Set rotation of angled connection

[spettitt]

When placing any of the various angled connection elements that exist (hinges, gates, things like that), there is obviously the red preview for the direction it will be mounted in.

 

In Top/Plan view, I can't seem to find any way to select the 'other' direction while placing it, in this case, a 30 deg gate. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to make the red preview indicator face the other way.

 

I can place it in 3D, but it then rips the 2D component off of the gate, and any other truss connected after it. Maybe there is a way around that, but primarily, I'm just interested in knowing how to choose the direction while placing in Top/Plan, please.

 

[JustinVH]

Is this a stock truss symbol or a custom symbol that you or someone else has created? I can get auto connect in both directions with gates. Is it possible to send the file and I can take a look? You can DM if desired.

[spettitt]

This is the stock Tyler 30 deg gate straight from the library, and then one of our own Tyler GT symbols - which is just the same as the stock but with the added dashed blue line through the centre of each chord so fixtures can be hung.

 

I've actually just taken a 10" bit of GT straight from the library and the same 30 deg gate and I have the same issue.

 

I'll DM the file now as well.

[JustinVH]

The issue is the magnets for the truss connections. The GT truss is fork end so it uses the male/female connections to make sure that the truss will build properly in both directions and the correct ends will connect to what they should. This is causing the issue with the gates because the software is relying on looking for the opposite gendered connector to what it is connecting. In order to flip the gate to the lower connection the program is looking to flip the symbol but it cannot because that would be connecting the same genders which the code will not allow.

 

I was able to get the gate to flip properly by changing the auto connect settings to Neutral for all connections on both the truss and the gate. You will have to do this in both the truss properties and the 3D symbol where the magnets are housed. Once all connections are Neutral the expected behavior will occur. Just be careful, because you may run into issues where you are getting forks connecting to forks or receivers connecting to receivers depending on build order.

 

I am going to look into the issue further and file a bug and discuss with the engineers but for now changing the magnets will cause the expected behavior to occur. I build all the truss and set the connections for the shipped content so that is why I am hesitant to blame the content. I want to make sure that there was not something missed in the code when the engineers created the connections and magnets. Let me know if you have further questions or need help.

 

Justin

[spettitt]

Thanks Justin! That's very clear. I enabled visibility on the magnets and instantly saw the problem.

 

I could make them neutral, but other people in the office might not realise the implications. What I might do instead is just have two variants of the gate symbol, A and B, one with the magnet polarities reversed. That way, the main GT symbols can remain as-is.

 

 

[JustinVH]

Good idea on making the second version of the symbol. I can't do that with the content because we try to not have duplicate symbols but I did not realize there was a flip issue when I setup the file. I would flip the geometry along the X axis as opposed to flipping the magnet polarity so that the forks correctly lock into the receiver as the flipped polarity might cause the visual geometry to be incorrect. Basically a symbol that looks like a 7 and then another that looks like a L. Sounds like you have the solution well in hand for your office so I will let you get back to it and let me know if you need help. If the workflow changes after some discussion I will make sure to let you know so that you can adjust if needed.