Groups vs Components Square one

[@elizabethzieman1059]

"Modeling with raw geometry is gonna go nowhere but somewhere bad"!!!! Well said, oh wise one! As a longtime AutoCad user, the "sticky geometry" has been the hardest for me to adjust to. Really the ONLY way to have a functioning model is with groups/components. What would be the next invaluable video for me is a video that discusses how to store/organize components that are used across our entire drawing library/portfolio. Does a user usually have a "component library" sitting somewhere on their workstation? I've just found 3dWarehouse too unwieldy for things i use repeatedly in many projects/models. THANK YOU!

[@joelangeles7459]

I had second thoughts in watching this because I already know the difference between groups and components. OHHH was I glad to have watched it because I didn't know that 1) erasing groups and components matters. The component was stored in the component tab... 2) "make unique"... and 3) components take less file size than groups... WOW. These are huge tips... Thank you, Aaron

[@kentjamison5247]

I completely agree!!!

[@jonnieclayton]

This is great Aaron. One issue/understanding I am not clear on though is the embedding of components within components and groups etc. Would be good to see how you deal with that. Thank you.

[@dspectre]

Aaron, absolutely fantastic tutorial. That cleared up so much. I'm a huge fan of Hot Keys. The thing that confused me when I was a noob was the Hot Key 'g' to make a Component (instead of a Group) as opposed to Hot Key 'c' which is used for circle (obvious choice). That always messed with my head for some reason.

[@andrewbermel1099]

for what it is worth, @7:55 you say group when you mean component - I'm not sure if you can edit it, or make a note. It confused me at first, but I watched it a few more times and figured out what you meant - thank you for making this. it is very helpful

[@larrysperry1200]

Great review for me. I thought I knew but turns out I learned something new like the difference in the memory use between the two. Thanks

[@kentjamison5247]

Great advice. I love these Square One videos. I use groups primarily to keep geometry from welding together, when I don't care about saving descriptions or when I want to use the Follow Me command. I use components when I know I'm going to repeatedly use a shape. (Create once, use multiple places.) Also, I noted that at 7:55 you mentioned that you would make a group a "group" when you clicked "make component".

[@jackcrowewoodworking]

That cleared up my understanding of the two and how they relate. Thanks.

[@melissalaird2006]

You are doing a great job teaching me what the heck I'm doing,,,, thanks!

[@mani1147]

Absolutely love your videos. Just a quick thing I noticed and had to go back and replay. At 7:54, you are explaining your reasoning for using one or the other and meant to say "make a component" but said "make a group" while making a component.

[@SnowTiger45]

Another advantage of using Components is that you can Select a Component and then replace that individual Component with another OR replace ALL instances of it with any other Component with only a couple clicks. So for example: While laying out a Lot Diagram, I know where Trees and Bushes etc are to be located but I don't know what Species of each there will be yet. So for the time being, I will make essentially a simple "place-holder" component and place it everywhere I know there will be a Tree. Then when I know they will all be Maple Trees (or whatever), I can select and replace everyone one of them quickly. Or I can select the place-holders that will be Maples and replace those, then select the place-holders that will be Spruce and replace those quickly. Components are a huge time saver as well as crucial for managing your Model Files Sizes.

[@AaronMakingStuff]

Very true! There is a lot to show, when starting from Square One. At this point I really have not even gotten into the Component Window...

[@charlesgwinter]

something I stumbled across was a housekeeping function. you can delete unused items you don't know you have in it. a noticable one is unused layers

[@ilion4984]

Great video guys, this makes the difference between the two really clear and I like your take on how to use them :)

[@leandersmith6184]

Thanks again great explaining. Can you do a video about 1moving objects/components/ groups along the red and green axis. 2 Placing guide points in a component and copying and moving other components to these guide points. I found it really handy to have those guide points and I think others would love to know about them.

[@yurisarieldonatodelapaz9905]

I learned from my Grandfather,, The law of Memory is,, keep repeating, I keep studying until I get it raight, Thanks!!

[@INFI8NITI8]

hello aaron can you make a video cycle, where you will be consistently shown to do all the necessary documentation after the interior design of the house, apartment in Lay Out, which is needed in this case, thanks in advance

[@coldcanuck6091]

One lil thing to remember is that if all you are doing to a component is resizing it, select the component and use the scale tool, it will not affect any of the other family of components, only the active one.

[@keggyification]

Thanks Aaron, useful info on the model size differences between Groups and Components. I did get a llitle worried for a bit as that began to look like the start of a video card model 😜

[@AaronMakingStuff]

Never again

[@jamesmuller8157]

Great job. I think I'm getting somewhere.

[@iainmargery6734]

I have created many different components of various screw heads or bolts and put them into the components folder (on Windows)(C:\ProgramData\Sketchup\Sketchup 20xx\Sketchup\Components). this way they are available to me whenever I create a new model. I have also done the same with all of my materials, wood/metal/paving etc.

[@AaronMakingStuff]

Perfect use of components!

[@ayannajohnson1077]

Thanks for the Square one series! I was especially excited to see that beautiful brown-skinned fabulously fashionable woman as your human figure (that kind of looks like it could be me! LOL) Howwwww did you get that? I have the student version currently... might not be available to me right now - but PLEASE share how. Thanks :)

[@slimdog72]

I am always components kind of guy, then make unique as req'd. Thanks for the vid.

