Need some help with First Marionette

[CalCurated]

I am needing a marionette that will create duplicates of an object by user input, move the object by a distance determined by user input and rotate each duplicate by user input angle.

 

For example, if I have a rectangle extruded to .75" and would want to be able to have the marionette make 18 copies, move each duplicate .75" from the previous in the y if looking at a front view and rotate them 14.4degrees.  

 

I have watched countless videos and read countless post, my objective is not only to have this marionette to use but to understand the process.

 

 

[Niels Timmer]

Hi CalCurated,

 

I created the Marionette network that you described.

 

A good way to understand what is happening is using the debug mode of the Marionette Tool (click the bug that is shown in the screenshot below). With the debug mode selected, you can click on the lines that connect the Marionette Nodes to see what data flows through them.

 

Rotating Extrudes v2023.vwx

[CalCurated]

Hi Niels and thank you so much for this.

 

I am running VW2022 and it looks like you are running VW2023.  Is that why I am getting this error when I open the file?

 

[Niels Timmer]

Yes, correct, I exported the file to a VW2022 version for you.

Rotating Extrudes v2022.vwx

[CalCurated]

Thanks again Niels.  I'm trying to work through this and make a few changes.  Hopefully, I can figure it out on my own.

[CalCurated]

Turns out not having the object extruded works better for me.  I was able to modify the file you sent but I'm still missing a few things.

 

The last object is being placed on top of another one and I need them to rotate around the center point of the object.

 

I have attached my modified one if you have time to look at it.

Rotating Extrudes v2022 Copy.vwx

[Niels Timmer]

I made some changes to the network:

 

 

Rotating Extrudes v2022 Copy.vwx

[CalCurated]

Thank you so much Niels.

 

Everything works great except that i didn't know i needed the result to be a polyline or 2d polygon for what i need to do with the result.

 

I modified your network to change the result to a 2d poly but now I get both the 3d result and the 2d result with (1) extra (2d).  The shapes I use for this will be random so this example doesn't use the triangle.

 

Thanks again for all of your help...i think i'm learning something.

Rotating Extrudes v2022 Copy2.vwx

[Niels Timmer]

What you could do to get rid of the 3D polys that you don't need is just delete them with the delete node like this:

 

I noticed that the last 2D poly was rotated but wasn't moved. So this is another change you could make to the network to fix that. Link the "add 1" node to both "Series" nodes. Because the Series node produces a list that looks like this:

1. 0 - for the original object
2. Spacing * 1 - for duplicate 1
3. Spacing * 2 - for duplicate 2
4. Spacing * 3 - for duplicate 3
5. Spacing * 4- for duplicate 4
6. Spacing * 5 - for duplicate 5

As you can see, this list has a length of 6 (Number of duplicates + 1).

 

 

 

[CalCurated]

Thanks again Niels for all of your help.  I made those changes and it works great....but then I thought, it would be nice if it would scale the object too.  I have attached the network that got me the closest.  If i am trying to scale down and enter .95 it works on one of the objects but scales the other one bigger.  I moved the scale node around and also the tried running through the add1 node that really messed it up.  I feel like I'm pretty close, hopefully you have time to take a look.

DupRotScal.vwx

[Niels Timmer]

Hi,

 

I had time to take a look at the latest version of your network.

 

You added a "Series"-node to scale every single duplicate of your shape. The description of this node says that it "Creates a series of numbers beginning at start and increasing by step for count cycles" and that is exactly what it does. I added the "Print Debug"-node to show what the output of the "Series"-node is. That's why the shapes are scaled to 190%, 285%, 380% et cetera.

 

What I would suggest is that you scale the input object at the very beginning of your network, before duplicating it. Then you don't have to scale every single duplicate because the original object is already at the right scale.

 

 

Instead of the Print Debug-node you can also use the Debug Mode  of the Marionette Tool to see what data flows through your network. You can read more about this here: https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2023/eng/VW2023_Guide/Marionette/Inserting_a_node with_the_Marionette_tool.htm

 

Good luck!