editing 3d symbols

[alan tk]

hi could someone please tell me the quickest and less brain taxing method of editing 3d symbols please .

i have many several to do (and i mean many) and quite frankly they are doin my head in

i seem to be doin lots of converting to lines but then having to eventually pick out the lines and separate them because there seem to be so many layers of lines

once ive done this its easy just compose the lines and extrude again

but surely theres an easier way

i have so many different size doors and windows to do that eventually im just goin to scream

[Dieter @ DWorks]

It all depends on how those symbols are built.

Can you give us an example?

[panthony]

Alan,

If the symbols are made up of solid extrudes and or groups of lines and solids each one is editable without having to decompose. What are you trying to accomplish by editing all of the symbols?

Pete A

[alan tk]

the door symbols are made up of 3 extrudes, a frame,3 rails and 10 center panels

then grouped together

im working in fundamentals so i also have to add a 2d symbol to it as well.

i have several doors all are different widths and heights, so i have created 1 symbol and am trying to create the others from this one

the frame

if i try to resize it it seems to affect the width of the frame, ie it is 75mm all round when i try to say make it go from 3000mm to 2600mm with the resize tool it makes the sides of the frame go down to 68mm leaving the head of the frame at 75mm

therefore i have to break it down into lines so i can shorten the width then build it back up by extruding it again

im obviously doin something wrong (like fundamentally)

[Dieter @ DWorks]

If you double click on an extrude, you are able to change the base object of the extrude. In the oip, you can set how much the extrude should extrude.

Every 3D object has a history, and if you use this wisely, you can easely adapt these objects by going in their history.

[panthony]

Alan,

Dworks is correct in that every extrude has an underlying polygon that was used to create the extrusion. By double clicking on the extrusion you will enter into an edit window that displays the original poly. It is this edit environment that you manipulate the shape of the poly in 2D.

If you have multiple extrusions grouped together by double clicking the group you can edit the objects in the group seperatly by double clicking on them seperatly.

Pete A

[Benson Shaw]

Also, on a practical note: If the double click opens to a blank window (means the extrude and original poly have moved relatively), you can "select all" and "fit to objects" to find the original poly. The "Done" button in upper right hand of the drawing window gets you back to the extrude. Same for symbols and groups.

-B