BoundingBox class

Bounding boxes are three-dimensional boxes (eight corners), aligned with the global axes, that surrounds entities within your model. There is a default bounding box for any new (empty) model that will surround all entities, including all groups and components, in your model. Additionally, there are bounding boxes for all components and groups (which can be seen when selecting the component or groups). Bounding boxes are only large enough to exactly bound the entities within your model, group, or component.  

The BoundingBox class is used to create and manipulate a new bounding box.

Parent: Object

Methods: new, add , center, clear, contains?, corner, depth, diagonal, empty?, height, intersect , max, min, valid?, width 

Example Code: boundingboxtests.rb

Class Methods

new

The new method is used to create a new, empty, bounding box.

Syntax

boundingbox = Geom::BoundingBox.new

Return Value

boundingbox – a BoundingBox object if successful

Example

boundbox = new Geom::BoundingBox.new



if (boundbox)
# creation of bounding box was successful, you can use the object
else
# creation of bounding box was not successful
end

Instance Methods

add

The add method is used to add a point, or other bounding boxes, to the bounding box. The size of the bounding box will increase as necessary to accommodate the new points or bounding boxes.

Syntax

boundingbox = boundingbox.add point 

boundingbox = boundingbox.add point1, point2, ...
boundingbox = boundingbox.add boundingbox

boundingbox = boundingbox.add [point1, point2, ...]

Arguments

point1, point2, ... – A Point3d object 

boundingbox – a BoundingBox object

Return Value

boundingbox – the new, resized, BoundingBox object if successful

Comments

Adding one point to an empty bounding box, does not increase the size of the bounding box. You must add at least two points before methods, such as BoundingBox.diagonal, will return a size greater than zero.

Example

model = Sketchup.active_model



# Get the bounding box associated with 
 the model. There will not be any size to the bounding box
# until you add something prior to calling model.bounds
boundingbox = model.bounds
bbox = boundingbox.add_point

center

The center method is used to retrieve the Point3d object at the center of the bounding box.

Syntax

point = boundingbox.center

Return Value

point – the Point3d at the center of the bounding box if successful

Example

# There will not be any size to your bounding box until you add at least two points prior to calling model.bounds

boundbox = model.bounds
center = boundbox.center

UI.messagebox center

clear

The clear method is used to clear a bounding box.

Syntax

boundingbox = boundingbox.clear

Return Value

boundingbox - the BoundingBox object which was cleared

Comments

A cleared BoundingBox does not have a size greater than zero until you add at least two points or another bounding box.

Example

# There will not be any size to your bounding box until you add at least two points prior to calling model.bounds

boundbox = model.bounds


bounding = boundbox.clear

contains?

This method is used to determine if a bounding box contains a specific Point3d or BoundingBox object.

Syntax

status = boundingbox.contains? point | boundingbox

Arguments

point – a Point3d object 

boundbox – a BoundingBox object

Return Value

status = true if successful (bounding box contains a Point3d or BoundingBox object), or false if unsuccessful.

Example

point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
# should return true
status = bbox.contains? point


if (status)
# if true, code to do something
else
# if false, code to do something
end

corner

The corner method is used to retrieve a point object at a specified corner of the bounding box.

Syntax

point = boundingbox.corner corner

Arguments

corner – a number (from 0 to 7) representing point at the corner you want to retrieve.

Return Value

point – a Point3d object if successful

Comments

There are 8 corners to a bounding box, identified by the numbers 0 through 7. Points are returned in the currently set units (inches, by default).

Example

# Add two points
point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100) 

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2

# Returns a point in the form of three coordinates, such as 6”, 0”, 0”
point = bbox.corner 1

depth

depth

The depth method is used to retrieve the depth of the bounding box.

Syntax

depth = boundingbox.depth

Return Value

depth – the depth of the bounding box if successful

Comments

The depth is returned in the currently set units (inches, by default).

Example

# Add two points
point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)



model = Sketchup.active_model

bbox = boundingbox.add point

bbox = boundingbox.add point2

# Returns the depth

depth = boundingbox.depth

diagonal

The diagonal method is used to get the length of the diagonal of the bounding box.

Syntax

diagonal = boundingbox.diagonal

Return Value

diagonal – the size of the diagonal for the bounding box if successful

Comments

The diagonal is returned in the currently set units (inches, by default).

Example

# Add two points
point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2
# Returns the diagonal
diagonal = boundingbox.diagonal

 empty?

The empty? method is used to determine if a bounding box is empty (such as if the bounds have not been set.)

Syntax

status = boundingbox.empty?

Return Value

status – true if the bounding box is empty, false if it is not empty

Example

point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2

status = boundingbox.empty?
if (status)
# If true, bounding box is empty…
else
# If false, bounding box contains entities
end

height

The height method is used to retrieve the height of the bounding box.

Syntax

height = boundingbox.height

Return Value

height – the height of the bounding box

Comments

The height is returned in the currently set units (inches, by default).

Example

point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2

intersect

The intersect method is used to retrieve a bounding box that is the result of intersecting one bounding box with another.

Syntax

boundingbox = boundingbox1.intersect boundingbox2

Arguments

boundingbox2 – a second boundbox which might intersect boundingbox1

Return Value

boundingbox – the resulting BoundingBox object if successful, an empty BoundingBox object if unsuccessful.

Comments

Adding one point to an empty bounding box, does not increase the size of the bounding box. You must add at least two points before methods, such as BoundingBox.diagonal, will return a size greater than zero.

max

The max method is used to retrieve the Point3d object where x, y and z are maximum in the bounding box.

Syntax

point = boundingbox.max

Return Value

point – a Point3d object representing the point where x, y, and z are the maximum in the bounding box.

Comments

If you attempt to call the max method on an empty bounding box, you will receive a very large negative number.

Example

point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2
point = boundingbox.max
UI.messagebox.point

min

The min method is used to retrieve the Point3d where  x, y and z are minimum in the bounding box.

Syntax

point = boundingbox.max

Return Value

point – a Point3d object representing the point where x, y, and z are the maximum in the bounding box.

Comments

If you attempt to call the max method on an empty bounding box, you will receive a very large positive number.

Example

point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2
point = boundingbox.min
UI.messagebox.point

valid?

The valid method is used to determine if a bounding box  is valid (contains points).

Syntax

status = boundingbox.valid?

Return Value

status – true if the bounding box is valid (not empty), false if it is not valid (empty)

Example

point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2
status = boundingbox.valid?

if (status)
# If true, bounding box is empty…
else
# If false, bounding box contains entities
end

width

The width method is used to retrieve the width of the bounding box.

Syntax

width = boundingbox.width

Return Value

width – the width of the bounding box if successful

Comments

The diagonal is returned in the currently set units (inches, by default).

Example

point = Geom::Point3d.new(100,200,300)
point2 = Geom::Point3d.new(300,200,100)

model = Sketchup.active_model
bbox = boundingbox.add point
bbox = boundingbox.add point2

# Returns the width
width = boundingbox.width

UI.messagebox.width