"Lightspeed modeling of smart building materials" - mind.sight.studios, makers of Profile Builder
A sectional profile that can be extruded along an edge.
Add a profile to floor slabs, balcony extensions, canopy outlines, etc.
Double click a face to select its outline
Click 'Build Along Path' icon
These profiles remain parametric and can be easily changed in the future.
This works for decorative floor or wall patterns, or easily drawing extruded walls.
Select an existing profile group
Click 'Build Along Path'
A new profile is built along the same path as the existing profile
Delete old profile if necessary
Draw a profile
Select all edges and faces (triple-click)
Click '+' button to make a new profile
Name the profile
Change pivot point, rotation, offset, material if necessary
Click 'Build' to draw your profile
Optional: save profile to a folder of your choosing (saves a .skp file)
Add a profile to floor slabs, balcony extensions, canopy edges, etc.
Double click a face to select its outline
Click 'Build Along Path' icon
Select multiple disconnected edges or multiple faces to generate profiles for each one. This can be useful in generating slab edge profiles for multiple floors, for example.
Select all paths
Click 'Build Along Path' icon
Sometimes, a profile can be reversed. Fix this:
Select profile > Right click > Profile Builder 3 > Reverse Selected
This can be mapped to a shortcut for more efficiency.
Profiles are groups, with the profile's name listed in the Instance field.
Items within Profile groups can be edited like any other grouped item. Exploding the Profile group will remove its associativity with Profile Builder.
Use the eyedropper tool to get attributes of existing profiles in the model.
No more worrying about losing the original path of the profile!
Double click the profile group
Click 'Edit Path' icon
The profile group disappears and only its path remains
Edit the path
Press 'Esc' to exit
A dialog box will alert you if multiple paths are detected
Reverse profile if necessary
The profile path has been edited!
An assembly is a combination of:
Profiles
Components (Sketchup Components)
Spans (explained more later: but basically another profile, or component, or assembly in between two components)
This assembly combines 2 profiles, each with a different material:
Top edge (light)
Bottom edge (dark)
This assembly just consists of 1 component, the mullion, copied at a fixed spacing (see: 1.50m) along a path.
This assembly combines:
Profile: Top rail
Profile: Bottom rail
Component: Mullion (at 1.50m spacing)
This assembly combines:
Component: brown mullion
Span: dark red frame, which spans between brown mullions
More detailed explanation below!
Components (brown mullions) are spaced 2.70m apart
Spans (dark red frame components) are scaled to fit in between every 2 brown mullion components.
This is because the 'Scaled to Fit' box is checked.
The simplest type of assembly!
Copying components along a path can be done with other SketchUp plugins (eg. Copy Along Path by R. Wilson in JHS Powerbar), but Profile Builder provides more flexibility and control for future changes.
Combine profiles and components to easily make railings, shopfronts, facade details, and more.
Spans make assemblies incredibly powerful and flexible. Component-type spans allow for flexible component editing even without Profile Builder.
Explore the official tutorials on spans below!