Extrude symbol afterwards

[RichPiano]

Hi guys

 

So I'm creating a park bench. To define how the seat back will look, I've created a symbol of a bar that I want to use multiple times as the back of the seat. Now I'm going from 2D to 3D and I want to extrude the symbol, but I can't figure out how this would work. Is it even possible? If I try to edit it always asks me what to edit: 2D or 3D. In 2D, the shape is stuck to the screen layer and in 3D it is non existant. So how do I proceed?

 

Thanks!

[Boh]

You can’t extrude symbols unless possibly you made a marionette script to do it. The simplest way tho is just to  convert the symbols to simple 2d polylines you can extrude that.

 

Does the bar need to be a symbol? 

[RichPiano]

As far as I understand a symbol is just a reusable piece of the model. So when I change one instance it changes every instance at the same time, much like components in SketchUp? In this case yes, I want it to be a symbol as this would make it much easier to edit the bench afterwards.

[bcd]

You can generate a 3d while in the 2d edit.

You may have to recreate 2d to represent your Symbol in Top/Plan and

You may have to edit the 3d component to rotate it in 3d space.

[Boh]

8 hours ago, RichPiano said:

, I want it to be a symbol as this would make it much easier to edit the bench afterwards.

Fair enough however do you need a 2d component?

 

Symbols in vw can be just 2d, just 3D or hybrid 2d/3D. With hybrid symbols the 2d and 3D geometry are independent of each other, Also hybrid symbols can have seperate top/plan, bottom, front back and side 2d components, which can also be independent of each other. The bottom, front back and side 2d components are only visible in hidden line orthogonal viewports. The top/plan 2d is the most commonly used and is visible in top/plan views in design layers and viewports. It can get a bit confusing....

 

For your bench seat it looks like what you have drawn is in top/plan correct?

 

If so then I think perhaps a different workflow might be better to get what you want. If it was me I woul create the 3D symbol of the backrest rail first by drawing your polygon and extruding it. If the polygon is drawn in top/plan I would then need to rotate it in 3D space so that it is horizontal.  From there I would duplicate the 3D rail symbol and make the backrest.

 

You can now change the profile of the rail by editing the polygon in the extrusion in the symbol.

 

If you want to add 2d components you can  select edit 2d and select which 2d component you need and draw the required geometry, which as mentioned will be independent of the 3D.

 

Pure 3D symbols typically don’t look great in top/plan view so you may just wat to add a simple rectangle as a 2d top/plan component.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Boh

[RichPiano]

Thank you very much I think I will try extruding first and then make it a symbol 🙂