TSG-Sim

I am going to be owing you both a drink for helping me with this, if you are ever in sunny Lancashire uk, let me know if your close to the senator group headquarters and I will take you for a drink 😀

thank you @Marissa Farrell and @Pat Stanford i appreciate your help with this. @Marissa Farrell if possible a basic example with symbols would be really helpful, if you think this might be the better way in marionette to do that, like you say I don't want to end up with name issues for the original items. what I found when I used that item I had created from the resource browser from a workgroup library as a test, if I click the unstyle button for the item in a new file, the item goes back to working in that active file, I am guessing it somehow resorts to the original naming. From what I had been creating today I had a feeling it was that named item that might be a problem after working on some other items, I had started to see a pattern with that, it is a pity that it is though and isn't just contained in the original object sub group without auto-renaming but I understand why it does as you need unique ids on everything, the other way I thought would be just create some nodes for the parts like the bracket that are created in script form and can just move and change those then I don't have any named items in and don't need to do it completely in script and can keep some of it in marionette form for other users to be able to edit the materials list. my other thought was just to do it completely in script, so I might have a look into that myself as well, but the problem if I do it fully scripted will the average user be able to edit a material list to add new materials, where as the marionette is a little easier for the average user to see. We are producing a lot of items and we want to be able to have this power of the dropdowns, resizing items, most of our items of furniture are just that where it will stretch either in X, Y or Z axis depending on width, depth or height and change finish and I want to preset everything. I want to almost create a configurator for our items that all the users can use. I know it's a big job but a massive saving in the long run, especially if they add or remove materials quite a lot and if we have all the sizes available added in rather having to create each item, each size and permutation manually (as we do at the moment ) so it will save time in the long run. I understand swift to a level and have done some objective-c in the past and when I looked into vs script for the debugging it looked feasible just certain things that would throw me, so I will have a go as well. On a side note for either @Marissa Farrell or @Pat Stanford Is it possible in script form to fillet all edges of an extruded rectangle so you can then run a stretch width and depth on that scripted item and it keeps the radius the same? I am guessing you would just feed the width, depth and height in and that would set the width (width) and height (depth) of the 2d rectangle and then the height (top extrude) of the item then run the fillet on the end of that but only if fillet is available as a scriptable item, if not I am guessing I would just do as I did where I create the ends and then just stretch a rounded rectangle in the middle of those. Appreciate any help with this. Thank you, Sim

thank you pat I appreciate you quickly looking into that, I have had to park that for a day or two to sort some project work but once I get back onto it, I will have a look. I did have all the nodes connected originally so maybe something has glitched out when I saved it because a few things were glitching when I was creating that. Could I ask whether doing this via Marionette or should I just create a vectorscipt or python coded tool / object item is the best way. I know we want to have these kind of dynamic options for stretching length and changing materials but I want to make sure I am going down the correct route. Thank you, Sim

Hi If possible could somebody check this Marionette file please, it doesn't work at all when inserted into a new file from the resource pallet but works when I copy it, could somebody check this and tell me where I might have gone wrong or if I am overcomplicating things. it seems like a fairly simple item but I have had to feed the materials, lengths and certain other properties in so the output displays correctly on the text and in the record items, could somebody kindly see if they can help me with this please as I am almost pulling my hair out trying to get these dynamic items working, also apologies for the larger file size most of this is because i am trying to embed all our finishes which are quite large, but I will be having a look into that and see if I can pull the finishes in a different way or reduce them a little in file size. Appreciate any help with this. Thank you, Simeon Aspen Modesty.vwx

hi Marissa I really appreciate your help, that helps with that specific item and I apologise because of my explanation I didn't fully explain what I am trying to achieve, the item I am trying to get fully working correctly is this dynamic top item that can be re-used for other things, that can dynamically change the width depth, height, radius and materials of the unit, so when the user feeds the cupboard unit in from that previous one, this will get the overall width from the cupboard - a user defined left and back measurement that will be an inset of that inner top in either side and at the back then it stretches out to the relevant full dimensions. i have tried to get basically a filleted box working but I had to reconstruct it with spheres and circles and rectangular middle parts and add solids with all those items to construct that, but this is the part that I can't quite get to work. I was originally trying to get something more dynamic than this that would allow me to do any top of any of our items, that could include portholes or scallops but I think that would be quite a huge job but would save a massive amount of time. for other items I am managing to get them working, like legs and beams, the only thing I do worry about in the nodes I have been doing is if I don't have the duplicate ticked in the name node it doesn't do the work after all the drop-down and everything else is calculated, but if I have the duplicate ticked it will create a duplicate item inside the original script items, is it better to put the original items inside control geometry or inside the script part and is that the correct way to feed the original items in to change and am I better to construct everything in marionette form not use originally geometry and just change it. sorry let me know if you need any further clarification on this and I truly appreciate all your help with this, it saves massive amounts of time using marionette, thank you, sim top.vwx

