Hi.,
Is there is any way to display text on the face of the component automatically (either in sketchup or Layout).
Ex: If i have a component say kitchen cabinet, and i have an attribute called finish with value “D”. I would like to display “D” on the face of the kitchen cabinet door. Similarly, the component Name Like Storage or 3 Drawer
You can add text into a component and it will be instanced like any other part of the component… the trick is to specify the height in physical units… not pts so the text keeps to relationship to the object.
If you view the box in orthogonal mode (eg Plan, Elevation) the text will appear as though on the surface.
you can also edit both the text and its characteristics post inclusion (eg colour, height. style)
…Actually I am a big fan of text and dimensions being a part of the model… not in layout… and there are some smart features of text/dimensions in the model (eg hidden on size and angle) I wish this had been progressed long ago but seemed to have been completed stagnant since Layout out arrived…
I am actually revisiting this method at the moment with some spare time on my hand 
Sketchup Scene
Layout Page
Layout Model so you can investigate both
SERVICE SHAFT TYPICAL DETAIL.pdf (897.2 KB)
NOTE: this is not the preferred methodology in SU/LO… and be aware that if you are also exporting DWGS I suspect there will be more complications… but you raise the issue that text is an integral part of the SU model and its handling in SU is rather limited and clumsy.
This is why many have called for COMPONENTS to be a integral part of LAYOUT!
Thanks for the awesome explanation. As you mentioned the text inside the component by specifying the height. How to freeze the location of the height. can you help on it?
One more thing, can i able to display the attribute as text, as i need some attributes to be displayed on the component as text.
Thanks
Sorry for the late reply… RL got in the way!
You can position the text like any other entity… .just be aware that the text insertion point is left centre justified. eg you can lift the text in the Z direction so it is not half embedded in the XY plane.
Re the text as an attribute… I have not seen this done and Trimble is not going to spend any time refining dynamic components so I think we are out of luck… It seems we can only extract text data from an attribute in an report or in the Component Options Dialogue… we cannot display it in a specific location in the model
It is also a shame that the same smarts that apply to Dimensions in SU do not apply to Label Text… … seems like a “no brainer” to me … eg allow alignment to work planes, adjust the insert point, visibility be based on view angle and camera distance.
I’d suggest 2 valuable extensions if doing text in SU…
ThomThom - Text Tools This allows you to edit the text without having to enter the component
Didier B - Numbered Text Very capable tool for entering sequences, including specific tag, z height, text colour etc
Here is my little test file from the snapshot above playing around with those two extensions for a 2d prototype DOOR-IDEN symbol…
TEXT TEST.skp (215.0 KB)
Hi.,
Thanks for your valuable suggestions. will check with shared extensions
You can try using Curic Single-Line Text (a plugin currently in beta and requires a Curic Studio license). It allows you to easily extract the properties of Dynamic Components, as shown in the clip below:
Cool. I am looking for this kind of stuff.can we try beta?
You might also take a look at the FlatText extension from Dave Penney.
