vehicle symbol selection

[ddcpe]

I activated and dropped a vehicle symbol from the library into my file.  It is on a layer called "upper level" and VW automatically put it in a class Site-Cars and both are active.  For some reason I can not select it without using a bounding box.  What gives?  when I hover over it the snap points pop up, the windshield mesh highlites, etc. but I cant click on it and move it around or rotate it or anything usefull with dragging a box around it.  That is wierd.  Any sage words?

[ddcpe]

2 minutes ago, ddcpe said:

I activated and dropped a vehicle symbol from the library into my file.  It is on a layer called "upper level" and VW automatically put it in a class Site-Cars and both are active.  For some reason I can not select it without using a bounding box.  What gives?  when I hover over it the snap points pop up, the windshield mesh highlites, etc. but I cant click on it and move it around or rotate it or anything usefull with dragging a box around it.  That is wierd.  Any sage words?

Well its even worse than that.  Even when I manage to select it by bounding it then I can't do anything with it.  I can't move it around at all.  I can use the rotate tool to spin it around but that's it.

[ddcpe]

Looks like the only way to grab it and move it around is to change to WF either by leaving it the view as is and change the render setting to WF or by going to top-plan view.  Totally screwy.

[michaelk]

are some of the symbol definition objects in a class set to gray?

Can you post a file with this symbol?

[ddcpe]

5 minutes ago, michaelk said:

are some of the symbol definition objects in a class set to gray?

Can you post a file with this symbol?

Nope.  Both L & C fully visible and active.

[ddcpe]

massing e 9-23-23.vwxhere's the file

[ddcpe]

the symbol is "Vehicle Lexus RX 2014"

[ddcpe]

Just figured out I can use the B key and grab it that way.  Still seems stupid to have to do that.

[Pat Stanford]

It looks like you have your Class Options set to Show/Snap Others.  All the different parts of the car are in different groups in the None class.

 

Since that is not the active class you can't grab them.

 

Set you Class Options to Show/Snap/Modify Others.  This is the setting you will want to use 99% of the time in VW.

[ddcpe]

11 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said:

It looks like you have your Class Options set to Show/Snap Others.  All the different parts of the car are in different groups in the None class.

 

Since that is not the active class you can't grab them.

 

Set you Class Options to Show/Snap/Modify Others.  This is the setting you will want to use 99% of the time in VW.

Oi...what a clutz.  I completely missed that.  Thanks.

[ddcpe]

There doesn't seem to be any sort of insertion point for the symbol.  It's bounding box has no no snapping points.  Is there a setting to turn those on?

[Pat Stanford]

The insertion point is the middle of the roof about halfway down the length of the front doors. It shows if you hover carefully.

 

 

You can edit the symbol and add Loci and mark them as Master Snap Points in the OIP to get snap points wherever you need them.

 

In the image below I put a 2D loci at the drivers side front corner of the bumper.

 

[michaelk]

Make sure Snap to Object is turned on.  And if you hold down the Snap to Object button there is a check box for Insertion Point.

[ddcpe]

the symbol has a bounding box.  Why doesn't the cursor snap to the corners of the box?  Does it have to be turned into a group for that to work.  It seems really clunky to have to add insertion points to something like this.  It should automatically have them at the four corners and center in top view.  I tried adding the locus but it didn't work.  Don't see how you did that.

[ddcpe]

I just grouped the symbol and it still has no useful snapping properties.  It has a bounding box but I can't get a snap at the corners to move it.  I get the double sided arrow to deform it but not the cross to grab it and move it around.  I must have something set wrong but I don't see what.  Its stupid that an object like this can't be drug around without so much screwing around.

[ddcpe]

35 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said:

The insertion point is the middle of the roof about halfway down the length of the front doors. It shows if you hover carefully.

 

 

You can edit the symbol and add Loci and mark them as Master Snap Points in the OIP to get snap points wherever you need them.

 

In the image below I put a 2D loci at the drivers side front corner of the bumper.

