line-weight Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 So, I've got a site model set up with the basic underlying landscape. Now I want simply to lay something on it, that follows its surface but is slightly raised. Like for example a path or road. I know there are tools for these but having played with them I think they may be too inflexible for what I want, and have found a couple of old threads on here which suggest they just don't work very well. Pad modifier will let me raise a surface but not a surface that follows the underlying surface. Thought maybe I could extract a series of faces from the 3d mesh version of the site model and use these as the basis of the geometry, but doesn't seem to be possible to extract in this way. Closest I can find is to set the working plane to individual mesh faces, trace them off and build it up that way but seems rather laborious. Any other suggestions? Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted February 20, 2018 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 20, 2018 I think Extract Face won't let you select Site Models regardless of their 3D display, however the Project tool should let you project a surface downwards at a site model and then that projected face can be extracted or trimmed off for this kind of thing. Project tool should probably be in the 3rd and second tool modes respectively for the two settings (Add Mode and Add Downward Mode). Draw your desired profile of the shape and position it above the site model above (I used a simple circle in my test) then select the profile first, the model second, and try the Project. The bottom face of the resulting solid should be what you're looking to get. Quote Link to comment
line-weight Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 1 hour ago, JimW said: I think Extract Face won't let you select Site Models regardless of their 3D display, however the Project tool should let you project a surface downwards at a site model and then that projected face can be extracted or trimmed off for this kind of thing. Project tool should probably be in the 3rd and second tool modes respectively for the two settings (Add Mode and Add Downward Mode). Draw your desired profile of the shape and position it above the site model above (I used a simple circle in my test) then select the profile first, the model second, and try the Project. The bottom face of the resulting solid should be what you're looking to get. Hm, this worked fine with a circle (and an ellipse) but it doesn't seem to want to do it with a closed polygon or a rectangle (I get a "project tool failed" error message). Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted February 20, 2018 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 20, 2018 Try using Modify > Convert > Convert to NURBS first on the profile object, that might let you use other shapes for projection. Quote Link to comment
Hans-Olav Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I got interested in this discussion and tried what @JimWsuggested, however all I get is a red message "project tool failed", any idea what can causing the error. Tried first with a semi complicated road polygon, and later with a simple circle same error Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted February 20, 2018 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 20, 2018 Can you send me the site model and profile shape in a test file? The Project tool is super useful, but super finicky and if you've found a condition that it chokes on I'd like to submit it as a bug to be fixed. Quote Link to comment
Hans-Olav Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I had success if i first un-gruped the site model. It changed to a Mesh and then it was possible to project the circle. Important to make a copy of the site model if one wants to make changes to it later. Quote Link to comment
line-weight Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 37 minutes ago, JimW said: Try using Modify > Convert > Convert to NURBS first on the profile object, that might let you use other shapes for projection. No, it didn't like that either Quote Link to comment
line-weight Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 33 minutes ago, Hans-Olav said: I had success if i first un-gruped the site model. It changed to a Mesh and then it was possible to project the circle. Important to make a copy of the site model if one wants to make changes to it later. Tried changing mine to mesh, but behaviour remains the same (circle will project but not polygon or rectangle). Quote Link to comment
line-weight Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 37 minutes ago, JimW said: Can you send me the site model and profile shape in a test file? The Project tool is super useful, but super finicky and if you've found a condition that it chokes on I'd like to submit it as a bug to be fixed. Attached to this message. VWproject.vwx Quote Link to comment
line-weight Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 2 hours ago, JimW said: Project tool should probably be in the 3rd and second tool modes respectively for the two settings (Add Mode and Add Downward Mode). OK...after some more fiddling around, I've got it to work with a polygon but by using the 3rd and 1st (or 3rd and 3rd) modes. So, it's something to do with the "normal" of the profile plane. In fact, I now find that it depends in which direction I draw the polygon (clockwise or anticlockwise) So does VW create a circle with a normal that's opposite to the one it creates a rectangle with? Quote Link to comment
Hans-Olav Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Interesting! I tried the same and it worked here too Quote Link to comment
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