Trim Heights for Ladders / Schematic View

[Jonah Bobilin]

Loving the new schematic view in VW2020 and modification to the ladder tool. Been waiting for this functionality for years so great job to the developers. However I'm having trouble setting a trim height for my lighting ladders. Of course it is possible to move the 3d object to the correct height, but the Z parameter (height) given in the OIP is at the center of the 3d object and not where it would be clamped to a batten (top of the ladder + offset due to clamp), and there doesn't seem to be a way to set a custom origin for the object since it's a plug-in.

 

Since the ladder is not lighting position object I am unable to edit the geometry or like a truss object "change trim height of system." I can always annotate my paperwork, but I'd prefer to just be able to click on the object and be able to read a correct height in the OIP. It'd also be nice to be able to connect my ladder objects to existing hanging positions, so for example if I change the trim of my 2nd electric, the ladder attached automatically changes height as well. That is possible with trusses and other lighting positions and I'd love to see it as a possibility here. It seems that the key issue is that the schematic view isn't compatible with the convert to lighting position command.

 

If there is a workaround I'd love to hear it. I tried converting the ladder to a symbol, but that messes with the schematic view functionality same as converting to lighting position.

 

Perhaps this can be built in to the next update or a workaround can be discussed in a future webinar.

 

Thanks for reading.

[JBenghiat]

The ladder is a bit of an anomaly, in that the schematic of the ladder is a planar rectangle, but the 3D orientation of that plane is almost always vertical. 
 

The rectangle-based plug-in object doesn’t have the ability to have a user-selected reference point in the OIP the way a regular rectangle does. Instead, it is limited to the center-left of the object. (This was also the case for the Ladder prior to the 2020 enhancements)
 

This also means that the unrotated plane of the ladder is parallel to the layer plane, so in order to get a front elevation schematic view, you would actually set the view to top. 
 

Solutions to both issues are under consideration for a future version. 

[TomWhiteLight]

Hi @Jonah Bobilin I am currently creating ladders using the lighting pipe tool to create a short 500mm section then duplicate on the Z axis to create copies (can be done with instruments attached). You could alternatively create each of the lighting pipes as a hanging position then with all of the lighting pipes and instruments selected 'create schematic view' I then extrude a circle either side and make a symbol for the visual appearance of a ladder. At least until the ladder tool workflow is resolved.