Joining Multiple Curved Pipes to make 1 Lighting Position

[preston bircher designs]

My FOH pipes are actually three (3) different radius pipes that act as one.

I can create the three different 'pipes' with the offset>extrude, etc. But how do I join them so that they will then become one Lighting Position and number accordingly?

[klinzey]

Group them first. (Both 2D and 3D in the same group)

Then convert the group to a lighting position.

[preston bircher designs]

Thanx... got them to 'group' and become one -- then i Create a Lighting Position and then it dissappears! ?? however the Label remains in it's place.

Is there a rendering or texture (add surface-?) that needs to be done?

[klinzey]

You need 2D AND 3D geometry.

It sounds like you only have 3D objects and when they are converted to a lighting position the only 2D geometry is the label. If you switch to a 3D view you will see the lighting position.

If you look in the resource browser you should see a symbol with the positionName-Sym. Edit the 2D portion and add the 2D geometry and the position will now display in 2D and 3D.

[preston bircher designs]

I found the symbol in the RB, right-clicked on it and Edit>Edit Symbol>2D Component. I get the gost of the outline of my Lighting Position -- place it and get the following:

"Attempt to create cyclical symbol. Object will be inserted as group instead of symbol."

I'm really not sure what else to try here--where is that Vectorworks 2010 for Dummies book?

[Kevin McAllister]

Preston,

You can't insert a symbol into itself. When you are entering the symbol (when you right click to edit), you must have already had the symbol tool active.

The easiest way to fix your problem, in my opinion, is to right click and choose edit 3D. Draw your position again in 2D, tracing over the existing 3D geometry. Alternately, you could duplicate the existing 3D geometry and then choose Modify>Convert>Convert to Lines as a quick way to create some 2D geometry. When you exit the symbol, it will become hybrid (have both 2D and 3D versions).

Good luck,

Kevin

[preston bircher designs]

Thank you so much for your assistance here?

Here?s what I?m doing:

1. Tracing my 3-arcs over the old AutoCAD dwg import

2. Duplicate+Offset each of the 3

3. Connect/Combine each arc to create two large arcs

4. Add lines at the two ends of the combined arcs to make what would be a long 2?/50mm OD pipe

5. Extrude the 2D pipe to be a 50mm X 50mm square 3D tube

6. Modify>Create Symbol ? Modify>Convert>Convert to Lighting Position

And that?s where I lose it! And then the above mentioned error.

As Kevin notes; I right-click on the pipe (now a symbol) and choose Edit 3D Component ? the Edit Symbol window is blank other than a locust point in the center of the screen.

Still not able to create a usable LP. It did stay visable the last time--but now i cannot assign it a Z: height. Reverts to zero. (???)

[Kevin McAllister]

Preston,

After your step 4, duplicate the shape you've created. Extrude the duplicate. Then select both the original 2D shape and the extruded 3D shape and proceed to step 6. This will give you a symbol with both 2D (the original shape) and 3D geometry (the duplicate you extruded).

KM

[preston bircher designs]

THANK YOU! Your formula is it... it worked -- A few problems with the selection of 2D & 3D... but we'll work that out!