ibenjamin.price

Hey @Pat Stanford, I gave it hell with Marionette, but no luck. It seems that I cannot get the info I need from the Symbol. Marionette requires a 3D object in order to Get Volume. Im working with Symbols from the Resource browser. So thats a no go. Any chance you can help me with the Outline of this script? Any help is very much appreciated! Thanks! Ben

Ok, thanks for the info Marissa! What if it wasn't dynamic. As in, I have a list of information I want to populate in the Popup node. Now I just want to Run a script that adds that information to the Popup node one time. If i update the list, I would need to Add those to the Node as well... Maybe this is just a simple copy list and paste list into the fields of the popup node.... Thats probably the easiest way at this point right?

Thanks for the Info here guys. Ultimately, I'm not looking to do anything too complicated for the HUD. Very simple Rectangles and text that I'd like to see. Maybe a bitmap or two... I added a new post to the Marionette Forum about an idea I had to maybe pull off something close to this.

I'm trying to attach a rectangle object to a renderworks camera,. The ultimate goal of which is when moving around the design layer inside the camera view, the object always stays oriented to the camera the same way... Does anyone have any tips on what "input" node for the camera i could use to start this? There isn't a "camera" node, so does this require a custom node? Schematically, this seems quite simple. Input node "camera" - Get Location Node Rectangle Node- Set Location based off of the "get" data from the camera.. At its simplest I'm really just trying to create a coincident constraint between these two objects... Unfortunately, constraints don't work on cameras in 3D view... Any help or ideas is appreciated. Thanks! -Ben

So i've figured out how to gather a list of symbols. Using a the custom node "Symbol In Folderv2". I would now like this list to appear as options within a Dropdown in the OIP of the Martinet Object. I can't seem to figure out if there is a way to input that information into a Popup Node, or if the information has to be written into the node itself?

Hey Alan, Thank you very much for the info! Super helpful! -Ben

@MarissaF I've attached the example of whats going on. I've read some of the other posts, and it seems that text generated in Marionette automatically switches to 2D screenplane when wrapping into a Marionette Object. So now my 3D data isn't visible in top plan view, and my text isn't visible in the 3D view. Is there a work around here for this? I tried adding Set Text Orientation and giving it 3D coordinates, but that doesn't seem to help. The text doesn't ever move of the ground plane even with the 3D coordinates set with a Z height... Any help is appreciated. Thanks! MARIONETTE_2D_TEXT_ISSUE_v1.vwx

@MarissaFDo you still have this file available?

Hey guys, I got a request from a colleague the other day to look into how to make a "heads up display" mockup using Vectorworks. The initial concept is that we would be able to place a variety of 3D models in various "work areas" within the Design layer and move around the space showing different areas, but all the time seeing this HUD. Think Iron Man helmet. :-) My first thought was just place that stuff on the screen plane and then you can rotate around anything thats on the layer plane. Only problem is that the second you Zoom or Pan the "screen plane HUD" doesn't move with the view, you end up zooming & panning the screen plane as well as the objects on the layer plane... Does anyone have any experience with this already or have any ideas here?

Thanks Alan, Ill try these out!

Pat, Thanks for the confirmation. That all makes logical sense to me. Now to figure out the best way forward. Im gonna look into marionette first and see what I come up with. This is slightly easier for me then scripting, just because I can understand it better when its visual. Only problem there might be the nodes just don't exist for what I want to do, or they require some time of customization. In with case, its probably easier to do a script. Do you know of any good tutorials that cover any of this ground on Record Formats and auto population of data? This seems like a very straightforward script to me. and can get more detailed later on... but isn't it basically this? Symbol (symbol name: xxx) Record format (format name: Part Info) Record Field (field: x location) Record Field (field: y location) Record Field (field: z location) Procedure : Get x location Get y location Get z location Set Record Field String : X location Set Record Field String : Y location Set Record Field String : Z location Run: Im just not sure how to format all this info and if something like "get x location" or "set record field string" is the correct statement. I assume the same type of statements exist with "get volume" "Get total Surface area" "get bounding cube"... Is there a library of these statements somewhere where I can check to see if this is correct?

Mark, Thanks for the tip. I've been able to do that part thus far. My main question is about the auto data field population, like Volume for instance. I can get this information if I run the Machine Design : Get 3D Properties command. The I could fill this out in the symbol field by hand. But Im trying to get the information like that, to populate in the record field automatically after I run the script. This 3D Properties command has most of what I need. Now I need to figure out how to tie that to the Record Fields and then run the script. Im current trying to go at this from a marionette approach. Maybe there is a way using @DomCsymbol node to "get volume" information from a symbol and have that populate or "set record field"... Just spitballing here. I'll play around a bit more and upload my results.

Hi Patrick, This sounds like a great resource. Do you still have this file? Doest look like the file migrated over with the post. Thanks! -Ben Price

@JimWcould you add the attached file from the original post? Doesn't look like that migrated over. Thanks!

How do I get a record format field to populate with a piece of information about the symbol. For example, i'd like to get : the volume information of the symbol to appear in a record field of said symbol. the location in X,Y,Z space in the design layer to appear in a record field of said symbol. the bounding cube size of the symbol L,W,H to appear in a record field of said symbol. the Surface Area of the Symbol to appear in a record field of said symbol. Would the best thing be to write a script that would grab that information, then populate it inside a specific record field? Thanks anyone for you help. -Ben