Get Cubic Feet of Symbols

[MTRobin]

Does anyone have a good idea on how I can get the cubic feet of a symbol? I have truss symbols, lighting devices, custom symbols, video symbols, etc and would like to get a field in a worksheet that has the cubic feet of each item in my model so I can get totals. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Maxwell

[Pat Stanford]

What do you mean?  A truss is mostly open airspace. Do you want the volume of the "solid" parts of the truss? Or do you want the volume of the outline of the truss? Or do you want to volume of the rectangular bounding box of the truss?

 

Too many options to help without knowing more about what you really want and why.

[MTRobin]

I am looking for the volume of the bounding box of an object, whether it be truss, lighting device, generic symbol, etc.

 

Thanks.

[MTRobin]

Just wanted to follow up here if anyone had any suggestions on getting the volume of the bounding box of an object, whether it be truss, lighting device, generic symbol, etc. Right now my solution is to draw a 3D cube around the object and get it's volume from the OIP. Hopefully there is a faster and easier way to get a symbol's volume into a record field.

 

Thanks!

[michaelk]

That's a good question.

 

I can't find a way to do it in a worksheet.  You can call the left, right, top, and bottom bounds but that values is totally dependent on the current view.  In a 3D view the values are meaningless.

 

BUT - Data Tags can access that information.    And I can't find a way to pull that information into a worksheet.

 

 

Bounding Area.vwx

[MTRobin]

Data tags could be a quicker way to get the volume of an object then just manually add it to a field in a record. The only thing I am having issues with is lighting devices don't seem to show the same value as its symbol counterpart.

 

Add an object as a symbol and as a lighting device and they will show different values in the data tag.

 

Realistically I think the volume, or at least all of the bounding box L, W, H values should be available in a worksheet.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Maxwell

[michaelk]

The bounding box of a fixture symbol are probably different that the lighting device containing that symbol.  The symbols are made up of articulating pieces.  In the symbol the fixture hangs straight down, as though it were on a meat rack.  When that symbol is used in a lighting device the body can tilt and the yolk can pan.  (And the whole thing can yolk out on a pipe.). And it might also be taking the label into account.

 

It might be possible to use a worksheet script to get bounding boxes.  Maybe.  Can you give an example of what you're trying to do?

[MTRobin]

I am trying to estimate the volume of a fixture so I can get a spreadsheet of all the devices in my model. Then I was going to use the sum of all that to calculate how much total volume the show requires so I can estimate the amount of trucks that are required for shipping.

 

Thanks,

Maxwell