Workflow for creating organic neon tube structures in Vectorworks

[Cristiano Alves]

Hello everyone,
 

I’m looking for guidance on how to create an organic structure in Vectorworks, specifically related to the modulation and layout of flexible neon tubes for a stage environment.

The goal is to design a structure with organic, non-geometric shapes, where the neon tubes flow naturally through the space and are integrated into a stage design. At this stage, I’m not looking to share reference images publicly — I mainly want to understand which tools, workflows, or approaches make sense for this kind of work in Vectorworks.

More specifically, I’d like to know:

• Which modelling tools are best suited for creating organic paths and structures
• Whether this should be done natively in Vectorworks or partially in another software and then imported
• Best practices for controlling geometry, repetition, and modulation of objects like neon tube elements

If anyone has experience with similar workflows, or would be interested in helping me understand the process or providing this as a service, I’d be happy to continue the conversation privately.
 

 

[EAlexander]

I don't see it being any more complicated than drawing polylines or nurbs curves and then doing an extrude along path.  You'll have to hand draw each tube, or at least, duplicate and modify the paths.  Polylines will be converted to nurbs anyways, once you run the Extrude along Path function, so, best to get comfortable with editing nurbs curves.  My suggestion with things like this is to draw them "flat" in a front or side view, and than move points around to give you depth.  Once that is good, then rotate the whole EaP into place - working on this stuff at angles from creation makes it more complicated.  Nothing you're showing in your research is too complex, just time consuming.

 

Personally, I build forms like this directly in Cinema4d, but I am already going into that software to render the final product.  If I had to provide VW documentation, I would draw them in VW.  In cinema, I can SWEEP command a circle spline along a drawn spline very much like Extrude along path - the difference though is that it all remains live and parametric for me, so I can edit the spline or circle size/shape in real time, making it much faster overall.  Note that Sweep in Cinema4d means something different then in VW 3d.  I could get into rope dynamics if I wanted the simulate gravity on the swag, or how the cable would fall, but honestly, that opens up a whole can of complexity and time that I don't think is necessary here.  Even in Cinema, I would hand draw the splines, clean them up and then put them into a sweep generator.

 

My advice is to stick with VW - make sure your target objects are in the right place or at the right scale before you spend all that time drawing paths.  This is usually a case where I would copy and paste my target geometry from my master drawing into a clean file - do all my path drawing and extrude along path work - and then bring it back into the Master show file.

 

e.

[msharon]

Yep, exactly like @EAlexander said. In front view I made a NURBS curve, duplicated an array, reshaped to add variation, then did an extrude along path and added a glow texture. 

https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2026/eng/VW2026_Guide/Shapes2/Creating_NURBS_curves.htm

 

 

[BillW]

I like a challenge so I created a script to link 2 sets of groups containing either 2D loci, 2D symbols or 3D (only) symbols.

 

The script has the following instructions:

(*
  Created by Bill Wood 2nd Feb 2026 - Use at own risk
  Usage:

  Create two groups that can contain either 2D loci, 2D symbols or 3D only symbols.
  Select the two groups and call script.
  In the displayed dialog set cable projection offset which must be greater than 50mm or equivalent to current unit.
  Resulting Nurbs curve paths are grouped - edit paths as required.
  
  Note: 
  The order of creation with the group is important and there are problems with mirrored symbols.
  Also if the number of connections differ between the groups then the smallest number is only used.
*)

 

 

 

Edit:

I have hooked up my "Extrude Path 3D" tool into a menu command "Build Extrude Cable" which can automatically create a nurbs path and EAP at the same time. The start and end of the cable is defined by either a 2D symbol, 2D loci or 3D symbol as mentioned above. Multiple cables can be defined by a grouped set of objects.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 9 by BillW

[Cristiano Alves]

16 hours ago, EAlexander said:

I don't see it being any more complicated than drawing polylines or nurbs curves and then doing an extrude along path.  You'll have to hand draw each tube, or at least, duplicate and modify the paths.  Polylines will be converted to nurbs anyways, once you run the Extrude along Path function, so, best to get comfortable with editing nurbs curves.  My suggestion with things like this is to draw them "flat" in a front or side view, and than move points around to give you depth.  Once that is good, then rotate the whole EaP into place - working on this stuff at angles from creation makes it more complicated.  Nothing you're showing in your research is too complex, just time consuming.

 

Personally, I build forms like this directly in Cinema4d, but I am already going into that software to render the final product.  If I had to provide VW documentation, I would draw them in VW.  In cinema, I can SWEEP command a circle spline along a drawn spline very much like Extrude along path - the difference though is that it all remains live and parametric for me, so I can edit the spline or circle size/shape in real time, making it much faster overall.  Note that Sweep in Cinema4d means something different then in VW 3d.  I could get into rope dynamics if I wanted the simulate gravity on the swag, or how the cable would fall, but honestly, that opens up a whole can of complexity and time that I don't think is necessary here.  Even in Cinema, I would hand draw the splines, clean them up and then put them into a sweep generator.

 

My advice is to stick with VW - make sure your target objects are in the right place or at the right scale before you spend all that time drawing paths.  This is usually a case where I would copy and paste my target geometry from my master drawing into a clean file - do all my path drawing and extrude along path work - and then bring it back into the Master show file.

 

e.

I don’t have a lot of experience with 3D modeling in Vectorworks, but I’ll try to approach it the way you suggested.
 

What I noticed when using Polylines converted to NURBS is that I can only draw them on a single plane.
For example, if I draw on the XZ plane, how can I then introduce some variation in the XY plane to make the shape more organic?

Another question:
My NURBS curve has very sharp corners, even though I have the curve angle set to 5. What could be the reason for this?

Initially I also contacted @VIRTUALENVIRONS privately about this, and by working together we were able to find a good solution.

 

Edited February 3 by Cristiano Alves

[Pat Stanford]

Polylines are 2D objects so you will only be able to change them in 2 directions. Once you convert them to a NURBS object you will have something you can move in 3 dimensions. 

 

I recommend that if possibly, you use the prime directions (Front/Back, Right/Left, Top/Bottom) views. Draw in Front for instance and then convert to NURBS. Then switch to Left or Right and adjust as necessary.

 

I find this much easier than trying to adjust them and type of isometric view. And if you need to be off the primary views, consider editing in the primary views and then rotating to the angle needed.

[Cristiano Alves]

Thank you all of you for this help.

I’m getting close to my goal, however I’m not very happy with this result.
My NURBS curve has an angle set to 5, so I wouldn’t expect it to generate these hard edges / sharp segments.

Additionally, my 3D Conversion Resolution is set to Very High, so I don’t think this is a display resolution issue.

 

[Tom W.]

What is your Details setting in Quality tab, Shaded settings?

[EAlexander]

Yes, I agree with Tom W. - looks like your shaded quality settings are on LOW.

 

How are you drawing your initial polylines - do they have smooth curves in them when originally drawn?  Upping the degrees of a NURB won't smooth out sharp corners if that's how they were originally drawn - you have to draw it smooth from the start - are you doing that?

 

Here's a quick tutorial on drawing curves with the Polyline tool:

 

[JimWoodward]

As Michael Sharon showed, the extrude along path works great, if you have access to a dmx source you can apply a glow texture to them and then add the DMX glow record. In addition to that you can map a video source to them individually or add them all to 1 Solid Addition. Here's a real quick example.