Truss Turned Grey

[XOP15]

Can anyone help me, whenever I draw a truss it seems to render grey, i cant seem to find out why, I have attached a file.... any help would be greatly received.

Cheers,

Dave.

[michaelk]

The straight truss changes color by choosing a color from the attributes palette.

I think that the reason the other truss won't change color is that it has been changed to a lighting object.

michaelk

[XOP15]

Hi Michael,

this is strange as I dont think I have changed anything to a lighting object. I am going to re draw thinks today and see what happens.

Thanks

Dave.

[XOP15]

strange thing is though its happened on the last 3 drawings I have done, they have all started rendering in silver but then something changes them and they turn the dark grey colour,

[XOP15]

Hi Michael,

OK I am closer to finding what the problem is with the truss turning grey, i created the truss configuration again, then clicked create symbol as i need to be able to rotate this object 45? and use it in other drawings. when i open the drawing and insert it onto the page as soon as I render it shows grey, what am I doing wrong in the conversion to a symbol ?

[michaelk]

I don't have 2008 on this computer, but if I remember...

No need to convert to a symbol. There should be a "Hanging Angle" field. Enter 45 in this field and you should get what you are looking for.

hth

michaelk

[XOP15]

Hi Michael,

I cant do the hanging angle thing as the truss I created I had to make it into a group as it was made up of 8 bits of truss so the option to set the hanging angle disappears as soon as it becomes a group... any ideas.

[michaelk]

Dave

Get all the truss in place before making it a group - if you still need it to be a group.

Here's a quick and dirty way to draw it: (I hope 2008 and 2009 are similar enough to follow)

1. Draw one side of the truss. In this example I'm using a 8' long flat truss. Hanging angle =0, Rotation = 0 (All the rotations will be 0 in this example)

2. Switch to a front view. Duplicate the truss section and change the Hanging Angle to 45. Drag it into position.

3. Duplicate the first truss section again. (or either section, really). Change the Hanging Angle to -45. Drag it into position.

4. Rinse and Repeat to get the other sides...

The final result will be an octagon truss structure on it's side. (I think that's what you were after.)

hth

michaelk

[MattG]

Just taking a quick look at this without really knowing what you are entirely trying to achieve I am going to give my thoughts.

I am overall opposed to the truss tool. It is okay in some instances, but I don't even have it in my workspace which is kinda funny when I tried to draw a piece of truss I had to change workspaces. Draw you truss to meet your specs and all like Michael said and create the shape you desire and I would leave it parallel to the ground plane because we are going to make it a 3D symbol that you can rotate on a per instance basis when you insert it. Since it sounds like you want to save this as a resource you may want to use elsewhere I would make it as a 3d only symbol. I would be sure you got it all dialed in the way you want to go a top only view not top plan and convert to groups. This will make it no longer a truss object, it will just be a series of extrudes. But you can then take your whole thing and make it a symbol. If you did it right it should be a 3d only symbol. Which means if you look at it from a right view and want it to tilt up 15 degrees you can just rotate it 15 degrees.

My thought that is the best way to go because you can then save the symbol in a symbol file that you can reference in your resource browser to easily use again as needed.

We have all sorts of odd truss pieces and this is how I typically treat them because people like slanty truss these days and once you make it a hybrid you lose the ability to rotate in 3d unless it is in the symbol.