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Modeling with symbols


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For designing furniture I use symbols as solid subtractions and solid additions.

This helps allot in automating the drawing and designing proces.

It prevents mistakes and the need of double checking stuff.

 

A good example is sheet metal with several M5 screw holes

For the screw holes I use an  M5  symbol which I use as an solid subtraction from the sheet metal.

 

At the moment the proces is as follows:

 

Step 1: draw sheet metal plate (extruded rectangle)

Step 2: create an symbol of an M5 hole (extruded circle)

Step 3: place symbols in the correct spot on the sheet metal

Step 4: subtract the symbols from the sheet metal 

 

Client says: use M6 instead of M5 screw.

 

Step 5: change the symbol of the M5 hole to a M6 hole

Step 6: go into the solid subtraction of the sheet metal so the symbols automatically  change from M5 to M6 (because of step 5)

Step 7: go out of the solid substraction > tadddaa! all subtractions are M6 now without the need of editing every single hole one-by-one

 

To my question:

 

Is it possible to force Vectorworks to recalculate al the solid geometry so that you do not have to go back in al the different solid subtraction to make step 6 happen? (even when there are several levels with fillets, additions and ... of geometry?) 

 

Would this something that could be accomplished with Marionette?

Adding the Marionette Jedi Masters 🙂 @sbarrett @Marissa Farrell @Stephan Moenninghoff @DomC

 

 

 

Edited by Bas Vellekoop
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1 hour ago, Stephan Moenninghoff said:

The VWX event system does not notify CSG solids of changes to Symbols that are part of a boolean operation. I think this is the issue.

 

Ah ok, hmmm, do you know if it is possible inside of Parasolid modeling kernel? 

Is this the same as the VWX event system?

Maybe Vectorworks can tap into this?

 

Questions questions 🙂

 

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17 minutes ago, Stephan Moenninghoff said:

 Even if I did, it has nothing to do with how VWX implements anything 🙂

 

Sorry, I do not get it I think 🙂

If I was unclear then let me try to rephrase it. 

 

1. Is it through a script or Marionette possible to create some sort of button that makes Vectorworks recalculate the CSG solids that are present in the VW file?

2. Would through an VW enhancement request it be possible to add this as an automatic part of History-Based Modelling? (Vectorworks recognizes you changed a symbol that is used in a solid addition or subtraction and recalculates the CSG solid automatically?

 

Thanks for your help and patience 🙂  

 

 

 

Edited by Bas Vellekoop
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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
58 minutes ago, Bas Vellekoop said:

 

Sorry, I do not get it I think 🙂

If I was unclear then let me try to rephrase it. 

 

1. Is it through a script or Marionette possible to create some sort of button that makes Vectorworks recalculate the CSG solids that are present in the VW file?

2. Would through an VW enhancement request it be possible to add this as an automatic part of History-Based Modelling? (Vectorworks recognizes you changed a symbol that is used in a solid addition or subtraction and recalculates the CSG solid automatically?

 

Thanks for your help and patience 🙂  

No trouble at all!

1. Yes. You can tell your Marionette to do whatever you want it to. (Always remember that you may need to regenerate it though!)

2. Not for me to say.

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3 hours ago, Stephan Moenninghoff said:

No trouble at all!

1. Yes. You can tell your Marionette to do whatever you want it to. (Always remember that you may need to regenerate it though!)

2. Not for me to say.

 

The exclamation point makes it seem that i should know what 'regenerate' in this situation means, I do not,  please help 😂

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  • 8 months later...
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
2 minutes ago, Senthil Prabu said:

 

@Bas Vellekoop @Stephan Moenninghoff while updating all the instances of the edited symbol, the system will rebuild the top level CSG if it is inside it.

Apparently so. Cheers for confirming, @Senthil Prabu! We were just wondering why this was not announced with more fanfare. It seems like a big deal. Anyway: THANKS! 🙂

 

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