SJ Section Box

Place a parametric section box with 1 to 6 nested section planes directly in your SketchUp model. The box updates dynamically — move it, scale it, rotate it, and the section planes follow automatically.

What it does

• Wraps your geometry in a Source component and generates a live Result group.
• Each face of the box creates one section plane.
• Reverse flips all plane directions in one click.
• Switch Active/Inactive toggles the box on or off without deleting anything.
• Toggle Box Layer hides the box outline while keeping the cut visible.

Multilingual support

The plugin automatically adapts to your SketchUp locale — available in all 15 official SketchUp languages (except Russian): French · English · Spanish · German · Italian · Portuguese · Simplified Chinese · Traditional Chinese · Dutch · Polish · Czech · Swedish · Hungarian · Japanese · Korean

Access

• Menu: Extensions > SimJoubert Tools > SJ Section Box
• Toolbar: SJ Section Box

SJ Section Box — Quick Start

Access

• Menu: Extensions > SimJoubert Tools > SJ Section Box
• Toolbar: SJ Section Box (4 buttons)

Place a Section Box

1. Open a model with geometry.
2. Click New Section Box (first toolbar button).
3. Enter a name, a 2-character symbol, and the number of faces (1–6).
4. Place and resize the box — section planes are created automatically.

Commands

• New Section Box — places a new box in the active path.
• Reverse — select a box, click to reverse all section plane directions.
• Switch Active/Inactive — select a box, click to toggle it on or off.
• Toggle Box Layer — show or hide the SectionBox | Box layer.

Tips

• The box updates dynamically when you move or scale it.
• Use Switch Inactive to temporarily disable a box without deleting it.
• Use Toggle Box Layer to hide the box geometry while keeping the cut visible.
• Adapts automatically to your SketchUp locale — available in all 15 official SketchUp languages (except Russian).

SJ Section Box — Documentation

How It Works

SJ Section Box places a parametric box in your model. Each face of the box generates a section plane. The original geometry is wrapped in a Source component (tag: SectionBox | Source), and the sectioned result is placed in a Result group (tag: SectionBox | Result). When you move, scale, or rotate the box, an observer automatically rebuilds the section planes and result group to match.

Tags (Layers)

• SectionBox | Box — the box geometry itself.
• SectionBox | Source — hidden copy of original geometry used for sectioning.
• SectionBox | Result — the live sectioned output.

Commands

New Section Box

Opens a dialog to define the box: * Name — applied to all generated components, groups and section planes. * Symbol — 2-character prefix for section plane labels. * Number of faces — from 1 (single cut) to 6 (full box).

Reverse

Select a box and click Reverse to flip all section plane directions. Useful to cut from the outside in instead of inside out.

Switch Active / Inactive

Select a box and click to toggle: * Active — section planes are live, result group is visible. * Inactive — box turns grey, source is restored, result is removed. Click again to reactivate.

Toggle Box Layer

Shows or hides the SectionBox | Box layer. Use this to hide the box outline while keeping the section cut visible in renders or exports.

Multilingual Support

The plugin detects your SketchUp locale automatically. Available in all 15 official SketchUp languages (except Russian): French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Swedish, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean.

V 1.2.0 — 2026-06-03

• NEW: Toggle Box Layer command — show/hide the SectionBox | Box layer (toolbar + menu, Ctrl+Z compatible).
• NEW: Multilingual support extended to all 15 official SketchUp languages (except Russian): added Dutch, Polish, Czech, Swedish, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese.
• FIX: Crash when no component was selected with Switch Active/Inactive.
• FIX: Crash in explodeSource when source entity was nil.
• FIX: PlaceInstanceObserver now correctly inherits from Sketchup::DefinitionObserver.
• FIX: Section box rebuild deferred via UI.start_timer to avoid operation conflicts in observer callbacks.

V 1.1.0 — 2026-06-02

• Refactoring of all files — conventions applied throughout.
• Critical fix in reverse() (getattribute → setattribute).
• Added Spanish, Simplified Chinese, German, Italian, Portuguese translations.
• Observer cleanup before hot reload to prevent duplicates.

V 1.0.0 — 2024-12-30

• Initial release.
• Section box with 1 to 6 nested section planes.
• Dynamic observer — planes update automatically on box modification.
• Reverse, Switch Active/Inactive commands.
• French and English support.