hi Marissa , thank you I have posted a new thread, is there a way for you to delete the file I uploaded in this original thread? I can't seem to find where you do that. -------------------------------- Member 40 Posted Friday at 03:44 PM Hi Marissa really appreciate you helping me with the text file I am still going to have a go at implementing that but I am struggling with something to do with material drop-downs and I think I have messed up some of my nodes in this, I am trying to create a full dynamic storage unit that will change finishes (I am sorry if any of the nodes are a bit messy I have tried to keep them clean but I got a little stuck and messed up and apologies for that) Basically the top should be part of the credenza storage unit and the height of the top will change when the user changes the finishes and my implementation maybe really incorrect, but is there any chance you or somebody at vectorworks could have a look into this file please and let me know if this is even possible with marionette nodes and if I am going down totally the wrong route with the way I am creating it, I have implemented a dropdown with the finishes just hard coded at the moment instead of the pull in list that you sent just to try and implement it first. I appreciate any help with this, I post the file here if it helps anybody with dropdown nodes and objects if this is the correct way to do it. Appreciate the help. thank you, Sim Credenza.vwx433.87 MB · 1 download

Hi @Marissa Farrell I am struggling with something to do with material drop-downs plus feeding that into resizing a top item, I think I have messed up some of my nodes in this, I am trying to create a full dynamic storage unit that will change finishes and the top height of the unit to the relevant material (I am sorry if any of the nodes are a bit messy I have tried to keep them clean but I got a little stuck and messed up, apologies for that). I was trying to create a filleted top that would adjust in height based off the finish list, basically the top should be part of the credenza storage unit and the height of the top will change when the user changes the finishes and my implementation maybe really incorrect, but is there any chance you or somebody at vectorworks could have a look into this file please and let me know if this is even possible with marionette nodes and if I am going down totally the wrong route with the way I am creating it, I have implemented a dropdown with the finishes just hard coded at the moment instead of the pull in list that you sent just to try and implement it first. I appreciate any help with this, I post the file here if it helps anybody with dropdown nodes and objects if this is the correct way to do it, I have removed some of the finishes because of the size of this file to allow me to upload this here. Appreciate the help with this. thank you, Sim temp.zip

Hi Marissa, should I create a new post for this question? thank you, Sim

I really like marionette and wish I had a lot more time to do more with it, one node I would like is Filleted radius 3D shape having tick boxes to fillet top, bottom, left , right , back and front and a picker for radius of corner and it automatically fillets whatever shape are in those planes or a simpler version just fillet 3d box with the same options that blend straight edges to curved edges if that makes sense.

THIS POST WAS MOVED TO A NEW THREAD

thank you Marissa I will have a look through and see where I get to with that, I appreciate all your help with this, it is slowly coming together but I might post you some sample files once I get to the end of what I am working on to see if what I am doing is the correct way to do what I am doing.

