What is Forge?

Forge is a command that itemizes a component. Forge turns a regular Sketchup compnent into an Item recognisable by Compfire. It has an invisible stamp, that enables Compfire to treat it as an item. After forging an item in a Sketchup model, you also need to Export it to the Compfire Library.

Exporting it will add the item as a Sketchup file in the Compfire Library folder named Items, and simultaneously also add it as an item row in the Compfire Library spreadsheet file called Catalog.

Where is Forge?

After installing Compfire, Forge is accessible in four ways, in the:

1) Toolbar
Compfire Edit, Button Forge

2) Main menu:
Extensions > Holygon Compfire > Edit > Forge

3) Context menu:
Right-clicki model geometry, then pick
Compfire > Edit > Forge

4) Shortcut keystroke
You can set a shortcut yourself, or import the shortcuts from Holygon's Asset Pack. Using a shortcut is the fastest way to forge.

What Is the Forge Workflow?

To Forge is easy and fun. The recommended Forge workflow is as follows:

Prepare Your Forge Environment

Open a Sketchup model. This will be your sandbox or staging environment.

Now, Import your current Compfire library, if you have one. This is your starter set. It is best practise to let Compfire clear and purge your model before importing.

Step 1. Add Components

Add new components by one of the following methods:

a) Model them manually.

b) Copy existing components, and make them unique.

b) Import components, by drag-and-drop, paste, or import.

c) Import components from a folder, by:
Compfire > Prop > Import Folder

Step 2. Select Components

Select the new components that should be forged. You may select one or many.

Step 3. Forge Components into Item

Run the command
Compfire > Edit > Forge
to itemize selected items.

Forging will bring up the Edit Item Properties dialog. Here, you have the option to enter item properties, or metadata. You can always edit properties later.

Optional 3b.
Try Scan. Run the command
Compfire > Edit > Scan

With the Scan cursor, hover over new items to affirm that they have been forged. Scanning containers will reveal their Compfire status and some metadata. To edit metadata when scanning, simply click the item.

Optional 3c.
Try Sort. Run the command
Compfire > Edit > Sort

Sorting will re-arrange all items by Catalog branch and order, and put each items in a named area for clarity.

You may re-edit metadata as fits, and re-Sort to review the results. When the Sketchup staging model looks good, proceed to step 4.

Step 4. Export Items to Library

Export to Library. Exporting will automatically add all edited and new items, to the Library's Items folder, as individual Sketchup files.

Exporting will also automatically add all corresponding metadata edits to the Catalog spreadsheet.

Review and Edit Catalog

Open the Catalog spreadsheet to review new items and new metadata. Edit as needed, and save.

Some users find it easier to manually edit metadata in the spreadsheet. This also enables the powerful features of your spreadsheet editor, such as spellchecks, batch word replacing, and so on.

😊 Done. You and your team may now use your updated Library in production.

The only required steps are steps 1 to 4.