 

BTW that's not the insertion point its an intersection of the underlying mesh.  There are butt loads of them if you switch too wireframe.  What I would assume something like this would have is a bounding box like grouped objects with snapping points at the corners and centers of the lines that make the box.

[ddcpe]

this seems to be a consistent problem with 3d symbols.  I inserted one of the legacy 3d people (Male 15) and the same problem of no handle anywhere to move it around.  I must have some setting wrong but I am at a loss for what it might be.

[rDesign]

In Vw, an object’s ‘bounding box’ does not typically have anything you can snap to. The ‘bounding box’ is a virtual representation of what you are selecting, it does not have geometry itself and will not automatically have snaps at its corners. The object(s) inside the bounding box are what has the geometry that you can snap to, this is just how Vw works. Putting objects inside of Groups will not change this behavior.

It might be worth reading the Vw Help section on Moving Objects.

[ddcpe]

48 minutes ago, rDesign said:

In Vw, an object’s ‘bounding box’ does not typically have anything you can snap to. The ‘bounding box’ is a virtual representation of what you are selecting, it does not have geometry itself and will not automatically have snaps at its corners. The object(s) inside the bounding box are what has the geometry that you can snap to, this is just how Vw works. Putting objects inside of Groups will not change this behavior.

It might be worth reading the Vw Help section on Moving Objects.

Yeah, I kind of figured as much but can you see how valuable it would be to have some sort of bounding box for something as complex as a vehicle so it can easily be moved around?  It makes no sense to me that a 3d object as complex as this does not have a snap point integrated that is, for example at the center bottom of the object so it can be placed accurately.  How do you move something like this around and set in accurately on a driveway that has compound slopes?  What matters when sizing a parking area or garage are the extents of the vehicle hence the utility of a bounding box.

[Tom W.]

4 hours ago, ddcpe said:

It makes no sense to me that a 3d object as complex as this does not have a snap point integrated that is, for example at the center bottom of the object so it can be placed accurately. 

 

If you edit your symbol you will see the insertion point is already set to be the bottom centre of the geometry:

 

 

If you want this to be more pronounced, add a 3D locus at the insertion point in the 3D component + a 2D locus in the Top component.

 

4 hours ago, ddcpe said:

What matters when sizing a parking area or garage are the extents of the vehicle hence the utility of a bounding box.

 

It is far better that we can set our own extents for a symbol + define exactly where we want snap points, like Pat says by adding geometry such  as loci to the definition + placing them on a NonPlot class so they can easily be turned on + off, rather than it being the boundary box by default.

 

For example this boiler symbol has a dashed rectangle in the Top component + a dashed 3D Solid in the 3D component defining the manufacturer's clearance requirements:

 

 

Likewise this toilet has 2D loci defining the distance I generally want it from side walls:

 

etc etc

 

Add loci to your car symbols defining the distance you want them placed from each other + save those customised symbols in your Favorites. It only takes a minute. I imagine the requirements are different in different countries/contexts anyway.

 

Having said that I personally haven't had any problems placing vehicle symbols in models. I normally have to show parking spaces in plan (with dotted lines - for which I have a symbol) then it's just a case of placing the odd car in different spaces + sending to surface. I don't want the cars perfectly aligned with the parking spaces as that's not how people park 🙂

 

[rDesign]

10 hours ago, ddcpe said:

How do you move something like this around and set in accurately on a driveway that has compound slopes?

If you want your 3D vehicle to match the slope of a driveway you’ll have to follow what @TomW described above to go inside the 2D/3D hybrid symbol and manually rotate the 3D vehicle about the appropriate 3D axis to match the driveway slope.

[rDesign]

11 hours ago, ddcpe said:

It makes no sense to me that a 3d object as complex as this does not have a snap point integrated that is, for example at the center bottom of the object so it can be placed accurately.

It does, you just have to turn off all Object Snapping parameters except leaving only ‘Insertion Point’ activated, then you can do exactly what you are describing.
 

This assumes that the object’s insertion point was accurately placed, and with the vehicles in your example they will be located as TomW described. 

Edited September 24, 2023 by rDesign

[ddcpe]

Thanks so much for all this info.  I really appreciate it.