Jump to content
  • 0

A simple idea for Version 11


Mbuck

Question

For some time Vectorworks has had the extrude rectangle tool. Why haven?t NNA implemented a extrude circle tool on the same tool set? This would be great for 3D piping, 3D handrails and other such things. I know someone is going to tell me you can now use nurbs and/or use the extrude command to do the same thing but these methods can be tedious if one simply wants to draw a freehand run of piping or rail. I suppose the question then is how does one turn corners and intersect a run of piping with another? The answer may be nurbs but a more elegant solution would be to use a sophisticated fillet tool for turning corners. As for t and y intersections I appreciate this would be a tricky bit of code, but probably worth it, as 3D piping type elements are used so often in construction and architecture.

Link to comment

2 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

quote:

Originally posted by Mbuck:

For some time Vectorworks has had the extrude rectangle tool. Why haven?t NNA implemented a extrude circle tool on the same tool set?

It would be fairly straightforward to reuse most of the cone tool to work as a cylinder tool, but other stuff has seemed more important. But it's on my personal suggested future projects list.

quote:

This would be great for 3D piping, 3D handrails and other such things.

I think what is really needed for that is a 3-D pipe plug-in. The plug-in would have a 3-D path, created from a (degree 1) nurbs curve, and a radius and diameter value. The plug-in would generate a pipe of the given diameter corresponding with the provided path, putting in curved pieces at the corners.

This is a lot like an extrude along path of a circle, except for the automated corner generation. You could combine pipes by doing an Add Solids operation on them. I added this idea to the wish list not that long ago.

Link to comment
  • 0

quote:

This would be great for 3D piping, 3D handrails and other such things.

I think what is really needed for that is a 3-D pipe plug-in. The plug-in would have a 3-D path, created from a (degree 1) nurbs curve, and a radius and diameter value. The plug-in would generate a pipe of the given diameter corresponding with the provided path, putting in curved pieces at the corners..

I made a Plugin for such purposes, unfortunately it has one small bug. If the bug is eliminated maybe i will consider to make the tool availlable to others.

Kind Regards,

Hannes

[ 09-25-2002, 07:58 AM: Message edited by: Hannes ]

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Answer this question...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...