"orient" command equivalent for Vectorworks

[klief]

Hi I was wondering if someone would know / have experience with scripting an equivalent to Rhino's "orient" command.

 

It is basically doning a move + rotation translation in one command instead of 2. Very useful and essential for my workflow in modeling. Unfortunately I don't see that something similar exists yet for VW. It should work both for 2d as well as 3d, but in VW I'd only need it for 2d.

 

To understand very straightforward how this works: ...

 

Hopefully someone is up for the challenge? 🤞😉

[MullinRJ]

Hello @kliefhead,

   I've attached a very simple Vectorscript Tool to do what you showed above. This tool only works on one object, and the object does not have to be selected before the tool runs. Also, other selected objects are not affected by the tool when it runs, which is somewhat counter intuitive to the operation of many tools in VW. If you want a different interaction when multiple objects are already selected, please describe that in more detail. At the present I only did what was described.

 

   To run the tool, Select the tool, then draw two lines. (Click-Drag and Click-Click drawing modes are selected in the VW Preferences.) The first line should be drawn over the object you want to move as the first point of the line will be used to select the object to move. The second Line should be drawn where you want the the object moved, with the first point (of the second line) defining how far the object will move. The second point of the second line will define the rotation applied to the object after it is moved. If you have any questions, please write back.

 

   The "Orient" tool plug-in tool is unlocked, so you or anyone else can edit its functionality and make it do truly wondrous things. It is compiled in VW 2018 so people using older version of VW can use it, and it can be found in the "Tools" category when you add it to your workspace. Oh, and I didn't add a tool icon. I'll leave that to you or another to make this tool complete.

 

   Icons need to be 20x26 pixels and 40x52 pixels @ 72 dpi, and named Tool_Icon.png, and Tool_Icon@2X.png, respectively. Of course "Tool_Icon" can be any name as long as the naming format follows the example above. Use the Plug-In Editor to add icons, or edit functionality.

 

Orient.vst

 

All the best,

Raymond

[klief]

Hi, thank you for the effort.

What you are saying sounds very promising, but I cannot use the script (Vectorworks 2024). There is no .vst format suggested when I try to run a script. If I still run it I get an instant error.

What should I do to make this work? 

[MullinRJ]

2 hours ago, kliefhead said:

What should I do to make this work? 

 

Hello @kliefhead,

Short answer: Add it to your workspace. If you are not familiar with adding a plug-in to VW, a longer answer follows.

 

The file I added is not a script, but a Plug-in Tool. It has a short script inside it. You will have to add the .vst file to your Plug-ins folder in the VW 2024 User Folder to make it useful.

 

To find the User Folder on your drive, open the VW Preferences dialog and select "User Folders" in the left pane. In the right pane there is a "Reveal in Finder" button. Press it and the VW User folder/directory will open on your computer. Open the folder that says 2024 (which should be selected) and copy the Orient.vst file into the Plug-ins subfolder. Then close VW and launch it again. VW will now recognize the newly added Orient tool.

 

When VW is open again, open the Workspace Editor (Cmd+Opt+Shift+W, on the Mac; Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W on the PC; or VW menu Tools->Workspaces->Edit Current Workspace...) Select the Tools tab at the top of the window and expand the >Tools category in the left pane by clicking on the arrow to the left of "Tools". Find the Orient tool, and drag it to one of your tool pallets in the right pane, or create a new Tool Palette and add it to that. The tool is now accessible to VW in the palette you chose when you are drawing (it will have a default wrench icon, and will show "Orient Tool" when you hover the cursor over it.) Before you close the Workspace Editor, you can assign a HotKey (keyboard shortcut) to the new tool for faster access. This last step is optional. For more information on using the Workspace Editor, open VW Help (F1) and search for "workspace edit". Click on the "Customizing workspaces" link that pops up.

 

HTH,

Raymond

[Elite Exhibits]

@kliefhead Plug-Ins folder should be in the same folder as VW - see attached

 

Tested this after I added this to my work space - works great 

 

This will be a great addition to our workflow as we often place Symbols at odd angles / then have the request to revise them 

 

Big thanks to RM !

 

Peter

[klief]

 

I am impressed, this works very well!

Thank you for helping us to improve the workflow, legendary

 

[Sam Jones]

3 hours ago, kliefhead said:

legendary

Yep.  Raymond is.  Message him and ask about his "Reshaper" tool.