Rotating 2D Line Vertically for Mirror Ball Marionette

[Alex Talbot]

Hi All,

 

Hoping to get some help putting together a marionette system for an adjustable mirror ball with rigging. My current set up is symbols for the mirror balls of varying sizes, a symbol for the rotator, and a stinger group made up of 2 extruded objects and a 2D line rotated vertically. This allows me to adjust the 2D line easily to adjust the height of the mirror ball (or anything else hung by a stinger). I'm automating this process into a marionette sequence to allow me to select the mirror ball size and adjust the stinger in 6" increments. 

 

The main issue I'm having is I can't seem to find a way to create or rotate a 2D line so that it is aligned to the Z-Axis. Rotate 3D doesn't work, and the create line command doesn't take 3D points. Is there any way to set this up in marionettes without converting the cable part of the stinger to a 3D extrude or polygon? Current marionette sequence is below:

 

 

 

 

[Marissa Farrell]

I'd recommend using a 3D poly instead of a 2D line object.

[MullinRJ]

@Alex Talbot,

   I think @Marissa Farrell's way is the way to go, but if you want to see how to draw a 2D Line on a vertical plane (YZ plane in this case), I cobbled together a few Marionette nodes to draw a Planar 2D Line that runs from the Origin (0, 0, 0) down along the Z_axis. This is not guaranteed to be the smallest node, but it works. Suggestions for improvement are welcome.

 

    You can change the Line's length by editing the Y_value of the 2D point (pEnd) on the Create Line node. You can also change the Start Point by adding a 3D Point to the vOffset input of the Set Entity Matrix node and giving it any 3D XYZ value.

 

   NOTE: All unassigned input nodes use the value (0, 0) or (0, 0, 0). The attached VW file is v2018, so more people can read it.

 

 

Vectorworks file:  2D Line on 3D Plane v2018.vwx

 

Raymond

[MullinRJ]

Follow up. I just figured out you don't need the Layer Plane node if you don't use Enable Legacy 2D features (starting VW 2022), or you use Working plane only. If you mix Screen and Working Plane objects in the most recent VW versions, then the Layer Plane node makes sure the line draws on the Layer Plane. If there's an easier way to force Layer Plane drawing, please let me know.

 

Raymond

 

[Alex Talbot]

On 3/7/2023 at 6:47 AM, Marissa Farrell said:

I'd recommend using a 3D poly instead of a 2D line object.

Thanks! 3D poly was the best solution.