I’ve not been using sketchup long but feel like with the help of an armful of extensions I can create anything I would need. Workflow is key and one thing is obvious, and that is to group everything. I have already asigned a shortcut set to group so I just tripple click and press the key to group it. However a better way would be to press a key that just groups your last object - is that possible or is there a script that has been written for this?
Thanks
You are mixing two different functions: choosing what is of interest (selecting) and creating a group from it. Triple-click is a method of selection that gathers all of the attached geometry - as opposed to single-click, which gets a single entity, and double-click, which gets a face and its bounding edges. There are situations when you might want to make a group from any of these three selection types. And any shortcut for “Group” will act on whichever kind of selection you have active.
my interpretation is rhodes draws something, say a sphere-- then groups it… draws a pyramid then groups that… etc.
‘last object’ probably wouldn’t work because it will only be the last thing created… so if your last thing created was a line which is supposed to belong to the overall last created object, the rest of the geometry would be missed by the selection.
anyway, with that type of workflow, the best way to do it would probably be with a plugin which selects any raw/ungrouped geometry in the model then groups it.
(assuming the best way isn’t with normal selection methods / grouping)
Arrgghh so sorry I don’t know why I didn’t reply to this at the time! I might have lost it in the forum as it was my first post and had to go through moderation. Thanks for the input anyway. I think I envisaged a hot key type situation that would do an equivalent to tripple clicking the last object created and group it, rather than something which grouped every thing as I went automatically. All this tripple clicking adds up over the course of a day! Seems like something that might already exist? Thanks
So far as I know, SketchUp has no built-in concept of “last object created”, so a developer would have to come up with a way to layer on such a thing in an extension (e.g, using Observers).
Others may chime in, but I am not aware of such an extension or plugin as you describe. I suspect that to most of us the effort to triple-click isn’t all that big, so nobody has put in the work to develop one.
Sure its not the end of the world but in terms of a repetative action (tripple click and group) it becomes a bit tiresome when you’re constantly creating objects. I’ve come from FormZ where every object is its own entity, no need to group everything. If you do want to add on to an existing object you can just click the ‘insert’ checkbox in your tool options. Which for me, is a much easier way to work as you don’t get the… “oh no I didn’t group and now everythings stuck together” moments!
Don’t get me wrong I have moved from formZ for several reasons but I think this was a more intuative way of working with each object being separate from it creation.
You could use the plugin ‘Loose to Groups’ but that is assuming you have already grouped everything as you go.
I personally favour knowing what you are grouping.
That looks like a good plugin. Can you attach the triggering of that sort of thing to a shortcut? It looks like you have to go through a menu to select it, judging by the description. If so you could press the shortcut key after every object created and it would group it. Not sure if its cpu intensive if it has to search an entire model each time but I might try it out. Thanks.
Everything that has a menu item can be added as shortcut, see Window → Preferences → Shortcuts (or SketchUp → Preferences).
What do you exactly mean by “last object”? In SketchUp it would usually mean a single edge or a face. Single edges cannot be grouped.
For me the workflow of selecting all connected geometry by triple-clicking and then hitting the shortcut key for “group” works just fine. I have set “G” as the shortcut and changed the key for “make component” to shift-G.
Anssi
Single edges can be grouped:
Wo3Dan …cool one!! I have wanted to make a single line segment, of a specific length a group but have always tried to with the right select-click. Which gives no option to do so unless it is a face or closed line segments. NOW I KNOW Thanks!!
Well, then there is a third method of having a single edge in a group.
Thanks…it is a VERY helpful tip!!
I just like to use a line segment of a set length for a measurement guide, or to reference off of/from. It sometimes has an advantage over the tape measure tool. As I am eye-balling, or configuring a part of/for something that is just a concept or an idea. It is just nice to be able to place and swivel it when the rest of the model geometry is still raw. Kind of like a painter using the raised thumb technic while composing on his canvas …Peace…