Remove space between objects of different thicknesses

SketchUp
, , , ,
1

Adobe Illustrator has this ability to distribute objects on a line by removing the void between them (2nd button) if you type 0 in the text field beside it:

image

I have these books which have varying thicknesses and I am trying to achieve the same effect, to snap them together.

Enscape_2024-04-29-16-19-43
Enscape_2024-04-29-16-19-431920×960 189 KB

These will later go onto the shelf you can see in the frame. But manually snapping the books to one another one by one is going to take an eternity considering that we have over 50 books.

Curic’s Align or Space plugins won’t help in this case scenario sadly, because I’m dealing with books of varying thicknesses. If they had the same thickness, the Space plugin would work.

Is anyone aware of or does anyone know of a creative way to solve this efficiently without losing time?
Thank you!

2

There might be a plugin but I think by the time you already spent I would have been done… for 50.

If you have hundreds or thousands then maybe the time saver would be helpful.

3

Curic Space extension. You can set the distance, I put 1, but it can be 0 or another number.

2 Likes
4

Ummm… Might I be doing something wrong? :thinking: My plugin seems to work completely differently:

5

To be honest, the actual number is well over several hundred, if we consider that there are several bookcases in the scene. I just didn’t want to sound too dramatic. :sweat_smile:

1 Like
6

It works every time, whether I put 0 or another number.

1 Like
7

I found the culprit!

On the Extension Warehouse the version of the Space plugin is 1.0.1:
image

However there’s a newer version in the dedicated website of Curic Plugins and it does exactly what Illustrator can:
image

After updating it, issue is solved, everything is working! :sun_with_face:
@mihai.s Thank you SO much! :raised_hands:t2:

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 11380×838 103 KB

1 Like
8

I strongly recommend using a texture instead of fully 3D books if you don’t want to choke your SketchUp.

3 Likes
9

Thank you Anssi!
We’re using 3D proxies to keep the SKP file as light as possible. Textures won’t do sadly, because we’re working on photorealistic animations and renderings.

Incidentally, although I’m currently on 2022, I’m wondering if several hundred 3D books would choke SketchUp 2024, considering that it has a new processor?