Create a bounding box around specific objects

make_bound_box.py

# for comment at http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/14188/935

import bpy
import bmesh
from bpy.props import BoolProperty, FloatVectorProperty
import mathutils
from bpy_extras import object_utils

# from blender templates
def add_box(width, height, depth):
    """
    This function takes inputs and returns vertex and face arrays.
    no actual mesh data creation is done here.
    """

    verts = [(+1.0, +1.0, -1.0),
             (+1.0, -1.0, -1.0),
             (-1.0, -1.0, -1.0),
             (-1.0, +1.0, -1.0),
             (+1.0, +1.0, +1.0),
             (+1.0, -1.0, +1.0),
             (-1.0, -1.0, +1.0),
             (-1.0, +1.0, +1.0),
             ]

    faces = [(0, 1, 2, 3),
             (4, 7, 6, 5),
             (0, 4, 5, 1),
             (1, 5, 6, 2),
             (2, 6, 7, 3),
             (4, 0, 3, 7),
            ]

    # apply size
    for i, v in enumerate(verts):
        verts[i] = v[0] * width, v[1] * depth, v[2] * height

    return verts, faces

def group_bounding_box():
    minx, miny, minz = (999999.0,)*3
    maxx, maxy, maxz = (-999999.0,)*3
    location = [0.0,]*3
    for obj in bpy.context.selected_objects:
        for v in obj.bound_box:
            v_world = obj.matrix_world * mathutils.Vector((v[0],v[1],v[2]))

            if v_world[0] < minx:
                minx = v_world[0]
            if v_world[0] > maxx:
                maxx = v_world[0]

            if v_world[1] < miny:
                miny = v_world[1]
            if v_world[1] > maxy:
                maxy = v_world[1]

            if v_world[2] < minz:
                minz = v_world[2]
            if v_world[2] > maxz:
                maxz = v_world[2]

    verts_loc, faces = add_box((maxx-minx)/2, (maxz-minz)/2, (maxy-miny)/2)
    mesh = bpy.data.meshes.new("BoundingBox")
    bm = bmesh.new()
    for v_co in verts_loc:
        bm.verts.new(v_co)

    bm.verts.ensure_lookup_table()

    for f_idx in faces:
        bm.faces.new([bm.verts[i] for i in f_idx])

    bm.to_mesh(mesh)
    mesh.update()
    location[0] = minx+((maxx-minx)/2)
    location[1] = miny+((maxy-miny)/2)
    location[2] = minz+((maxz-minz)/2)
    bbox = object_utils.object_data_add(context, mesh, operator=None)
    # does a bounding box need to display more than the bounds??
    bbox.object.location = location
    bbox.object.draw_type = 'BOUNDS'
    bbox.object.hide_render = True

#select suzanne and the armature
bpy.data.objects['Suzanne'].select =True
bpy.data.objects['Armature'].select = True

group_bounding_box()