Google SketchUp Cookbook

Chapter 14. Dynamic Components

Dynamic components are the major new feature of SketchUp 7. In essence, a dynamic component is a component that has attributes: features that can be adjusted, toggled on and off, moved, replaced, resized, and so on. A simple dynamic component could be a box that you click to change its color or click to open and close the box top. A more complex example would be a dining set in which you can adjust the number of chairs, choose various finishes and table tops, scale to adjust the length, and then see the calculated price for the current configuration. Another common type of dynamic component is one that self-copies when scaled, such as a fence that will adjust its number of pickets to accommodate the fence length.

Dynamic components are free and available for all SketchUp users to download. However, only users of the Pro version can create their own dynamic components and change attributes of existing ones. For this reason, and because creating dynamic components is a topic that requires an entire book of its own, this chapter covers only the basics of where to find dynamic components, and the various things you can do with them.

Note

If you are a Pro user interested in learning how to create dynamic components, you can find online videos and self-paced tutorials on SketchUp’s website and via the Help Center (choose Help→Help Center).

Before getting started, display the Dynamic Components toolbar (Figure 14-1). In Windows, choose View→Toolbars→Dynamic Components. ...