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Sweep command always applies in wrong direction


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I've got various items for a planar glazing fixing that I want to create into 3D elements.

I am trying to rotate them into a lathe type surface using the sweep command.

Each time I rotate them, they rotate in the wrong direction - i.e. I want to rotate them around the X axis of the view that I am in & they are rotating around the Y axis. Altering the view rotation, or switching between layer & screen plane, or setting a new working plane makes no difference.

Am I missing something here, or is the only way to get these items to rotate as I want them to, to alter their orientation at the start, create the sweep surface & then change the orientation back afterwards?

Is there no simple way to choose the rotation axis?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

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Hi, I just learned this myself. There may be other ways to do it but it seems the sweep needs a locus. I always used a 2D locus but maybe a 3D locus would work too.

Place a locus where you want the center of the sweep to be, then select both the locus and the sweep profile, and then give it the sweep command. For me it sometimes got fussy, with an error message that "both objects must be on the same plane" and I never figured out if that related to working, screen or layer plane... most of the time it just worked but when it didn't I just kept deleting the loci and re-inserting new ones until I got it to go.

Hth

J

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I'm pretty sure that the sweep command tries to sweep around the left most edge if no locus is selected, or around the locus if it is left or right of the other objects.

But the sweep command doesn't sweep up or down.

You have to sweep left or right and then rotate the resulting object.

hth

mk

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

It is also related to the view that you are in at the time of the sweep creation. "Left" and "Right" are in relation to your current view, so if you swept in a front view the result would be in a different orientation than if you swept from a top/plan view.

If you don't use a locus I believe it always sweeps the same direction, but I always use a locus out of habit.

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Thanks for this info - so, to get the up / down sweep, I need to rotate the view.

If I create the sweep it is always segmented though - not like a nurbs surface & they can not be combined like other solid entities can - is this correct? If this is the case, they seem fairly limited in their usefulness.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Segmentation comes from the Segment Angle being a little too high, lower it (you can lower it below 1 if you like but normally thats not needed) and can also come from View > Rendering > OpenGL Options having its quality set to Low or Medium, you shouldn't see segmentation in smooth faces when its set to High.

[img:center]https://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=12575&filename=Screen%20Shot%202015-07-30%20at%209.51.47%20AM.png[/img]

(above is an an oval swept 360 at segment angle 2.81 rendered in OpenGL on High)

To sweep up/down you would just sweep left/right and then rotate the resulting object into the desired orientation.

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they can not be combined like other solid entities can - is this correct?

Actually they can be used in some solids operations including Add Solids, Subtract Solids, and Intersect Solids.

Apparently you can't use Section Solids or use the Split tool on them. Nor can you convert them to generic solids or ungroup them like other high level objects. Not sure why.... Jim? (You can convert them to generic solids in VW2014 and earlier)

KM

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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In a way, isn't all of Vectorworks is really just a vast collection of tools, each of which is "limited in its usefulness" - ? Each tool has its own function, and sweeps can be pretty cool.

In the words of Don Ward, trainer, one of the "overlooked features" of the sweep command is that the segmentation angle can be used to intentionally create objects that are *not* round: eg octagonal or the like.

Attached is a snapshot of an octagonal element for a church steeple I'm working on; segmentation angle 45 degrees. Sweep is definitely fun, in the right situations.

Edited by Jeff B
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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
they can not be combined like other solid entities can - is this correct?

Actually they can be used in some solids operations including Add Solids, Subtract Solids, and Intersect Solids.

Apparently you can't use Section Solids or use the Split tool on them. Nor can you convert them to generic solids or ungroup them like other high level objects. Not sure why.... Jim? (You can convert them to generic solids in VW2014 and earlier)

KM

I am able to do all of these things in 2015 SP4 in a test file with a rectangle, circle and random polygon as the swept object, can you post the sweep that wont let you? I'll take a closer look.

(I do those all the time in my own work, I haven't noticed them not working anytime recently, but it may be related to the source object you used for the sweep, i'll check.)

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they can not be combined like other solid entities can

One workflow point to note, the more you combine solids with one another, the harder the finished product is to edit after the fact... This may not fit your situation, but one definite option is to simply place the sweep objects adjacent to other objects you want them combined with, then create a symbol. Easier to edit the component parts later.

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