Hi SKP-Community,
i would like to have an extension for “Color by Layer” feature.
I try to use the Brightman Designs workflow with nested layers.
SKP only show me the color of the first nested layer if “color by layer”
is selected .
It could be useful (if we have nested groups) that SKP
show the color of the layer of the open group.
this feature as addition for SKP = “Color by Layer of Group”
… or does someone know a plugin for that?
Greetings and thnx for help
Toby
I’m not sure if this is something that a plugin can easily solve. SketchUp has a built-in feature/setting to render a layer’s color instead of the materials applied to entities (this modifies only the view, not the model). If one wanted to show different colors depending not only on layer but also other criteria, the built-in setting is not enough, and one would have to swap the entities’ materials (this is not nice because it modifies the model).
Can you describe the Brightman Designs workflow (or link to a reference document)?
Does it “emulate” layer groups (in the meaning of hierarchically nested layers in the layers panel)? I think it could be very interesting to discuss how layer colors would work to be useful with this.
Hi Aerilius,
Brightman Design Workflow see here:
https://brightmandesigns.com/tswfa/
Yes i only want to render (not completely change) the color of the entities.
… sorry i have written nested layers but i mean nested groups instead.
if you have nested groups (group in group in group …
and each sub-group on a different layer) SKP can only show the
color of the first group with “color by layer”.
“better” could be, show the color of the actual open groups layer
as additional feature.
Here is a link to the ‘Model organisation Guide’
There are 4 levels of nesting, the idea with this component (Because inserted through 3D Warehouse, it is a Component) that you explode it first and then make a group of it, representing a Level of the building.
You can make copies from the first and name them level 01, level 02 etc.
When you dive in, you will come across these levels of organisation:
Level-Element-Location-Condition
Every level has 25 building elements (window-doors-walls etc.)
They all can have two locations (Interior or Exterior)
Which can have three conditions (Existing, New, Demolish)
Resulting in a number of ~30 Layers (Some more needed for other stuff)
The last level of the Model Organisation Guid-component is locked, in order to ‘drill’ down to the deepest level.
Say I have drawn a window that is existing. Once drawn, I group it (No worries, all entities on Layer0 and even the group stays on Layer0). I would then Cut the window.
Now I keep clicking on the right button in the Model Organisation Guide untill I reach the deepest level.
Hit the shortcut for ‘paste in Place’ and the window is in the right group!
This whole setup is to reduce the number of Layers, where Other Cad software often has a layer for each element, in a certain place and level, and even condition, when you do the math, you can organise Number of Levelsx25x2x3 = 150 Layers per Level of the building!
If you want other colors, you would need to place the Window on a higher level (and adjust the color of that layer) or change the color, thus loosing some information about the location and condition…