rotate in relation to Z axis

[Jake Wilson]

Ok, so I requested a symbol from a manufacturer for one of their products and their designers sent me the multi part symbol DWG file(Hybrid I guess) and the symbol was laying on its side in the drawing. I double clicked it and selected everything, grouped it and rotated it 90° to a standing position and adjusted its height to the Zero point (drives me crazy that we have to re-zero things when they are rotated, when you rotate the bottom zero point should automatically change to the new bottom point. Rant over) 

 

Anyway, I am now trying to alter the symbol to add physical height to it, I select the top section and try to 3D move it up 10' to accommodate a new section below (yes it has to be done this way.) when I open Move 3D and use the Z axis to raise the top instead of moving up it moves to the side as though the symbol was still on its side.

 

I'm sure the solution is something simple, how do I change the symbol so Vectorworks sees it as standing instead of laying on its side?

[LarryO]

Depending upon how you approached the rotation the objects may have already been on the z-axis of the x-y plane of the symbol and it was the symbol that had been rotated 90° in the drawing environment along either the x or y-axis which would have aligned the z-axis of the symbol's x-y plane onto either the y or x-axis respectively of the layer.

[michaelk]

Are you in a working plane?  Easy to do.  Ask me how I know.

 

If you can post an example of the symbol I'm sure someone will figure it out quickly.

[Jake Wilson]

Not sure why there is not a reply option for each individual answer but here goes.

 

LarryO: The symbol was created in AutoCAD by the manufacturer and sent as a DWG file, I imported it and when directly to the front view by pressing the 2 button on my keyboard, to review the symbol and it was laying on it's side, the symbol is a truss tower for a truss roof crawler system so it is not difficult to know it's proper orientation.

 

As it is comprised of multiple pieces I then selected them all, grouped them and then, still in the Front view used Modify/rotate/rotate left 90° and the tower stood up with half of its height below the 0-Z point, I then 3D moved it up so the bottom of the tower would sit at the 0 point.

 

Now when I ungroup and try to use the 3D move and enter a distance i the Z axis the piece of the tower I am trying to move up moves to the right as thogh the z axis moved with the tower when I rotated the tower.

 

michaelk: Please expand on your working plane theory, I assumed I was always on the working plane and just changing my view points from top plan to front, back, side etc...

[michaelk]

You can define working plans that are rotated and or offset from any or all axis to make it easier and more convent to work on rooted and offset objects.  It's possible to have the front view, for example, be relative to the working plane and not the layer plane.  You should get a slightly confusing warning when this is in effect.

[Jake Wilson]

I have never defined the working plane as far as I know. I've always used the rotate / rotate 3D functions in the modify menu. When I move between top/plan and front view VW generally shows me the front center of the symbol / object and I move up my view manually to where I need to be.

 

On the odd occasion when I have need to rotate an entire drawing I will move everything onto one layer and group before rotating then move things back to their separate layers.

 

I use Layers as locations for symbols in a drawing and Classes as parts of symbol in a drawing to avoid overlap that is difficult to see through and make things easier for me to manipulate in 3D

[michaelk]

If you can post a file here with just the symbol in it, or if it's proprietary you can send it to me in a personal message, I'm sure we can figure it out quickly.  It's hard to imagine all the possible settings and parameters without seeing it 🙂 .

[Pat Stanford]

Highlight a part or all of the text of a post and you will get the Quote Selection prompt which is close to what you want about replying to individual answers.

 

[Elite Exhibits]

50 minutes ago, Jake Wilson said:

I have never defined the working plane as far as I know.

 

VW has a major faux pas in this Rotated Plane Mode  - Defining an object rotated as it was originally created - especially with Imported Information.

 

Just Yesterday  - I attempted to modify a Hybrid Symbol from a "Left / Right" version to a "Top/Bottom" version -

ie: rotate it 90 degrees -

          No Layer Plane objects were harmed in this process - Hybrid was 3D and Screen Plane ONLY.

 

In the Resource Manager

Duplicate Hybrid Symbol

Rename

Edit 2D - Rotate 90

Exit

Edit 3D = Rotate 90

Exit

Viola ... Not so fast  !

 

Some Text is upside down / Some text is backwards / Some is upside down and backwards

    Mirror and rotate do work on this text (assume that it is now in a parallel universe)

 

Quick check of the Rotated Plane setting - (ARGH !) - VW has automatically set it to 270 degrees (?) and you could not select a standard views even Top/Plan was Rotated Top /Plan

 

Solution: Copy Hybrid Symbol into a blank drawing

     take apart twin copies

          1 @ 2D and 1 @ 3D

               rotate as needed

                   reassemble as a Hybrid Symbol (with same name)

                           Import and over write the Symbol back in the original design

 

(ARGH !)

 

     If there is a better way ...

 

Peter

 

Rotated Plan 270 degrees_1.pdf

[LarryO]

3 hours ago, Jake Wilson said:

The symbol was created in AutoCAD by the manufacturer and sent as a DWG file, I imported it and when directly to the front view by pressing the 2 button on my keyboard, to review the symbol and it was laying on it's side,

I'm assuming the objects imported are contained within a symbol definition with an instance present on the layer that was create by the import.

 

Here is a scenario to test to see if you are looking at the symbol's plane or the layer's plane when editing.

Set the origin of an instance of the symbol to zero,zero,zero (x,y,z) in the IO palette. Set the view of the layer to top or top/plan. Choose to edit the symbol in place and if the symbol was defined on a plane other than the layer plane there will be arrows indicating the direction of the axis. And if you press zero on the keypad twice the view will rotate away from the layer's plan as it switches to the top/plan view of the symbol's defined plane.

 

At which point you can press 2 to get the front view relative to the symbol's x-y plane. Now whether Move 3D Selection responds to the layer's plane or the symbol's plane will depend upon if one selects Cartesian or Working plane in "Move 3D Selection" dialog.

At least that is how it generally responds when I use it.