Zorro - For Making a Permanent Cut

You're finishing up your project, you made a section cut and want to render it, but then you realize that your renderer probably won't produce the image with the model actually cut... So we have a solution for your problem!

The Zorro is a tool that cuts all visible objects. It's very useful for splitting a model permanently (unlike the section tool, which only cuts the model's display). Zorro is available for free download on the SketchUcation website.

Step-by-step guide to using the Zorro plugin

Go to the Tools/Zorro (Tools/Zorro) menu.

figure 1 - The Zorro tool

Click where you want the cut to start, move the cursor in whichever direction you like, and click where you want it to end. To cut objects that are inside groups and components, hold down the Ctrl key while using the tool.

figure 2 - Example of a cut made with Zorro

figure 3 - Result of the cut

Look at the result.

figure 4 - Final result

Another option is to use Zorro from a section plane. To see how it works, place a section plane at the desired position. Then right-click the plane and choose the Slice to Model at Section option. This way, the model will be cut along the alignment of the section plane.

It's important to remember that Zorro cuts faces, not groups and components; in other words, to separate or delete one of the sides of the generated cut, you need to enter each of the existing components or groups.

Now that you know how to create a permanent cut, you might also want to learn a bit more about how to create several plan-view scenes all at once or why you should create sheets with LayOut. This content was taken from the book SketchUp Pro Avançado, which can be found in print or eBook format at Editora ProBooks. That's fine, we know you might still be unsure about the content, so we've made a free sample available so you can get a better idea of what's in the book — just download it!