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Scaffolding Problem


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Hello everyone,

connecting two pipes with a third one is quite simply done in real world,- but its seems a big challenge to do this in Vectorworks.( for me...  😕  )

wondering if anyone out here has a soloution for this:

 

- two pipes somewhere in space ( blue and black here )

- the red one has to be clamped with twistable couplers to the others

- the positon of the two green couplers along the blue and black pipe is fixed, but they can be twisted around the axis of the pipes.

 

Scaffold.thumb.jpg.46139393c3b3c126fd20f0db70883c1f.jpg

 

 

I'm looking for a workflow to find the correct position and orientation of  the red pipe and the couplers.

 

What I have so far:

- create Working Plane 1 between the axis of the red pipe and the connection line between the desired position of the two green couplers

- create Working Plane 2 between the axis of the black pipe and the connection line between the desired position of the two green couplers

- place the couplers in the origin of the Working Planes and rotate them in the desired direction.

 

Problem: The Orientation of the couplers is NOT the Z'-Axis of the working planes ( Only approximately ). It seems to be something like a perpendiculary line to the tangential connection between two circles with the distance of the twistable couplers around the pipes. But how to find that ?

 

Or am I completely wrong and there is a simple soloution for this by using specific 3D tools ?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by halfcouple
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Just found out that the problem is not explicit, since there are 4 ways to connect the pipe. The four matching points can be found by drawing a circle around the black and the blue pipe with the radius of the twisted couple and a sphere with the diameter of the connection line...

 

Can anyone out there tell me how to find intersecting points between a circle ( 3D Polygon ) and a sphere ( 3D Object )  ???  There seems to be no snapping option for this ...

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6 hours ago, halfcouple said:

Can anyone out there tell me how to find intersecting points between a circle ( 3D Polygon ) and a sphere ( 3D Object )  ???  There seems to be no snapping option for this ...

 

The easiest solution is to convert copies of both objects to NURBS and use the Analysis Tool. 44926129_ScreenShot2019-09-30at8_19_00AM.thumb.png.033ce5a8789a2179433526c3c396a363.png

 

Click on both NURBS objects with the Analysis Tool and it will generate 3d loci where they intersect.

 

Kevin

 

666212549_ScreenShot2019-09-30at8_17_46AM.thumb.png.b6e454d7b814ea3f9227ef0bef4262ed.png

  • Like 3
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Hi Kevin,

thanks much for the reply. The Analysis Tool seems to be one of the hidden treasures of Vectorworks 😀

Meanwhile I was successful with simple solid substraction. Substracting the sphere from the two circles ( converted as polygons ) results in two "halfmoons". The edges of these halfmoons are the searched points. The orientation of the twisted clamps after finding these points  is a question of skilled placement of working planes. I wonder If all this can be put into a Marionette Script. ... a task for long winter evenings after I have retired... 🙃

Edited by halfcouple
  • Like 1
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