[Plugin] VisTools

[ishboo]

Hey Everyone,

I've written a collection of SketchUp visibility utility functions that allow you to:

• Hide selected entities (faces, edges, groups, components).
• Hide selected layers.
• Isolate (aka Show Only) selected entities.
• Isolate selected layers.
• Freeze selected groups and components (hide & lock).
• Unhide all entities (does not unfreeze frozen items).
• Unfreeze all groups/components (does not unhide all items).

These tools work in concert to allow you to mimic an AutoCAD like workflow when working with items in your model.

I've desired the ability to "Freeze" items in a model so I can work on other items without affecting them. This can be accomplished by using the Freeze tool to lock and hide items which allows you to modify and hide/show other entities without affecting the frozen items.

[EDIT]
See Dan Rathbun's VisTools v1.3.3 here

[thomthom]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You make a generous start here.

[pibuz]

VERY USEFUL! THANK YOU A LOT!
I'm SO gonna try this!

[jsteacy]

Intriguing plugin, I tend to isolate an object when I'm working on one but occasionally I need to isolate a whole layer. This will do the trick which is great. Thank you. Though now I need to figure out shortcuts for all these tools...

[wolfy]

Very nice addition. Thank you and welcome!

[ishboo]

Thanks everyone! Glad you like it!

[CAntonis]

Very generous indeed!!!
Thank U very much and I'd like to welcome you too to this great forum!

[ishboo]

Thanks for all the welcomes and props! Glad to help contribute

[srx]

Thank you! Good tools in Autocad. I missed it in SketchUp.

[ishboo]

Thank you! Good tools in Autocad. I missed it in SketchUp.

Yeah, we we're in the same boat... really missed freeze.

[Jim]

Hi Dana,

Thanks for the utils, they are a nice addition to SketchUp.

Just a note - Toolbar image sizes are 24x24 px for the large size and 16x16 px for the small size. SketchUp does a poor job of resizing your 32x32 icons on the toolbar which is why they don't look as nice as they should. Tool cursors are expected 32x32.

[mitcorb]

Hi, ishboo:
A few questions, perhaps naive:
Does this plugin disable the native hide/ unhide in sketchup, or work with it?.
Do you see a need to have an "unisolate" feature as is available with Autocad? Or did I miss this in your description?
Salute to you!

[ishboo]

Hi Dana,

Thanks for the utils, they are a nice addition to SketchUp.

Just a note - Toolbar image sizes are 24x24 px for the large size and 16x16 px for the small size. SketchUp does a poor job of resizing your 32x32 icons on the toolbar which is why they don't look as nice as they should. Tool cursors are expected 32x32.

You're right Jim, I'll have to get around to changing them for the next release.

[pptoppto]

thanks!

[3dita]

AWESOME utility!!! working just like a 3ds max fundamental tool!!

Must have, congrats

[ishboo]

thanks!

AWESOME utility!!! working just like a 3ds max fundamental tool!!

Must have, congrats

You're both welcome! Glad you like it!

[Dan Rathbun]

---

Version 2.x is coming .....

---

Language translators, and proofreaders needed.

I did the German (de) and Spanish (es) files, and they need proofing. (It's been 35 years since I took Spanish in high school, and I only 'dabble' in German when doing genealogy research.)

The files need to be Unix line endings (EOL) and UTF-8 encoded. They are named "basic_utf8_XX.hash" and "debug_utf8_XX.hash", where XX is replaced by the lowercase language code. (ie: 'en', 'es', 'pl', 'fr', etc...)

The plugin will "auto" find these files, or the user can choose a specific lang from those that are present. (In 'en' mode, the hash files are not actually loaded... as the Ruby code knows what the English strings are.)

<----<<<< PM me if you'd like to do a certain Language translation, or proofread/correct the 'de' or 'es' files.

If a debug hash file is not available for a certain language (but the UI strings in a basic hash file are present,) then the UI will be in that local language, and console output will be in English (if the user has turned it ON.)
So... the priority is on the 'basic' hash files, in order to show the UI elements in the local language.

replaceable parameters
%s will be replaced by a number, like: 34
'%s' will be replaced by an entity flag, like: '#<Sketchup::Face:0x624452c>'

words.txt

NOTE! The above file, and the hash file in the next post, will be used with ver 2.x,... they do NOT work with ver 1.0 (if that's why y'all are downloading, but not volunteering to translate.)
Translator links: Google Translate : MicroSoft Translator

[Dan Rathbun]

OK.. here's the basic hash template file:

The 'XX' in the name needs to be replaced with a 2 char. language code.
Within the file, change the "XX" hash values to the local translation.

Please use parenthesis ( ) as I have, and punctuation periods, or '...' where I have, in the translations.
Also repeat the use of capitalized words, as they are in the English keys.

The %s params can be moved in the translated strings, to where they are more appropriate for the particular language.

basic_utf8_XX.hash.txt

---

Here is the template file for the debug strings.

The technical terms should match those in the localized editions of Sketchup.

debug_utf8_XX.hash.txt

[Dan Rathbun]

Language translators, and proofreaders needed.

I did the German (de) ..., and they need proofing.

Good news... Aerilius has volunteered to proof / edit the 'de' German files.

UPDATE: Aerilius finshed proofing / editing the German 'de' files... great job!

[Dan Rathbun]

Thanks go to Tomot, for knocking out a first edition of the basic Polish 'pl' hash file !!

UPDATE: We will need a proofreader, who's first language is polish.

[Dan Rathbun]

Just a note - Toolbar image sizes are 24x24 px for the large size and 16x16 px for the small size. SketchUp does a poor job of resizing your 32x32 icons on the toolbar which is why they don't look as nice as they should. Tool cursors are expected 32x32.

You're right Jim, I'll have to get around to changing them for the next release.

This action item is complete: Here's the corrected images, for those of you who want to use them right away with ver 1.0

Unzip into your "Plugins/SU_Utils" directory (folder) [you can rename the current "images" folder to "images_bak" first if you desire.]

images.zip

[thomthom]

You can try the translaters I used: http://www.thomthom.net/software/vertex ... anslations

[Dan Rathbun]

Thanks go out to Defisto for proofing and editing the Spanish 'es' files !!!

[Dan Rathbun]

Added the "debug" string template file in the post above...
see: viewtopic.php?f=323&t=36465&p=350210#p350210

[ishboo]

Great to see all this activity!

[Pilou]

I am on the road for the French language!

[Gaieus]

I can do some Hungarian - need to install the plugin and see what it exactly does so that I understand why the expressions are what they are.

[ishboo]

I am on the road for the French language!

Excellent!

[Pilou]

limit=%s

I have translated the word "limit" by "limite" in French : must or not ? (I suppose yes

Not yet tested
you must rename them ...utf8_fr.hash.txt I suppose?

[Dan Rathbun]

Looks good... Thank you.

But... we need the Plugin Description in Francais, Si vous plaît:

"Adds some useful tools within SketchUp, like Hide / Show entities and layers, Freeze / Unfreeze for components, and Show / Unfreeze all."

Combination of Google & Microsoft Translators:

"Ajoute quelques outils utiles dans SketchUp, comme Cacher / Montrer des entités et des calques, Gel / Dégel pour des composants, et de Montrer / Dégeler tous."

Sound OK ??