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My vision for CabWriter has always been that the designer would sit with the client and draw the cabinets in real time, and the client could see and make changes in real time. In that sense drawing the countertops might make sense. I’ll put it on the wish list and see where it goes.
Joe….
Hi Kevin,
No, I hadn’t. It seems to me that countertops are easily drawn with native SketchUp tools. Simply outline the cabinet edges with the Line tool, or use the rectangle tool, Use the Move tool to pull the front edges out the overhang amount, and then the Push/Pull tool to give it thickness. Are you thinking of a situation that is more difficult than that? Our goal from the beginning was to let SketchUp do what it does best and only add capability where SketchUp is missing it. But I would like to hear your comments if you think we should consider it.
Joe…..
Hi Richard,
Were the drawer fronts added with the Insert a Drawer tool? Are they CabWriter Protected (look at the Extended Entity Info dialog for one of its parts)? If they are protected they will bot re-draw. If that is not the problem send me your .skp file. Either attach it here or send it to me at [email protected].
Joe…..
That is correct for the Face Frame style. You can also use a Finish stile on the ‘space’ side since it doesn’t put connector holes in the sides, which you can’t use in this case anyway.
No need to change the default of a Connector (or Finish) stile width. Let’s say you want a 6″ Connector stile. After clicking the first time with the story stick drag the cursor out along the construction line and without clicking a second time type 6″ (or just 6 if your default dimensions are inches) into the VCB. When the dialog box appears, choose Left or Right Connector. CabWriter will draw a 6″ Connector stile. The other stile can be drawn with the default size and then they would not be overlapping and it will be obvious which one to delete.
Joe…..
Glad you found it. You will see some other useful tools there. Let me know if you can’t figure them out. Someday I need to write a user’s guide for them.
Joe….
Hi Richard,
“I exported a drawing to Cutlist Plus fx, found the file and dragged it into Cutlist.” – I’m having trouble parsing this sentence.I assume you mean you exported a .cwx file from CutList Bridge 4. Then I assume you double clicked on the .cwx file to open CutList Plus fx. Is that correct? I need to know what version of CutList Plus fx you have. Is it CutList Plus fx version 12.3 or higher? If not, you can’t use .cwx files. You have to check the Legacy Mode check box in the Setup tab of the Extended Entity Info dialog box (see attached image). Then you will export a .csv file and with CutList Plus fx you can use File > Import Parts to imports it.
Let me know if you need further help.
Joe….
By the way, in the Hoosier that I modeled in this post, I copied the drawer sizes from an antique I have at home. The upper drawers were especially driven from a functionality need. The square looking one I believe was used for flour storage and sifting.
Joe….
Hi Pastor John,
I assume you are asking a question about design philosophy and not a “How do I” question. I can give you my general rules for drawer sizing, but they are only guidelines. I break them a lot, depending on what I am trying to accomplish. In a 1, 3 or 4 drawer bank I maintain the size of the top drawer across all three. This is both because it looks aesthetically pleasing and there are drawer opening and drawer height sizes that are considered standard in the industry. For example, a 5″ opening and a 4″ drawer box height is pretty common. The 2 drawer bank is generally equal size drawers. Aesthetically I like the 4 drawer box to have the standard first box size as I mentioned previously and the remaining three of equal size. But it sometimes looks great to have all 4 drawers the same size. The three drawer box usually has graduated drawers for the bottom two. Approximately a 2-inch difference with the middle drawer being smaller than the bottom.
That said, all of this is a guideline. You, the designer and or consumer has the last word. If I have misunderstood your question and you were asking about how to use the red/green flags to choose a drawer size, let me know and I can help with that too.
Joe….
Are you asking about frameless cabinets or face frame cabinets? If the cabinets are face frame, simply use connector ends on the two cabinets that are on either side of the gap. Then delete one and edit the other to widen it as appropriate. If it is frameless cabinets, the technique is similar, but you would want to draw the connector stile. See attached images. You also can use SketchUp native tool to create a filler and make it a CabWriter component using the Make CabWriter Component tool. If you have further questions you can email me at [email protected] and we can set up an online demo with join.me.
Joe….
Hi Steve,
You essentially have that now. Edit the eight lines and then save the defaults to a file. A database that is created by the user and expected to work in CabWriter sound fraught with problems. But let’s discuss this weekend.
Joe….
For a Cabinet Style, choose Frameless / Hybrid, not Overlay. Email me at [email protected] if you still have problems and we can set up an on-line join.me session tomorrow if you like.
Joe….
Copy the attached construction_plus.rbz file to your desktop. Then follow the installation procedure for your SketchUp revision, machine and OS type described in the SketchUp Extension Installation Procedure.pdf attached. Let me know if you still have problems. Email me at [email protected] .
Joe…
Steve,
No problem. No offense taken. I just wanted to clarify what was creating the problem. And yes, SketchUp does get in its own way at times.
Joe….
Hi Steve,
Correction to this statement: “CabWriter moves component entities to the component’s layer, instead of leaving them on layer 0. I went to a SketchUp training a few years ago, and they said one of the cardinal rules of SketchUp was to leave entities of components on layer 0; only the component itself, and sub-components should be put on another layer.”
CabWriter does not move component entities to a layer other than Layer0. It is the process of exploding a component that moves its entities to the layer that the component resided on before using the Explode tool. You can check this out for yourself. Choose a CabWriter component and unlock it. The use Edit Component and examine its entities and you will see they are on Layer0. Now Explode the component and you will see they have been moved to the layer the component was originally on.
I have never understood why SketchUp moves the entities when the Explode tool is used. But it does. When I teach SketchUp I hand out a FAQ (attached) and on page 10 is the topic “Beware of Context Menu Explode!”. It is a real source of problems for beginner SketchUp users.
Joe….
By the way, CabWriter does care about axes. First, anything drawn on the Red/Gree plane is a base cabinet. Anything drawn above the Red/Green plane is an upper cabinet. All CabWriter drawn cabinets are drawn at the origin with the Red axis the length of the cabinet. When completed they are moved into place. Back and Side grain direction is assumed t be along the blue axes unless you use something like Swap L&W. So be careful not to change a componet’s axes.
Joe….
