Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual

Exploding Components and Groups

Sometimes you may want to turn a component or group back into its individual parts and strip it of its special features. Suppose you have a fence where all the fence boards look the same except for one. You could create the fence using fence board components, and then simply modify the one that looks different. To make that change, you need to strip that one fence board of its component status. You could use the Make Unique command (Using the Make Unique Command), which turns a component into a new component. Another option is to Explode one of the fence board components, which turns that instance back into separate edges and faces without creating a new component.

The process is easy. Just right-click the component, and then choose Explode from the shortcut menu (see Figure 5-27). Afterwards your component or group looks pretty much the same, except when you select it, you no longer see the special component highlights. After you've exploded the component, you can select the individual edges and faces with a single mouse click. You can modify it to your heart's content, with no effect on the other fence boards.

Figure 5-26. Top: Right-click the selected fencing to show this pop-up menu. Then choose Flip Along → Red Direction to change the orientation of the fence. Bottom: When you're done, you have a nice symmetrical fence.