determining mass or volume of an object

[erock77]

i'm making some complex shapes and would like to be able to determine either the mass or volume.

From what I can tell the 'engineering properties' command only works on 2-d objects. Last I checked us engineers like to work in the 3D world quite a bit.

anybody know a way to get this info?

[Petri Sakkinen]

Well, volume is easy. At its simplest, you only need a one line script:

MESSAGE(CALCVOLUME(FSACTLAYER));

Mass - that gets more difficult. But if materials are assigned via classes (such as MAT-STEEL, MAT-CONCRETE etc. which I use for graphic attributes), a script can eg. read a data file for materials and find the specific weight of the material. For a limited palett of materials, you may even hard-code the weights in the script.

Alternatively, a worksheet can be used in VW 10. In column one say eg =VOLUME(C='MAT-STEEL'), in the second column, enter the specific weight and in the third the multiplication.

Having said this: I have not met too many engineers who would work in 3D or be even remotely interested in volumes. But then again, I am an architect so the engineers I know do construction-related work. 3D (not even in thinking) does not seem to be a pre-requisite for these engineering disciplines.