Hey Bryce, I love the concept of Live Components!
I have a suggestion about adding sliding wardrobe (closet) doors to the list of objects currently available for download as I think these would be very popular among the SketchUp community.
I would be happy to work with your team on the range of parameters required to configure these.
If this is something you like the sound of then please let me know.
Dean, perhaps request in the requests subcategory ?
well - I was curious and I downloaded the stud wall live component. Very cool and excellent addition to the SketchUp tool set.
Sorry, given the sluggish development of LAYOUT (where is the API?) and the non development of Dynamic Componentsā¦I would not hold my breath on these going anywhereā¦
PS, will they work in LAYOUT ( eg, will there be a 2d equivalent that works in layout?)?
PPS, will the base unit be inches? will we have conversion difficulties with formulas when developing Metric items like we have in Dynamic components ?
Impressive plugin thereā¦
It will be possible to author Live Components to have 2D symbols but they would be SketchUp Geometry. Perhaps we could support more LayOut native symbols in the future. Question for you - how would this bet fit in your workflows? Would Tagging (formerly Layers) 2D symbols work to swap between 3D and 2D versions?
Units support will also be more flexible too.
Hi Bryce,
Thanks for the feedback,
One of the reasons I do not use LAYOUT frequently is its inability to globally update contents within the documentā¦.
Having the equivalent of ācomponentsā within LO would be one major feature that would address that limitationā¦
even better if it worked in the same fundamental way as they do in SU. [with similar interface]
Extending that principle, if Live Components [or Dynamic Components] were also an integral 2D tool in LO, it would be similar to 2d parametric objects as in Visio
At it simplest, I am think of a tool for managing symbols [ eg electrical / lighting symbols, updating one instance updates them all]
As I noted in my postsā¦ just having the standard component capacity in LO would be a major benefit that I would prioritize over live components generally.
Similarly, āfind and Replaceā is a very basic tool for efficiently editing large data contentā¦ [essentially what a component allows] but all general text also desperately needs this capability
Eg [door tags, windows tags, product codes, editing repeated textā¦
Sample below of tags for interior signage [ I can easily change the sign code from say F4/1 to W4/1 thoughout the document in Powerpoint [10 floors / pages] in one action
Impossible in LO ā would have to manually select everyone
oops, thought this was a private reply to your email Bryceā¦ no problem , just would have not rambled so much 
Interesting how the parameters are output to the model as a JSON object. I think this really needs to change: parameters need to be output to Sketchup attributes raw. Without this, the data canāt be used in reports etc, as well as integrate with LayOut.
Sketchup isnāt so good at working with information at the moment, but I really think this will have to change in future, and I hope the Live Components team build this product with that future in mind. Thereās a lot of potentially useful information within these parameters on the output from SketchUp (Schedules, manufacturing data etc.).
Disagree. The implementation is a cloud service, and JSON is great for web integration.
It is quite easy* to convert JSON object string representations to Ruby hashes as Ruby has a JSON library (which is usually loaded by the SketchUp startup cycle.)
hash = JSON[json_text]
# ... visa versa:
json_text = JSON[hash]
For a SketchUp Ruby attribute dictionary ā¦
json_text = JSON[dictionary.to_h]
( * Yes, there might be recursion needed if the LC json properties have nested objects.)
Also, the Generate Report feature is also a cloud service, and it may be that attribute dictionaries are converted āunder the engine coverā to JSON objects before transmitting to the service.
I understand the LayOut request has to do with autotext or callout label text. It is not an absolute that Live Components exposure to these LayOut features requires attribute dictionaries with live properties expanded into individual attributes. (Ie, LayOut native code can easily read LC properties, and expose them to the label callout list for selection by the end user.)
I think the developers should be free to implement LC functionality as needed, and we should focus here on the level features and functionality as perceived by the end user.
This is what I usually do, creating nested components with following sub-components inside:
Have you placed any of these in the 3dwharehouse?
Or can you upload an example for us to view?
Theyāre all over the fromt page of the 3D Warehouse at the moment!
This is a link to the full collection:
Well I was really hoping for non-metric support in LC. Itās an intriguing idea and the 2021 integration looks great, but itās very difficult to use in a imperial context, the parametric aspect is pretty limited if I have to convert model units in my head to enter metric units into the fields.
Vectorworks allows you to designate what units you are entering in the entry box.
Sure, Sketchup is also flexible in this way, no matter what the model units are set to one can enter dimensions in any unit type by adding the designator. So even though my large scale models are in imperial I can easily add something in meters by typing an m after my dimension.
However LCs currently do not support anything but metric and are particularly difficult to work with. Unlike a DC I cannot just resize a door or window or stud wall to fit an opening using the scale tool and inference to get the dimension correct, then redraw. Instead I have to open a configuration panel and type in a dimension. So getting a metric only LC window/door/whatever to actually fit a 37 5/8ā opening in my wall is extremely tedious (try it) unless Iām missing something.
It will be interesting to see if @TheOnlyAaron uses any LCs in his live building modeling tomorrow as I believe he works in imperial.
Iām sure this functionality is coming and Iām excited for it, but I canāt really dig into LCs in my daily workflow until then.
Hi endlessfix.
Unit switching is coming soon.
Now you know how the rest of the world feels with USA / Myanmar imperial centric software :)ā¦ eg Sketchup / Microsoftā¦
Revit = something between application programming, filling a tax return and drawing ASCII art
Nailed it!
Note that I meant the Family editor. Otherwise I think the Revit interface very clear, if a bit dull. Comparing to Archicad that has an almost Blender-like unintuitive complexity.
will you be able to change units from inches to centimeters?