Plugin: Mover 2

Apr 2014

 * Renamed to MoveIt, and available in t SketchUcation Plugin Store

Aug 16, 2009
* Released update fixing possible bugsplat.
* Added support for Organizer.


Mover2 can be installed along side of the current Mover plugin. You can install Mover2, and still keep and use Mover.

I've made a few changes to the dialog as you can see to the left, plus I've added a couple new operations.

Compatibility

I developed this plugin using SketchUp free on a PC. I do not have a way of supporting Mac users at this time.

Moving and Copying

The arrow buttons move the selected Group or Component in the direction of the arrow. Up and right are the positive directions, while down and left are negative.

Hold the Ctrl key to leave a copy when moving. Moving works with a single selected entity.

The "0" button moves the entity to the ORIGIN.

Key Shortcuts are supported for moving. Select the entity, move the mouse over the Mover dialog to give it focus, and use the arrow keys to move. PageUp/PageDown move the entity Up and Down (Z axis)

Sliding

Hold the Shift key while clicking a (red or green) button to slide the entity against a wall, if one is found. Sliding works along the X (Red) or Y (Green) axes, but not the Z (blue.) Good for moving furniture against a wall.

Dropping

The Drop button drops items onto the XY plane. If the entity is already below, it is moved up. Hold the Ctrl key to drop entities onto a surface (good for dropping trees onto a terrain.) Dropping works with multiple entities.

Rotating

Enter an angle for the rotation and select an axis of rotation.

CCW rotates the selected entity Counter Clock Wise around the selected axis.
CW rotates the selected entity Clock Wise around the selected axis.

RAND rotates the selected entity a random amount limited by the amount in the text box, so using the image, pressing RAND will rotate the selected entity anywhere between -15 and +15 degrees around the Z axis.

Rst will Reset the entity's rotation and align it to the global axes.

Installation

• Download mover2.zip.
• Extract the files and place them into your SketchUp/Plugins folder.
• Restart SketchUp.

Feedback

Feedback is appreciated. Thank you for your interest.

Bugs

• I've noticed the Shift key "sticks" on when it is not pressed. To fix, move the mouse over the dialog, and toggle the Shift key a few times.

Plugin: Add Hidden Layer

Update Apr 2014 - Version 1.0.1



Add a Layer to your SketchUp model and control its visibility on existing and new Scenes.

Use

Activate Add Layer from the Plugins menu.

Install

Add Layer is available on the SketchUcation Plugin Store.

or install manually:

jf_add_layer-1.0.1.rbz

Plugin: Selection Memory

Selection Memory is a Toolbar analogous to the Memory buttons on a calculator. The 4 buttons allow you to Store (MS) the current selection, Recall (MR) the stored selection, Add (M+) the current selection to memory, and Subtract (M-) the current selection from memory.

You can turn on and off the Toolbar from the View > Toolbars menu.

The plugin will not allow entities that are inside a Group or Component to be added to the selection memory. This is due to a bug in SketchUp.

selection_memory.rbz

(Updated 2013-02)

Plugin: The Homer Button

This plugin does... well it doesn't really do anything useful! It puts a little Homer on your Toolbar and plays a sound file. Just a fun little thing for when you have a Homer moment.

Download homer.rbz

(Jan 2013 - Link Updated.)

Section Properties Plugin

 Here's a new engineering plugin by engineer and SketchUp user Osvaldo Salas. There is both a limited Free version and a Pro version which is $26. The Pro version includes more functionality, a toolbar, and reporting.

SkpEngineering: Section Properties Calculator is an engineering plug-in designed for SketchUp. The plug-in locates the centroid, plastic neutral axis and calculates mechanical properties of any closed planar face defined in SketchUp. Some common applications of the calculated properties include structural design of aluminum extrusions, steel, wood and light gauge metal steel members.

Loading Portable SketchUp Plugins

At work I do not have admin access to the PC's but still wanted to use a number of SketchUp plugins. Fortunately, SketchUp is able to load plugins from any directory. This, along with a little-known command-line option allowed me to automate starting SketchUp and loading my plugins from a portable location.

I posted a small set of files at github.

I'm no Windows scripting expert, so if there's a better or more portable way then please let me know.

Small Update to STL Importer

I was alerted to a minor "off-by-one" error in my STL Importer plugin. The error has been fixed, and the updated file can be found by following the link.

To update, over-write the current file named jf_stl_importer.rb in SketchUps Plugins folder. Don't forget to restart SketchUp.