Symbol creation classes

[Christian Fekete]

What is the best way to create symbols? which class should be used?

Please advise

CF

[taoist]

Classes are up to the user unless they have a defined class structure or use one of the default class structures in VW.

Lets say you created a new furniture sofa object.

Classes can be as simple or detailed as you like.

Some examples:

Furniture - Sofa

Furniture - Den - Sofa

Furniture - Room - Formal - Sofa

Creating a Hybrid Symbol - Simple Explanation.

The tools you use depends on the symbol you are trying to create.

If you want to create a turned column/post you would use the Sweep tool or Loft Surface tool once you create the profile(s) you need.

A hybrid symbol is one that includes both 2D and 3D components.

1) To create a hybrid symbol, create the 3D part, then the 2D part in Top/Plan view.

2) Once drawn, align the 2D and 3D parts using the Tool > Align command, and select them all.

3) Switch to 2D Plan projection. Run the Create Symbol command from the Organize menu.

The hybrid symbol is now available in the Resource Browser.

[Christian Fekete]

Isn't a 3d model a 2D object with an extrusion and if so how does VW separate 2D from 3D in Hybrid objects?

Isn't there a prefered class (0)to create symbols on?

[taoist]

You can leave the symbol assigned to current class or assign it yourself.

I assign the symbol it's class myself.

This way I know what class it is in for visibility and other reasons.

If you put all your created symbols in the same class, then when you make that class invisible, all the created symbols are turned off as well.

Is that what you want?

Classes are a very powerful feature.

[mike m oz]

With Hybrid Symbol objects the 2D is only visible in Plan View and the 3D is only visible in 3D views. Note that the 2D symbol parts need to be Screen Plane - if you make them Layer Plane they will end up in the 3D part of the Hybrid Symbol.

Classes are the what. ie classification (usually by material type but sometimes by element type). Classes also define their appearance (ie graphic attributes of line type and thickness, fill type and colour, and texture applied to the 3D parts). Objects can be Groups, Symbols or Plug-in Objects (PIOs) and Classes are used for their different parts to control their appearance. When placed in the drawing these objects will have a 'container Class' which will determine how the overall object is visible in the drawing. This can be any Class you want but usually it is best to use one that makes contextual sense for the type of object it is (look at Auto Classing to get a feel for the preferred method).

Vectorworks' None Class is the equivalent of Autocad's '0 Layer'. None stands for no classification and it should always have the 'Use Graphic Attributes at Creation' option set to off. That way it can't override any of the graphic attributes.

PS - Vw 2013 has a very useful Auto Hybrid object capability that makes creating hybrid objects very easy. Its in the 'Better BIM' section here: http://www.vectorworks.net/2013/new_features.php