Question about assigning Multiple Tag to Group/Component

Hello guys,

I lookup to a plugin that has an feature to assign multiple tags to a group or component

I’m aware of the ability to control model visibility through the Outliner.
But Outliner is missing in Layout, which used to generate 2D documentation.
Outliner allow control visibility only using model layers.
So I use layers, and model have a large number of layers. And it get headache to manage them from the EntityInfo dialog, which displays a list of all layers in the form of a list, not a tree. :((((

So, for solve my problems, I made a small plugin for selecting from a tag tree and assigning several tags to a component. And I’m wondering if there are analogues with similar functionality,

I’m really curious how you did it? Because it is impossible to assign more then one tag (layer in Ruby API) to any kind drawing element. Neither via UI nor by Ruby API currently is not feasible.

Or I completely misunderstand what would you like to achieve… :innocent:

1 Like

You may possibly be confusing SketchUp tags (formerly “layers”) with LayOut layers, which are an entirely separate thing.

I know that SU allow assign only one tag per DrawingEntity
I use workaround (such for sections), creating wrapper (group) over component and assign extra tag. so can contol visibily of different entities. for sample in video - floors, rooms, chairs, tables in different combination

Video_2022-06-22_231538

hmm, I use this functionality widely, and works in Layout, same like in SU.

Apologies to revive an old thread.

The issue with this method is that it relies on nested groups - is that correct?

The ConDoc multitag feature claims not to use nested groups.

Thinking aloud - I don’t know enough in depth of the API - could the Sketchup::AttributeDictionary class help?

If tags were attributes in a dictionary assigned to an entity - does it work like that?

Whenever a tag is turned on/off all entities’ attribute dictionaries are interrogated and if there is a match those entities are hidden?

Only thing is that Layout couldn’t interact with this?

1 Like

MultiTag Extension which I wrote about in the first post, works as you describe. Each object that has a visibility assignment for several tags contains a logical visibility formula in its attributes.

for sample: “(L1 and L2 and L3) or (L3 and L4) or not(L5)”

When changing the visibility of a tag or moving tag to another group (also considering visibility of parent tag groups), the formula in which the changed tag is included is recalculated and depending on the result, the object takes the state either visible or not visible.

Extension for Layout not implemented and no plans to do it. I suggest to import views from sketchup, it more complex because get higher rendering performance in Layout and smaller size of layout model

1 Like

What you’re saying @Langolier2021 , is that as long as a Sketchup scene displays as we want it to, Layout will display it the same way?

However, of you’d eant to organize Multiple tags from within Layout, using Layout panel for controlling Sketchup tags, it won’t work, right?

As Langolier states – and as I understand it – his extension relies on SketchUp attributes which cannot accessed from within Layout.

The same for the ConDoc multi-tagging and for the multi-tag extension that 3DxJFD is currently working on.

1 Like

Even if Layout doesn’t understand attributes, it does understand which objects are visible and which are hidden in a scene. I suppose that, as long as a Sketchup scene is as we wish it to be, Layout will display it as it should.

The problem is that if we hide a Sketchup tag from Layout it may wreck the scene.

However, of you’d eant to organize Multiple tags from within Layout, using Layout panel for controlling

Yes, that’s exactly it.
The plugin doesn’t work in Layout and cannot recalculate the visibility of objects as it does in Sketchup.
The scene must be saved first in Sketchup, then the reload model in Layout.

This bothers me from time to time too, but for Layout there is no such level of API as is for Sketchup
and now it is impossible for me to do the implement plugin for Layout

1 Like

Even if Layout doesn’t understand attributes, it does understand which objects are visible and which are hidden in a scene. I suppose that, as long as a Sketchup scene is as we wish it to be, Layout will display it as it should.

The problem is that if we hide a Sketchup tag from Layout it may wreck the scene.

In case of my extension, user won’t break anything. user just won’t get what him expect; entities with a multi-tag assigned will not change their visibility in Layout: they will either be hidden or visible.

other entities (with one tag assigned) - will be hidden or displayed according to the basic Sketchup/Layout display logic

1 Like

It doesn’t bother me that much. I have most scenes setup in a way that I don’t have to deal with Layout tags panel.

However, there is a particular kind of scene where I do need to hide all the model except one Tag and I MUST, do it in Layout.

This is because of Curic Section plugin that enforces it’s sections to be visible only in one scene and even if we change that, it resets our changes each time a section is regenerated.

@curic4su if you’re reading this, please allow that after a Section is generated the first time, we can activate it’s layer in other scenes.

As we are talking about all the model except one Tag, that might be doable, no?

EDIT: I’m sorry for the questions, I should test your plugin instead, but I don’t have the time at the moment. I will buy it and use it eventually as it seems it allows for a great workflow!