
The point I am getting at is not THAT, it is if there a way to group the components BACK, once I make it unique - I want it back to a component.
I am trying to keep at that point of colour mapping it, the problem here is not editing it - I know how to do that.
The problem is grouping them BACK as a component to COLOUR MAP.
When I say âno other wayâ - that I have to explode it or make it unique, I mean there is no other way than that, but
that is not really the important part of this query.
I made it clear on my recent message what I am trying to do, which I will repeat is COLOUR MAP the objects as components. I want them back as components to do that easily instead of colour mapping the similar objects one by one with the same materials.
When you âmake uniqueâ it remains a component but it is nolonger associated with the component it came from.
Your terminology is getting confusing.
At itâs most basicâŚ
A Group is a collection of geometry wrapped together.
A Component is a collection of geometry wrapped together with some special attributes. (it is a special type of group)
I understand what he wants: to be able to make components from different geometries only so he could apply the same texture to all at once- which is impossible.
You canât explode components and then group them back individually as components and expect them to act as they are as one component, this is simply not how thing works.
I presume you know that you can nest groups/components? A fill applied to the outside wrapper of a group/component will fill all the âdefaultâ textures within it, no matter how deep the nesting goes. If an internal group/component is filled with another texture/fill then every default fill within it is filled with that colour (and so is not filled with âdefaultâ any more, and so the wrapperâs fill wonât apply to it)
Note that individual instances of components still hold their own fills, so you can have 2 identical components with different âdefaultâ fills. If you group these without filling them and apply a fill to the outside group then they will both be filled the same.
If you fill a surface within a component, then every instance of that component will have that fill assigned to that surface, no matter what the wrapping componentâs fill is set to.
You can also select and replace all identical surface fills through the whole model with relative ease, no matter where in a nested structure they are.
The hexagon group is painted pink, one of the circle components is painted purple, one of the rectangle box components is painted transparent green, one of the cube components is painted peach, and one face within the cube is painted red.
All the cubes are the same component: if I change one, they all change. All the rectangles are within one component, as are the circlesâŚ
