[Plugin] Q JS ALIGN TOOLBAR

[CadFather]

Here is a tweaked version of Jan's Sandstrom (Pixero) script for aligning objects along the 3 main axis - it is useful for those pesky areas like lampshades or 3D text, or just when you feel lazy enough..

it is mainly for groups (though it will align edges too) - also note that the script takes reference from the centre of the group bounding box and not necessarily the geometric one.

i want to thank Jan for allowing me to tweak his script and come up with this toolbar version of it.

the script doesn't really need a tutorial but it is in my to do list, together with other scripts which i will post on my website later on.

cheers
Max

Q JS Align.PNG

(tested only on PC - unzip the contents to your plugins folder)

[blajnov]

Is it possible to make sure that the alignment occurred on the selected object?

[CadFather]

i know what you mean, but i haven't been able to focus a selection as primary (the one that doesn't move)

i plan more work on it (like geometric centre and spacing) but it may be beyond my coding (read tweaking) skills..

[Bob James]

Toolbar: Much appreciated!!

[leixing]

wow ,very nice work! i like it .

[pilou]

Like this?

[thomthom]

Can you show me an example where the center of the Group's bounding box is dissimilar from the geometric one?

bb_centre.png

Unless the content of the group/component is a box the boundingbox centre will never be the geometric centre of the content.

[Daniel S]

Thankyou Cadfather!!!

Can you show me an example where the center of the Group's bounding box is dissimilar from the geometric one?

Quick example:

centro.gif

(centroid is the geometric center)

Daniel S

Edit: another example:

centro2.gif

[CadFather]

Hi Coen - yes try with a grouped triangle, the centre differs from the bounding box

(thanks all for the feedback)

EDIT: Coen you got 3 answers in one go - watch your servers..

[CadFather]

there are two issues i think merit attention: centroid reference and spacing/distribution of objects

we could have icons or a small dialog, sort of this

settings.PNG

actually i have looked at the centroid script by Alex Schreyer, but have not been able to implement it into the align script yet (it's going to take me some time)

in fact if any of the great masters can help, might be better!

[Chris Fullmer]

EDIT: THis is wrong, I was looking at his shape wrong.

Thom I think on yours the bounding box center is the geometric center or centroid. Your face runs the diagonal of the bounding box, so placing a centerpoint on that face is just like placing a centerpoint in the middle of a diagonal line of the bounding box.

Chris

[thomthom]

The bounding box' centre point is not the centre of that extruded triangle.

[CadFather]

The bounding box' centre point is not the centre of that extruded triangle.

Chris, it's the background colour throwing you off.. (must have been on purpose!)

[Chris Fullmer]

The bounding box' centre point is not the centre of that extruded triangle.

OOooohhh! I get it. Yes, Cadfather is right, I could not see a 3d object there at all. I just saw the front, bright face.

So yes thom, you're right. That construction point is not the center of the geometry.

Chris

[thomthom]

thehe
messing with your head!

[ideas_arte]

Nice...!

Thank you very much...!

[Bob James]

(tested only on PC - unzip the contents to your plugins folder)

Works on Mac except the toolbar doesn't "stick" - have to use View/Toolbars each time SU loads.

[CadFather]

thanks Bob - i hope someone with a mac will be able to fix this

[•BTM]

Just add this:

case gp_quarr_jsalign_tb.get_last_state
when 1
gp_quarr_jsalign_tb.restore
when -1
gp_quarr_jsalign_tb.show
end

Picture 1.png

[utiler]

Thanks Coen, good tip. Could have used it last week while trying to flatten some survey dwgs....

[CadFather]

That's great Coen, thanks..and it is really fast as well

[opla457]

A big thank for this plugin, so great - the function sketchup messed !!

[jason_maranto]

Thank you both for this wonderful script -- something I've always wanted in Sketchup.

Best,
Jason.

[bagatelo]

I change the plugin to show menus in "Plugins" Menu. Now we can set keyboard keys, is very useful to me.

I thought about a function of "smart drop" for all of the possible directions of the axis, like this, the aligned objects if they would not fix in the most distant part of the object of alignment reference, but they would collide in the surface. Look image example. It would be as the plugin drop, but it would work in all possible directions by axes(9 possibilities, or 6, if we not consider middle). Maybe some keys like SHIFT can change this behavior.

[bagatelo]

Two years later I had another idea. Could someone modify this script to reposition the axes of the selected objects? Maybe by pressing a modifier key on the keyboard, such as alt or shift.

[Vicspa]

very useful plug-in, thank you

[Bob James]

There does not seem to be a way to select which object the others are to align with. I've tried selecting #1 first and then #2, but get the same result if I select #2 first then #1.

It would be very helpful if you could effectively say "make the other(s)" align with "this one"

[Pixero]

The script was written to work like many 2d align functions. Aligning to min, max or center, but for each axis.
My original script (without the toolbar has some added functionality like that you can choose "custom" and enter a value (position) in one axis and align to that. When using a group you can choose if the groups max, center or min should align to the value.
Not exactly what your after but might be useful sometimes.

Here is the original script (without toolbar).

jsAlign.rb

[Prevayl]

This tool is very useful. i just have one suggestion and im not sure if it was already mentioned but do to busy schedule,forgive if this was already suggested.
But an added feature That functions similar to illustrator would be great where you an evenly distribute the objects(groups) between a distance.
For example In adobe illustrator you can create 10 boxes and align them to a straight line but then you can equally distribute the spaces in between them based on the box furthest to the left and furthest to the right.
That feature would make it easy to create a patio for instance with a gap in between each 2x4 and have it evenly spaced

[function]

it was brought up about a week ago
viewtopic.php?f=323&t=36006
I couldn't get d.bur's suggestion to distribute evenly, so I don't think it's been created yet- I am a huge fan of the adobe style align/distribute box, and I use the OP's mod all the time! Hopefully someone can complete the package sooner or later.

remember you can distribute the same object by moving and typing '/#' in the dimension box

on a side note:
d.bur's align script would however be a fine addition to this toolbar pack, "Align Along Line" for when ortho just can't do it -