nickMUGS Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 I have a truss circle that I want to duplicate lighting fixtures evenly along it. How do I go about doing this? I've tried selecting both the fixture and the truss and duplicate along path is enabled but gives me a error in return. Quote Link to comment
michaelk Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 A truss can't be used as a path object. Insert an instrument. Doesn't have to be in the right location. If you insert the instrument facing up the unit will end up pointing toward the center of the circle. Draw a circle. Select both the instrument and the circle. Edit > Duplicate Along Path… > Make sure you select Center object on path and Tangent to path. Deselect Keep original orientation. Delete the circle. Quote Link to comment
EAlexander Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Or you can use Duplicate array in circular mode as well. Quote Link to comment
nickMUGS Posted July 25, 2018 Author Share Posted July 25, 2018 I appreciate both of your replies. - Duplicate array is useless for me because you have to input the duplicate angle. - Using a circle as an overlay to truss seems like a workaround to a feature that should be working. But oh well that's what works for now. If I place the fixture on the circle, why does dup on path shift the fixture I placed 90 degrees from it's original placement? Then I have use the rotate tool to put it back, seems like another workaround to something that should work more straightforward. Quote Link to comment
markdd Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 (edited) This should clear things up Edited July 25, 2018 by markdd Quote Link to comment
EAlexander Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 On 7/24/2018 at 8:55 PM, nickMUGS said: - Duplicate array is useless for me because you have to input the duplicate angle. I think Mark's way above is best, but if you were doing duplicate array, keep in mind that you can do math formulas in the entry fields. So if you wanted 12 lights around your circle, you can enter 360/12 in the duplicate angle field. Change 12 to whatever number you want for fixtures... 1 Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, EAlexander said: ... if you were doing duplicate array, keep in mind that you can do math formulas in the entry fields. So if you wanted 12 lights around your circle, you can enter 360/12 in the duplicate angle field. Change 12 to whatever number you want for fixtures... ^ this. I always do math in the angle fields. Very fast if you learn the keyboard shortcut for Duplicate Array and for Undo so you can try out options. Remember to subtract one for your number of duplicates or you end up with two objects on top of each other at the start... Edited July 26, 2018 by Kevin McAllister Clarity 1 Quote Link to comment
nickMUGS Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 Thanks guys. This helps me along. I wasn't aware the ability of putting formulas in fields, that's going to change a lot of things for me. Cheers! Quote Link to comment
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