Hi Marissa thank you, if possible a small working example would be great so I don't misunderstand that, I did find a partial workaround by just using comments in the popup list but it would be great if the fixed list could be separated out so the users don't need to look at any the rest of the marionette. appreciate your help with this. There are two ways I was thinking of going with this one, there was 1. a fixed list input as mentioned but I was also thinking, if I fixed the lists already would there be a way to have a tickbox options in the marionette node that the user picks and that input filters the popup list to show the relevant correct lists but I think feeding the lists into the marionette node would be the better option so the user only sees the lists input and then the finish list popup is the backend. I am using this in a hMaterial input in Set Material on named input items for the different parts of a storage cupboard so it displays all the materials available to the user and only the available options to the user but allows me to re-use one for all the parts I hope this all makes sense: appreciate the help. this is a node that worked for me: @Marionette.NodeDefinition class Params(metaclass = Marionette.OrderedClass): # THIS IS THE LIST OF FINISHES TO ADD TO THE LIST COPY ONE OF THE EXISTING AND MAKE SURE YOU ADD THE COMMA , and SPACE IN PLEASE finishNames = ['(MFC 1) BH Beech MFC', '(MFC 1) DHI Dark Rockford Hickory MFC', '(MFC 1) GRO Greige Castello Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) LG Light Grey MFC', '(MFC 1) SO Strata Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) UM Urban Maple MFC', '(MFC 1) WH White MFC', '(MFC 1) WK Winter Oak MFC', '(MFC 2) ABL Alby Blue MFC', '(MFC 2) BLT Basalt MFC', '(MFC 2) COG Cobalt Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) DSA Deep Sahara MFC', '(MFC 2) PUB PUB Premium Black', '(MFC 2) PUW Premium White', '(MFC 2) SGR Smoke Green MFC', '(MFC 2) SLG Slate Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) TAG Taupe Grey Egger MFC'] #DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BELOW THIS UNTIL YOU GET TO finishNameList this = Marionette.Node( "Get Texture" ) this.SetDescription( 'Returns the selected texture from the dropdown list' ) selectedTexture = Marionette.OIPControl( 'Popup', Marionette.WidgetType.Popup, 0, finishNames) selectedTexture.SetDescription( "A list of the available finishes" ) output = Marionette.PortOut('h') output.SetDescription( "The selected texture's name" ) def RunNode(self): # COPY THE FINISH NAME LIST ABOVE TO HERE IF YOU ADD FINISHES finishNameList = ['(MFC 1) BH Beech MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) DHI Dark Rockford Hickory MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) GRO Greige Castello Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) LG Light Grey MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) SO Strata Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) UM Urban Maple MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) WH White MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) WK Winter Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) ABL Alby Blue MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) BLT Basalt MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) COG Cobalt Grey MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) DSA Deep Sahara MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) PUB PUB Premium Black - Senator', '(MFC 2) PUW Premium White - Senator', '(MFC 2) SGR Smoke Green MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) SLG Slate Grey MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) TAG Taupe Grey Egger MFC - Senator'] index = self.Params.selectedTexture.value getObject = vs.GetObject(finishNameList[index]) self.Params.output.value = getObject but I need to add all the other material finishes here: band1Finishes = ['(MFC 1) BH Beech MFC', '(MFC 1) DHI Dark Rockford Hickory MFC', '(MFC 1) GRO Greige Castello Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) LG Light Grey MFC', '(MFC 1) SO Strata Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) UM Urban Maple MFC', '(MFC 1) WH White MFC', '(MFC 1) WK Winter Oak MFC'] band2Finishes = ['(MFC 2) ABL Alby Blue MFC', '(MFC 2) BLT Basalt MFC', '(MFC 2) COG Cobalt Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) DSA Deep Sahara MFC', '(MFC 2) PUB PUB Premium Black', '(MFC 2) PUW Premium White', '(MFC 2) SGR Smoke Green MFC', '(MFC 2) SLG Slate Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) TAG Taupe Grey Egger MFC'] band3Finishes = ['(MFC 3) BOK Black Cassella Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 3) DCO Brown Casella Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 3) LCO Light Natural Casella Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 3) NCO Natural Casella Oak MFC - Senator'] stockLaminateFinishes = ['(SL) BLK Jet Black Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) LTG Light Grey Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) OAK Summer Oak Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) PLA Platinum Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) PWT Pewter Grey Stock Laminate - Senator'] globalLaminateFinishes = ['(GL) BLK Diamond Black - Senator', '(GL) BWN Smoky Brown - Senator', '(GL) CHC Dark Chocolate - Senator', '(GL) COF Planked Coffee - Senator', '(GL) CST Chestnut Woodline - Senator', '(GL) EBY Ebony - Senator', '(GL) FOG Fog - Senator', '(GL) FOS Fossil - Senator', '(GL) GRY Sarum Grey - Senator', '(GL) MOK Millenium Oak - Senator', '(GL) MSE Mouse - Senator', '(GL) NAS Natural Ash - Senator', '(GL) STM Storm - Senator', '(GL) WAL Oiled Walnut - Senator', '(GL) WAS White Ash - Senator', '(GL) WHT Brite White - Senator'] marbleTops = ['Bianco Carrara Honed Marble', 'Romano Bianco Vein-Cut Mastic Filled&Honed Travertine', 'Verde Oriental Honed Marble'] metalworkFinishes = ['BLK Black Metal - Senator', 'SLV Soft Silver Metal - Senator', 'WI White Metal - Senator'] plasticFinishes = ['(PLA) BKP Black Plastic - Senator', '(PLA) SLP Silver Plastic - Senator', '(PLA) WHP White Plastic - Senator']

Hi Marissa, Great work with that node, I have a question about those drop-downs. is it possible to feed a couple of fixed lists into a node, say I have a list like ['600 standard', '800 special'] and then another node for the actual sizes [560, 760] is there a way to do that whilst still having the drop-down appear in the shape tab, would you just use something similar to how you have created the node on this or is there a way to feed the lists into a standard dropdown somehow better, I am trying to make it more simpler for the users when going in to edit the sizes so they don't see most of the marionette they only see the bits that are editable, if that makes sense. appreciate your help. Sim

thank you for the script hopefully some kind of script could just be put in as a standard into the preferences as an option.

with viewports sometimes I haven't had enough time to create viewport names but it does help massively and I highly recommend people name there viewports within a file. My wish is that the default or a preference within Vectorworks preferences would be to just auto-rename your viewport to whatever your sheet was called, plus the type of view (top/plan, front right etc) you could short hand it if you needed followed by a unique view number if its not the only unique one e.g. if your sheet says ground floor plan the viewport could be titled Ground-TR-View1 shortened to the first title in the sheet and views shortened to a couple of letters or it could be displayed the full length of the titles just by default as options in preferences. It would make viewport naming a lot quicker.