[@puja1985]

sketchup youtube channel have tons of free tutorial that i love most like this video.. thanks a lot for the knowledge..

[@conorpodonoghue]

Great tutorial - many thanks.

[@MrPolzunok]

7:55 should be "Than I right click & make a COMPONENT"

[@daviddiannapugh]

Have you done a video about setting up your “windows “ when you start a drawing?

[@AaronMakingStuff]

Not yet... still working through the basics at this point. But it is on the list!

[@ChinhNguyen-yb3cp]

This is really good lesson. Thank you!

[@vidakodre3027]

So well described!!! Thank you!!!

[@carloscarneiro1857]

Hello Aaron. I would like to ask for a clarification: I did a test with walls, creating layers of finishes. Each modeled finish of a wall was treated as an ifc component, and the group of components was transformed into a component classified as an ifc wall. But when we exported to an ifc file reader, Solibri in this case, he did not recognize the grouped wall, only the separate component elements. Is this a limitation of Sketchup or an incompatibility of ifc readers?

[@Agra3554]

Thanks for the well made explanations !

[@harrisonu]

Thank you! Great explanation!

[@christinafischer1630]

My model requires that two components be merged into one model as groups (non-sticky geometry) so that I can modify each compenent seperately. Can you give me best method for that?

[@mikemasters7]

Aaron, how do we make a component and save it to use in another design?

[@douglasmichel6361]

Het there Aaron, I use components often and make one unique at times. However I don’t think I’ve ever had the need to make copies of the now unique component. I would assume the copies of the unique component are now linked to the unique and do as it does. Correct? I’m away from my workstation so I can’t try at the moment. Thanks and have a Happy, healthy and safe Easter.

[@AaronMakingStuff]

You got it!

[@seaskimmer]

Never thought about the data size, cool.

[@douglasmichel6361]

It’s funny, back in the 80’s when I started using AutoCAD and 20 MB drive storage was considered large, we would block everything to minimize file size. 100 entities became one when blocked. Somethings never change.

[@rafaelmendoza810]

happy day, I have a question, if I make a component unique and then duplicate that component, whatever I do is repeated in the same way, in the copies, thanks

[@waterrabbitmn]

i turned an image into a DXF and imported it to edit into 3D but when it came in it is a component and i can't figure out how to ungroup it to edit.

[@SketchUp]

Double click to edit or right-click and choose explode.

[@blueplanet4339]

Helpful. Thank you.

[@Sierrahowie1]

Do you have a video on drawing in 2D?

[@SketchUp]

Not many videos about drawing in 2D, as SketchUp is a 3D drawing tool. The general workflow is to create your mdoel in 3D, then use LayOut to generate 2D output from your model.

[@JawnyG]

What happens if you have say 10 different components, you could make that a group and copy the group... but can you make the 10 different components into 1 component... can you? Can you then make copies of the new components with in component... what does that make your file size? Anything else you could let me know about the outcome of such a thing, would be awesome.

[@CarolinaBonfada]

🔥

[@rcbsht9644]

very useful thanks

[@lionelestriga4272]

We are in 2021 and we still waiting for the Adventure Mode functionality!!! it's unbelievable...

[@AaronMakingStuff]

Alas...

[@russmartin9242]

Say that I want two of the four components to have the hole. What do I need to do?

[@lepiin]

Select those two and make them unique.Then make a hole in one of them

[@FLCrackerVideo]

Didn't I see where a component can also be saved to your file & called up later in another drawing?

[@SketchUp]

Right click on the component and choose Save As... to save it as it's own .skp file. Any .skp file can be imported as a component.

[@dwatson6828]

If you create a few components in this drawing then begin a new drawing can you access those same components?

[@iainmargery6734]

no you can't. it is only save with the current model. I have posted a solution to this

[@previouslyachimp]

You can save components directly to your computer. Right-click on the component, then click 'save as'. You can name it and save it anywhere you want. I have created dedicated files for all my sketch-up models and separate components that I will use repeatedly.

[@AaronMakingStuff]

@previouslyachimp got it right! You can save components out with a right click. They can then be imported using File - Import

[@brucelhutchings3725]

How do you save groups without making it a component to store for later models

[@AaronMakingStuff]

If you wanted a group available in another model you would have to do something like copy it from one mode and paste it into another... or paste it into an empty model abs save it as it’s own SketchUp job. Is there a reason that you are opposed to making it a component and using Save As...?

[@brucelhutchings3725]

@@AaronMakingStuff No I do convert to a component and save . Then if I use it in a new model I can convert back to a group. Extra steps. Not doing much these days however. ☹️

[@billferrol4202]

Hi Aaron I’ve been watching you for ages now and you always advocate ‘right click and make component’. Why don’t you use the default keyboard letter g to achieve the same result? Also at 7:55 when you talk about moving repeatable stuff you selected all and said ‘make it a group’ when you meant and then made it a component! Not often you make a mistake - or perhaps an APRIL fool.

[@AaronMakingStuff]

I guess, like everyone else, I learned a workflow at some point, and G was never a part of mine! Also... umm... oops?

[@edkubeck1366]

I heard him say it too about make them a group when he meant make a component.

[@rafaelmendoza810]

feliz día, tengo una pregunta, si convierto un componente en único y luego duplico ese componente, de igual manera se repite lo que haga en el, en las copias

[@thecadschool3656]

i hv something else to say